Tight family harmony, inspirational testimonies and a classic Southern Gospel sound characterize the Mattingly Family ministry. Since their inception in 1974, Jim and Ruby Mattingly's message has been the same. They strive to make the gospel of Jesus Christ foremost, and to encourage pastors, churches and families wherever He leads them. 
They make their home in Moody, MO, but spend three hundred days a year traveling and singing. Averaging one hundred and eighty concerts each year, the Lord continues to bless their ministry. "The Lord is working and moving and we just feel honored to be along for the ride," says Jim. 
The group consists of father and mother, Jim and Ruby, and three of their six children, Jeremiah, Ruth Ann and Jonathan, and Jonathan's wife Sarah. 

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The Mattingly Family Part 1

The Mattingly Family Part 2 

The Mattingly Part 3 

Originally, we thought God was moving us towards Kenya, because we had a friend that was inviting us to come work with him, and we were helping him in starting up his ministry in Kenya. As we were praying as to where God wanted us to go, door after door kept closing in the direction of Kenya. But we kept on hearing more about Wales and how less than 3% of the Welsh population has heard the Gospel. As time went on and we kept praying, Wales kept on coming up. At one point, I was praying in my office at my church in Illinois. I prayed, “God, I know you’re calling us to the Mission field, but I need to know where. Is it Kenya or is it Wales?”

Emmaus Baptist College gets its name from an encounter two disciples had with the Risen Savior recounted in the 24th chapter of the Gospel of Luke. The result of the encounter caused these two to have their eyes opened, to know the Lord better, and to be witnesses to others of the Resurrection. That is our goal as well! We want students to gain knowledge (eyes opened), to grow in their personal relationship with Jesus (know the Lord), and to be equipped to take the message of the Gospel to others. During its 66 year history, Emmaus has trained hundreds of alumni who serve the Lord literally around the globe.

My name is Tim Sims, missionary to Thailand since July 2004. My wife’s name is Jahnet and we have two daughters, Hannah (17), and Ahleah (16). I did not grow up in church and my wife was raised in a Catholic family. It was not until the fall of 1997 that I stepped foot into a church or learned anything about the Bible.

I was born in Florida and have been in church for my entire life. I was raised in Welcome Baptist Church in Lithia, FL and hardly remember a time when I wasn’t there. I remember the day I was saved and how the Holy Spirit got my attention that day.I surrendered to go to Romania as a missionary. God placed Alina and I together for a reason and that was made clear to me during that conference. We began deputation in May 2012 and moved to Romania in May 2013.

Juan GonzalezWhat a joy is has been for me to share this with our church family. Blessings!

Edward K. Brown, Jr. Rev. Ed Brown was born June 11, 1949 to Mr. and Mrs. Edward K. Brown, in Madison, Florida, the first of four sons in the family. The family lived in the Auburndale area most of his growing years. At age twelve, he accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour while visiting grandparents in Lake City, FL at a revival meeting hosted by Calvary Baptist Church.Brown graduated from Auburndale High School in 1967 and soon entered the US Army serving as an Infantryman in the Republic of Korea for 14 months. He surrendered to the call of the ministry on May 14, 1971 and was licensed to preach the Gospel by the First Missionary Baptist Church of Auburndale. The subject of Brown’s first sermon was “What Will You Do With Jesus Which Is Called Christ?” He was later ordained by that same church, April 20, 1973.Rev. Brown married the former Miss Patricia Ann Bragg of Auburndale, June 24, 1972, and to their union were born three girls: Amy Renee, Lisa Ann, and Rebecca Lynn. In 1976, he graduated from Florida Baptist College in Lakeland with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. Since graduating, he has served as Interim President (1997-1998), Trustee (1984-1987, 1993-1998), and Instructor (1997-2005) at the College. He received a Master of Arts in Theology in 2001, followed by his Doctor of Ministries in Theology, in 20202, both from Landmark Baptist Theological Seminary. He was Vice President of Emmaus Baptist College in Brandon, FL from 2003 to 2009.Brown served as Assistant Pastor of First Missionary Baptist Church of Auburndale, Ardella Baptist Church of Lakeland, and Lock Haven Baptist Church of Kissimmee. He has also served as Executive Director of Macedonian Missionary Service, then as Director of Printing, Instructor in Field Education and Foreign Projects with Macedonian from 1999 to 2007. Further, he has served as Interim Pastor of Calvary Missionary Baptist Church of Wauchula (today Riverside Heights Missionary Baptist Church), First Missionary Baptist Church a Bad Vilbel, West Germany, and Sherwood Hills Baptist Church of Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia. He has been pastor of First Missionary Baptist Church of Bell, the Ardella Baptist Church of Lakeland (1984-1987), and Bay Lake Baptist Church in Groveland (1998-1999). He served as Interim Pastor of Central Baptist Church in Lithia, 2003 to 2004, and Pastor of Tuscanooga Baptist Church in Groveland 2008 to 2011. He was Director of the Lock Haven Scripture Press for the Lock Haven Baptist Church near Kissimmee, where he served in coordinating the production and distribution of Scripture, Scripture portions, tracts, and literature in a variety of languages for use around the world, from 1979 to 1984 and again 1987 to 1998. He oversaw the printing of over one million New Testaments in 12 languages, more than 8.5 million gospel tracts and 50 thousand song books in four languages. Involved in this ministry with a mission emphasis, Brown has visited, preached, and assisted in projects in more than forty countries on six continents.More recently, from 2014 to 2018, Dr. Brown served as the Itinerate Missionary Education Director for Sherwood Hills Baptist Church I Campbelltown, NSW, Australia. He assisted in establishing and teaching at the Solomon Islands Seminary School in Honiara, Guadalcanal. The seminary is now in its fifth year of operation and is running smoothly. The plan is to turn the seminary leadership over to the Solomon Islands nationals in 2021.Dr. Brown admits to being a sinner saved by grace. He has done all that he has done solely by the grace of God, the help of his wife Tricia, and his family (the three daughters, three sons-in-law, and 7 grandchildren) and friends, and countless others over nearly 50 years of ministry. His greatest fan, accepting and working through all his faults and failures, is his favorite hero, his wife. She has been with him all the way, and her name belongs on each and every diploma, certificate, or other object of recognition. He prays for your continued friendship, fellowship, and prayers. (II Timothy 1:12)

Damien Austin – I was born in Massachusetts and raised in a devoted Catholic family. From my earliest memory when asked what I wanted to be when I grew up my response was always that I wanted to be a priest. I spent the first eight years of my education in Catholic school. I asked my parents to send me to a seminary in Rhode Island after grammar school, but they couldn’t afford it and I went to the public high school. I took a course in world religions and discovered that I didn’t believe fully in any of them, and that included Catholicism. I stopped going to church, against my parent’s wishes, and became a self-proclaimed atheist. I never searched for the meaning of life after that and accepted my role in life. I became a factory worker after high school and I accepted that as my role in life. At forty-five years of age, I moved to Florida. I got a job in a factory, and after five years on the job, a co-worker, James Rudd, began to ask me questions about my faith, not my religion, but my faith. I told him I really didn’t believe in anything. I had accepted the Big Bang theory of accidental life and inevitable death. He began to teach me about God and Jesus using his Bible as his proof and explanation of all that is. After a few months of questions and answers, I went to church with him. Pastor Carl Wells of Willow Oak Baptist Church preached a message that “there would come a time when God would stop calling on you.” I felt the Holy Spirit move in me, and recognized that God might be giving me a final chance to soften my heart and accept Christ as my Savior. I walked the aisle on Oct. 2, 2005, and was baptized Oct. 9. My fiftieth birthday was October 15, 2005. My testimony is that it is never too late to talk to someone about the Lord. A few months later Dr. Pennell, a missionary to Ukraine, came to speak at the church and I was moved by his ministry. I asked him if I could join him on the field, and he told me that I needed to get a good Christian education first. I quit my job and set all my retirement savings toward learning more about God. I enrolled at Emmaus Baptist College and graduated in 2010. I worked the first summer at 60th Ave Baptist Church in St. Petersburg, Florida, and the following summers at Florida Baptist Youth Camp under the mentoring of Brother Steve Dobson. During my junior year I met Melanie. Melanie was in banking, and she was a devout Catholic that was introduced to me by mutual friends. During one of our first dates, she expressed that she had no intention of changing her religion. She began to come to church with me on Sunday and still attend Catholic mass on Saturday afternoon. Within a month, the Holy Spirit grabbed her attention and she began to recognize things she had accepted all her life that had no substance in the Word of God. She began to ask questions and we spent many hours talking about our faith and religion. One Sunday, Pastor Carl preached a message that there were six reasons Satan will use to try to convince a person not to walk the aisle. Number six was “You don’t have to do it today!” Melanie grabbed my arm and said “I need to do this today!” She accepted Christ as her Savior on November 30, 2008, and was baptized the following week. In celebration, I purchased a Bible for her with her name on the cover… it only read “Melanie.” I told her that I left enough room to add the name “Austin” if she would marry me. Yes, the stories are true. I proposed to Melanie at The Golden Coral. We laugh about it even today. We were married May 9, 2009. I was scheduled to attend Westwood Baptist School of Missions as Westwood M.B.C. in Winter Haven in the fall of 2010. Our plan was for Melanie to continue working while I learned to become a missionary. But one Saturday morning the Holy Spirit got hold of Melanie and after a conversation over supper with Doug Wiersema, we recognized that she needed to learn to be a missionary and that it was important for her to attend the school as well. We took a leap of faith and Melanie quit her job and enrolled. Now neither of us had a job and we were living off our savings. Doug mentioned that Dr. Pennell was going to Ukraine for Christmas and we asked if we could join him. We did, and we recognized our calling to serve the Lord in Ukraine. We visited the Ukraine for the summer of 2011 and returned home to travel about and tell churches about our calling. We moved to Ukraine in October of 2012. The rest you learn from our monthly missionary letters. God Bless James Rudd!