Calvary Road Baptist Church
“A MAJOR SHIFT IN TAKIS KORIANITIS’ MINISTRY”
First Thessalonians 1.8
Last week I rehearsed to you my treasured experiences of traveling to various overseas mission fields, attending gatherings of Gospel ministers both here and in other places, participating in a variety of one-off events related to both Baptist history and ongoing Baptist missionary enterprises, and our friendship with a missionary of incredible discernment and foresight, Dr. M. Jack Baskin.
Far more people know Dr. Baskin than know much more about him than his record as a combat engineer for the Army in the Korean War, his service as an incredibly fruitful Church planter after the Korean War as a missionary in Korea, and his scores of years in service to God following what was predicted to be a ministry-ending heart attack and a time of convalescence back in the United States.
Jack Baskin has had an incredibly effective ministry. Once his health was restored, he resumed a grueling schedule and led several Bible colleges (in California and Georgia), started a Church in Kennesaw, Georgia with his son, and after ‘retirement’ embarked on a worldwide ministry as a valued missionary statesman. Perhaps his most well-known efforts during this ‘retirement’ phase of his ministry was to discern the diminishing effectiveness of American missionaries to Southeast Asia and to challenge Filipino Gospel ministers to step up. And they have.
What most who know of Jack Baskin do not know is that, long before the outbreak of the Vietnam War, he anticipated that region would become volatile and began to visit Vietnam while serving as a missionary in South Korea. His effort was to prepare Vietnamese Gospel ministers and Church members for what he anticipated would and did happen, the Vietnam War. After the war he made his way back to those men (surreptitiously), encouraging them and equipping them to advance the Gospel even under communist rule.
What he perceived as early on as the 1960s, which was fulfilled before the dawn of the 21st century in Cambodia and other countries, was the loss of benefit to missionaries from the United States of being from the United States. Gone are the days when being a missionary from the USA is any kind of advantage, because of the superpower status of the United States and the perceived superiority of American culture. That is no longer the case. We are witnesses to the great American decline, at home and abroad.
But it was not Dr. M. Jack Baskin alone who discerned the ‘handwriting on the wall’ regarding worldwide missions. Dr. Peter Masters also took steps to think outside the box. The one made direct appeals to Filipino pastors and missionaries to great effect. The other reached out to graduate school students and others temporarily living in London to great effect. Both spiritual leaders intentionally mentored Christian men, using their wisdom and experience to encourage, to mentor, and to engage with godly men as spiritual fathers to discernible effect.
Our Church is one of an increasing number of American ministries taking note of the tragic American decline and focusing our attention on Gospel ministers from other nations with whom we enjoy doctrinal and practical agreement. And these are men who are much like missionaries of bygone eras, men like William Carey to India, Adoniram Judson to Burma, and Fred Donnelson to China, who served God whether they received support from abroad or not, the only exception being that so many of the missionaries we now support did not grow up in the United States, and had no need to learn the culture and language where they were called to serve, because the already knew it.
Not that we have any regret regarding Bill Hathaway, Harvey Goodman, Pat Coleman, or Garry Matheny, good men all who are greatly loved by our Church and are both fruitful and faithful. But there is a younger group of men who grew up in their place of ministry, Dustin Reinhardt in Chile, Chris Goodman in Australia, Samuel Rai in Nepal, David Mallipudi in India, Ramzi Kammar in the Middle East, Ibrahim ag Mohammed in Mali, Eugene and Nikita Kozachenko in Ukraine, and the focus of my message for today, Takis Korianitis, in Greece.
Much as I did last Sunday when reporting about my time spent in Nepal with Samuel Rai under three headings, is my summary of Takis Korianitis’ biography and ministry.
First, TAKI’S EARLY LIFE, TRAINING, AND CONVERSION
Taki Korianitis is the youngest of his mother and father’s children, with his father passing away long before Taki reached adulthood. The Korianitis clan has a long history on the island of Zakynthos, an island off the West coast of Greece with its own long history, that I first read about in both Homer’s Illiad and Odyssey. Taki’s ancestors arrived on the island about four centuries ago, coming (I think) from the island of Cypress, and with others on the island had to deal with the Ottoman Empire for centuries and with the German occupation for much of World War Two.
Then there is geology. Though that part of the world is prone to earthquakes, it was in 1953 that the most memorable earthquake in recent memory struck, all but leveling most of the buildings on the island.[1] By the time Taki was born, an earthquake-resistant building code was in place that provided first-world protection in the event of a serious shaker. The island is now a stable place to live.
Growing up in Greece, Taki was a typical Greek, a member of the Greek Orthodox Church, taking his religious and musical training seriously. At one point, he was prepared for ordination as a priest into the Greek Orthodox Church and was expected to serve as the priest on the island where he was born and grew up. By the time he reached young adulthood, he had twelve years of Greek in the public school system, along with six years of classical Greek during what we would call his junior and senior high school years. Then, there was his training to be an Orthodox priest.
However, before his ordination, he vacationed in Southern California to spend time with his uncle, his most important male role model after his father’s death. While here in Southern California, he met a young woman named April and asked her out. Long story short, she told him that if he wanted to see her, he would see her at Church. He took her up on that offer and attended a Baptist Church in Somis, California that was pastored by our good friend, Marvin O’Dell. Those Church services were the first time Taki, quite the Greek scholar by that time, and trained to be an Orthodox priest though not yet ordained, ever in his life heard the Gospel of God’s grace through faith in Christ. He and Pastor O’Dell talked, his objections and questions were addressed, and he came to Christ. He was then immersed and became a member of that Church. Thus began his Christian life.
Next, TAKI’S MARRIAGE, MILITARY SERVICE, AND RETURN TO GREECE
Following his conversion, Taki pursued his interest in a young woman named April, and they were married. I do not know whether this guy who is such a great singer had any idea that his wife was also a great singer, I do not know. But I was impressed when I heard them both sing at an outdoor concert.
At some point, Taki joined the United States Army and served a four-year enlistment. The other four years of their marriage were spent working different jobs. Eight years in God made Taki realize that He wanted him in the Gospel ministry but as a converted Baptist rather than an unconverted Orthodox priest.
Returning to his home island, they set up house and began their efforts at reaching the Greeks of Zakynthos with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. But there were two problems: First, the islanders considered Taki an apostate. Second, try telling the Greeks that their understanding of the Greek New Testament is wrong.
But God has blessed his faithfulness in a profoundly challenging mission field. In all of Greece, there are only two Baptist Churches planted that have survived, and both of them are led by Greek men who were converted to Christ in the USA and went back to Greece to serve God as Baptist Church planters. Taki on the island of Zakynthos, and George Dimakos in Athens.
There have been well-intentioned Baptist missionaries from the USA who go to Greece, but none of them has succeeded in establishing a Church, and they typically return to the USA or move to another mission field after five years. Why so? The Greeks remember the CIA overthrowing their government in the 1950s, costing the lives of thousands of Greeks in the process. They do not trust Americans. And that pattern is growing from country to country, making missions more and more challenging.
How successful do you think American missionaries are in Vietnam, Indonesia, Laos, and, for that matter in Nepal? Missionaries are flatly excluded from India, with only Indians like David Mallipudi legally allowed to function there. The dynamic is changing almost everywhere.
Now, TAKI’S INFLUENCE HAS BROADENED
Thankfully, Taki is a student of his own culture and has landed on two tactics and a third development that show great promise.
Zakynthos is an island about twice the size of Santa Catalina, with a population about the size of Monrovia. But it is a tourist island, with about a million visitors per year, with most of them in June, July, August, and September. Greeks are not wealthy people, and during tourist season, both husbands and wives are tied up in tourism-related jobs. That leaves their children unattended in a country that has laws against religious instruction by anyone not Orthodox. Therefore, Taki has started a summer camp on property owned by his family, with kids there from 8:00 to 1:00 during tourist season. To be in his camp, the parents have to sign a form permitting Taki to teach the Bible and teach Christian songs to the youngsters. The parents, who shudder at the thought of any form of Christianity that is not Greek Orthodox, are very happy to enroll their children in Taki’s Bible school during the summer. And he is seeing God work in the children’s lives. He sows. He waters. He prays for God to give the increase.
Additionally, Greeks have been known as a musical people for three thousand years, and Taki is a great musician, singer, and conductor. His wife is an outstanding singer, and his kids all play instruments, be it violin or mandolin. What else is Taki doing? He has put together an orchestra with people he has known his entire life who play various instruments and incorporate older children who do not attend his summer camp. And whenever they schedule a concert, vast crowds of the native Greeks show up and appreciate the music. But who decides what music is performed? Taki Korianitis. Who decides who sits in the first chair, second chair, and who sings what parts of what songs? Taki Korianitis. So, what does he do? He mixes classical Greek music with Christian music, reads portions of poetry from Greek historical figures, and lays the groundwork for a Christian worldview while cultivating relationships with every member of the orchestra, both adults and children.
Over time, opposition to him has diminished as he remains a stalwart and uncompromising Gospel minister, but not corrupt like the Orthodox priests, and no longer much considered an apostate, but a nice guy who knows the Bible, who is inflexible with it comes to Bible truth, and who is looked to by the islanders as the conductor. He has taken the measure of his culture and decided that his skill in music can serve him very well in reaching the music-loving Greeks. And they are entrusting their children, who are musicians, to his oversight and care. And he shares Gospel truths with those he leads in the orchestra. I am persuaded by this major shift in his tactics, from fruitlessly attempting to reach Greek Orthodox adults who think that if you are not Greek Orthodox, you are not a Greek, to reaching their children with the Gospel right in front of them and with their permission, shows great promise.
Both of these approaches to evangelism will bear fruit, in my opinion. Yet there is a third matter that may very well prove very helpful. A year or two ago, a Greek woman from the island who had moved to Australia donated a plot of land to Taki’s ministry. The land is much closer to the main city of the island than where they have held services for the past few years. They have almost completed the Church building, but the war in Ukraine has boosted the prices of building materials throughout Europe, leaving them without the money that would have completed the project had the war not jacked up the prices of everything.
Once the new Church building is finished, all three developments will likely be a great boon to Taki’s ministry. In the summer, he has access to hundreds of boys and girls of grade school age, with signed permission from their parents to teach the Bible, the Gospel, and Christian music. And this is a ministry the Orthodox priests want no part of because they don’t like kids. Year-round, he has an ongoing project with his orchestra, in which he is the director and the conductor, and the opportunities with his musicians of all ages are truly exciting. A side benefit is that as the conductor, he is doing something that none of the Orthodox priests are qualified to do. Then, once the new building is completed, services will be held closer to where most of those who attend live. This will likely boost attendance. It is all good, and I am excited for his ministry.
Taki’s ministry bears less fruit than Samuel’s. But who bears that kind of fruit but Samuel? What does the Savior want from servants like Taki and others? In a word, He wants faithfulness, First Corinthians 4.1-2:
1 Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
I am persuaded each of our missionaries is a faithful minister of Christ and faithful steward of the mysteries of God. To that end, I hope you will faithfully support with your prayers and gifts our Church’s missionary ministry.
We partner with wonderful missionaries, from Garry Matheny to Pat Coleman. The oldest of them is Bill Hathaway. We just received a report letter from him, and though ministry is painful and challenging, he is not stopping. The same is true of Harvey Goodman and Linda Faye. Harvey is in his 80s and still plugging along. Clarence Patterson has retired from the Gospel ministry as a pastor, though he continues to preach when asked. Peter and Jean Ard are still active, but they have slowed slightly.
Our younger missionaries are Dustin Reinhardt and his wife, with Nikita Kozachenko being the youngest. Still single and still in Ukraine, he is still committed to going to Armenia as soon as the war in Ukraine ends. Pray for him. Continue to pray for David Mallipudi, who continues the unusual ministry of wisdom and business acumen to help men plant Churches. Also, pray for Ibrahim ag Mohammed, who has left the Metropolitan Tabernacle on good terms to assume the pastorate of a Baptist Church in London.
That is my report on the ministry of Taki Korianitis, and what I think is a very bright future going forward, along with a quick update on some of our other missionaries.
We are a missionary Baptist Church. Involvement in missions, Church planting, and strengthening is what we do. And what we do abroad, we should certainly be willing to do here at home to reach out to the least, the last, and the lost so that they might be saved.
I close with First Thessalonians 1.8:
“For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing.”
That new Church established by Paul did their best to reach their area for Christ. We would not consider supporting missionaries who were shy about this. It only stands to reason that we do what they did and what we want our missionaries to do. No more. But certainly no less.
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[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Ionian_earthquake
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