Roland and Evelyn
Blount have ministered to the people of Latin America for more than
30 years, the past 19 being spent with Spanish Television and Radio
(STAR) Ministries in Durant, Fla. Roland Blount recently spoke with
Scott Harrup, associate editor.
PE: How did your missions
ministry begin?
BLOUNT:
I applied in 1967 to be a missionary. The policy then was not to
send a missionary with any physical problems. Since I am blind,
I was not appointed. But in 1969 we received an invitation from
a missionary in Chile and got approval to go for a couple of months
in 1970. After that visit, local church leaders wrote to our missions
leadership asking us to return. In April of 1971 we went to language
school in Guadalajara, Mexico, to study Spanish for a year. We went
back to Chile in June of 1972.
PE: Was Chile a challenging
field?
BLOUNT: Yes, we
had a good ministry. The little church we were pastoring grew from
about 30 or 35 to more than 100 in just four or five months. They
knew they needed God, and they turned to Him in their distress.
But there was a communist regime at the time. There were food shortages.
Evelyn would sometimes have to go to the market two or three times
to find a farmer with food to sell. We could only get meat once
a week. The stress mounted and we had to leave.
PE: What was God’s
next step for you?
BLOUNT: We ministered
in Paraguay for 10 years. Our first project was building a church
for a new congregation. I remember when the resident missionary
was preparing to return to the States for a while, he said to me,
"Now, Roland, you have to build them a church." Being
blind, laying brick is not something I do very well. But the Lord
sent a man from Oklahoma all the way to Paraguay. He built that
church. It’s still a strong congregation.
We helped to start and
pastor two churches and we held evangelistic campaigns to start
other churches. I directed the Bible school, and Evelyn and I taught.
Probably our most effective ministry was in radio and television.
I had a radio program from my home for a couple of years and we
had a weekly television program for nine years. We left Paraguay
in 1983 to come to work at STAR. When we visited Paraguay recently
and came into the airport, one of the red caps called me by name.
I said, "How do you know me?" He said, "I remember
seeing you on television when I was a kid."
PE: How has the scope
of your ministry expanded at STAR?
BLOUNT: STAR’s
programs reach more than 50 countries in all. We have produced programs
in English as well as Spanish. We help produce Lugar Secreto (The
Secret Place), a puppet program for children. Evelyn and I produce
a radio version of that program, a 15-minute drama for kids. We
have produced educational courses for ICI and for the Advanced Christian
Education Department of Latin America. We are starting a project
which will eventually put every Bible school course onto video and
allow pastors to study at home.
PE: Any final thoughts?
BLOUNT: Everything
the Lord has asked me to do was something I could not do. Yet He
would help me to do it or He would send somebody to help me to do
it. So anybody who has any kind of physical disability, if God asks
them to do something, they should respond and be obedient. God knows
our limitations and He’s already planned how He’s going
to help us.
BLOUNT:
I applied in 1967 to be a missionary. The policy then was not to
send a missionary with any physical problems. Since I am blind,
I was not appointed. But in 1969 we received an invitation from
a missionary in Chile and got approval to go for a couple of months
in 1970. After that visit, local church leaders wrote to our missions
leadership asking us to return. In April of 1971 we went to language
school in Guadalajara, Mexico, to study Spanish for a year. We went
back to Chile in June of 1972.