It started as a simple yet unique idea, to train native men to preach the Gospel of Christ in their own countries and in their own languages. More than 100 new congregations of the Lord' s church have been established. Graduates of the school typically serve multip le congregations.
Many graduates reach distant congregations on foot.
Most of these men receive no outside support as they preach to establish congregations and reach out to people in areas lacking a congregation of the Lord' s church. Several men from Botswana were converted through that work, and they and Jerry shared the dream that someday a school would be established in Botswana to train nati ve men thoroughly and properly to preach the Gospel. In 1987, the school began when the Wooddale church of Christ in Memphis, TN undertook the sponsorship of brother Sullins and what initially was called the Botswana School of Biblical Studies. Also in 1991, Jerry' s son Ray was welcomed as a member of the faculty of the school. In 1994, the school moved to its present lo cation outside Livingstone, Zambia onto the property of longtime African missionary Lloyd Henson and into facilities once known as the Zambia Bible Training Center.