About

In 1963, Bob and Joan Tyson lived ordinary lives in the small town of Villa Rica, Georgia, with good jobs and comfortable lives. They had been married for 12 years with no children (they thought they couldn’t have any).

One day, Bob went to Atlanta to hear his former pastor preach. When he arrived, he was disappointed to find out that plans had changed and a missionary would be speaking that night. Bob had no interest in listening to a missionary—he didn’t even know what a missionary was.

The missionary spoke about places in northern Nicaragua that had never heard the Gospel, read the Bible, or heard about Jesus and what He did for us on the cross. The missionary then asked a challenging question: “Who would be willing to go anywhere, at any time, and do anything that God would have you to go and do?” These words touched the very heart and soul of Bob.

The missionary continued: “If you are not willing to go anywhere, at any time, and do anything that God would have you to go and do, then God can’t use you.”

Oh, but Bob wanted to be used by God. His heart started beating out of his chest and all he could do was grab the pew in front of him. As he looked down at the hardwood floor, he raised his hand and said, “I’ll go.”

After talking to the missionary that night, Bob went home, woke Joan up, and said, “Honey, our lives will never be the same after tonight.”

Joan sat up in bed and said, “What happened?”

“God has called me to be a missionary!” Bob responded.

“What does that mean?” Joan asked with excitement.

“It means we’re selling everything we have and we’re going for God.”

Joan asked, “Where are we going?”

“I can’t pronounce it, but we’re going!” Bob replied!

Bob and Joan stayed up all night talking and dreaming about the adventure that they were about to embark on with the Lord. They were anxious to get on the mission field and were ready to get on a plane immediately.

However, they realized they needed to go to Bible college and learn the language first. After three and a half years at Tennessee Temple University, they graduated and went to Costa Rica to learn Spanish. This was their biggest challenge as they had never been exposed to any Spanish-speaking people and had no knowledge of the language.

As soon as they hit Costa Rican soil, God blessed them with a son, Philip. Joan always felt like this was God’s reward for their obedience to Him. He gave them a second son, Steve, four years later. After a year of language school in Costa Rica, they reached the land of their calling: Nicaragua.

For the first 30 days, they put up large tents in villages and held services. Despite opposition from different religious groups in the area, people heard the Gospel and asked Jesus into their hearts.

Bob and Joan fell in love with the Nicaraguan people and considered Nicaragua their home. After working there for 10 years, a terrible civil war broke out and they were forced to leave the country. Although the Christians and churches that they had been working with suffered through the war, the church grew!

As Bob and Joan left Nicaragua (always hoping to go back as soon as the war was over), they crossed the border into Honduras, and the first town they encountered was San Marcos De Colon. The Lord used Bob and Joan to continue working in Honduras and spreading the ministry there. Today, our mission center and main headquarters are in San Marcos De Colón.

Bob went to be with the Lord in 2007, and Joan followed after in 2016. Their legacy lives on with us forever, but what truly inspires us is their obedience. They were just ordinary people and God called them to do something seemingly impossible, but they were obedient and that’s all He needed.

Good Samaritan serves in many different ministries but our number one purpose in it all is to share Jesus and His love with as many people as we can, serving them in their physical needs while meeting their spiritual needs. We want to follow the Tysons’ example and continue to be obedient to the Lord in all He would have us do in Central America and Mexico.

We believe that the entire Bible is the inspired Word of God and that men of God “were moved by the Holy Spirit” to write the very words of Scripture. The Bible is therefore without error (inerrant) in its original manuscripts. God has supernaturally preserved the Bible and it is the sole and final authority for faith and life, providing encouragement, guidance, comfort and instruction for training in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:20-21).

We believe in one true God eternally existing in three distinct persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) each of Whom is fully and equally God; possesses all of the divine nature and attributes, and is totally worthy of our worship and service (Deut. 6:4; Matt. 28:19; John 1:14, 10:30; 2 Cor. 13:14).

We believe that God the Father is the first person of the Trinity and is the eternal, unchanging, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-wise, all-loving, completely just, perfectly holy, sovereign Ruler, and Sustainer of the universe. He is the Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Father of all true believers (Gen. 1:1; Eph. 4:6; John 1:12-13, 5:19-21, 17:1-5; Isa. 40:21-28, 43:10-13, 46:8-11; Rom. 8:14-16).

We believe that Jesus Christ is the second person of the Trinity and is the only begotten eternal Son of God Who became flesh to reveal God to man, to fulfill prophecy, and to become the Savior of the lost world. In becoming man Jesus did not cease in any way to be God so that He is fully God and fully man inseparably united in one person forever. Jesus was miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit; born of the Virgin Mary; lived a sinless life; died on the cross as the substitutionary, all-sufficient atoning sacrifice for all of the sins of all men of all time; was buried; bodily rose from the dead; physically ascended into heaven in His glorified, resurrected body; is seated at the right hand of the Father performing His ministry of intercession; will return in the air to claim His bride the church; and will come again to earth in bodily form, personally and visibly, to conclude human history and consummate God’s eternal plan by executing judgment and ushering in His Millennial Kingdom reign to be followed by the eternal state (John 1:1,14,18, 3:16; Luke 1:30-35; Phil. 2:5-8; Col. 2:3,9; Mark 10:45; Acts 2:22-24; John 1:29; Rom. 3:25-26; Heb. 10:5-l4; 1 Pet. 2:24, 3:18; John 20:20; Phil. 3:20-21; Heb. 1:3; Rom. 8:34; I John 2:1; Acts 1:11; Heb. 9:28; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; 2 Thess 2:7; Matt. 24:44; Rev. 19:11-21; Rev. 21-22).

We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity Who specially came into the world on the day of Pentecost to glorify Christ and to enable men to appropriate the salvation wrought by Christ. He is the primary agent for the conviction of sin and for regeneration. Simultaneously with salvation, the Holy Spirit imparts new life, baptizes the believer into the body of Christ (His church), permanently indwells the believer, and securely seals the believer unto the day of redemption. The Holy Spirit fills (directs and controls) those believers who are yielded to Him, enables believers to bear fruit, and empowers believers to live a life free from sin’s dominion. We also believe that the Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts to believers for the purpose of edifying the church in accordance with the teachings of scripture (1 Cor. 13:8, 14:22; John 16:7-8; 1 Cor. 6:19, 12:13; Eph. 1:13-14, 4:30; Gal. 5:16-17, 22-23; Rom. 8:5-13; 1 Pet. 4:10-11; Rom. 12:3-8).

We believe that man was created in the image of God by direct act of God and did not come into being as the result of evolution. Man was created to glorify God, worship and serve Him, and have fellowship with Him. Man fell through sin by disobeying God, thus incurring both physical and spiritual death, which alienated him from God. Man’s nature was thus corrupted and he is utterly lost, “dead in trespasses and sins,” and totally incapable of saving himself and coming back into right relationship with God by his own merit or effort (Gen. 1:26, 2:6,17, 3:17-24; Isa. 59:1-2; Rom. 3:9-19,23, 5:8; Luke 18:26-27; Eph. 2:13).

We believe that Satan is the instigator of evil and a real spirit being, not simply the personification of evil. He is a fallen angel who, under the sovereign permission of God, has been given temporary rulership of the earth. He was utterly defeated at the cross, but the execution of his judgment has been postponed by God until after the Millennial Kingdom when he will be cast into the eternal lake of fire. In the meantime, he deceives the world and seeks to establish his counterfeit kingdom on earth to discredit and blaspheme God and to tempt, accuse, attack and destroy believers. He can be resisted by the believer through faith and reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit (Gen. 3:1-5; Isa. 14:12-17; Ezek. 28:11-19; Job 1-2; 1 John 5:19; 2 Cor. 11:14; 1 Tim. 3:6; 1 Pet. 5:8-9; James 4:7; Rev. 12:9, 20:1-3, 7-10).

We believe that the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross provides the sole basis for forgiveness of sins and salvation, which is the free gift of God’s grace. Salvation is affected by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit and cannot be secured by man’s works or personal merit. Salvation is only appropriated by a person placing his faith in the finished work of Christ. Repentance is a turning toward God and away from sin and is a part of but not separate from believing faith. “The Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” and those who receive Jesus Christ by faith are born again, have their sins forgiven, become children of God, are a new creation in Christ, and “are sealed by the Holy spirit unto the day of redemption” being kept by the power of God (Eph. 1:7:13-14; John 1:12-13, 3:1-7, 14-16; 2 Cor. 5:17; Rom. 1:16, 10:9-10; Eph. 2:8-10; Rom. 8:14-17, 31-39; John 10:27-29, 14:6; Acts 26:20; 1 Pet. 1:3-5).

We believe that every Christian should live for Christ and not for himself and should, by the power of the indwelling Spirit, allow Christ to manifest His life through him to God’s glory. By ever increasing obedience to the Word of God, each believer should mature and progressively become more like Jesus. In the power of the Spirit, each believer should live a holy life; not fulfill the lusts of the flesh; exercise his spiritual gifts to build up the body of Christ; witness for Christ; be personally involved in making disciples to fulfill the great commission; perform good works and bear fruit to the glory of God (Gal. 2:20; 1 Pet. 1:15-16, 2:11; 2 Cor. 5:14-15; Rom. 6:11-13; Eph. 2:10, 4:11-12, 4:22-24; 1 Pet. 4:10-11; Acts 1:8; Matt. 28:18-20; Col. 1:10; John 15:8, 16).

We believe that the church is the body of Christ of which Jesus is the Head and whose members are those who have truly received Christ by faith. The local church is a tangible expression of the body of Christ in a particular location. Since all members of the body of Christ are united in Christ by the same Spirit, they should live in love, harmony and unity, being intent on the same purpose and accepting those sectarian or denominational practices which are based on a sincere interpretation of the Bible, which do not relate to substantive doctrinal matters, and which do not in practice cause disunity or hinder the ministry. The purpose of the church is to make Christ known to lost men and to make disciples, and glorify God on earth (Acts 1:8; 1 Cor. 12:12-27; Eph. 1:20-23, 4:1-6, 4:12-16; Matt. 28:18-20; John 17; Col. 1:24-29).