Missions Conference Video

February 23, 2014

John Bechtel and Peter Lillback

Westminster held its annual Missions Conference on February 10th through the 14th.  While some of it was cancelled due to snow, we were able to capture video of Rev. Dr. Peter Lillback's chapel message, as well as Rev. Dr. John Bechtel's chapel and lunch discussion.

John Bechtel was born in Hong Kong, and in 1965 as a missionary with the Christian and Missionary Alliance, he went back, where he spent two years in the Yale University language program and two years working among the youth of Hong Kong.  He also taught in high school, preached frequently and planted a church in a high-rise resettlement area. 

Dr. Bechtel has a vital interest in missions and has promoted missions in many parts of the world including New Zealand, Australia, England, Africa, Asia and Europe as well as extensively throughout the U.S. and Canada.  He has received  honorary Doctorate degrees from Toccoa Falls College, BIOLA University, Westminster Theological Seminary and The Institute of Law and Science in Moscow.   Mr. Bechtel served on the Board of Managers of the Christian and Missionary Alliance from 1976 – 1981.

In 1981, Mr. Bechtel assumed a position with the Arthur S. DeMoss Foundation as Project Director for Hong Kong, Taiwan and China, and in 1983, his family moved to the Philadelphia area where Mr. Bechtel became the Project Director Coordinator with the DeMoss Foundation.  In his last 10 years with the Foundation, he served as Director of International Ministries, a  position which took Mr. Bechtel to Asia, Africa, Europe and the former U.S.S.R. at least twice a year.  The Foundation and the Bechtels moved to West Palm Beach, Florida about in 1996. Mr. Bechtel retired from the Foundation in November, 2004 and is currently active in a number of areas as a speaker and consultant. He recently built and dedicated two orphanages in China and is currently working on a major project in Thailand.