November 2, 2026
By Madison Maxwell BA 18
Betsy has built her life around a simple, yet profound, conviction: God is at work in the world, and He is inviting us to join Him.
This realization met her at the young age of five, when she first heard about missions in children’s church. More than three decades later, that childhood spark has grown into a life devoted to bringing the Gospel to the nations.
A graduate of Ashland University with a degree in Spanish education, Betsy initially thought her love of languages would lead to Bible translation. After short-term ministry experiences in Spain and conversations with Encompass World Partners, she eventually felt drawn to Central Asia. In 2005, she packed two bags and moved overseas.
For the next 19 years, Betsy served among people with limited access to the Gospel.
Her ministry began with language learning and eventually focused on people with disabilities, many of whom were hidden away in homes and villages and largely unseen by society. Betsy helped develop ministries that provided camps for young adults with disabilities, served families in rehabilitation centers, and equipped local believers to reach people in remote communities. Eventually, she handed off those ministries and watched the local church carry the work forward.
Betsy’s interactions with Grace began in 2010. She returned to Grace intermittently during home assignments as a missionary-in-residence while pursuing a master’s degree in intercultural studies from Grace Theological Seminary. In 2024, after concluding her overseas ministry, she returned to Grace as a full-time missionary-in-residence, through which her campus contribution has been invaluable.
As a seasoned missionary, she brings personal stories, words of encouragement, and practical insights to missions classes. She has provided campus-wide exhortation from the chapel stage and taken smaller groups of students into local communities to encounter people from other cultures. She is purposeful not just in telling students about missions, but in mobilizing them to become wiser, better-equipped participants in it.
And that is what she’s felt called to from the beginning.
Whether she is mobilizing a five-year-old just discovering missions or a 65-year-old wondering if it is too late to get involved, Betsy considers it a sacred privilege that the God of the Universe has invited her along.
