Birth 1921
Death::2009
Native Place: Northwest Ohio
Country: United States
Place of Vision : Nigeria
John Dreisbach was born into a godly farm home as the youngest of three children. His father was superintendent of the Sunday school; his mother was an active member of the Women’s Missionary Society and a Sunday school teacher. Strongly interested in foreign missions, the parents dedicated their children to the Lord’s service before they were born. When he was 12 years old, at a revival meeting held at his church, John confessed his sins, pled for salvation and was born again. His mother read and encouraged him to read missionary biographies, which played a significant role in confirming his call to missions in Africa.
After graduating from medical school, along with his wife, Bettie, he moved to Nigeria, West Africa, as a full-time missionary in 1948. He worked as a superintendent of three large leprosy hospitals in Northern Nigeria. Since the place was predominantly occupied by Muslims, evangelism remained the primary focus of their ministry. They also conducted Bible schools to encourage the people to grow in the Word and train the men to become pastors.
When he was appointed by the Bob Jones University (an evangelical university in South Carolina), during his furlough from Africa, to develop a curriculum for medical missions, he believed that field experience must be an important aspect of medical mission training. Therefore, he introduced ‘Project Compassion’ which provided hands-on training to numerous students. Though he was considered extension faculty of the university, he and his wife spent most of their time as independent missionaries serving the Lord in medical missions.
John also spent considerable time of his life counselling and encouraging college students in the area of foreign missions. He always challenged young people with the cause of world evangelization, which certainly was realized as many young people, encouraged by him, are now on various mission fields across the world.
