2024 Alumni of the Year: James and Shelley Dinsmore

TBC graduates James and Shelley Dinsmore have been serving the indigenous Kekchi people of the Petén Department of Guatemala for 18 years.

Both James and Shelley sensed a call to missions as young children.  They met while in college, training for a life in missions. They were both highly involved in various ministries of Trinity Baptist Church during their college years.  Now, they are living out their missions calling as a team in every sense of the word. 

Upon arriving in Petén in the summer of 2006, the Dinsmores discovered a confused spiritual condition and a severely broken educational system. 

As they established a church plant and made connections with existing churches, they discovered that generational illiteracy and oral traditions had blended animism, witchcraft, and the gospel, resulting in churches and pastors who had no knowledge of God or the gospel and were unable to read the Bible for themselves. 

This prompted a new phase of ministry focused on training existing pastors.  

A farm was purchased and living facilities were constructed to house national pastors and their families. For over a decade, this model has allowed the families to live in close proximity for 3 years of Bible training as well reading and basic hygiene education.  The students learn to farm the land and raise chickens to support their families and cover the cost of their education. In this manner, dozens of pastors have been trained and dispersed to villages armed with Bible knowledge, spiritual maturity, and a skilled trade. 

The Dinsmores have also been used by God to directly benefit the Kekchi people through the establishment of a clinic and a school.

In 2019, funds were raised to open a medical clinic on the land.  Donations of supplies and funds flooded in to cover the set-up costs and almost immediately, the clinic became a self-sustaining ministry run by a Guatemalan nurse.  Local doctors frequently donate their time and resources to address the needs of the villages.

Beginning in 2021, waves of mass immigration left behind hundreds of children in Petén with aging caregivers.  Seeing the devastating need for safety and education, the Dinsmores followed God’s leading and were used to establish the Colegio Cristiano IBQ elementary school.

James continues to teach Bible courses in the institute while Shelley writes academic curriculum and trains Guatemalan teachers.  Each year, a new grade is added to the elementary school, with the eventual goal of establishing an accredited K-High School educational institution.

This new phase of ministry will have lasting positive impact across Guatemala. 

By providing an accredited education, future pastors will be prepared academically and children who grow up in the school will have a sound Biblical worldview and a bright future. 

Together with their four children, Jonah, Silas, Eden, and Titus, the Dinsmores will return to Petén at the end of May.  Starting this summer, construction projects will begin in order to establish village churches as well as to expand the school and meet accreditation requirements.

Reflecting on these milestones and looking forward with anticipation as we witness God’s hand on their lives, Trinity Baptist College is proud to recognize James and Shelley Dinsmore as TBC 2023-2024 Alumni of the Year.

Reflecting on these milestones and looking forward with anticipation as we witness God’s hand on their lives, Trinity Baptist College is proud to recognize James and Shelley Dinsmore as TBC 2023-2024 Alumni of the Year.

James Dinsmore earned his Bachelor’s degree in Pastoral Theology from TBC in 2004, and completed his M.Div. from Liberty University in 2022.

Shelley Dinsmore earned her Bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education from TBC in 2002, and completed her M.Ed. from Liberty University in 2022.