Lewis McClendon has always had a heart for missions. Perhaps this was because he grew up hearing stories about the mission field from his Uncle who was a missionary in South America. 

Lewis spent 4 years as a student pastor, was the founder and Executive Director of Ponderosa Pines Christian Camp for 14 years, and served as a Senior Pastor for 19 years.  He served for one year as the BBFI California Director.  He served on the BBFI missions committee before becoming 1st Vice President of Missions for the BBFI.

When Lewis became the Senior Pastor at Ventura Baptist Church, one of his priorities was helping to develop a strong missions program.  The church had a small missions budget, no Missions Conferences, and no one really knew any of the missionaries the church supported. He began to emphasize missions and missionaries. An Mission Conference was held every year and the mission’s offerings soon began exceeding $300,000 each year.

As he invited missionaries to speak in his church, Lewis noticed that many lacked compelling speaking skills.  Raising funds is essential to getting to the field, and Lewis knew that if missionaries could communicate their message more effectively, they would raise money faster.  So, in 2009, he developed the Missionary Communication Workshop  to help BBFI missionaries develop their speaking skills. 

Hundreds of missionaries have attended Abound’s training sessions in the past nine years.  Those who have attended the workshops have reported that they’ve made tremendous progress in their speaking skills. 

Seeing the progress that these attendees were making, Lewis decided to resign from Ventura Baptist Church and work with missionaries full time.

He spent a year working with Jon Konnerup with the BBFI Missions Office.  Now, Lewis works full time training and coaching missionaries with AboundMissionaryServices.com.

Lewis has a MA from Louisiana Baptist Seminary. He is also a Dave Ramsey Solutions Certified Master Financial Coach.

Lewis is available for  Mission Conferences, Pulpit supply, Mission Program Diagnosis and Recommendations, Missionary Prayer Seminars, and Ministry Communication Workshop.

Programs Available