On Friday, August 27, 2021, Bethlehem will hold a memorial service for former Bethlehem missionary and longtime member Barbara Espland. Join Barbara’s family and friends at 11am at the North Campus for this service.

Below is a paragraph from the Bethlehem Baptist Centennial book (1871–1971), which highlights Harvey & Barbara’s significant part in the history of missions at Bethlehem ...

A couple to go to the Philippines in 1957, the Harvey Esplands were in a multitude of ways adopted by Bethlehem. Both of them originally South Dakotans, Harvey and Barbara met while they were students at Northwestern College and attended Bethlehem. Today they are on the island of Bohol. Harvey is working with a Rev. Clody to start a church in an area called Bilar. Florence Jacobson of the Conference Foreign Missions office in Evanston, Illinois, visited Bilar lately. While there she was shown a pile of 800 hollowed out bricks for the contemplated Bilar Church building. As soon as there are 2,000, construction will proceed.

We give thanks to God for Barbara’s life and for her investment in spreading the gospel in the Philippines and helping to establish a church there.