A litte bit about us....

I was born in Brazil, the youngest son of veteran BBFI missionaries Dean and Deloris McClure. I accepted Christ at age five in one of the churches planted under their ministry, and first felt the call to missions during a family camp in Brazil. I surrendered to be a missionary at age eleven in a missions conference. I graduated in 1996 from Baptist Bible College in Springfield, MO, then went on to get my Master of Biblical Studies from the BBC Graduate School in 2000, and a Master of Divinity in 2005.

Ann Janel was also raised in a Christian home. She accepted Christ as her personal savior at age 13, and shortly after was able to go on a missions trip to the newly-opened country of Russia. It was then that she realized that God wanted her to be involved in full-time ministry on a mission field. She is a 2001 graduate of Baptist Bible College.

We were married in June 2000. In the fall of that year we began our internship with David Lingo at the Berean Baptist Church in Bolivar, MO. We moved to Brazil in December 2006.

We were rewarded with three very adaptable children, Nathanael, Elena and Joel. We are constantly amazed at how flexible they are in new settings. From early life on the deputation trail, the move to Brasília, then Campinas, to all the unexpected changes that come from being missionary kids, they have a great spirit: "Hey, this new place means we can make new friends!" (Nathanael).

Nathanael is eight years old, and in second grade. He went against genetic predisposition by showing great interest in and aptitude for math. Like his dad, he could spend hours in front of a computer. If only he could update the website . . . maybe that's not too far off.

Elena is six years old, and our "cream filling": the sister squished between two brothers. She is our creative whirlwind, who can entertain herself for hours with just a stack of paper and some basic art supplies. Unlike her brother, she could spend hours doing school (as long as that means hours of coloring, drawing, gluing and etc.).

Joel is determined to be the child to give us our first gray hairs. At four years of age, he has already managed two hosptital visits, a dentist visit for broken teeth (tile floors in Brazil), and a number of random injuries. Reckless and headstrong, he still manages to have just the right expressions to melt a person's heart.

Since I was born in Brazil, I have dual-citizenship: I am both American and Brazilian. An unexpected result of this is that our children are automatically dual citizens as well. This helped immensely in getting a permanent resident visa for Ann Janel (you can read about that in Our Blog).