By Abdul Masih –
For years, Arch Bonnema set up trusts and sold gold three weeks a month to fund mission trips all around the world the other week in the month.
Many of his trips during 27 years into 108 countries were into Africa, but lately God has opened doors in Pakistan, where he is giving people Audio Bible, a music box hardwired with a chip with the Bible in Urdu, the local language.
“Pakistan is the one area that I never would have chosen,” says Arch, short for Archer. “But it is the one that I’ve had the most effect in for all the years I’ve been doing this. It’s a Muslim area. I just never had that desire to go there. Sometimes the places you least expect turn out to be the best.”
Arch estimates he’s given, through his staff in Central Pakistan, nearly 30,000 Audio Bibles all across the country, everything from Lahore to Karachi. The Audio Bible is effective because 43% of the population cannot read or write, he says.
In many cases, a group of people gather around to listen to one Audio Bible, much like how people gathered around the radio in the 1930s in America. In town, there’s always a station where people can charge their cell phones, the same chargers work for the Audio Bible. After three years of distributing the simple device, Arch says 90% of still functioning.
Untold hundreds of people are getting saved, he says.
Arch preaches six days a week via cell phone. He preaches at 11 p.m., the time of where he lives in Oklahoma, to match Pakistan’s 8 a.m. His staff travels to different areas and gathers people to listen, while he translates, usually to 15 or so listeners, Arch says.
A group of 13 pastors in the United States also preach via Whatsapp through the network of Pakistani workers Arch has set up.
Arch grew up in a small town of Minnesota of population 450. Both his grandparents were devoted Christians. One supported missionaries and planted Christian schools with his finances. The other retired at 51 and became a missionary to Mormons, later to a mental health facility.
Arch grew up in the church and never left Christianity. He says he committed his life to the Lord when he was 8 or 9. In high school, he led Youth for Christ group at his high school and at two other high schools.
At age 19, he made a Filipino friend who wanted to set up a Youth for Christ in Hong Kong. Tantalized, Arch joined him on the project (actually, he went before the friend did and set up a Youth for Christ at the Hong Kong International School.
From there, he “wandered the world,” visiting missionaries and helping with projects for Youth for Christ. He evangelized American soldiers in Vietnam and visited Sri Lanka (then Ceylon). He traveled to 34 countries, mostly in Southeast Asia.
At age 20, he returned to the United States. He became a businessman to support missionaries because it was cost effective, more people were being impacted for the Gospel per dollar than ministry in America, he says. Established in Texas, he set up financial trusts and sold gold and silver.
His thirst to evangelize drove him to actually visit countries and preach. It wasn’t enough to support missionaries. So he worked three weeks out of the month and traveled the free week to preach the Gospel.
He’s been married 52 years, and his wife has gone on all but two of his 350 trips. He’s ordained with the Assemblies of God but is not a pastor.
In 2019, he got the opportunity to go to Pakistan, the only nation in the world founded as a Muslim nation. When Covid struck, he turned to technology to get the Word out – and the “restriction” on his preaching turned out to be the blowing up of his ministry. With technology, he’s amplified his impact.
“I’ve had more people saved after I turned 65,” says the 72-year-old who is now based in Oklahoma. “Through technology, I can preach to so many more people.”
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