ABOUT US

Jacob's Story

Hello! My name is Jacob Mulford, and this is my story!

I was born in Sarasota, FL, grew up in a Christian home, and spent the first 12 years of my life in Florida. My Grandfather is a Pastor at Grace Bible Baptist Church in Leesburg, Florida, and he was influential in me and my parents' lives. While attending his church, my parents surrendered to full-time ministry. We moved from Florida to live in Springfield, Missouri, so my Dad could attend Baptist Bible College. My family joined Park Crest Baptist Church in 2012, and they have been attending since.

When we moved to Springfield, I was under the impression that I was saved. I made a profession when I was around 5 years old and was baptized when I was 12. However, after spending a couple of years here in Missouri, I realized that I was not saved. Although I did things for God, I did not have a genuine relationship with Him. I wasn’t growing in my faith, and that is because I ultimately realized I never had that relationship to begin with. At the age of 16, at a church camp with the Park Crest youth group, I accepted Christ as my Savior! I decided that I no longer wanted to be identified by what others thought of me, but rather, by God. I put my faith in Jesus Christ, believing that He is my Savior.

Shortly after camp, I was baptized at Park Crest Baptist Church and then became a member. I had always wanted to be involved in ministry, and actually surrendered to ministry before I was even saved. After I got saved, I knew that God was leading me into ministry, so I went to Baptist Bible College in 2018.

While at Baptist Bible College, God grew my heart for missions. I had the opportunity to travel on a mission trip to Honduras just before attending college, and also had the opportunity to go to Romania while I was a freshman in college. Through both of these short-term mission trips, conversations with others, and much prayer, I realized that the mission field is where God was leading me next! During my freshman year, I also met my wife, Sydney, and we recently got married! We met at Baptist Bible College, and graduated together in 2022 with degrees in Intercultural Studies.

I am privileged to have done both a part time internship at South Gate Baptist Church here in Springfield, Missouri, along with a full-time missions internship at Park Crest Baptist Church. My wife and I both had an interest in missions in the Iberian Peninsula and had done various projects on this region while at BBC. This past October and November we went on a 3 week trip to visit Spain and Portugal. While there we were able to minister, meet people, and saw the very real need of the gospel in both Spain and Portugal. After the trip we knew for sure that this region of the world is where God was leading us next. The next decision was deciding between either Spain or Portugal. Both are in need of the gospel and we have ultimately decided to go to Portugal in this next step of faith!

Outside of my testimony, calling, and passion for missions, here are a few other details about me! I was able to travel with Baptist Bible College's worship team; I am a HUGE New England Patriots, Orlando Magic, and Florida Gator fan; I have grown an epic mustache, traveled to 5 different countries, and am a pro putt putt player (not really, but one can imagine right?!). I love sports, rock-climbing, kayaking, Star Wars, and Lego. I also love crazy styled socks, so sometimes you'll see me wearing some sort of crazy socks :)

Sydney's Story

My name is Sydney Mulford and I am a missionary to Portugal.

I grew up in a Christian home, and like many ministry kids, I made a profession of faith, but I wasn’t a true Christian. I knew what ministry was like, and I knew that people needed to hear the Gospel. I felt from a young age the pull to tell people about the love and redemption of Jesus, and when I was a teenager, I knew God was calling me to be a missionary.

But something still wasn’t right in my life. I had a calling to tell others the Gospel, but I hadn’t received it in my own life. I lived my life for years trying to convince myself that I was a child of God, but I wasn’t growing or following God’s plan for my life; I was only following my own. My life had become a game of trying to please God (or my parents) based on what I could do and what I could contribute. It wasn’t until I was seventeen years old that I truly realized that salvation is not by anything that I can do or contribute; it is only through the blood of Jesus that my sins can be forgiven and through His resurrection that I can receive eternal life.

I went to college a few months later and met my husband, Jacob. We dated all through college, and both graduated with our degrees in intercultural studies. We married a month later and jumped right into doing ministry together in our local church.

In the fall of 2022, we took a trip to visit Spain and Portugal because we wanted to see if God was calling us to the Iberian Peninsula. We loved our time there and knew that’s where God wanted us. Both Spain and Portugal are in need of the Gospel, as is everywhere in the world. We knew that God was gracious to give us the liberty to choose between Spain and Portugal where we would serve Him long term. We chose Portugal and we are excited to begin working toward moving there, meeting people, and sharing our lives, love, and Lord.