Roger Lewis Buck

1. 9/28/1947 Pittsburgh, Kansas USA

 

Spouse/Family

Wife: Alice Marie (nee Williams) b. 8/25/1953 Kansas City, Missouri USA

1. 10/16/1976

Children: Allison Emi (Zehnder) (1982); Shannon Marie (Hoeppner) (1984);

Amanda Naomi (1986); Peter Lewis (1988); Kimberly Joy (1992)

 

Dates of Service Field Call Assignment

1978-81 Japan Volunteer Youth Ministry

1984-94 Togo Missionary

 

Biographical Summary

After receiving a degree in mathematics education from the University of Kansas, Roger Buck taught secondary-level math in Kansas City for two years.  During that time, he met two people who were serving as Directors of Christian Education (DCE) and became interested in that ministry.  He decided to attend Concordia Teachers’ College in Seward, Nebraska.  The summer before he began his studies, Roger met Alice Williams, who was studying to become a home economics teacher at Kansas State University.  He reflects that their meeting at this time was “as though God was giving me a partner for ministry.”  Roger graduated from Concordia in 1973, and his first call was to Trinity Lutheran Church in Mission, Kansas.  He served there from 1974-78, while Alice taught home economics at a nearby school.

 

It was Alice who expressed a desire to do mission work while the Bucks were living in Kansas City.  Roger became interested as well, and they researched their opportunities, settling on the LCMS Volunteer Youth Ministry program in Japan.  They were sent to Japan in 1978.  During their mission service, which lasted until 1981, Alice and Roger both taught English at Nozomi (Hope) Lutheran Church, Niigata, Japan.  They also taught at high schools and a women’s junior college and provided private English classes for a variety of people including professional men, housewives, and students at all levels.

 

After returning from Japan in 1981, Roger took a position as DCE at Grace Lutheran Church in Vancouver, Washington.  Alice did not begin to work again right away, devoting her time to care for their home and for their daughter Allison, who was born in 1982.  The Bucks expected to remain in Washington for some time, but in 1983 they found an ad in the Lutheran Witness stating an urgent need for a Director of Christian Education in Togo, West Africa, and felt that they were called to fill that need.

 

While in Togo, Roger worked in team ministry with Rev. Walt DeMoss among the Moba people in the northwest part of the country for four years.  Roger served as the leadership trainer, while Rev. DeMoss was the church planter.  In 1988, the Buck family was relocated to another region and began planting churches there.  Roger opened preaching stations, trained lay preachers using TEE (Theological Education by Extension) techniques, coordinated chapel building and well digging programs, administered food distribution efforts sponsored by LCMS World Relief, and helped with epilepsy clinics and emergency medical evacuations.  By the end of the Bucks’ time overseas, Roger was overseeing forty preaching stations.  Alice put her teaching experience to use by home-schooling all of their children; their daughters Shannon and Amanda were born in 1984 and 1986, son Peter in 1988, and their youngest daughter Kimberly in 1992.  Roger and Alice also both learned French and the Moba language of the area while in Togo.

 

After ten years of service in Togo, the Bucks repatriated to the United States and Roger began serving as DCE at Trinity Lutheran Church in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, a position he continues to hold until the present time.  After a few years in Wisconsin, once their children had grown a little older, Alice began teaching English as a Second Language to international students at both Lakeland College in Sheboygan and Concordia University, Wisconsin.  Her role as teacher at these Christian institutions allows her to educate and to witness to her faith with students from all over the world.  While in Sheboygan, Roger has spoken at the nearby Lutheran high school about mission and the lives of students in other countries.  In 2008 he became a lay member of LCMS Board for Mission Services, which provides him the opportunity to engage in mission by visiting sister churches in other countries, listening to and encouraging them in their ministry, and helping to strengthen the ties the LCMS has with its sister churches.  Although they have returned from their overseas mission work, God continues to call the Bucks to undertake His mission, to spread the Gospel and to encourage others in their faith.

 

Nota Bene

 

Phase 2 Information

Biggest missiological issue faced?

Roger writes: “The biggest challenge I thought I would face was the necessity of learning the French language, then using French to learn the Moba language.  In time I realized that I could accomplish the first, but that the second would be an on-going effort, one that would be high on my priority list.  I never felt that I had arrived at that goal.  As time went on, the greatest frustration was witnessing the constant struggle of the Moba people to survive from one day to the next.  There continued to be great need: spiritually, physically, medically, educationally, sociologically, etc.  How could I help the people in the best way, helping them meet their needs, without creating a dependency on outside resources that would not be there after my departure?”

 

Most significant contribution during missionary service?

From Roger: “I was very thankful for the opportunity to touch people’s lives in one way or another.  Of course I rejoice with the Moba-speaking Lutheran churches that remain active in Togo.  I have received a personal copy of the Moba New Testament that has been printed and recently dedicated.  I look forward to the day when I might be able to visit Africa once again and see first-hand the work that continues.”

 

Connection to today’s mission?

Roger: “Over the fourteen years since our return from Togo, Alice and I have been able to talk to many groups and individuals about the mission in Togo and the mission of the church in general.  She continues to use her ESL training as she works as a teaching adjunct for Concordia University, Wisconsin.  Through the years she has met many international students at CUW and enjoyed witnessing to them about the goodness of our Lord.  In 2007, I was elected to serve on the Board for Mission Services of the LCMS.  It has been a thrill to see how God is working today through LCMS World Mission.  In addition two Togolese men have come to Concordia Seminary in St. Louis for pastoral training, have been ordained and are currently serving back in their home country.”

 

Lessons Learned

Roger writes,

• “First of all, I learned that God can use anyone and everyone in His perfect plan when we respond to His call, ‘Here am I, send me.’  It is not always the most qualified, the best educated, or the highly gifted person that the Lord uses.  He can and will transform us to be the people He wants in His timing.
• “Secondly, the mission is not so much about our ‘doing’ as it is ‘equipping indigenous people’ to do ministry.  We are not about duplicating American Lutheran churches around the world.  Each nation must have its own church guarding the Biblical doctrines but allowing its culture to be authentic, that is, uniquely its own.
• “Finally, mission and ministry is first and foremost about people.  The focus must always be on people, not projects or programs.”

 

Best Practices

Also from Roger: “Throughout the 10 ¾ years we spent in Togo, we realized more and more that it was necessary to involve indigenous people in every aspect of our work.  Our efforts must never be viewed as the product of foreign missionaries, but effort manifested in production by Togolese people.  The Togolese were the lay preachers, the agriculturalists, the well-digging coordinators, the masons, the carpenters, etc.  Also it was extremely important for my wife to have time each week to spend in the villages with the lay leaders’ wives.  I would teach an afternoon for her (home-schooling of our children) so that she could have time doing whatever the women were doing that day.  Sometimes she would help cook, other times pick the crops, or hoe in the fields, for grind the grain.  She even spent the night in her friend’s house with her during a time of need.”

 

Phase 3 Information

Inspiration for entering foreign missions?

“I remember talking at Lutheran colleges and seminaries with prospective male missionaries who would, themselves, be very excited about international missions, but many would shrug their shoulders admitting that their wives would not agree to the commitment to serve abroad.  I was blessed with a wife who was committed from young on to serve as an international missionary.  It was she who planted the seed for me to try Volunteer Youth Mission work to Japan.  After that 2 ½ year experience, I realized that we would serve longer as the Lord directed.  It wasn’t really my dream to be a missionary.  I was content to be a congregational DCE, but she knew what would be the best for us as a couple and later as a family.”

 

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