International Miner's Mission (USA)
Written by Stuart Burns
Stuart & Cherry Burn’s Story
“Not to us, not to us, but to Your Name give glory.” Psalm 115:1
Background – Stuart & Cherry met in the 1960’s while working at an insurance company in Johannesburg, South Africa. Both Cherry and Stuart were saved when they were 12. Cherry made Jesus Lord of her life when she was 17.
A significant part of Cherry’s salvation resulted from the prayers of Andrew Murray, one of her ancestors, who prayed faithfully for his descendants to be saved. Cherry has followed in his footsteps. We get excited every time we remember that.
Stuart’s family moved to the USA in 1966, and he soon joined the US Army for three years, and served in Vietnam for 20 months. Cherry and Stuart wrote to each other almost every day, and in 1969, Stuart returned to Cape Town, South Africa where he and Cherry were married in December of that year. Their two oldest children, Naomi and Jo-Anne were born in Cape Town. The Burns lived and worked in Cape Town for 7 years, until they emigrated to the USA and settled in Nashville, Tennessee in 1977.
In 1979, the Burns were transferred to Roxboro, NC where their two youngest children, Graham and Hannah, were born. Stuart managed a lumber yard in Roxboro until 1985.
In 1983, Stuart’s expectant sister, Heather (24 at the time) was tragically killed in a head-on collision near their home in Akron, Ohio. Fortunately, her husband Dana was not seriously injured. Dana and Heather already had one son, Dan who today is the Minister of Music at a church in Florida.
Heather’s death had a profound impact on both families. For Stuart, God led him to James 4: 13-17, a key verse being “your life is a vapor”. God then directed Stuart to read “Through Gates of Splendor” by Elizabeth Elliot. Stuart was gripped by the true story of the martyrdom of the five missionary men. A quote from Jim Elliot has stayed with Stuart every since he read the book: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose!”
A few months later, the Burns paths crossed with a missionary couple from South Africa who were serving with AEF (Africa Evangelical Fellowship) in Namibia (where Cherry was born). After sharing our hearts and burden for the lost, we were accepted as missionaries with AEF and assigned to serve in Zimbabwe. However, God changed that. We could not get a visa for Zimbabwe, so AEF reassigned us to South Africa. We had a choice, either to serve in administration at a Bible School, or to manage one of the ministry stations of Christian Ministry to Miners (CMM). Faced with this decision, Cherry reminded Stuart that two years earlier, upon seeing a presentation about CMM, Stuart had said: “I would love to be involved in a ministry like that – 700,000 migrant miners from all over Southern Africa, a constantly changing group of workers, most of whom were not Christians, who needed to hear the Good News about Jesus.
And so, Cherry and Stuart were assigned to manage the West Rand Station of CMM, along with Elijah Dube, a Zulu evangelist and pastor who had recently graduated from the very same Bible School the Burns could have served in. The three of us were able to significantly able to expand the CMM ministry into a number of unreached Gold Mines west of Johannesburg.
After serving with CMM from 1987 – 1991, the Burns family began a 9 month furlough back in the USA. The furlough was due to end in February 1992. A crisis arose in that Stuart wanted to return to South Africa for a second term, but Cherry was concerned about the children’s well-being. Naomi was suffering from chronic fatigue and Graham was found to be dyslexic. The decision was made to remain in the USA. However, Stuart suffered depression for some time later. After all, God had called him to serve in South Africa, but Cherry believed we should put the children first, and that God would open a way forward for us.
At the end of February 1992, our last day of furlough with AEF, the Burns received a letter from IMM in the UK, inviting us to begin an IMM USA Committee. We were to take on responsibility for the Western Hemisphere, including all of North, Central and South America. We were to form a Board of Directors, raise funds for Bibles for the South African miners and investigate needs of miners throughout the Western Hemisphere. This was God at work – expanding our vision to reach miners, and still being able to help the ministry in South Africa.
Subsequently, Stuart has visited Eastern Kentucky, Mexico, Ecuador and established a solid ministry for IMM in Bolivia and Peru where today there are about 15 indigenous pastors reaching miners on top of the Andes in both countries. Stuart has also been able to visit South Africa, a real joy!
Stuart has been instrumental, along with others, in establishing IMM Committees in Australia (where he was born), South Africa and in effect, an IMM Committee in Latin America.
Stuart has close communication with Ruben Paco (IMM Bolivia Coordinator) and Santos Valero (IMM Peru Coordinator) along with IMM leaders and workers in South Africa, IMM Trustees in the UK and Switzerland.
Over the past 30 + years, IMM USA has established relationships with many other western missionaries who have helped the ministry develop.
Stuart’s responsibility includes a variety of administrative tasks, including gathering prayer requests for the Global Prayer Calendar, receiving and processing articles from the fields for inclusion in the bi-monthly Safety Lamp Newsletter, maintaining a mailing list of approx. 400 names, frequent contact with donors and board members, assists in wiring funds to Bolivia, Peru and South Africa, raises funds, attends missions conferences, visits the fields every 2 or 3 years, prepares for and participates in IMM Global Missions Conferences every few years.
Cherry and Stuart’s top priority is PRAYER. God hears and answers prayer, for the miners and their families. Many new names have been written down in the Lamb’s Book of Life through the IMM USA Ministry. Glory to God!
