About

Our Mission

Finding the Few exists to find, challenge, equip and send committed disciples in obedience to the Great Commission mandate of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Find

Disciples Sought

We will intentionally and aggressively seek individuals who are committed to the cause of Christ.

Challenge

Disciples Informed

We will communicate to disciples of Christ about our global responsibility and seek to recruit laborers for the harvest.

Equip

Disciples Prepared

We help prepare individuals for committed, long-term missionary service through CORE Essential Bible Courses and the Missionary Training Program.

Send

Disciples Approved

In conjunction with local churches, confidently send forth prepared laborers into the ready, global harvest to establish and/or assist local churches.

What We Do

CORE Essential Bible Courses

With so few who are willing to go, we need to make sure those who are willing have the training they need to succeed for the long haul. The unreached peoples of the world are unreached for a reason. Many of them speak unknown languages and live in regions of the world that are hard to reach and often hostile to the gospel. To reach these people requires some pretty unique skill sets. We want to make acquiring those skills attainable. To acquire such specialized training can be expensive. Most sending organizations require a minimum level of biblical training. We are working to develop solid biblical training courses that we offer for a minimal charge through our Core Essential Bible Courses.

Missionary Training Program

After a potential missionary has completed the required biblical training needed to be approved to go through a sending agency, they still need specialized training specific to the type of work they will be doing. Our Missionary Training Program (MTP) is designed to give missionaries the training they need in an environment that will challenge them and give them the practical tools they will need to succeed when they get boots on the ground. Our goal is to offer the best training available for the lowest possible cost to the missionary trainee.

Meet the Team

Jeff Ryder

Born in a suburb of Pittsburgh, PA, Jeff grew up in a blue-collar atmosphere of tough, hardworking people. Through the outreach of a local church-plant one block from his home, Jeff’s family was exposed to the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ. At 14 years old, having gained an understanding that his personal sin debt was too great, Jeff gladly accepted Christ’s substitutionary death and gracious provision of salvation from the penalty of sin.

Growth in the truth of Scripture led Jeff to college at Tennessee Temple University where he made a decision to pursue a ministry in missions during his sophomore year. After graduation he sought specialized missionary training for reaching indigenous people groups with New Tribes Mission (now Ethnos360) and served in Papua New Guinea for over 18 years. After 25+ years missionary experience, Jeff has served as a pastor in the USA for eight years. Jeff’s diverse ministry background has uniquely provided a platform for him to address many areas with experience and insight.

After several years of contemplating the concept, a unique opportunity surfaced for Jeff to launch FindingtheFew.org and subsequently the Missionary Training Program. Jeff desires to passionately encourage, challenge and equip serious followers of Christ for involvement in the global missions.

Jeff married Kim in 2021, between them they have six children and 15 grandchildren. Outside of ministry endeavors Jeff enjoys history, being outdoors with his wife Kim and also staying active in fitness related activities.

Dr. Gayman Helman

Gayman responded to God’s gracious call while listening to a series of sermons in the book of Romans in 1980. He became an avid student of the Bible and was able to enjoy and grow in a discipling ministry with the Navigators for 4 years. Gayman completed undergraduate, professional and graduate studies at Texas A&M University (DVM and PhD.). He completed an M.A. in Bible Exposition at the seminary at Columbia International University in 2010. Vocationally, he served as a veterinarian and his professional interests in animal agriculture led to his serving as a foreign expert in China from 1988 – 1991. He has also served in Kenya from 2007 through 2011 training pastors for church pastoral ministry. Gayman is committed to the tasks of the great commission and building up the local church via sound biblical, theological education. 

He is married to his high school sweetheart, Mary-Alice and has three grown children and three grandchildren. He enjoys cycling and woodworking in his spare time.

Dr. James Fritz

Jim was saved in 1978 at the age of 17. After graduating from high school, he attended the United States Air Force Academy. His dream was to be a jet fighter pilot. On Oct. 29, 1980 he was involved in an automobile accident that resulted in him being instantly and totally paralyzed from the shoulders down. For the next three years he struggled with God’s will for his life. During that time, he attended school at the Ohio State University and in April of 1983, through several sovereignly planned circumstances, he surrendered to the will of his Lord, even if it meant spending the rest of his life in a wheelchair. That fall he enrolled at Appalachian Bible College (ABC). When his mother left him there, he had only promised to stay for four weeks. Through God’s marvelous intervention and provision, that four weeks eventually turned into four years. After graduating and spending one year as an intern pastor in Salina, Pennsylvania, God graciously directed Jim and his family back to ABC. There, he served as Dean of Men and on the faculty for 19 years. While on staff at ABC, he earned a Master of Arts degree from Liberty Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Baptist Bible Theological Seminary in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania. He also served as the principal and administrator of Greater Beckley Christian School in Beckley, West Virginia for eight years. After dealing with continuing health problems, he retired and moved to Apollo, Pennsylvania where he is currently serving on the elder board at his local church.

God has also blessed Jim with a wonderful family. He met his wife Kathy at ABC and they were married in June of 1987. She served as the Dean of Women at ABC and also taught at Greater Beckley Christian School. They have a daughter, Lindsay, and four granddaughters, Avi, Leya, Anari, Lina and another coming soon. They all have been a wonderful blessing from the Lord.

Dr. Ed Neimann

Ed was born into a Roman Catholic family in Boston, Massachusetts. His love as a boy was sports and eventually he received an athletic scholarship to the University of Massachusetts. While pursuing his dream of being a professional athlete, Ed heard the Gospel for the first time at a meeting at the university. He accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. His life was transformed by Christ and he began immediately to be involved in campus ministry. After graduating from the University, Ed attended Bible college and received his theological and ministry training. He served twelve years in Christian education at the high school and college level. In 1984, Ed received a call from God to preach. After being ordained to the Gospel ministry, he served 25 years in pastoral ministry. In 2015, Ed received a Doctor of Ministry degree from RPTS seminary in Pittsburgh while also becoming a member of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors. Ed is currently working as an evangelist. He is on staff as a missionary evangelist with Open Air Campaigners. OAC has missionary evangelists in 30 countries.   Ed is enthused about living up to the motto of OAC “Presenting Christ by all means Everywhere.”

Doctrinal Position

The Scriptures

Every word in the original writings is inspired by God and is without error. It is accurate in all matters to which it speaks: spiritual, historical, and scientific. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the foundation of the faith and the practice of the Church (II Tim. 3:16; II Pet. 1:21).

God exists eternally in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The three have distinct personalities and yet are of the same substance: one God (Gen. 1:1; John 10:30; John 4:24; Deut. 6:4; Matt. 28:19; II Cor. 13:14).

The eternal Son of God became incarnate in the Lord Jesus Christ, being born of the virgin Mary, and is true God and true man. He died physically on the cross and was bodily resurrected three days later, and thereafter bodily ascended to heaven (John 1:1, 14, 18; 5:18; Heb. 1:1-9; 5:8; I John 5:20; I Tim. 2:5; I Cor. 15:1-5).

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. He regenerates, indwells, baptizes, and seals all believers in Christ at the point of faith in Christ, and empowers those yielded to God (Matt. 28:19; John 3:3-7; Titus 3:5; I Cor. 6:19; Rom. 8:9; I Cor. 2:12; 12:13; Eph. 4:30; Col. 3:14).

Man is created in the image and likeness of God. In Adam, all mankind fell into sin, with the result that all human beings are sinners and justly condemned to eternal judgment. We can do nothing to merit salvation (Rom. 2:2,3,5; Eph.  2:8,9; Gen. 1:27, 9:6; Rom. 3:23; 5:12; Eph. 2:1).

Salvation is a gift given to those chosen by God and drawn to Christ by the Holy Spirit. The only means to their salvation is belief in Christ’s substitutionary death and resurrection (Acts 4:12; 13:38, 39; I Cor. 15:1-4; Rom. 4:4, 5; 5:1; John 3:16; Eph. 2:8, 9; Acts 16:31; Eph. 1:4, 5; Rom. 8:29, 30).

Christians are called to a holy life of service and testimony in the power of the Holy Spirit, service which includes the propagation of the gospel message to the whole world.  There is promised reward in heaven for their faithfulness in such service (I Pet. 1:15, 16; Acts 1:8; I Cor. 3:12-17; John 14:1-3).

Regarding marriage, the Bible teaches that man needed a helpmate and God fashioned a woman suitable for him and they were joined together in the first marriage, which is the first and most fundamental institution for all people.  Thus, God determined at conception whether one is a male or female and nothing a person does alters what God has determined. We believe that God has established marriage to be only between a biological male and a biological female. [Rom. 1:18-32; 1 Cor. 6:9; 1 Tim 1:8-11; Gen 1:26-27; 2:20-24; Ps. 139:13; Matt. 19:3-6]

The church is composed of all believers. It is the body and bride of Christ, formed by the baptism of the Holy Spirit and existing in two aspects, universal and local. The universal church is an elect company of believers, baptized by the Holy Spirit into one body. Its mission is to witness to its Head, Jesus Christ, preaching the gospel among all nations. It will be caught up to meet the Lord, after which He will return to set up His Kingdom. The local church is a group of believers voluntarily joined together in love, to worship God with praise and thanksgiving, and to glorify Jesus Christ through an aggressive effort to disciple others by the preaching of the gospel and the exercise of spiritual gifts. (Eph. 1:22, 23; 5:24-30; I Cor. 12:4-13, 27).

We believe that in the body of Christ men and women stand spiritually equal and constitute the Church universal. We believe women have had and always will have their God-given gifts and roles within this body. Accordingly, as the primary role of believing men is to be husbands and fathers, so the primary role of women is to be wives and mothers. We encourage women to have personal ministries, but the Scriptures are clear that male leadership is called to the local church positions of deacon, elder, and pastor-teacher. No amount of debate can water down what the Bible says about the individual and distinct callings of both sexes, regarding gifts and positions. We encourage women to pursue study of the Word of God, but the role of pastor-teacher is Biblically reserved for men. [1 Tim. 2:9-15; 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-9; 2:1-8; I Cor. 14:34-35]

Water baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the only sacraments and ordinances of the church and that they are a scriptural means of testimony for the church in this age (Matt. 28:19; Luke 22:19–20; Acts 10:47–48; 16:32–33; 18:7–8; 1 Cor. 11:26).

Spiritual gifts are God-given abilities for service, i.e., “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:1-16; I Cor. 12:7, 11; I Pet. 4:10; Rom. 12:1-6).

Angels were originally created holy, but now, because of Satan’s rebellion, there is also an unholy angelic kingdom (Col. 1:16; Job 38:6, 7; Ps. 148:2-5; Jude 6; Matt. 25:41; Eph. 6:11, 12; I Tim. 5:21; Rev. 12:9).

The blessed hope of the church is the imminent return of Christ. The events of the return of Christ take place in the following order: the rapture of the church, the tribulation, the second advent, the establishment of the reign of Christ on earth for one thousand years and finally the eternal state of punishment for the unsaved and the eternal state of blessing for the saved (Titus 2:13; I Thess. 1:10; 4:13-18; 5:4-10; John 14:1-3; Matt. 24:21, 29, 30;  25:31-46; Rev. 3:10, 20:1-6; 11-15).

We believe that at death the spirits and souls of those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation pass immediately into His presence and there remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the glorified body when Christ comes for His own, whereupon soul and body reunited shall be associated with Him forever in glory; but the spirits and souls of the unbelieving remain after death conscious of condemnation and in misery until the final judgment of the great white throne at the close of the millennium, when soul and body reunited shall be cast into the lake of fire, not to be annihilated, but to be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power (Luke 16:19–26; 23:42; 2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:23; 2 Thess. 1:7–9; Jude 6–7; Rev. 20:11–15).

About the Logo

BY THE SON

The gold triangle signifies the Godhead consisting of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who is the source of our empowerment. The Lord’s influence in each disciple is the difference maker. Knowledge of and growth in the truths of God’s Word is the enabling factor for the resolute, active, harvest-minded disciple.

TO THE NATIONS

The tip of the arrow signifies the extent. Jesus’ command about going in Matthew 28:19 was to make disciples of all nations (lit. people groups). Almost 1900 languages are still without God’s Word available to them.

IN THE CULTURE

The shaft of the arrow goes full circle to signify active engagement in the culture. Every disciple’s purpose is to be God’s agent for influence in the world around them. Representing Scriptural positions and engaging others about the gospel is our role.