James "Jim" Burton

James (Jim) Burton was born May 22, 1930. As a young teenager, he was baptized and received the Holy Ghost at the Church of God. His parents moved to Arizona, where Jim taught Sunday School and preached to the youth.

One night Jim dreamed he was in a large boat and was rescuing people from drowning. The people in his dream looked Spanish. Jim shared the dream with his pastor, who told Jim that he would be a missionary to those people.

Jim’s parents eventually moved their family to Hamilton, Ohio. A coworker invited Jim to an Apostolic Pentecostal church in Cincinnati, and, at age seventeen, Jim was baptized in Jesus’ name and renewed in the Holy Ghost.

Jim also met Martha Schafer during this time. The couple dated for two years, during which Jim was drafted into the U.S. Army. Despite the distance, the two maintained their courtship via letters and long-distance phone calls. They married in 1951, while Jim was still fulfilling his military obligations.

The Burtons were blessed with three sons, and the family was preparing to move into a small three-bedroom house when Jim announced they were relocating to St. Paul, Minnesota, so he and Martha could attend Apostolic Bible Institute. It was the first step in preparing for a career as missionaries. While at ABI, Martha gave birth to the couple’s fourth son.

Following Jim’s graduation, Brother James Lumpkin asked the Burtons to assist at the church in Knoxville, Iowa, while they waited for their missionary appointment. In Knoxville, the couple worked in children’s ministry, preached, and generally did whatever they could to help the church. The Burton family also continued to grow as Martha gave birth to a baby girl.

In 1962, Jim Burton’s dream of becoming a missionary to Spanish-speaking people became reality when he and Martha were appointed to Venezuela. The Burtons boarded a ship in New Orleans with their four small boys and eight-month-old daughter and sailed south.

In the early 1960s, there were only three Apostolic churches in Venezuela (in Maracaibo, La Fria, and San Cristobal.) The church in San Cristobal had purchased land, but the congregation was meeting in a house. The Burtons worked alongside another missionary couple, the Martinezes, to complete the first stage of the San Cristobal church building before the Martinezes departed for the United States and deputation.

The Burtons then moved to Barquisimeto, a more centrally located city. Together with the help of Brother Motta, Brother Estupiñan, and a handful of saints, the Burtons built the church building that is still used in Barquismeto today.

After returning to the U.S. for their first deputation, the Burtons were approved to go to the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, a city that had been targeted for evangelism. The UPCI provided $20,000 to purchase land, and a headquarters church was constructed there.

After five years in Caracas, the Burtons felt God leading them to Valencia, another major city without a church. By now, many churches had been started throughout Venezuela, so Jim began traveling extensively throughout the country. Missionary couple Jerry and Beth Burns joined the Burtons in Valencia and taught classes at the Bible school, built a beautiful church building, and helped establish the Venezuelan church.

In 1976, Brother Burton felt the need to start a Bible school in Valera. (A church already had been established in that city.) Classes were held in a small hotel. Eventually the Burtons were able to purchase a plot of land that included two houses. The Burton family lived in one of the homes and converted the other into a classroom and living quarters for students. The school grew as God provided the resources, and today it is a beautiful Bible institute.

Jim Burton became regional director for South America in 1991. During the next five years, he and Martha traveled across the continent, providing support and encouragement to other UPCI missionaries. In 1995, the Burtons announced their intention to retire from missions service. The UPCI’s Foreign Missions (now Global Missions) Board asked the couple to put those plans on hold and serve as missionaries to Uruguay. They agreed and spent three years ministering in that nation.

By now, the Burton’s children and grandchildren were spread across both the United States and Venezuela. Their son Lonnie and his wife, Gail, had been serving as missionaries since 1976, and their grandson, Lonnie James, would receive his appointment to Venezuela in 2004. Jim and Martha longed to see their entire family together in one place, so everyone made plans to meet in Cincinnati to celebrate the couple’s forty-fifth anniversary. The highlight of the gathering was a special vow renewal ceremony, with longtime friend and fellow missionary Harry Scism, Pastor Norman Paslay, and the Burton’s son, Lonnie, officiating.

The Burtons retired in December 1999, officially concluding nearly four decades on the mission field. During this time, the church in Venezuela had grown exponentially. Today there are more than fifteen hundred UPCI churches and more than seventeen hundred ministers in Venezuela. During his tenure as a missionary, Venezuelan president Carlos Andres Perez awarded Brother Burton with a medal of honor, the first time such an award was given for religious work among the Venezuelan people.

The Burtons had been married for fifty-seven years when Jim Burton passed from this life to his eternal reward on September 4, 2008. Lonnie and Gail Burton and Lonnie James and his wife, Damarys, continue the family legacy as UPCI missionaries to Venezuela.