Greetings! Missionaries Chris Raguth & family at your service. We are grateful to be doing the Lord's work in Canada. How does a family living in Florida end up in Northern Ontario? Visit our pages to find out more about us and the work to which we have been called.

We are a faith-supported ministry - in other words, we present the vision of ministry God has laid on our hearts in local Independent Fundamental Baptist churches. They, Lord willing, choose to partner with us. We are not a part of any conference or fellowship and receive no set salary.

We praise the Lord for the churches that have chosen to partner with us! We have prayed about and feel lead to not wait until we have reached 100% support to implement a plan for planting a church in the north. We had two choices: #1 follow the Lord's leading to Espanola & the Geogian Bay Triangle or #2 follow our own ideas. There really was no choice! Due to the lack of rental housing in Espanola - the Lord has provided a little house in the heart of Espanola and as of October, 2008 we have settled in and begun the process of meeting people, visiting, having youth activities, researching possible locations to hold Sunday services as well as Chris going out and applying for jobs in the area to supplement the 32% support we have coming in.

If you are a pastor, or you know of a pastor, who would allow us to come and present the burden God has laid on my heart for the North - I would be very grateful for the opportunity to speak with you. Our "Contact Us" page has all the information for getting in touch.

The Raguth's saga began in mid-1991 when their good friend and neighbor figured out how to get Chris and Sherri to come to her church. Chris was lead singer and lead guitarist in his own band so she told him their orchestra desperately needed a guitarist. Well, he's naturally a generous person, a person who is always willing to help someone else out - Chris agreed to going to rehearsal. While there, he got a pleasant surprise. The people were nice and they prayed out loud for Chris. He came away impressed.

Their first child, Ross, was about 5 months old when they began attending church regularly. During a morning service, in Chris' words: "the preaching of God’s Word convicted me. I went forward at the invitation for salvation and my wife went for assurance(she was saved at an early age but backslidden).We were baptized and immediately began serving in the church. One of the first things I did to serve the Lord was to become faithful to going soul winning. " Chris began to witness to everyone he encountered. It was a weight on his heart to present the Gospel as often as possible.

Sherri believes God first called Chris to preach in 1993 when his father died suddenly. The Lord arranged matters so that Chris prepared and delivered his first message at the memorial service for his dad. That day, when Chris explained God's plan to save our souls - the gift of eternal life in Heaven when our bodies die which Christ made possible by His sacrifice on the cross - several people raised their hands to signal having prayed to accept that gift.

From then on, the Raguth's experienced their greatest contentment when they were on the Lord's business. They even remarked to each other: "If we could just live at church, life would be great!"

In 1994, Chris was offered the opportunity to act as interim music director for a small church. It was a wonderful time of growth and allowed him to gain valuable ministry experience. In 1996, the Lord moved them to serve at Liberty Baptist Church(which would become their sending church), and not long after that Chris surrendered for full time Christian Service.

It was during the 1997 Annual Missions Conference that God revealed to Chris where He would have Chris serve. Missionary Gary Forney, with almost 25 years experience in the Arctic, presented his field and Chris remembers that from then on he couldn't get Arctic Canada off his mind. Dr. Forney founded and now directs Points North Baptist Mission. The ministry in the Arctic, and indeed all over the northern reaches, needs willing hands to carry on the work that has been started. Even though Chris felt drawn to that area, he hesitated to believe God would call him.

Now, for a guy in college this would be no big deal. But ... for a 40 year old with a family and no formal education? Well, Chris figured God wouldn't use a guy with no formal Christian education, and why would he call a guy who's already 40 years old? Then there was his wife and children - all her relatives were right there in Sarasota; most of his were in Sarasota as well. But Chris could find no peace and his business seemed to just barely cover costs.

In December of 2000, he finally talked with his pastor, Dr. Gary Jackson. After telling all the reasons Chris could see for God NOT calling him, Dr. Jackson told Chris - we'll get you some schooling! Chris attained his Bible degree in August 2002 while working at furniture restoration and serving full-time as well. Chris was also ordained on August 15, 2002. Chris has testified that the only thing harder than working fulltime to support his family, maintaining his own home plus his mother's, continuing to serve in his church, going to school part-time AND studying for his ordination council was to do nothing and disobey what he knew the Lord was leading him to do. Chris' family has been wholly supportive through it all. His wife and children are excited to be doing the work the Lord has given Chris. You will see on their pages that the Lord has laid on their hearts the desire to help Chris in all he purposes to do for the Lord.