Dr. Henry Vermont*, co-founder and CEO of Didasko
Henry is the CEO and co-founder of Didasko Missions Academy. He loves God and is deeply committed to Christ and His Word. He is passionate about getting the Good News of Jesus to those who have never had the opportunity of hearing the Gospel.
Henry and his wife Betsy made disciples among the "Iso" Mus1im people group on the south-east African coast for ten years.
In order to start work among the people, they had to learn two languages: the trade language of the country and the undocumented tribal language of the people. At that time, there were only two believers in the entire people group, and they were maintaining a low profile. There was also no New Testament available in the language. Henry translated 75 lessons about the bible into the tribal language, and he and Betsy started evangelizing the people using these studies. Eventually a small fellowship of Jesus-followers was started. Because the people were not literate in their own language, Henry recorded the lessons and made them available to the people on small MP3 players.
After colleagues took over the work from them, Henry and Betsy moved to South-East Asia in early 2010. During this time, Henry was part of the International Leadership of World Outreach for nine years, and has served as course leader on their “Nations” Course. He has ministered in a number of countries in Africa and in Asia, as well as in the USA and New Zealand. They now live in Columbus, Ohio.
Henry has a PhD in missiology and holds master's degrees in Information Systems (IT) and Systematic Theology (with a missiological focus). Before becoming an intercultural worker, he had his own software development business for seventeen years.
Henry and Betsy have two children, Esté and Adriaan (deceased), a son-in-law, two grandchildren, and a grand-dog.
* Henry Vermont is a pen name.