ABOUT US

Ministry Profile * Personal Profile * Statement of Faith

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Mike Snavely, founder and president of Mission: Imperative!
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Personal Profile:

Mike Snavely was reared in South Africa, the son of missionary parents.  His father was a bush pilot for a mission hospital among the Zulu people.  Growing up in an area that teemed with remarkable and diverse creatures, he had a wide variety of fascinating experiences which helped to mold his future.  After graduating from Oak Hills Christian College in Minnesota in 1979, he returned to South Africa to work for the National Parks Service in the Kruger National Park, which in some circles has earned him the nickname, “Ranger Mike”. 

Following this, he began a career as an African wildlife artist.   In 1985 he married Carrie Baum who grew up near Hershey.  Carrie, a musician, attended Lancaster Bible College and was the executive secretary for the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.  In 1986 they went to South Africa as missionaries with The Evangelical Alliance Mission (TEAM) and served by teaching at Durban Bible College.  Since returning to the U.S., they founded a not-for-profit organization named Mission: Imperative! in 1995 - a ministry of teaching creation-oriented issues through a series of seminars covering a wide range of topics.  The ministry necessitates travel, both in this country and abroad.  Mike and Carrie have three children -  Luke (1986), John (1989), and Laura (1991).

The “Creation Safari” seminars Mike has developed are not dry lectures, nor does he speak over people’s heads.  His "nuts-and-bolts" approach is to make these sessions as interesting and understandable as possible.  He uses PowerPoint, video, and various other props.  The use of humor adds to the interest.

Mike is the author of Creation or Evolution: A Home-Study Curriculum
(VIEW HERE), and has produced many DVDs that cover various topics relative to creation issues.  He is also an inductee into the Creation Science Hall of Fame.

In 2010, they started a series of traveling "safaris" that put wings to their subject matter.  There are two currently -- one to the southwest, and one to South Africa.
Ministry Profile:

Some Key Elements of this Ministry:
1. Mission Imperative was founded in 1995 as a 501(c)(3), not-for-profit corporation, and exists to give God His rightful glory in creation. It's all about the Lord Jesus!  As such, our prime focus has been the development of various ways to make the message of God's Word clear, especially as it relates to origins. 

2. The prime focus of the ministry revolves around our "creation seminar safaris" - a series of seminar sessions that cover a wide array of topics that deal with many of the facets of the whole creation model. These are typically presented in churches, conventions, camps, etc. There are programs that cover the evolution theory, nature issues, dinosaurs, the fossil record, ancient civilizations, the apes-to-man scenario, the Grand Canyon, etc.  

Click here to see our most requested topics.

3. We also take groups of people on exciting traveling safaris, too.  Currently, there are two different ones:
  -- The "SOUTHWEST SAFARI" is a 10-day excursion onto the Colorado Plateau in which we take in the stunning views at 7 national parks as well as other activities.
  -- The other trip is the "AFRICAN WILDLIFE SAFARI", a 16-day adventure that is specifically designed to give you an exhilarating taste of God's amazing creation as you enjoy, up close and personal, wild creatures in South Africa.

4. We have also produced a curriculum designed primarily for the home-schooling community, but has been used by many others.  Click here to see it.  

5. Furthermore, we produce our own brand of DVDs that include most of the subjects covered in our seminars.
Statement of Faith of Mission Imperative!

1 - We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments are verbally inspired by God and inerrant in the original writings, and that they are the supreme and final authority in faith and life.
2 - We believe in one God, eternally existing in three equal yet distinct Persons:  Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
3 - We believe that Jesus Christ was begotten by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, and is true God and true man.  We believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord from the dead, His ascension into heaven and His present ministry on our behalf as mediator, advocate, and intercessor.
4 - We believe that the Holy Spirit is a person, and that He convicts, teaches, guides and empowers.  We believe He gives gifts to Christians for the building up of the church.
5 - We believe that man was created in the image of God, that he sinned, and thereby incurred not only physical death but also spiritual death, which is separation from God, and that all human beings are born with a sinful nature, and that they must be born again to be accepted by the holy God.
6 - We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice, and that all who believe in Him are justified on the ground of His shed blood, and are saved by grace through faith wholly apart from human merit and works.
7 - We believe that all who receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith are born again, indwelt by the Holy Spirit and thereby become children of God.  We believe that they are also sealed by the Holy Spirit, thus being secured unto the day of redemption.
8 - We believe that Satan is a personal being, a fallen angel, the prince of demons, the great enticer and deceiver and that his destiny is eternal punishment.
9 - We believe that the Scriptures clearly teach that every believer should live a life set apart from all worldly and sinful practices, to abide in Christ and to walk in the Spirit.
10 - We believe that Jesus Christ will personally return to the earth to rule and reign.
11 - We believe in the bodily resurrection of every person, the saved to eternal blessedness and the unsaved to eternal punishment.

(Furthermore, we interpret the days of creation to be literal “24-hour” periods of time, and believe that the earth’s age can be measured in thousands, not billions, of years.)