Martha Burton

Martha Burton was born on November 23, 1933, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Milbern and Susie Schafer. Both of her parents and her paternal grandmother were baptized in Jesus’ name and filled with the Holy Ghost in 1926. Nearly a century later, the Burton family is comprised of six generations of Jesus’ Name Oneness Pentecostals.

World War II broke out when Martha was eight years old. She realized that, if she were killed, she needed to be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost to go to Heaven. She was born again shortly thereafter.

Martha’s youthful heart also was stirred by the many missionaries who visited her church. This stirring confused her so much that, at age twelve, she asked God why. He answered her simply, “Someday you will be on the mission field.”

Martha met James (Jim) Burton when she was fifteen. They dated for two years, during which he was drafted into the U.S. Army. They wrote letters to each other almost daily (she still has and treasures his letters) and made many long-distance phone calls. They were married in 1951, while Jim was still serving in the military.

The couple eventually became the proud parents of three boys. Just as it seemed the young family was getting ready to settle down (they were preparing to move into a new home), James announced they were moving to St. Paul, Minnesota, to attend Apostolic Bible Institute. Martha completed one and a half years of study at the school before she dropped out to give birth to the couple’s fourth son. During this season she also reached an important ministry milestone by preaching her first sermon at a small church in St. Paul Park, Minnesota.

After Jim graduated from ABI, the Burtons anticipated an appointment to the missions field. While they were waiting for this to happen, they agreed to serve as assistant pastors under James Lumpkin in Knoxville, Iowa. Martha worked in the church’s ladies’ and children’s ministries, and the couple also welcomed a baby girl into the family.

Their missionary appointment came through, and Martha and Jim sailed to Venezuela with their four small boys and eight-month-old daughter. Martha Burton poured herself into ministry in her new country, serving as president of the ladies ministry, teaching seminars, and traveling by dug-out logs, canoes, small boats, planes, horseback, and on foot to the remotest corners of Venezuela to preach the gospel. The Venezuelan church board recognized her accounting ability and repeatedly appointed her to be the national treasurer.

While in Venezuela, Martha gave birth to another boy. Since there were no English-speaking schools near the family’s home, she homeschooled all six of her children, and later a granddaughter. She also taught several subjects at the Venezuelan Bible school. Pastor and Sister Dovales, Venezuelan nationals, later established a school in Caracas and named it the Fundacíon Burton Schafer to honor Jim and Martha’s families.

As the Burtons prayed, worked, and preached the Acts 2:38 message, the Venezuelan church began to grow. Approximately two hundred people attended the first Venezuelan General Conference, held in 1963. As the years passed and people responded to the gospel, the conferences grew larger. These meetings were marked by outpourings of the Holy Spirit and visible signs and wonders. At one noteworthy gathering, guest speaker James Kilgore testified to seeing “the glory cloud over the congregation,” as described in I Kings 8:10–11.

The Burtons established churches and Bible schools across Venezuela. Jim Burton was promoted to serve as regional director for South America in 1991, a position he held for five years. He and Martha planned to retire from missions work, but the UPCI’s Foreign Missions (now Global Missions) Board asked the couple to put their plans on hold and serve as missionaries to Uruguay. The Burtons spent three years ministering in that nation.

Martha and Jim Burton served on the mission field for nearly forty years before returning home to Cincinnati in 1999. They continued to minister as members of The Calvary Church, which was led by their friend, the late Norman Paslay II. Jim Burton passed from this life on September 4, 2008, but Martha still serves in The Calvary Church’s senior and Spanish ministries.

When she was very young, Martha asked God to bless her with an exciting life. He answered that prayer beyond her wildest expectations. She travelled to thirty-three nations and territories, including China, Hong Kong, Israel, and every nation in South America. She loved missions work and viewed the people she served as family.

One of the Burton’s greatest blessings came in 1976 when the UPCI appointed their son, Lonnie, and his wife, Gail, to serve as missionaries to Venezuela. Martha and Jim’s grandson, Lonnie James, and his wife, Demarys, were appointed as UPCI missionaries to Venezuela in 2004. These couples continue the family legacy of teaching, preaching, and equipping the next generation of Venezuelan pastors and church leaders. During the time the Burton family has served in Venezuela, the UPC in that nation has grown from three churches to more than fifteen hundred churches and more than seventeen hundred ministers. Their work continues, and God continues to add to the church in Venezuela.