Senior Staff
About David & Naomi
David and Naomi served in and through a local church in Lima, Peru for over 19 years. Beginning in July 2023, they will be based in the UK for the educational needs of their children (now 16, 13, and 11). As the whole family is fluent in Spanish, they look forward to making several trips per year to the Spanish-speaking majority world, but they are also keen to support gospel work elsewhere.
David loves to preach, teach, and do what he can to serve the church - including the church that doesn’t yet exist! He was born and raised in Barnsley, South Yorkshire (the birthplace of Hudson Taylor) and grew up attending a Baptist church. He “went forward” at a Billy Graham crusade in Sheffield at age 12, soon after the untimely death of his mother. David writes, “All I knew was that I wasn’t OK, and that unless Jesus Christ saved me, I would not be saved.”
After completing secondary education, David moved to East Anglia, working as a sales and production manager, and was involved in leading a group of young people - the vast majority of whom are still strong in the Lord.
At age 27, David went to Cardiff University to study Engineering. In addition to receiving world-class professional training, the local church and Christian Union was wonderfully clear with Bible teaching that felt electrifying - “the opening up of the gospel in the book of Romans both in the ministry of UCCF and the local church, was revolutionary to me. I KNEW the gospel was (and IS) the power of God.”
After graduating in 2003, David reached out to a missionary couple he knew in Peru and asked if he could come serve alongside them in some way. As they needed English teachers, David took a TESOL class and prepared to move. It was during this course that he met a young lady from Cornwall, who had been miraculously converted just two years earlier. A remarkable romance blossomed, and David and Naomi married in 2005!
For the next two decades, David worked in a local evangelical church, serving alongside a national pastor. In 2013, the Bhadreshwar family was sent by the church in Lima to support a small fellowship in a humble area of Arequipa in the mountains of southern Peru. They were given the use of a plot of land, built a simple dwelling, and began their homeschooling journey there, while serving the local church for almost 4 years.
In 2017, they returned to Lima, where David served as the main preacher/ teacher for several years. During this time, they made regular mission trips each year to the mountains of Peru - focusing on schools and seeking to encourage small fellowships and indigenous missionaries. The production of gospel materials (for nationwide distribution) which began in Arequipa was expanded to digital format, in addition to print.
One verse which spoke to David and Naomi regarding the clarity of Scripture was Psalm 119:130 – “The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.” This verse inspired them with its message that the glories of the Lord Jesus Christ and His gospel laid out in the Bible are accessible to ALL - regardless of academic level, and that the task is to seek to unfold them in faithful, prayer-soaked ways.
This has produced a passion for excellence in language (deeply inspired by David Daniell’s books on the life and work of William Tyndale). Additionally, it led to weekly preaching, book translation, organizing and speaking at conferences (frequently hosting and translating for GTN staff members John and Tessa Gillespie), writing and broadcasting regular devotional materials and daily Bible verse applications, among other opportunities.
David writes: “Our “big thing” is announcing the glories of Christ and Him crucified. That’s the center which gives weight to everything.”
“For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” (2 Corinthians 4:5 ESV)