Ted’s faith transformed him. When he returned to the US, he married his childhood sweetheart, Peggy, and they moved to New York, where Ted would climb the corporate ladder, eventually becoming the National Sales Manager for the Wall Street Journal. Ted remained steadfast in his faith and took every opportunity to share the gospel with his friends and colleagues.
But he knew that God was calling him to do more. Ted and Peggy became keenly aware that there were people around the world who not only hadn’t heard the gospel, but also had no means of hearing the gospel. They knew they had to do something.
The Fletchers applied to become missionaries with several mission agencies. They were rejected each time – not enough formal training, too old, too many children, etc. However, after a visit to Nigeria in 1979, they knew that they couldn’t take no for an answer. Using the gifts God gave them, with the godly counsel of other believers, Ted and Peggy followed God’s call to establish a different kind of mission agency. They sent their first missionary to Nigeria later that year.
World Evangelical Outreach (later renamed Pioneers) started life in the Fletchers’ basement in Virginia, eventually moving to an orange grove in Orlando, Florida. Pioneers was one of the fastest-growing mission agencies of the 20th century and now supports more than 3000 missionaries serving in over 100 countries around the world.
