Nelson C. 'Bud' Hinkson (1934-1992)

Bud in his lifetime challenged 100s of 1000s students to give their lives to serving Christ in the ’ foreign field '.

Bud survived an accident with an axe before he was two. His mother prayed for his healing and dedicated her son to Jesus. In the dream that followed she saw children from all countries coming to her son’s side.

Jon Hinkson, his son, in ’ Ambassadors for Christ ’ , tells us a great deal about his father’s ministry, especially behind the Iron Curtain. from his birth to his final cycle ride to heaven. I have based this article on the headings he used. (See full text)

Memory Harvest. He was gifted with an incredible memory. His godly grandmother laid down the foundations of his Scripture memory. Years later Shirley Milligan, his future wife, wrote a list entitled * The man if I marry*. Bud memorized it and would remind her when he fulfilled a trait. Together they shared most of Bob’s adventures.

The University Ambassador Team Bud remembered in Luke 10 where Jesus sent out 70 in pairs - the result was the University Ambassador Team.
This team came to the UK. The watchword was Win, Build , Send and they were blessed with a lasting harvest. There were many foreign students. Bud spent a whole year in Africa. But they were drawn to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.
*** Behind the Iron Curtain*** Bud with his wife and two children headed for Vienna with their passports inaccessible in the van. On the Romanian border a guard saw Shirley’s Bible. He got away with it by gaining the guards sympathy by saying his wife was a religious fanatic. Bud’s ministry involved the whole family. He began the Campus Crusade for Christ ministry in Poland in 1975.
20 years before the Berlin Wall fell Bud was all over the Soviet Block quietly organizing one of the greatest missionary endeavors of the twentieth century.
Opportunities and adversaries In 1990 while teaching the scriptures in a secluded Czechoslovakian hayloft he was invited to deliver 5 lectures on Christianity at the Soviet Academy of Science. In 1992 , on his last trip to Russia, he taught 400 students from across the former Soviet Union

Filled with joy and peace he literally radiated God’s love to those around Him

He died as a result of head injuries sustained in a cycling accident in Germany. Bud was 58.

The New Life Christian School in Moscow in 1992 was renamed Hinkson Christian Academy in memory of Bud.

Sources * Ambassadors for Christ * contribution from his son Jon
Mission Poland
History of Hinkson