In 1974, Charlie and Carolyn Herrington founded Baptist Medical & Dental Mission International in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The Lord blessed their early ministry efforts in church planting, however, their hearts were constantly broken as they saw the poor suffering from lack of medical and dental care. They once discovered a woman passing through the last stages of cancer without even an aspirin to ease the pain. Countless other times, they met people with teeth rotted to the gum line. Seeing people suffer led them to pray about what could be done to help them.

The Lord gave the Herringtons a vision of Christian volunteers from the United States traveling to Honduras to serve in remote, poor villages. These teams of medical and dental volunteers drew people in need of free treatment and would also give the team a chance to share the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ with them.

The Mission's first team consisted of seven people. But now an average of 50 teams travel every year with each team consisting of an average of 35 to 60 volunteers. These teams work through the BMDMI churches so the communities can see the church's concern for its neighbors. Charlie and Carolyn promised the Lord that the physical care the Mission offered would never come before the spiritual care, and the Lord has blessed the ministry in a great way for keeping this promise.

On April 29, 1986 Charlie Herrington passed away in Honduras. The Hondurans mourned the loss of a spiritual father and BMDMI mourned the loss of a dedicated, dynamic leader. However, BMDMI belongs to the Lord, so the work continues.

In the last two decades, BMDMI has expanded its ministry. Short-Term mission teams now travel to Nicaragua offering medical-dental care, planting local churches, and preparing Christian leaders. BMDMI has also opened Christian schools, children's homes, permanent medical-dental clinics, and vocational training centers. To oversee the work of these ministries, BMDMI commissions and send out full-time faith missionaries.