Posts in Missionaries
Bob and Kristi Rice - January 2018 Update
Bob and Kristi Rice - January 2018 Update

Abiding in Christ, Resting in the Lord

While living in Rwanda several years back, Antoine RUTAYISIRE, then team leader of African Evangelistic Enterprise (AEE) Rwanda, and I would spend a week in prayer and fasting as we began the New Year. We enjoyed being refreshed together by God’s presence, earnestly crying out to the Lord about life and ministry issues which lay deep in our hearts. While in seminary at Fuller, each year I would take a few days of retreat at St. Andrew’s Abbey up in the High Desert of Southern California where I would reflect over the past year while seeking God’s presence and will for the year to come. Those were incredibly meaningful times of prayer and silence and enjoying the beauty of God’s creation. 

The day after Christmas, Kristi and I spent several days doing a prayer retreat on the shores of the Nile River here in Juba, South Sudan. It was an enjoyable, restful, and relaxing time of reflection, enjoying nature, and praying over 2018. 

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Africa, MissionariesThe Outreach FoundationBob and Kristi Rice, South Sudan
Keith Vandegrift and Lana Bell - January 2018 Update
Keith Vandegrift and Lana Bell - January 2018 Update

Dear friends,

Thank you for your love and support this past year. In many ways, this has been a hard year for us but we’ve been inspired and sustained by your encouragement. For that we thank you.

This is just a brief year-end update. Our move to the town of Jovellanos at the end of November has proven to be a good one. We felt we were moldering in Matanzas. We were bored and about to live in a construction site. In one week in Jovellanos we experienced more friendship, fellowship, support and ministry than the previous two months in Matanzas. That has been gratifying. To be sure, Matanzas is a nicer town in most ways, but our relationships here have been great.

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N&Ctrl America Caribbean, MissionariesThe Outreach FoundationKeith Vandegrift and Lana Bell, Cuba
John McCall - January 2018 Update
John McCall - January 2018 Update

Dear friends, 

I began the first day of 2018 in Nanjing, China. Once again this year I am teaching a two-week intensive course at Jiangsu Seminary here. This weekend I preached on both Saturday and Sunday at two rural churches north of Nanjing.

Since I have been teaching here for a number of years, many of my former students are now serving churches throughout this big province. This year I was fortunate to visit a district where some of my former students are serving. They were delighted to be together on Saturday and Sunday. One couple drove two and a-half hours from their church to be with us. It was joyful reunion to hear their stories of both deep joy and the challenges they are facing. We worshiped together, we prayed together, we laughed and cried together. I was moved by their stories of seeking to be Christ's salt and light in the dramatic change of today's China.

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Asia, MissionariesThe Outreach FoundationJohn McCall, Taiwan, China
New Church Development in Brazil - January 2018 Update
New Church Development in Brazil - January 2018 Update

Reaching Younger Generations Through New Churches

“Each church has its own style but each one of them needs to have two main characteristics: It needs to be centered in the Gospel, committed to it, because that is what gives it integrity. It also needs to engage people that are not part of any church by identifying deeply with what they are going through.” With those words, Ricardo Agreste challenges Brazilian Christians to become actively involved in planting churches that welcome new generations who are not part of any congregation. Ricardo serves a Presbyterian church that was started fourteen years ago and which has now planted twenty additional churches. He is also one of the directors for the Center for Training of Church Planters (CTPI is its Portuguese acronym) which effectively equips pastors among several denominational traditions.

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Projects, South America, MissionariesThe Outreach FoundationNew Church Development in Brazil, Brazil, José Carlos Pezini
José Carlos Pezini - December 2017 Update
José Carlos Pezini - December 2017 Update

Dear friends and supporters,

This year has been very busy for Odete and me. We have been traveling all over Brazil, teaching, training, consulting, leading pastors’ retreats, coaching, and mentoring pastors. We have witnessed the action of God in the lives of many pastors. They have shared with us their struggles and difficulties. Many of them have thought more than once about leaving the ministry. Others are discouraged and still others are suffering from depression. During these three years we have helped more than fifty pastors get out of depression.

Our retreats have served as a place where they are encouraged and challenged to seek God first in their lives. A great number of pastors seem to be doing ministry on “autopilot.” They are tempted to read the Bible only to prepare sermons and not as a means to a devotional relationship with God. They see themselves as working for God rather than working with God. 

The good news is that pastors who have mentors through the SARA ministry and who participate in our retreats are being transformed. Their devotional life has been rescued, and their passion for ministry has returned. They have shared with us their joy and say that they cannot live without attending retreats and being accompanied by a mentor in ministry. As a result of their participation in retreats and mentoring, their churches have grown and because of this, they have regained their confidence as servants of God.

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Projects, South America, MissionariesThe Outreach FoundationJosé Carlos Pezini, SARA: A Retreat Ministry for Pastors in Brazil, Brazil
Don and Martha Wehmeyer - December 2017 Update
Don and Martha Wehmeyer - December 2017 Update

Dear friends,

Martha and I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy, Happy New Year. We have been blessed this year, your prayers and support have kept us preaching and teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Southern Mexico, Colombia and Chile.  We are so honored to have you as a part of the ministry our Lord has laid upon our hearts. Only one thing we ask, please write us ‘de vez en cuando’ – once in a while. Of course, we get emails and Martha is big on Facebook but we really want you to know it is not a problem to answer your emails or phone calls. We want you to feel a part of what we are doing because you are! In fact, come and visit. We have extra bedrooms and plenty of coffee to share.

Let me mention three prayer requests for 2018: 
First is our ministry with theological education, especially San Pablo Seminary in Mérida, Yucatán and Berea Seminary, Palenque, Chiapas. Both of these schools are teaching solid Reformed theology but have severe financial challenges. The best thing to do is to help with scholarships as this accomplishes two things at once. The students get to study, and the professors get paid. The Outreach Foundation is the best way to send scholarship funds. $160 dollars a month pays for room, board, tuition and books in Chiapas. Mérida is $200 a month. There is no future for the Church without leadership formation. The life of a pastor in Mexico is tough, yet young people who could be entering other professions are stepping forward, so we do want to encourage them.

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N&Ctrl America Caribbean, Projects, MissionariesThe Outreach FoundationDon and Martha Wehmeyer, Mexico
Bob and Kristi Rice - December 2017 Update
Bob and Kristi Rice - December 2017 Update

Equipping and Preparing Leaders for the
Church in South Sudan
“College Day” at Nile Theological College

A festive quality filled the air. The large tents were erected by students and faculty for this special, annual occasion. We were gathering to celebrate the 26th anniversary of the founding of Nile Theological College (NTC). Our small contingent of mission co-workers showed up close to eleven in the morning amidst a flurry of activity. In attendance were alumni, faculty, former faculty, esteemed guests and the student body. A local choir led us in song, filling the tent with vibrant sounds and distinctive Arabic praises. The theme verse for the day, emblazoned on the banner up front, was from Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Amidst all the adversity the apostle Paul faced, he boldly proclaims, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”   Philippians 4: 13

Perhaps this theme reflects well the journey of Nile Theological College, particularly over the last six years. From their origin in Khartoum, a second campus was planted and developed in Malakal in the Upper Nile State in 2011. 

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Africa, Missionaries, ProjectsThe Outreach FoundationBob and Kristi Rice, Nile Theological College, South Sudan
Frank Dimmock - December 2017
Frank Dimmock - December 2017

Dear friends,

2017 has been a year full of new experiences, blessings and lessons learned. I am thankful that during the challenging times, both personally and for those around me, God has been calling us to trust in him. I am reminded by Isaiah 58:11: “The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.”

The newest country in the world, South Sudan, is at the top of the Most Fragile States list. More than two million South Sudanese are living as refugees. They are part of my concern and my ministry as Africa Mission Specialist with The Outreach Foundation.

During my visit with South Sudanese refugees in June, church leaders stated that healing trauma wounds and memories was a priority for all refugees, adults and children. We then began planning to conduct a training of local facilitators to work with children from each of the six camps for South Sudanese refugees in the Gambella region of Ethiopia.

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Africa, Missionaries, Vulnerable ChildrenThe Outreach FoundationFrank Dimmock, Mission Staff
Dustin and Sherri Ellington - November 2017 Update
Dustin and Sherri Ellington - November 2017 Update

Dear friends,

Greetings from Zambia. Being on a Southern Hemisphere schedule, we at Justo Mwale University are rapidly approaching the end of the school year. Eighteen of our students are finishing the main program, the Bachelor of Theology. At least fifteen have congregations awaiting their arrival as pastors. I’ve had the chance to talk with four outstanding students about their hopes and fears as they move on, and I’d like to share their words with you.  

Two of the four students I talked with have not previously pastored a congregation and are eager to start. Watanga Ngoma is the youngest graduate in his class. He says, “I am excited that I will be serving as an ordained minister at a congregation... I am happy that I will be in full-time service to the Lord, a thing which is upon my heart and which has been my desire. This brings joy to me that I will be able to contribute more to the church and body of Christ.” 

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Africa, Missionaries, ProjectsThe Outreach FoundationDustin and Sherri Ellington, Justo Mwale University, Zambia
José Carlos Pezini - October 2017 Update
José Carlos Pezini - October 2017 Update

Dear friends and supporters,

It is a joy to share some great news with you. Three years ago, Steve and Kay Wright came to Brazil to visit the church planting projects that their church, Zionsville Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis, Indiana, has supported. I had the privilege of accompanying them and during the days we were together, they shared with me about the Great Banquet, a retreat ministry which had greatly impacted their congregation. They invited me to attend a “Great Banquet,” and I did so the following year. Seeing what God was doing through this three-day weekend largely led by lay people, I heard the Lord whispering in my heart that the Great Banquet would be a wonderful gift to the Church in Brazil.

Steve Wright agreed with me, and we began planning for a Brazilian version. Zionsville Presbyterian Church started inviting Brazilians who spoke English to its semi-annual banquets to become the seed group of a Brazilian leadership team. In two years twenty people, ten men and ten women, traveled from Brazil to attend a Great Banquet. Steve and Kay returned to Brazil two years ago to guide this leadership group in preparing for the banquet. Then, with the blessing of God, we set the date for the Great Banquet in Brazil.   

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South America, Projects, MissionariesThe Outreach FoundationJosé Carlos Pezini, Brazil
PCEA Mabati Church Construction - October 2017 Update
PCEA Mabati Church Construction - October 2017 Update

Dear friends,

East Africa Mission Catalyst Stu Ross writes this summer from Kenya:

Building Churches in Distant Places    
Mission work is not easy…that's what Daniel and I always relay to each other when we send men off to distant places to do difficult tasks in the mission field.

We had such a challenging task. We loaded materials to build two churches in Boruhalo and Karare way up in northern Kenya not far from Ethiopia. The area also borders on the dangerous northeast province of Kenya where Somali bandits roam. The two churches are close to a town called Marsabit, a ten-hour drive from our base in Kikuyu.

We worked all day loading the twenty-foot truck. First, we loaded all the mabati for the two churches in the middle of the truck, then the steel for each church, one on the left and one on the right. Then we added the cement and all the doors and windows which were already fabricated in our shop. 

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Africa, Projects, MissionariesThe Outreach FoundationPCEA Mabati Church Construction, Stu Ross, Kenya
Doug Tilton - October 2017 Update
Doug Tilton - October 2017 Update

Dear friends,

It is 6:30 a.m. in the remote village of Andolofotsy, a six-hour drive from Madagascar’s capital, Antananarivo. Léa Harilalao opens the door and looks across the road to the thatched shelter where a dozen or so people have already begun to congregate. “The dispensary is only meant to open at seven,” she laughs softly, “but, as you can see, people come early.” So, often – when she does not have visitors to look after – Harilalao, a midwife, begins to examine patients well before 7 a.m.

Today, though, she graciously makes time to introduce us to her work and to the community she tirelessly serves. Harilalao runs the dispensary at Andolofotsy, one of 36 largely rural dispensaries established around the country by the Development Department (SAF) of the Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar (known by its Malagasy acronym, FJKM). This is also one of seven facilities that SAF has opened with assistance from Presbyterian World Mission – which is why I have joined Dr. Josoa Randrianonivelo, the head of SAF’s Health Program, and Pastor Paul Razafintsalama, the president of the local FJKM regional synod, to visit the area. 

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Africa, MissionariesThe Outreach FoundationDoug Tilton, South Africa
John McCall - October 2017 Update
John McCall - October 2017 Update

Dear friends,

I recently took the bullet train for a short half-hour ride from Taipei to a new city near the Taiwan Science Park. This area is Taiwan's Silicon Valley. Most of Taiwan's cutting-edge, high tech industry is located in this area. What used to be all rice fields is now many upscale, high-rise condominiums. While Taiwan's birthrate is dropping, this area has the highest birthrate in all of Taiwan. Many of the young engineers and software folks who work and live in this area are having children.

Thirteen years ago, the Presbyterian Church decided to start a new church development in this neighborhood. The founding pastor is a man who is full of joy and shares life with his church members. When I had dinner with the pastor and several of the members, one of the member's six-year-old son loved to sit with the pastor. This church is full of first-generation Christians who have come to know Christ's love through this congregation.

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Asia, MissionariesThe Outreach FoundationJohn McCall, Taiwan
Nancy Collins - October 2017 Update
Nancy Collins - October 2017 Update

Dear family and friends,

Greetings to everyone from Tulsa, Oklahoma. I have been spending time with my 24-year-old son Charles, who finished his nursing program on September 21. I managed my schedule so that I was able to be there with him. YAY!!

It is also interpretation assignment time again – I have the opportunity to spend time with many of you who support my ministry as regional liaison in East Central Africa. It is wonderful to see folks face to face and hear in more detail about the important ministries of your congregations. Partnership has been a theme sounded in the visits I have made to date.
 
July 29 was the 20th anniversary celebration of the partnership between Eastern Oklahoma Presbytery (EOP) and the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian Synod of Livingstonia (CCAP Livingstonia). CCAP Livingstonia General Secretary Rev. Dr. Levi Nyondo and Mrs. Ruth Nyondo were present at a special worship service with some of the key leaders in the EOP partner team. They shared the ways the partnership transformed their lives. 

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Africa, MissionariesThe Outreach FoundationNancy Collins, Zambia
Rwanda Church Construction - October 2017 Update
Rwanda Church Construction - October 2017 Update

Dear friends,

We would like to share a joyful update sent to us by Outreach Mission Staff Stu Ross on the dedication of two churches in Rwanda. Stu traveled to Rwanda during World Communion Sunday weekend to dedicate Nyabubare Church on Saturday and Karambi Church on Sunday. Both churches are part of the Presbyterian Church of Rwanda (EPR) with whom The Outreach Foundation has a strong relationship.

Stu writes: The dedications were well-attended by the congregations and leaders of the churches including the new President of the Zinga Presbytery, Rev. Daniel Dushimimana. Rev. Daniel told the congregations to remember where they came from. 

The bulk of the work building these churches was done by the congregations. They made bricks, collected sand, brought water, collected stones, and did other manual labor. 

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Africa, Missionaries, ProjectsThe Outreach FoundationRwanda Church Construction, Rwanda, Stu Ross
Alan and Ellen Smith - October 2017 Update
Alan and Ellen Smith - October 2017 Update

Dear friends,

After a very busy summer in Russia, Ellen and I are back in the U.S.A. for a couple of months of mission interpretation, combined with a bit of family time and the Russia Mission Network meeting in Pittsburgh at the end of September. Although we have been somewhat overtaken by events over the past few weeks, it is high time to tell you about this year’s Roma children’s camp.

All of the camping programs of our Russian partners have been affected by new legal stipulations. After several tragic mishaps that occurred last summer in secular camps, the state has become much more stringent in enforcing various safety, health and sanitation rules involving children’s camps. These rules can be very specific and sometimes unrealistic especially when the camp involves children staying in tents rather than in fixed cabins. 

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Europe, MissionariesThe Outreach FoundationAlan and Ellen Smith, Russia, Germany
Dustin and Sherri Ellington - October 2017 Update
Dustin and Sherri Ellington - October 2017 Update

Dear friends,

A church that supports our ministry recently sent us interview questions focused on prayer and God’s presence. I (Dustin) responded and thought I’d share the results with you. The questions are based on a book by Walter Brueggemann called Praying the Psalms. He says that Christians pray for all kinds of people in all kinds of situations, and he mentions three ways of knowing how to pray for others. One way is to attend to what’s happening in our own lives and surroundings, since we share a “common lot” with all people.

As you read my answers, Sherri and I would also invite you to consider: How might you answer the questions below for your own life, and for the unique place where God has placed you?

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Africa, Missionaries, ProjectsThe Outreach FoundationDustin and Sherri Ellington, Justo Mwale University, Zambia
Dan and Elizabeth Turk - October 2017 Update
Dan and Elizabeth Turk - October 2017 Update

Dear friends,

We are in the U.S. now for a few months, where our two children are in college. Robert is a senior and Frances a freshman. We visited Frances’ campus as a family. She got the feel for where her classes will be, and now we know where she will be living for the next four years. We also enjoyed hearing about Robert’s plans for life after college, most likely graduate studies in counseling and art therapy.

In the next two months, we will be visiting as many churches as we can fit in, from Florida to New York to Iowa. Unfortunately, we won’t see all of you during our interpretation. So, here is a brief description of some of the exciting ways God is working in Madagascar to give you a flavor of the growth which we are blessed to be able to participate in with our partner church, the Fiangonan’i Jesoa Kristy eto Madagasikara (FJKM). 

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Africa, MissionariesThe Outreach FoundationDan and Elizabeth Turk, Madagascar