member care

One worker serves as Christar's regional member care person for the South and Central Asia region, serving in collaboration with regional leadership to support those who work internationally.

Melissa Warner

Melissa will be working as a child counselor at Cornerstone Counseling Foundation in Chiang Mai, Thailand. She is sent to serve missionary families and partner with Thai counselors so they can share the good news of Jesus with Asia’s peoples.

Caleb & Marisa Duttweiler

Caleb and Marisa help lead East Mountain, a Christian leadership development program in Cape Town, South Africa, that provides holistic training for young believers in theology, identity and mission, preparing them to be light in their communities. It does this through inviting people to participate in a variety of relationally driven, community-centric, multicultural learning environments and connecting and supporting existing ministry partnerships. Caleb also leads a few discipleship programs for young boys.

Paul & Mary Adams

Training National Leaders, Worldwide

Paul and Mary serve with WordPartners in the work of equipping pastors to train pastors to preach God’s Word with God’s heart.

Paul coordinates the effort to communicate what God is doing to transform the lives and ministries of pastors all around the world through his life-giving Word.

Dick & Roslyn Albright

Training National Leaders, Worldwide

Dick and Roslyn serve with Training Leaders International (TLI). Dick is an international trainer, mentoring and leading teams of other theological trainers, pastors and seminary students.

These groups bring theological education and training in biblical interpretation and expository preaching to pastors and church leaders around the world, most of whom lack the means to attend Bible school or seminary.

Tim & Carol Avery

Mid-Term, Administration, Asia

Tim and Carol work with Pioneers International in Nairobi, Kenya. Tim serves as publishing director for Ekklesia Afrika, a local ministry that exists to supply the African church with sound theological resources. As part of that role, Tim helps African pastors write books to distribute in East Africa and beyond. In addition, Tim teaches part-time in a local seminary. Tim and Carol are part of a local church, along with their three young daughters.

Phil & Ann Baur

Organizational Leadership, Worldwide

Phil and Ann have been actively involved in ministry for more than 35 years. Presently they both serve at the headquarters of Pioneers International/USA in Orlando, Florida. Pioneers' mission is the relentless pursuit of God's glory among the unreached through church planting.

Together Phil and Ann work alongside the president of Pioneers, assisting with international collaboration gatherings, board meetings, advancement events, crisis management and providing executive support wherever needed. Ann also serves on the board of directors of CAMP-of-the-WOODS in upstate New York.

Norm & Cathy Beasley

Organizational Leadership, Worldwide

Norm and Cathy work with Wycliffe Bible Translators in Waxhaw, NC.  Norm is the director of global crisis management services. He trains missionaries to assess and avoid risk, planning for contingencies and ensuring that members are cared for during and after a crisis.  He is also an investigator on the team that works to protect missionary children.

Norm networks with many missions organizations and interacts with multiple government agencies, building relationships to partner with them in the event of a crisis for global missionaries.

Nathan & Vera Beck

Evangelism, Europe

Nathan and Vera serve with Greater Europe Mission in Opava, Czech Republic.   They are involved in various teaching, training and preaching ministries.

Their passion and focus is making disciples, and Nathan regularly coaches missionaries across the continent in the discipleship multiplication process. Together with local Christians, they use Discovery Bible Studies to reach non-believers in their community and around the country.

They are both passionate about equipping missionaries, pastors and lay believers around Europe to be disciples of Jesus.

Robbie & Lauren Becker

Christian Education, Latin America

Robbie and Lauren are in their 10th year at El Camino Academy (ECA) in Bogotá, Colombia. ECA is an international Christian school, part of the Association of Christian Schools International. Robbie is the high school Bible teacher and chaplain.

Lauren takes care of their four children at home, seeks to build relationships with their neighbors, leads a young mom’s Bible study, and is president of the ECA board. A major focus of their ministry is to disciple and send out Columbians as missionaries to the unreached peoples of Columbia and the world.

Matt & Lisa Befus

Christian Education, Latin America

Matt and Lisa serve through Christian education in Costa Rica at La Palabra de Vida (LPDV), a Christian school serving 330 national students from daycare through high school.

Lisa and Matt continue to serve at LPDV, but are widening their focus to assist churches and individuals throughout Costa Rica who are seeking to improve education in their communities with higher standards within a Christ-centered worldview.

Brian & Warrie Blackburn

Organizational Leadership and Christian Education, Africa

Brian and Warrie have served with Mercy Ships since 1994, both on board the ships and at the mission headquarters. Mercy Ships aspires to follow the model of Jesus to bring hope and healing to the world's forgotten poor, specifically targeting those in need on the continent of Africa.

Along with their twin daughters Addison and Alyssa, they are currently serving at the Mercy Ships headquarters in Texas. Warrie serves in the chaplaincy department, and Brian provides administrative oversight for the Academy (educational program for school-aged children of volunteer crew members living on board the vessels).

Judy Blumhofer

Evangelism, Latin America

Judy provides medical care, training and administrative support for the families served through Give Hope 2 Kids in Honduras, a ministry focused on family-based foster care. She provides long-term foster care in her home for children with special needs. Judy also collaborates with Adventures in Mission, serving as a pediatrician at Project Hope Clinic in Cacoa, Honduras.

Karen Bradley

English Language Training, Worldwide

Karen helps lead the SIL English team with Wycliffe Bible Translators. This team serves international colleagues by helping them reach the level of English they need for their role in the Bible translation movement.

Kyle & Dariana Bradley

Sports Ministry, Latin America

Kyle and Dariana serve with GO Ministries in the Dominican Republic. Their focus is sports outreach, where they help develop full-time Dominican and Haitian coaches. Go Sports' mission is to empower local leaders to make disciples through sports. They seek to provide positive role models and individual mentorship that creates opportunities for discipleship. Kyle is the lead director of GO Sports, where he helps to guide the culture, vision and mission for the ministry. Dariana is in charge of the girls' basketball academy.

The Bradleys’ mentorship of local leaders serves as the fuel for coaches to have a Christ-centered impact on more than 750 athletes that participate in daily sports academies.

Janet

Christian Education, Worldwide

Janet serves with Services in Asia for Family Education (SAFE) as an education consultant for families living overseas and assisting with transitional care for third-culture kids. Janet assists these families with educational and transition challenges they face as a family, allowing them to remain where God has called them to serve.

J and B

Evangelism and Discipleship, Undisclosed

J & B are on a team that uses digital tools to distribute God’s Word among a least-reached people group in one of the most inaccessible places in the world.

After doing face-to-face ministry overseas for nearly a decade, they left their host country when the door closed for effective ministry three years ago.

Their team formed shortly after they returned to the States. Since that time, the team has been able to share the Scriptures with thousands of individuals who lack access to the Word of God and Christian witness.

Daniel & Charis

Education, Asia

Daniel and Charis serve worldwide with the leadership team of their organization. They help to make crucial decisions as they care for the missionaries and teams of people serving in the areas of member care, human resources, retirees, onboarding and supporting.

Bible Study Teacher

Evangelism, Asia (Ministry Associate)

Due to the sensitive location in which these missionaries serve, names and photos will not be disclosed.

One worker in Asia disciples and shares Christ through the vehicle of English Bible studies and language learning.

Curt & Karen Cole

Organizational Leadership, Worldwide

Curt serves as the International Personnel Director for Avant Ministries, overseeing the ministry health of 450 global missionaries. His primary task is to build church-planting teams that are deployed to least-reached areas. He does this through actively engaging, mentoring and coaching people who are pursuing missionary service with Avant, including an increasing number of candidates from Latin America. Karen is an encourager and MK educational coach, especially with young missionary mothers.

Curt and Karen are based in Kansas City, Missouri.

Steve & Mirian Cox

Training National Leaders, Latin America

Steve and Mirian are at Word of Life Bible Seminary in Brazil. Steve and Mirian head up the married program and work closely with 30 families through discipleship, teaching, hosting and administrative work. Their goal is to show these couples how they can involve their whole family in their ministry without hurting the family relationship.

Together they are involved in a local church, where they serve as spiritual leaders.

Giles & Debbie Davis

Evangelism, Europe

Giles and Debbie serve with SEND International in Spain. Debbie is the national youth coordinator for the federation of national evangelical churches and director of Misión Posible, a national youth conference that is held every two years.  Giles has published three books in Spanish and teaches a youth ministry course for a seminary in Barcelona.

Together they travel around Spain to help Spanish churches reach youth, disciple them and train their leaders. They also run a discipleship house where up to four youth at a time come for several months for discipleship, ministry and life training.

Giles and Debbie serve at their local church on the youth, worship and missions teams as well as with the English club.

Anita Deyneka (MA)

Orphan Care, Worldwide

Anita works with Mission Eurasia, serving primarily with A Family for Every Orphan (AFFEO). AFFEO helps to place orphans and vulnerable children in Christian families, rather than institutional care, whenever possible, by finding caring homes within their birth countries. AFFEO helps to further alliances between churches and organizations.

The church is the center of this ministry; however, for children to receive the best care possible, it is essential to connect with government, social and judicial workers. Anita also travels to countries where the movement for a World Without Orphans (WWO) has spread since it originated in Ukraine.

Steve & Lois Dresselhaus

Evangelism, Latin America

Steve and Lois serve with TEAM in La Paz, Mexico. They desire to see the people of their city transformed by Jesus. Bible studies, leading a neighborhood "patio" church, participation in community events, and investing lots of time with people are the methods used to build up a network of "Patio" churches which are easily accessible by their neighbors.

Part of their ministry is directing the nonprofit they started called Reconciliamar, which “uses adventures at sea to transform lives.” Spending time kayaking, SCUBA diving and engaging in environmental care projects creates large blocks of time to invest with people and allows for the creation of long-term friendships based on shared experiences.

Joshua & Kara Dunckel

Evangelism, Europe

Joshua and Kara live in Budapest, Hungary. Joshua leads the strategic collaboration team of ReachGlobal’s Europe division. His team works in the “white spaces” of Europe where the organization does not have teams on the ground, but where opportunities exist for them to support and work alongside European ministry leaders.

The three main areas of focus are Ukraine refugee response, missions mobilization and building unity between churches and organizations. The goal is always to see healthy churches multiplying across Europe and beyond.

While Joshua serves across Europe, Kara works at home assisting Joshua, teaching and serving their community.

Rod & Kathy Duttweiler

Leadership Development, Africa

Rod and Kathy co-founded the East Mountain Leadership Development (EM) initiative in South Africa but have moved their home base to Tennessee. Rod has invitations to train and develop leaders in partnership with other Christ-centered ministries in Africa. They come alongside pastors, missionaries and Christian leaders to serve them in areas of consulting, discipleship, encouragement and bringing resources to those in need.

Rod continues to give oversight to the overall vision and direction of the EM global network. Both Rod and Kathy also disciple and mentor young leaders and missionary couples.

Bob & Becky Faber

Evangelism and Leadership Development, Europe

Bob and Becky serve with Salt Ventures in Sofia, Bulgaria. Bob is the president of Salt Ventures NFP, and Becky leads member care for the mission worldwide. The Fabers are involved in teaching, church planting, evangelism, leadership development and community service.

This year, the Pink Foundation, their ministry to children at risk, is launching Innovaid, a first-of-its-kind hospital volunteering program for Bulgarian youth. The Fabers are hopeful that this will yield community, medical and spiritual fruit in Bulgarian society.

Jake & Honah Finn

Member Care, Asia

Jake and Honah serve fellow missionaries and their families throughout Asia at Cornerstone Counseling Foundation, located in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Jake is a counselor at Cornerstone, which provides confidential and professional counseling, consultation and training from a Christian perspective for individuals, couples, families, teams and organizations. In 2021, they provided more than 5,000 hours of mental health services to 500 clients. Jake and Honah both grew up in missionary families and have hearts for serving the international community overseas.

Jim & Julianna Gieser (MT)

Mid-Term, Administration, Africa

Jim and Julianna work with the Student YMCA campus ministry in South Africa. Julianna is the daughter of College Church career missionaries Scott and Jenny Hawkins.

Jim serves as the Chief Operations Officer, providing operational oversight, developing organizational structures for current and future programming and offering relational support and mentoring to the ministry staff. Julianna is caring for their children as well as serving in hospitality as they host students in their home and build relationships.

We have been supporting Jim and Julianna since September 2019 and plan to continue through January 2024.

Joe & Holly Greeson

Member Care, North America

Joe and Holly work in Member Care with SEND International in Alaska and Northwest Canada. Based in Anchorage, Joe and Holly travel by road and plane to 21 different villages in the Far North. They encourage SEND workers and their families who are called by Jesus to live and make disciples in this region.

They also have a special heart for missionary kids isolated in remote villages who face many of the same issues as third-culture kids around the world.

Jon & Kathy Haley

Leadership Development and Mobilization, Europe

Jon and Kathy have been serving in Spain with WorldVenture since 1996 in the areas of leadership development and mobilization. They have a deep burden for the authority of the Scriptures and the purity of the gospel message in local congregations around Spain and the Spanish-speaking world. Their primary focus is to resource church leaders and support them in the ministry of expository preaching.

They develop resources and provide training on their website (exigetica.net), online with the Escuela Evangélica de Teología and at the ISBTE seminary. They also translate theological and academic resources. Currently they are in the midst of a twelve-year project to translate the twenty-volume Zondervan Exigetical Commentary on the New Testament into Spanish.

Jim & Kathy Hansen

Mobilization, Worldwide

Jim and Kathy serve with SIM at Ethnos360 Bible Institute (EBI) in Waukesha, Wisconsin, preparing prospective missionaries for service overseas. EBI provides Bible training with an emphasis on application in overseas ministry. EBI provides Bible training with an emphasis on application in overseas ministry.

Jim also teaches Perspectives courses in the Midwest and travels to Bolivia to teach modular courses. Kathy serves in their local church and is a special needs aide.

Jonathan & Amy Harris

Mobilization, Europe

Jonathan and Amy have worked with Operation Mobilization (OM) for 40 years. They first served with the OM ship ministry, but for the last 28 years have been based in Wales, UK, focusing on evangelistic outreach alongside local churches. This has involved outreach activities such as widespread school, sports and special needs ministry.

Currently a major focus is helping a new church plant in Grangetown, a multicultural area in the city of Cardiff. Other ongoing aspects of the work include regular street evangelism and mentoring young local evangelists.

Jim & Lynette Hatcher

Organizational Leadership and Member Care, Europe

Jim and Lynette have lived and served in Vienna, Austria, for 36 years. Jim serves as a regional leader, overseeing Greater Europe Mission (GEM) work in Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Switzerland and Germany. Lynette serves on a member care team, encouraging GEM women Europe-wide and co-leading a local women’s Bible study.

Both Jim and Lynette disciple believers in their Austrian church and lead Bible studies, and Jim serves on the preaching team. In addition, Jim is involved in leadership with the program he originally went to serve in 1986, which focuses on church-based theological education and training. He recently completed a doctoral dissertation about the history and impact of this program, which will assist them in planning for the next generation.

Scott & Jenny Hawkins (MA)

Evangelism, International Students

Scott and Jenny serve with International Students, Inc. (ISI) in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina. As one of nine ISI campus staff, Scott invests energy among nearly 4,000 international students and visiting scholars at Duke University. The team's vision is that each student shall encounter Christ, bringing glory to the living God and transformation to the nations. In addition to personal mentoring, facilitating group activities/events and coaching Discovery Bible Study discussions, Scott works to integrate local volunteers in meaningful outreach.

Jeff & Tamara Hershberger

Church Planting, Asia

Jeff and Tamara have been with SEND International in Tokyo, Japan, since 2012. After serving in a Japanese-led church plant for the last six years, they are serving in a church established by SEND. Jeff is part of the preaching team and speaks at other churches as the need arises.

Together, they use English clubs as a means to serve the community and introduce the community to the church and, ultimately, to Jesus. Tamara, in addition to church-planting support, teaches seventh grade part-time at the Christian Academy in Japan. They have two sons.

Greg & Faith Hurst

Church Planting, Latin America

Greg and Faith work with SIM in Bolivia, focusing on discipleship through family ministry and church planting. In the church they helped to plant, Greg serves as an elder and helps train the ministry team while Faith shepherds the leaders of the women’s and children’s ministries.

The Hursts’ vision is to mobilize their congregation and other Bolivian churches to plant gospel-focused, disciple-making, missional churches that glorify God in their city, country and world. (Acts 1:8) To this end, Greg is training a group of potential church planters with a goal to send out teams in the coming year. Faith is receiving specialized training to better equip and encourage the wives of these Bolivian church planters.

Todd & Sue Kelly

Training National Leaders, Worldwide

Todd and Sue work for Training Leaders International (TLI). Todd is the director of strategic advancement and serves Christ globally by nurturing pastors, leaders and the organizations that train them to communicate God’s Word more clearly and compellingly.

Sara & Emmanuel Klopfenstein

Community Development, Europe

Sara ministers in Nancy, France, with Youth For Christ, predominantly in the musical realm. She directs gospel choirs that are open to anyone wanting to sing that repertoire, including the unchurched, and also directs inter-church musical projects. Additionally, she helps with an inner-city ministry, which offers a tutoring program.

Sara’s husband, Emmanuel, manages a government-funded program for underage non-accompanied refugees.

Steve & Lois Krogh

Training National Leaders, Worldwide

Steve and Lois serve with Training Leaders International, where Steve is an international trainer on TLI's formal side, working with national partners who have asked for assistance in starting a theological school. Their mission is to equip pastors and church leaders to be faithful expositors of God's Word, skillfully shepherding God's people in their own culture.

Daniel

Training National Leaders, Middle East

Daniel teaches theology and Hebrew language at Forman Christian College in Lahore, Pakistan. The college’s Christian studies faculty serve a Christian minority with a Master's program that is well equipped for training in biblical studies.

Daniel feels privileged to have students in his courses who are eager to study the Bible carefully while constantly considering its significance for the church. It is his hope and vision that the next generation of Pakistani Bible teachers will teach exegesis and biblical theology with humility, maturity and academic thoroughness. Daniel and his colleagues are seeing more and more gifted Pakistani theologians replace the expats who trained them, and he is excited and grateful to be a part of that story.

Dan & Beth

Member Care, Worldwide

Dan and Beth serve with SIM. Dan is global chaplain, traveling to support missionaries and teams around the world. Chaplaincy is a ministry of presence and confidentiality with the purpose of helping keep workers on the field and serving effectively. Beth cares for her mother, retired missionary Muriel Stilwell, and provides hospitality to missionaries visiting SIM's home office in Charlotte, NC. Dan and Beth have three adult children, two of which married in the summer of 2022.

Mihai & Tamara Lundell

Member Care and Sports Ministry, Europe

Mihai and Tamara live in Italy and are part of the Europe area leadership team with One Challenge International. Their primary ministry responsibilities are member care, coordinating sports ministry and guiding a new generation of leaders in spiritual formation.

Mihai serves on the executive committee of the European Member Care (EMC) board, debriefing mission workers who live throughout Europe and the Middle East.

Tamara offers one-on-one spiritual direction to more than 20 European leaders and produces biblically centered spiritual exercises that are available online. They are also active in their local church.

Jeff & Irene

Translation, Asia

Jeff and Irene serve in Thailand with their two children. Jeff has finished his preliminary training for Bible translation work and is now working toward translating the Bible for an unreached, Bible-less language group, starting with the study of the target language. This people group is predominantly Buddhist in name, though spiritism is prevalent. They are resistant to the gospel, but a small church is slowly growing despite persecution.

John & Elsa Maust

Administration, Worldwide (MA)

John and Elsa Maust are based in Wheaton and serve with Media Associates International (MAI), a global ministry that equips and encourages Christian publishing staff and writers to create locally authored content that extends the gospel and nurtures the church in hard places of the world.

John is the president of MAI, and Elsa provides part-time Spanish interpretation and translation for both the ministry and a local school district. Since MAI’s founding 38 years ago, some 10,000 men and women from 85 countries have been helped to create life-transforming Christian content for their readers.

Thad & Joy McAuley

Organizational Leadership, Europe

Thad and Joy work across Europe with Greater Europe Mission (GEM). Thad is responsible for GEM's operations and culture across 25 countries, focused on equipping and enabling 700 workers involved in one-on-one and small group discipleship, church planting, evangelism, refugee work, connections through the arts, and youth and family camps. Joy enjoys her role as spiritual director, helping missionaries to strengthen their relationships with Jesus so their ministry flows out from an ever-deepening relationship with him.

Rick & Janice McKinley

Sports Ministry, Worldwide

Rick and Janice began serving with Missionary Athletes International (MAI) in 1987. MAI’s mission is to glorify God and see lives transformed by communicating the message of Jesus Christ through the global environment of soccer. Through the medium of sports ministry, they train athletes, coaches and churches that are sent out to love God and serve others. Along with international training of coaches and working with collegiate coaches here in the U.S., Rick continues to lead three to four trips each year as MAI's director of international tours.

Kristiana & Cory Miller

Member Care, Evangelism & Discipleship, Europe

Kristiana serves missionary kids across Europe with Greater Europe Mission. Kristiana is a missionary kid from Austria, where her parents, College Church missionaries Jim and Lynette Hatcher, have served for more than 35 years. Her family (husband, Cory, and daughters Rylynn and Melody) was most recently based out of Ireland, but after two years of waiting Stateside for the Lord's direction, the Lord guided them back to Austria, strategically located in central Europe. The Lord has placed on them a very clear burden and call for missionary kids and has gifted them to connect with the young people with whom they minister.

Kristiana also serves alongside Bund Evangelikaler Gemeinden to develop a member care initiative, particularly for the youth of Austrian pastors and Christian leaders.

Terri (& Matt) Miller

Member Care, Worldwide

Terri is part of the Europe leadership team of ReachGlobal, with specific oversight of the resource team that provides events, training, communications, business services and new staff support for nearly 150 households serving across Europe in the work of church multiplication.

She also serves as the global church representative for the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), representing NAE at events and meetings related to the global church as well as representing the global church to NAE and its members for mutual learning, encouragement and support.

Greg & Debby Nichols

Evangelism and Leadership Development, Europe

Greg and Debby serve in Czech Republic with Greater Europe Mission (GEM). Debby has been ministering to refugees in Prague since 2017. As a result of the war in Ukraine, Debby and Greg have pivoted to focus specifically on displaced Ukrainians. They are housing and caring for Ukrainian women and children from eight families and are developing a team around themselves to facilitate Jesus's healing to the bodies, minds and souls of Ukrainians in Prague and the Czech Republic.

Greg also trains and coaches leaders, nationals and expats, as a member of GEM’s leader development team. Additionally, he coaches the Prague Lions, a semi-pro American football team, which provides an excellent opportunity to be involved in the lives of his players.

Robert & Laurie

Evangelism, Asia

Robert and Laurie serve with in campus ministry with international students in Chicago, home to 20,000 international students. Most of these students come from countries in Asia, and the vast majority of the students have never heard the gospel before. Many have never seen a Bible before.

Rob and Laurie lead evangelistic Bible studies and disciple believers with a vision that as these new believers move on from Chicago and likely return to their home country, they will be fruitful disciples who lead others to Christ.

Stanley & Marjorie Okoro

Evangelism, Europe

Stanley and Marjorie live in Lille, France, where Stanley has served for more than ten years with Greater Europe Mission (GEM). They serve as leaders of a small church-planting team with a vision to see a movement of disciples who are continually being transformed by Christ, living out their faith in the church and sharing their faith in their natural environments.

Lille is an extremely diverse city with large populations of Muslims as well as North and West Africans. Many have gone through harrowing experiences and often have questions about God. The team spends considerable time cultivating a presence through prayer walking, sharing the gospel with French natives and immigrants alike, giving away coffee and tea and leading Discovery Bible Studies.

Jeremy & Christy Otten

Leadership Development, Europe

Jeremy and Christy serve with WorldVenture to provide theological education and counseling in Europe. They are in their fifth year serving in Leuven, Belgium.

Jeremy teaches full-time in the New Testament department at the Evangelische Theologische Faculteit (ETF). He enjoys the opportunity to work with and mentor students from across Europe and all over the world as they prepare for lives of ministry and discipleship. He is also serving as an elder at their local church.

Christy is busy providing counseling support for WorldVenture missionaries as well as ETF students. They have 3 boys--Kai (8), Caleb (6), and Sam (5)--who are busy with school and soccer.

Steve & Teri Pardue

Training National Leaders, Asia

Steve and Teri serve with TeachBeyond in the Philippines. Steve is on the theology faculty at the International Graduate School of Leadership and directs a doctoral program for the Asia Graduate School of Theology. Graduates of these schools serve in more than 20 nations as pastors, church leaders, missionaries and seminary faculty, providing crucial leadership to the rapidly growing Asian church. Steve also partners with a regional publisher to create theological textbooks for Asian Christians.

Teri directs a preschool for local and missionary families, providing a safe and stimulating environment for young learners. In connection with the preschool, she also partners with a local Bible college to train and equip students preparing for teaching vocations.

Ben & Mandy Pehrson

Translation, Asia

Ben and Mandy Pehrson live in Papua New Guinea (PNG), training Papua New Guineans in the joint ministry of Bible translation, literacy and Scripture engagement. Their goal is to see Papua New Guineans knowing and living God’s Word, leading to changed lives and transformed communities. Ben and Mandy are the team leaders for the Aitape West Translation Program, which includes 14 missionaries and about 65 PNG volunteers.

Their team serves 11 different language groups from four language families in the most linguistically diverse area of the world. They are also beginning to train local people in the art of oral Bible storytelling.

Ben regularly teaches introductory linguistics classes for PNG translators, and has begun a PhD in linguistics. Mandy assists with admin for the translation project and will teach cooking at the international school for missionary kids.

Jeff & Jane Pelz

Evangelism, North America

Jeff and Jane Pelz work with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Jeff is the staff worker of a multinational chapter at College of DuPage (COD), where he reaches out to domestic and international students, refugees and immigrants.  His role as Bible study leader, mentor and evangelist includes training up the next generation of students to love Jesus and share him winsomely.

Jane is Link Staff Coordinator for Asia, which entails responding to invitations from more than 20 sister movements in the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) across Asia to mobilize, provide pastoral care, resource and supervise US interVarsity staff sent to this region. Additionally, Jane is providing global leadership regarding international student ministry to the IFES. Jeff and Jane host activities in their home for internationals, partnering with Christian students in outreach.

Susan Perlman

Evangelism, North America

Susan Perlman is a first-generation Jewish believer from Brooklyn, New York, and has served with Jews for Jesus since 1973.

Susan is the Chief Partnership Officer, globally engaging with other missions, organizations and theological schools to do kingdom work together. She is also a member of the executive leadership team, having helped found Jews for Jesus. She also serves with various other organizations, but her greatest passion is sharing the gospel.

David & Majka

David and Majka are in their second year serving with Greater Europe Mission in Vienna, Austria. They serve alongside Austrian leaders in an international student ministry and help a community development ministry in nearby Bratislava, Slovakia, to provide spiritual leadership to young believers in the ministry.

John & Pam

Member Care, Africa

John and Pam live in North-Central Africa. They host a place of rest and renewal for global workers. The retreat opened four years ago and has ten fully equipped apartments, a prayer chapel and a newly completed swimming pool and splash pad. Teams come for times away to seek God together and to discover the next steps forward in their ministries.

They also provide logistical support for Africa Inland Mission’s local unit. This includes remodeling houses for new workers, setting up solar systems on houses and helping keep vehicles on the road.

Stephen & Karis Rigby

Mobilization, Africa

Stephen and Karis Rigby serve in Nairobi, Kenya, as team leaders with Serge. They help their team navigate cross-cultural living while engaging in meaningful gospel ministry. Karis directs the apprenticeship and internship program, built on the pillars of prayer, curriculum, mentoring and ministry placement.

Stephen serves with Ambassadors Football (AF) as the co- Africa director. AF uses soccer to connect people to Jesus. The Rigbys are passionate about gospel renewal, discipleship and cross-cultural ministry.

Marcos & Mariana Romero

Evangelism, Latin America

Marcos and Mariana Romero have served as radio broadcasters since 1981 with Reach Beyond. For 26 years, they have been in charge of KNOG Manantial, an FM radio station in Nogales, Arizona, bordering Mexico. The station’s signal reaches into Mexico and the surrounding region.

They seek to use all radio and digital means to share the gospel in a relevant way while ensuring listeners receive biblically based content.

José Pablo & Jane Sánchez

Mobilization, Europe

José Pablo and Jane Sánchez serve the Lord with the goal to see an evangelical church in every unreached town of Spain (92% of the towns in Spain do not have an evangelical church), sharing the gospel in order to reach a country where Christianity is cultural but Jesus' pardon is unknown to more than 98% of the population. Personally active in radio and TV, José Pablo focuses on reaching nonbelievers, mentoring, training and preparing leadership, speaking for conferences, and promoting events.

Both Jane and José Pablo serve with the evangelical association Decisión Spain and are developing Decisión Academy with courses on evangelism, leadership and communications, as well as "Exploring the Good News" and discipleship courses. Jane is active in their church, serving on the evangelism committee and sharing with gospel-needy people both face to face and online.

Jane, now retired, supports her husband in his work and spends time with their seven grandchildren.

Jonatán & Teresa Simons

Jonatán and Teresa serve with SIM in Medellín, Colombia. Jon is professor of Historical Theology, Greek, and Church History at Seminario Bíblico de Columbia (The Biblical Seminary of Colombia), where they live in community with students, faculty and staff. The seminary's vision is to train the next generation of leaders and teachers for the Latin American church. To this end, the seminary offers rigorous undergraduate as well as two master's level programs with government accreditation that enable graduates to move into leadership positions for foundations, ministries, denominational institutes and churches as well as providing regular and intensive discipleship. Jonatán and Teresa do ministry with the single students, including Jon leading the weekly Bible study and Teresa meeting with the single girls and wives of students. They both mentor several students.  Jon is working on several translation projects from Latin and Greek into Spaninsh as well as assisting with a translation into an indigenous language. Teresa is homeschooling their three children, who make friends every day through the outreach for kids in their community.

Tim & Deanna Smith (MA)

Member Care, Europe (Ministry Associate)

Ministry Associates are supported by prayer, but not financially, by College Church.

Tim and Deanna Smith serve the Lord with Greater Europe Mission (GEM). Tim works as the vice president of people and culture for GEM, and his mission is to help people create an environment for growth so that they can thrive as they multiply disciples and grow Christ's church in Europe.

In 2007, God called them to Austria to use their skills to counsel and care for missionaries in Eastern Europe. They moved back to Colorado to serve at GEM’s U.S. headquarters in 2010 to continue their counseling ministry with missionaries. They assess missionary candidates, visit missionaries, participate in retreats, respond to crisis situations and help with training.

Bill & Laurie Stough

Community Development, Africa

Bill and Laurie Stough serve with Africa Inland Mission (AIM). They are working to extend Farming God’s Way into 6 countries or central Africa.

Farming God’s Way is a resource which integrates discipleship and sustainable farming to equip the impoverished. Gospel proclamation blends with practical agricultural technology and resource stewardship. As the hearts and minds of these families who depend on what their farms produce turn toward God, they experience the hope of fruitfulness. In turn, these farmers become light in their communities, passing on to others what God is showing them.

Isaac & Jennifer Stough

Evangelism, Europe

Isaac and Jennifer Stough work with Youth for Christ (YFC) in Barcelona, Spain.

Isaac teaches English and assists in running the English Academy at the YFC center. Jennifer coordinates the English academy and a theater program for young people. They both actively disciple those who attend the weekly YFC outreach events, which include youth groups, retreats and camps.

Emmanuel & Adugna Tahear

Evangelism, Worldwide

Emmanuel and Adugna Tahear are missionaries with SIM Culture ConneXions. They are involved in worldwide evangelism, mobilization, church planting and compassion mission opportunities overseas.

Adugna is a career missionary dentist and seeks to relieve pain, eliminate infections and give people back their smiles. Emmanuel networks with and encourages church leaders from different evangelical associations with a focus on reaching Muslims and Muslim-background believers. He also serves actively with local Burmese and Vietnamese churches and coordinates a multi-nations fellowship.

Daniel & Julie

Evangelism and Discipleship, Undisclosed

Daniel and Julie support the work of Bible translation through administration, supporting a team of over 200 Bible translation and language development team members. Their organization's goal is to make the Word available in every person's heart language. The team currently has 77 active projects. They have two sons.

Victor & Leslie Trautwein

Community Development, Latin America

Vic and Leslie Trautwein have lived in the Dominican Republic (DR) working with Kids Alive since 2002. Vic co-directs the operations of the seven Kids Alive schools, three residential programs and an independence program that offers university scholarships. Leslie oversees preventive medical care, emergency care and chronic care as well as the nutrition and dental health programs.

The need in the DR is great, and they work hard to break cycles of spiritual and material poverty that have existed in some families for generations. Kids Alive serves more than 2,000 children and youth, and the staff has grown to over 300 nationals, including 75 former at-risk youth in professional roles such as classroom teachers.

Jeff & Ann VanDerMolen

Christian Education, Latin America

Jeff and Ann VanDerMolen serve in the Dominican Republic. They minister through Christian education to children who come from vulnerable and impoverished situations.

Ann serves with Kids Alive as the Director of the ANIJA school in Jarabacoa, with 404 students and more than 65+ staff. Jeff is involved in consulting with various ministries, in areas of facility and ministry development.

Jeff and Ann are also involved in mentoring/fostering a number of young adults who have grown up in the Kids Alive ministry, as these young adults transition toward independence and adulthood.

Jamie & Kim Viands

Training National Leaders, Africa

Jamie and Kim Viands live in Nairobi, Kenya, and serve with Africa Inland Mission (AIM).

Jamie is a lecturer in the Biblical Studies department at Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology (a school of Africa International University). He trains African pastors, missionaries and theological educators. Jamie primarily teaches courses in biblical theology, Old Testament and Hebrew, enabling Africans to be more faithful teachers and preachers of Scripture. He also engages in writing, supervising doctoral students, preaching locally and is currently the theological education consultant for AIM.

Kim homeschools five of their six young children, participates in homeschool groups in Nairobi and hosts a Bible club for children on campus.

Michael Walker (MT)

Michael leads the university ministry of Trinity Church Central London (TCCL). This includes evangelistic work on college campuses, mentoring students who are often very new to the faith, as well as recruiting and mentoring members of TCCL to do the same.

He’ll play a supporting role in the general pastoral duties of TCCL, prep work for the planned church plant and the growing international outreach.

Charley & Cheryl Warner

Training National Leaders, Europe

Charley and Cheryl Warner serve with Barnabas International in Ukraine. They train and care for new cross-cultural missionaries from Ukraine, where young people are increasingly excited about missions and are breaking new ground on the field. They also teach missions and spiritual life classes at seminaries in Ukraine and Armenia and stay in touch with former students.

Charley serves on the missions committee of the Baptist Union of Ukraine and is on the board of Odesa Theological Seminary, where he was a professor from 1991–1999. Cheryl mentors and provides soul care for global workers and leads an evangelistic Bible study for local women. She also edits English translations of publications for church leaders. Together they mentor leaders in missionary care.

John & Vivi Wickberg (MA)

Translation, Worldwide (Ministry Associate)

John and Vivi Wickberg serve with Wycliffe at the JAARS center near Waxhaw, North Carolina. John is a full-time computer programmer and works mainly on Paratext, a program for Bible translation that is used by many organizations. They estimate there are 6,000 active users.

Vivi continues to teach weekly English as a Second Language (ESL) classes by Zoom. Each class includes 15 minutes of Bible time. Vivi also disciples a couple of women whose husbands are not believers and meets with women who recently arrived in the U.S.

Chad & Leanna Wiebe

Mobilization, Europe

Chad and Leanna Wiebe minister in Ukraine with SEND.  Chad is the Director of SEND’s missions mobilization ministry in Ukraine. He coordinates and leads ministry efforts to help Ukrainian churches send missionaries to unreached regions of Eurasia and Central Asia, where there are more than 900 unreached people groups.

Leanna coaches young women who are preparing to leave for service outside of Ukraine and is involved in children’s ministries.

John & Esther Waldrop

John and Esther Waldrop have been living in a large city in Eurasia where the gospel is not welcome. One of them has been serving as the pastor of an international church. They are planning to move next summer to another city in Asia to teach at a theological seminary that trains pastors and teachers from all over Asia.

Church Planters

Due to the sensitive location in which these missionaries serve, names and photos will not be disclosed. Two workers are church planting with Buddhist peoples in Asia. They live and work among these significant communities while learning the language. Currently, they are engaging migrants in an urban context alongside local churches.

Church Planters (MT)

Mid-Term, Church Planting, Middle East

Due to the sensitive location in which these missionaries serve, names and photos will not be disclosed.

This couple serves in church planting and refugee ministry in the Middle East. They have been supported since 2018.

Educators

Due to the sensitive location in which these missionaries serve, names and photos will not be disclosed. Two workers live in Southeast Asia and serve at a Christian school. One teaches, spearheads the English curriculum department at the school and coaches the basketball team. The other coaches the swimming and cross-country teams, and maintains the home and occasionally substitute teaches at the school. They both have had opportunities to help several families with work and ministry opportunities.

Web Developers

Undisclosed Ministry and Location

Due to the sensitive location in which this missionary serves, photo and details of their ministry will not be disclosed. Two workers serve in Asia, developing web apps that give opportunities for people to access the gospel in restricted areas. Their mission is to see gospel content customized in apps for further evangelism among the unreached, so that everyone has the chance to hear the good news.

Community-Based Business

Healthcare, Asia

Due to the sensitive location in which these missionaries serve, names and photos will not be disclosed.

Educators

Two workers are university professors in Africa. They seek to develop relationships with students and point them to Christ.

Language Consultant

Due to the sensitive location in which these missionaries serve, names and photos will not be disclosed. One worker serves in the Middle East, working in language learning consultancy. Her work helps to equip other kingdom workers to share Christ in the local language. She seeks to develop relationships with local women and families in order to introduce them to and deepen their relationships with Jesus.

Organizational Leadership

Member Care, Middle East

Due to the sensitive location in which these missionaries serve, names and photos will not be disclosed.

One worker is based in the States and supports global workers in the Middle East.

Pastoral Counselors

Due to the sensitive location in which these missionaries serve, names and photos will not be disclosed. Two workers serve in Asia, where they have been for ten years. Their primary ministry is pastoral care for their organization’s regional missionaries. They are additionally involved in biblical counseling, encouragement and support within their local community.

Relief Worker

Due to the sensitive location in which these missionaries serve, names and photos will not be disclosed. One worker serves in a Middle Eastern country. She is on a team that exists to create a system of ministries to bring life to oppressed migrants and refugees, walking alongside them to help them develop sustainable solutions to holistically better their lives in all aspects. The team willingly steps into the dark places of the city to bring God’s light. They hold one-on-one and group discipleship circles where they study the Bible and talk about how to carry out what they read in daily life. The team also grows, trains and disciples multiple refugee churches.

Teacher

Due to the sensitive location in which these missionaries serve, names and photos will not be disclosed. One worker is a teacher in Central Asia. She seeks to develop relationships with students in order to introduce them to Jesus and deepen their relationships with him.

Scripture Use Promoters

Education and Organizational Leadership, Asia

Due to the sensitive location in which these missionaries serve, names and photos will not be disclosed.

University Professor

Due to the sensitive location in which these missionaries serve, names and photos will not be disclosed. One worker has been a professor at a university. She interacts with Muslims, Tibetan Buddhists and atheists in an unreached people place that is spiritually and politically oppressive. She builds relationships with students, teachers and neighbors, seeking to be a light for Christ in this dark place.