Global Missions
Our Vision Statement:
To make Christ known around the world --- to enable those he has called to serve as missionaries to go throughout the world and proclaim the gospel and to care for the needy in the name of Jesus Christ; to develop mission mindedness and global awareness in the community; and to provide a variety of opportunities for learning and serving in Global Missions.
William Addai - William Addai Ministries - Center for African Leadership Studies, Ghana, Africa - www.williamaddaiministries.org – William Addai passed away on Friday August 20, 2010 in California. His wife Cecelia is there with her son Emmanuel. Condolences can be sent to: The Addai Family, 6260 Palladio Lane, Fontana, CA 92336.
William was building and developing a Christ-centered university complex to train Africa’s leaders. William's vision was to be a catalyst in reforming African leadership values to create a better Africa. William was the founder of the Center for African Leadership Studies (CALS), which will be an 88-acre "Leadership University" located in Kumasi, Ghana. A team of Neelsville youth and adults traveled on a mission trip to Ghana in the July 2005. In 2008 he started William Addai Ministries, a non profit organization for leadership and management training whose calling is “to educate, train, and develop men and women, to provide effective leadership, and efficient management of our God-given human and material resources.”
Advocates International - www.advocatesinternational.org Advocates International is an organization of lawyers linking over 120 countries together, to help believers transition from closed atheistic societies, to open, democratic societies where freedom of worship, respect for human rights and the rule of law are a reality. Advocate’s strategy is to encourage Christian lawyers, judges and national leaders to meet locally, nationally, regionally and globally in order to advance justice, religious freedom, biblical family values, conflict resolution and the integration of faith and profession. Advocates has achieved remarkable success during the past thirteen years, at all levels of legal practice, especially in developing countries and former communist nations. Their efforts have been as varied as helping street sellers obtain justice from predatory local officials, to helping to write law for a new national judiciary in a developing country.
Cook School for Christian Leadership, Tempe, AZ – www.cooknam.org Cook School for Christian Leadership, a multi-denominational Christian center for learning, is committed to providing Native Americans with the knowledge and skills that will allow them to excel in accomplishing the work of their churches and communities. The school maintains close connections with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and is a member of the Racial Ethnic Schools and Colleges consortium of that denomination. In its 95 years of existence, Cook has educated hundreds of students, representing some ninety tribes throughout the U.S. and Canada, many of whom have gone on to become successful ordained and lay pastors, tribal officials, and professionals in varying fields. The school exists to educate, enable, and empower Native-Americans to become effective, dynamic, and powerful leaders in the church and community, who will proclaim the love and justice of the creator God revealed in Jesus the Christ. Students attending the college find a caring, educationally nurturing environment respectful of Native-American culture and values. A mission team of Neelsville adults spent a week working on resident apartments, and we have supported this school for several years.
Fraser & Liz Bennett - Wycliffe Bible Translators, SIL www.wycliffe.org - Serving worldwide from Dallas, Texas. Fraser and Liz have served with Wycliffe since 1988 and 1994. Before their marriage, Liz served in China, and Fraser in Thailand. Liz is the daughter of Dave Henry of our congregation. Translating the Bible for 200 million of the world's most marginalized people is a demanding task that requires extensive training. Fraser's job, as International Language Program Training Coordinator, is to make sure that training is available worldwide. Liz homeschools their children Ruth (10), Samuel (8), Isaac (6), and Ann (4). She is actively involved at Arlington (Texas) Presbyterian Church.
Karazim Ministries – www.karazim.com The Rev. Raoul and the Rev. Karen Armbrister, the directors of Karazim, live on the island of Grand Bahama. With a population of approximately 56,000, people in Grand Bahama face daily struggles such as economic hardship, natural disasters and the usual setbacks of a third world nation. Feeding the poor is the heart of Karazim’s ministry. The ministry also works to encourage those in need through education and economic empowerment. The Chart House Feeding Center houses many aspects of our ministry and it is a key element in continuing God’s work. The Chart House is the facility for: Daily Feedings, After School Programs, Metamorphosis, Boat Building, Wood Work Training, The Sewing Center, Craft Development, Food & Clothing Organization and Distribution, Garden Research & Computer Skills Training. Neelsville relationship with Karazim was started in 2003 by Bob and Betty Velthuis. Since then we have sent several mission teams of adults and youth to help this ministry. Our most recent trip was in April 2009.
Kim & Steve Blewett – Wycliffe Bible Translators USA - www.wycliffe.org – Kim and Steve Blewett are linguists, developing a written language with the Rapoisi people of Bougainville Island in Papua New Guinea, and working to translate the Bible into their language. They lived and worked among the Rapoisi people from 1987 to 2002. Steve and Kim now live in Waxhaw, NC, continuing their translation work via email, while caring for Kim’s father. They are currently advising and training two Rapoisi men who are assisting in this project. Kim and Steve make periodic trips to PNG to supervise translation, and to teach translation courses at a new SIL training center. They have helped to develop both children and adult reading skills programs. It is hoped that every Rapoisi speaker will be able to read the Rapoisi Bible fluently when it is finished. Read the latest update from Steve and Kim - Oct. 2009.
Howard & Jo-Ann Brant – SIM USA – www.simusa.org – SIM (Serving in Mission) is a missional community of God's people who delight to worship God and are passionate about the Gospel, seeking to fulfill the mission of Jesus Christ in the world. Howie and Jo-Ann have served with SIM since 1971 in Ethiopia, Ghana, USA, and presently work out of Kenya, East Africa. They have three children, two of which are missionaries in Germany and Jordan respectively. Jo-Ann has recently passed on her role as the SIM Director for Sudan but keeps involved in matters related to Sudan. Howie’s passion has been to enable missionaries from all parts of the world become involved in world missions. He is the SIM Champion (advocate) for emerging missions. In this role he travels internationally lecturing, writing, teaching, and consulting on how God has prepared all peoples not only to *receive* the Gospel – but to *take *the Gospel as well. The Brants have chosen to live in Nairobi, Kenya so they can be close to the action as they stimulate emerging mission movements. Since locating there in 2006 they have also become involved as advocates for the persecuted Church in Eritrea, and the war torn country of Somalia.
Shirley Killosky - Kids Alive International - www.kidsalive.org – Shirley’s mission field is in Hauna Village, Papua New Guinea where she has been since 1979. An educator by training, Shirley founded and directs the Hauna Schools which ministers to children and adults from preschool through high school. She spends much of her time teaching, writing teaching materials, developing primers, directing the children’s choir, training and supervising preschool teachers, and supervising and teaching Sunday School and Bible study. In addition to learning Sepik Iwam, their own language, the people are learning English, which is the official language of the country. Hauna has a church, school, and medical center. These people are reaching out to other villages in the upper Sepik River area.
Marilyn Laszlo - Laszlo Mission League - www.laszlomissionleague.org - In the spring of 1967, Marilyn ventured to Hauna Village, Papua New Guinea and spent 24 years creating a written language for the local people and then translating the Bible into that language so that the people might clearly understand God’s word. Since that time, she continued to work with Wycliffe Bible Translators on many different projects and has spoken to many groups and conferences around the country. She has now started the Laszlo Mission League where she can fulfill one of her greatest callings; "to challenge, motivate and encourage the church, and especially students of the church, to be involved in missions and helping people receive God’s word in their own language." Marilyn speaks at hundreds of meetings a year, including college campuses, conventions and conferences as well as at local churches. Learn more about Marilyn and her work on her web site; by visiting the Neelsville Library and reading her autobiography, Mission Possible; or by viewing one of her three videos: Mountain of Light, Come By Here, or Return to Hauna.
Medical Benevolence Foundation www.mbfoundation.org –
PCUSA’s Medical Mission. For over 40 years, the Medical Benevolence Foundation (MBF) has worked to provide hope and healing to those most in need. Working with our partners, MBF supports healing ministries in more than 100 hospitals and clinics throughout the world.
The work includes funding medical mission workers and building, maintaining, and operating hospitals in some of the world's most impoverished nations and communities. MBF works with its partners to fill cargo containers with surplus donations of medical supplies and equipment, which are then sent to a wide variety of desperate facilities around the world. Through an international short-term mission program and other partner programs, MBF is able to recruit healthcare professionals and other volunteers to save lives in developing nations. MBF supports community health programs, helping to train indigenous healthcare workers and personnel, education programs on disease prevention and nutrition, and more.
In 2009 Neelsville is contributing to the support of one specific program through MBF. The Diaconia program of the National Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Guatemala in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. The programs offered by Diaconia include non-formal education in literacy, preventive health and nutrition, agriculture and organic fishing, theological services and the integral development of women. Health workers and health promoters who have been chosen by their communities participate in a variety of training programs covering such topics as nutrition, personal hygiene, use of growth charts, care of wounds and fractures, and dental extraction. Teams help locals to improve the agriculture and poultry science, assist in obtaining cows, grow herbs and other foods and when possible improve economic situations. Continual Bible studies are part of the teamwork and reinforce the spiritual values of the program.
Presbyterian Seminary Student – Our Missions Committee regularly supports a PCUSA seminary student who feels called to enter the mission field after graduation. We have thus far contributed to the education expenses of two seminary students who are now pastors. When a student graduates, we take applications from new applicants for this scholarship.
Gary & Pat Sheppard - SIM www.simusa.org - Gary and Pat relocated in 2001 to Charlotte, NC to begin working at SIM USA headquarters. Gary is currently involved in the Services Department and is the Volunteer Coordinator. Pat works in the Candidate Department. She also coaches new appointee couples in the process of developing their support teams. In October 2004, the Sheppards began a new ministry of representing SIM to the Finishers Project. The Finishers Project is an organization that seeks to match people who want to begin a second career with the needs of mission boards. Prior to their return stateside, Gary and Pat had spent fifteen years in Niger and Nigeria, West Africa, where Gary was a pilot responsible for transporting missionaries. His training as an aircraft mechanic gave him the skills to repair the planes as well. Pat practiced nursing in a local hospital.
Sons of Thunder www.sons-of-thunder.org - This mission originated in Damascus, MD, and started as a 10,000 acre farm in Zambia, Africa. The mission project was birthed by the Damascus Wesleyan Church, and many from our area have been on working/mission trips to "the Farm". Beginning with a ministry to teach Africans to farm, it has grown to include a medical center, orphanage, grade school, and church providing continuing outreach and evangelism to the people of Africa. They have many successes to thank God for: the farm houses and trains 58 families; over 400 students attend the grade school in 1st to 7th grades; and the children in the orphanage are thriving. Neelsville sent a mission team to the SoT mission in August of 2008 and worked closely with missionaries Sal and Renee Marini.
Sal and Renee Marini, just a couple of grandparents from Damascus, Maryland, answered the call of God to “start a clinic” on the Sons of Thunder farm in Zambia Africa. Already an established mission site since 1996 including a farm, orphanage, church and school, Sal and Renee went in 2005 to add the final component …a medical clinic. Sal, a paramedic and Renee, an RN are now both licensed in Zambia as a Clinical Officer and an RN respectively overseeing a staff of 20. The medical clinic has grown from one room in 2005 to a full-sized building with a capacity for nine inpatients. The clinic has become a referral center in the area, seeing over 1100 outpatients a month and averaging 5-9 inpatients at any given time. Since 2006, Sons of Thunder Medical Clinic has been a government recognized ART (Antiretroviral Treatment) center for HIV patients providing prevention, diagnosis, treatment and support to over 500 HIV positive individuals and their families to date. The other specialty of the clinic seems to be baby deliveries with over 200 on record, some of which are to HIV positive moms. Helping to prevent mother to child transmission of HIV is one of the goals of both the Zambian government and the clinic. In addition to both outpatient and inpatient care, the latest direction has been “community” which has caused us to not only see patients for ART in their communities, but to establish HIV support groups and home based care groups, taking positive messages of hope to people in their homes through health teaching along with the Gospel message of Jesus.
