Cartageňa, Colombia - Luis & Schalee Sánchez
Luis and Schalee and their three daughters are on the mission field in Cartageňa, Colombia, South America. They are working with Continent of Great Cities. They are part of a team that works with the church in the city. Their goal is to preach the gospel, increase the church membership, and plant new churches in this large city.
Ville Verde Church of Christ and Hogar de los Ninos - Blanca Mondragon
http://christianrelieffund.org
This mission is in the city of Catacamas, Honduras. Blanca works with the Villa Verde congregation and is responsible for caring for 15 children in the Hogar de los Ninos, which is a children’s home run by The Christian Relief Fund. FBCC has sent summer mission trips here and built over 40 houses in the city.
Southeast Asia - Michael & Liz Stathopulo
Michael & Liz are newlyweds spreading the gospel in Southeast Asia by teaching English with the Let’s Start Talking ministry. On Sundays they serve with the International Christian Fellowship at morning services and small group study in the evening.
Tours, France - Clint & M’Liss Stringer
The Stringers are working with Pioneer Bible Translators to help translate the Bible in many languages of the world. They work with a team and are responsible for the finance and administrative work for many of the Pioneer Bible teams around the world.
Mbala, Uganda - Ian and Danetta Shelburne
FBCC is partnering with the Shelburnes in the work in Mbale, Uganda. They have been in the field since 1996. They are currently on a sabbatical in Abilene. Ian is working on a doctorate at Texas Tech and doing some ministry at Northwest Church of Christ, their overseeing congregation. It is their hope to return to Uganda in 2011 to help with the establishment of LivingStone International University in Mbala.
Bhimavaram, India - Don Browning
Don Browning and M.J. Samuel planted a church in Samuel’s home village of Cherukuvada in 1975 with the conversion of six individuals. God’s grace has allowed this work to grow! Today, there are 380 churches with 12,000 members ministered to by 340 preachers, 205 who are self-supporting. Education was the vehicle that contributed to this rapid growth. First came the Christian school, with grades K-10. Then came the colleges: Browning Junior College for academics and vocational training; Coastal Bible College, for training men and women for church leadership; and, in cooperation with the Indian government, two teacher training colleges, one for Hindi speakers, and the other for Telugu speakers.
Today, Samuel’s home village enjoys a beautiful brick church building; the Mark McCormic Memorial Water Purification Plant, which provides free bottled drinking water to the village (three other plants are under construction in other areas); and the Charlene Browning Health Clinic, which provides free medical services to the village. Three hundred widows are supported monthly, and 66 children live in the central compound in Bhimavaram, where they receive spiritual training and free education.
Tokyo, Japan - Judith Alexander
Having gone to Japan with the Let’s Start Talking ministry, God has directed Judith to make a commitment to help bring Jesus and his message to this nation where less than 1% of its population is Christian. She is working with a local church, with college students, active in creating cell groups, and teaching English at a local university.
Touch A Life Foundation - Randy & Pam Cope
Pam and Randy Cope, co-founders of the Touch A Life Foundation, live in Dallas, TX. The Copes started the foundation after their 15-year-old son Jantsen died suddenly of an undetected heart defect. Their efforts started out small to help children in Vietnam and Cambodia, and have recently grown across the globe to Ghana, West Africa. The focus of the organization is to stand in the gap for hurting and exploited children. The Copes became involved with their work in Ghana after learning about how many children are sold into slavery there to work on Lake Volta. Pam, the director of the foundation, read an article in the New York Times about child trafficking and the abuse these children endure, and she knew that Touch A Life had to get involved.
Kisumu, Kenya - Kisumu Boys Club - Tony Mauldin
“In 1992-1996 I worked with ACU in Abilene and did short-term mission trips to Nairobi where I would put on basketball camps with a Christian-based message. From 1996-1999, I lived in Nairobi and taught Old Testament Bible half days and was the Sports Director for the rest of the day. I along with some of the young men I taught began reaching out to the kids in the neighborhood and started a Boys & Girls Club on campus. One of the kids, Dennis Okech, moved to Kisumu to continue the work at the Ring Road Church of Christ. Some young men from the Ring Road Church rescued a young kid from a potentially bad situation and began asking the church to start a school. “No,” was not an acceptable answer, so on Monday of the next week the school and eventually an orphanage was started that now serves over 480 kids.” (Tony Mauldin)
Gospel For Asia - Ralph & Sandy Laskie
“Ralph and I have been with Gospel for Asia for 11 years. It was when we discovered you could actually have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that we decided we wanted to do something with our lives that would impact eternity. Ralph is in the IT Department and I serve in the Church Relations Department. Together, we represent over 400 missionaries by working daily on behalf of the unreached.” (Sandy Laskie)
The primary aim of Gospel for Asia’s ministry is to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with those in the 10/40 Window who have never heard about God’s love, to be devout followers of Christ, and to fulfill the Great Commission among the unreached in Asia through training, sending out, and assisting qualified laborers in partnership with the Body of Christ.