Michael & Nancy Haninger: Good Shepherd Hospital (Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa)
FPC has been sponsoring Mike and Nancy through PC/USA since January ’02 (we had sponsored Simon and Haejung Park who
Notes: Louis was recommended to the Mission Committee by Jack Oates. The two were classmates at Wheaton College where, in 2002, Louis received the Alumnus of the Year for Distinguished Service in Society. As was the case with Mike Haninger, Louis and Anne have both endured physical problems, recovered and returned to the mission field. In ’03-’04 Louis was felled by Guillain-Barr syndrome. Anne has suffered with a severe back problem and myasthenia gravis. They are truly amazing hands of Christ! They visited FPC and did a Mission Sunday in August ’05.
Gary Payton: PC/USA’s Regional Liaison for Russia, Belarus, Poland & Ukraine;
Resident of Sandpoint, ID, where his wife, Nancy is a Presbyterian minister
FPC has been sponsoring Gary since February ’01. He preached in our church in Oct. ’01 and did a Moment for Mission in the fall of ’07. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, PC/USA mission involvement first focused on the Russian Federation and then expanded into other Slavic countries. Gary’s work is crucial to deepening the relationships between the Presbyterian Church/USA and the historic churches in post-communist Eastern Europe. He facilitates our relationships with partner churches and institutions, and helps care for over a dozen mission personnel. Gary makes two trips/year to the area, but every day that he is not “over there” his call is “to be a bridge between these churches and mission folks and all those Presbyterians here in the States who are interested in mission in that part of the world.” His days are filled with emails, faxes, conference calls and networking, strengthening the mission outreach of our denomination to the historic churches in these former communist states. http://www.pcusa.org/missionconnections/profiles/paytong.htm
FPC Goals for Involvement: Since Gary is a”neighbor” in nearby ID, he is a wonderful, “local”, missionary resource and he has offered to come to preach whenever we ask him. In reality, Eastern Europe is closer to home than, say, Africa, so it is not inconceivable if, after hearing Gary, some one might consider accompanying him on one of his mission trips. I recommend continued financial backing with, again, the hope that we might bring our level of support back up to what it once was. Gary writes: “As I celebrate my 7th year of service as a Regional Liaison of our church, I realize what an exciting and extraordinarily rewarding journey it has been! Across numerous trips visiting our partners in the countries I represent, amidst over 1200 emails and hundreds of phone conversations, and in the knowledge of our deepening relationships with Orthodox, Baptist, Lutheran and Reformed partners in former communist states, I have felt God’s persistent call to service.”
D and A* : Wycliffe Bible Translators
* names withheld for safety
Fellow church members, D and A have been serving in south Asia with Wycliffe http://www.wycliffe.org since the late 1990′s. They have returned to Missoula on home-assignment on a number of occasions. D recently received his MA in Linguistics at the U of M. His role with Wycliffe is facilitating translation projects in various ways, including computer-adaptation of existing translations into related languages. After having D, A and family back in our midst for several months in ’06/07 (and preaching on January 14, 2007), we wished them Godspeed again as they headed back to south Asia. This time they will be gone for 2 ½ years; what an amazing commitment!
FPC Goals for Involvement: Continued financial support along with our prayers
Notes: From the Wycliffe brochure “The church has a mandate to take the Gospel to all peoples. Wycliffe Bible Translators exists to enable the church to fulfill its mandate for those without access to God’s Word in their own language”
Jim Hadlock: The Jesus Film Project (Campus Crusade for Christ)
Jim is a MT boy from Columbus, attended U of M, participated in the ROCK group at First Pres and in April ’01 joined the Jesus Film Project http://www.jesusfilm.org based in Orlando, FL. Since then he has traveled to many areas of Africa, as well as to Turkey, the Middle East and Slovakia (a gypsy language recording here) to serve in the area of language set up “ working with local nationals to organize and set up the infrastructure needed to conduct a recording. In October ’06 Jim and Jill Young were married. They were in Missoula from March 22 to April 3, 2007 and a reception for them was held at the Missoula Alliance Church. Several Presybterians attended. The next day a number of members of the Mission Committee met with him for lunch.
FPC Goals for Involvement: Keeping in touch with Jim and Jill and hopefully having him speak at First Pres the next time they are back here.
Notes: From Jim: “In Revelation John writes, ‘Every tongue and tribe and nation will stand before the judgment seat of Christ.’ To have seen and met people who diligently work towards the goal of bringing the gospel to every people group on the face of the earth has changed my life and humbled me greatly. After seeing how the Jesus Film is being used by tens of thousands of missionaries, I truly believe that it is part of God’s plan to reach every tongue and tribe and nation.’”
Embangweni Hospital, Malawi, Africa: Dr. George & Betty Poehlman
The Poehlmans served as PC/USA missionaries at Embangweni for 18 months beginning in January 2000. During the time they were in Malawi they never asked for money donations. Then, and every year since when they have returned for an annual short-term mission, Betty has alerted us and other supporters to specific needs at the hospital. Our congregation has responded most generously to the construction of a grain bank and the purchase of grain $1,355 in 2002; operating costs of the hospital $ 350 in ’03; $1,190 in 2004; a fund to purchase a new ambulance $1,600 in 2005; a new playground (VBS & the congregation contributed) $800 in 2006; pediatric blood pressure cuffs (being requested for their April return) in 2007.
Notes: Malawi, Africa, is one of the world’s 10 poorest countries. 1/5 of the children die before age five and there are countless orphans due to the devastation of AIDS. There are five hospitals of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian in Malawi. One of these is Embangweni with 350 beds. On two occasions Dr. Al Knouse and his wife, Jerry, traveled to Embangweni to serve on a short-term mission from the Heylers’ former church in Newtown, PA. For this reason when Gingy saw the names of George and Betty in the PC/USA mission handbook, she chose them as one of our missionaries. The Knouses visited FPC in June ’01 for a Malawi Mission Sunday and the Poehlmans came in ’02. George and Betty returned in September ’07 to give us an update.
ROW (RIVERS OF THE WORLD): Ben Mathes
We have sponsored ROW http://www.row.org since late 2003, and Ben Mathes, its founder and Guiding Light (who is a long time friend of Kelly and Jack Oates), came to First Pres in October ’03 and October ’04. ROW is active in many countries around the world, and it was to Kenya that our Dan Cripe traveled with the Roswell Presbyterian Church in Georgia in ’07. Since then ROW Kenya has become a new organization, R.O.C.K. Bridge Ministries,Inc. (Reach Out through Communities in Kenya as a Bridge for Kingdom Building). Heading up this ministry in Nakuru, the 4th largest city in Kenya, is Zablon Kuria. At his suggestion our church has taken on support of the Girls’ Program which is helping street girls and, in many cases, their children, to survive and improve their lives. Furthermore, Dan is organizing a mission trip to Nakuru. A number of our congregation have expressed an interest in going to Kenya in September IF the political unrest there is resolved.
For more information on World Missionaries, please contact First Presbyterian Church at (406) 549-5144.