Long Term Missions at Triniy Fellowship
Gail Hendrickson
Gail Hendrickson has been a member of Wycliffe Bible Translators since 1983, serving in the Philippines as a translator. In 1990 she began work in the Agutaynen translation project, along with Missy Melvin and Steve and Janice Quakenbush. The team, along with their three Agutaynen co-workers, published the Agutaynen New Testament in 2004. There was a dedication celebration on Agutaya Island in October, 2004.
Gail is now living in Mandan, North Dakota, in order to be close to her father who is in a nursing home. While in North Dakota, she continues to work on Agutaynen O.T. portions, Bible study materials, and the Agutaynen dictionary. She also serves as a translation consultant, checking other translators' work. Gail makes two trips to the Philippines each year, for two months each time (April-May, and Oct-Nov.) She lives on Agutaya for these months, checking translation with native speakers and holding Bible seminars for them.
Gail grew up in North Dakota and, after receiving a B.S. in medical technology, worked in hospitals in Washington State and in Portland. She attended the grad program at Multnomah in 1976-77 where she became friends with Diana Stuhr, Bob and Shirley TenHaken, and Steve and Jean MacLurg. In the evenings Gail taught English at the Indochinese Refugee Center with Jon Lewis. It was at that time that Gail began attending CBF. Encouraged by Jon Lewis, Gail attended the U.S. Center for World Missions and received an MA in TESL. She later attended SIL and became a member of Wycliffe, and one of CBF's cross cultural servants, in 1983.
Email: Gail_hendrickson@sil.org Home Phone: (701) 663-9672
Prayer Requests:
Ed and Linda Mattson
Ed and Linda Mattson have worked at the International Office (IO) of a large mission agency in the United Kingdom, since 1997, serving over 1000 members in 70 countries.
Linda manages the Finance Office, interacting with many national offices and field personnel in three languages. She records hundreds of transactions a month, develops financial policies and budgets and reports financial activities to the UK authorities. She supervises two assistant accountants.
Ed is the Director of Operations for the IO, overseeing the office manager, IT director, hospitality and travel coordinators, the email team, the community builder's team and ensuring the office infrastructure serves all other departments well. He interacts with vendors, service providers, department heads and various government agencies. In addition, he is the director of the agency's biennial international conferences.
The Mattsons both grew up in Oregon and met at a church college-career class in Corvallis. They married in 1972 and in 1976 moved to Portland.
At that time they joined Staub Memorial Church. In 1977 their church merged with Portland Bible Fellowship to become Community Bible Fellowship, which subsequently merged with Trinity Baptist to become Trinity Fellowship. Ed was an elder and mission coordinator at CBF for nearly 20 years.
A bout with cancer caused Linda to re-think her career and in the mid-80's she returned to school to become an accountant. Because of past connections the co-founder of their agency invited them to work at the International Office.
Currently Ed and Linda are members of Marlow Christian Fellowship's Overseas Mission Board.
Email: mattsonmail@gmail.com
Prayer Requests:
- Wisdom and energy as both Ed and Linda have overwhelming workloads
- More qualified people to join them in the work.
- Time to spend with one another.
- Energy for Linda-with working so many hours she has a difficult time socializing or doing things at home.
- Wisdom and creative managerial skill for Ed as he oversees several staff and helps maintain a fun and fruitful working environment for the entire office.
- That the Lord would continue to provide needed support.
Jack and Karen Mitchell
Jack and Karen Mitchell serve with an international agency committed to church planting in 54 nations around the world. The Mitchells presently live in Budapest, Hungary, and Jack is the area leader for Central and Eastern Europe and oversees church planting teams in these nations. Karen serves with Jack as his administrator. Their other responsibilities include ministering in a church plant in north Budapest, overseeing cross-cultural servants' ongoing education in conjunction with a seminary in Germany, teaching in various Bible schools in Eastern Europe, and weekly discipling/mentoring relationships with other cross-cultural servants and Hungarian men and women.
The Mitchells became Christians early in their marriage when they were both 24. Their conversions were radical and their lives changed drastically. God led them through various seasons of service in local churches while they attended Bible College, seminary, and graduate school. In 1998, the Lord made it clear to them that He was calling them to cross-culture missions in Europe. Throughout this time they were also raising four children. Their children are all devout believers, active in their local churches. They presently have five grandchildren and are hopeful that the Lord will provide more.
Jack and Karen Mitchell were originally introduced to Trinity through their friendship with Jim and Laurie Lee.
Email: jkmitchell@pmbx.net
Prayer Requests:
- The Lord of the Harvest to raise up more laborers for Europe, and to be used in the salvation and gathering of His people into healthy and reproducing churches.
- Daily wisdom to serve, lead, and encourage our team leaders and their teams (including a large daily email load).
- Encouragement of their cross-cultural servants, and the daily grace to live fruitful and holy lives in a cross-cultural context.
- God's wisdom to know the proper boundaries of their ministry engagement, and to not overextend themselves.
Ron and Joan Stoller
Ron and Joan Stoller are North American Baptist Church Planting missionaries in China near the city of Nagoya in Japan. They started this church in cooperation with the Japan Baptist Conference in December 2004. A former coffee shop was rented and this unique building has provided many ministry opportunities for them. The church was started with no core group which is common in Japan. Now, however, there are people attending worship services, Bible Studies, prayer meetings, Sunday school and English conversation outreach classes. People have found the church through signs, fliers, website and word of mouth. Visit their church website to learn more:( www.church-chita-nozomi.com).
Ron was raised on a farm in Portland and is from Bethany Baptist Church in Portland, Oregon. He first went to Japan as a cross cultural servant to teach English. Joan is from Minnesota but was raised in Japan as a missions kid and went back to Japan as an English teacher after college. Ron and Joan met in Japan and got married there on January 9, 1976. That year they were commissioned as full time cross-cultural servants and first worked in a university student evangelism ministry before going into church planting. Ron has his M. Div. from Multnomah Biblical Seminary and Joan has her BA from Bethel College in Minnesota. The Stollers have three sons, Jonathan, Stephen and Aaron who along with their families are members of Bethany Baptist Church in Portland.
Prayer Requests:
- The continuation of discipling our church people and the evangelism of their families and friends in and around the Chita Nozomi Christian Church and Chita City.
- To have 10 new baptized or transfer members in our church by the end of 2006.
- Increase their Sunday school class by 50%.
- Strength and direction for spreading the word locally about their church.
- For the North American Baptist mission in Japan: To have a couple from North America commit their lives to full time church planting in Japan.
Email: stoller@japan.email.ne.jp
George and Valerie Hires
George and Val Hires serve with Wycliffe Bible Translators. They are currently serving with the SIL Mexico branch. In their present position they do a great variety of administrative tasks helping to keep the branch running. The office they are presently working through is in Tucson, Arizona where they are also able to help care for Valerie's parents.
Previous to working in Arizona George and Valerie spent 30 years serving in the Philippines in various roles, including working with translators in teaching reading, literacy promotion, distribution of literature and scripture in two different language areas and SIL administrative positions. Then they served eight years in the northwest regional office of Wycliffe in Portland.
George has been a member of Trinity since 1964 and Valerie since 1996.They attended Trinity during the time they were both going to Multnomah School of the Bible. George and Valerie led the youth group for a year and a half.
Both of the Hires were raised in Christian families and accepted the Lord as their Savior about 7 years old. George's father was a pastor in Twisp, Washington, where the family lived until George graduated from High School. Valerie was raised in a military family and traveled and moved to many places - good training for their commitment to missions.
The Hires have three sons, born in 1969, 1971 and 1975. They were all born and raised in the Philippines. They are all married and following the Lord. Trinity has supported and prayed for the Hires since they began with Wycliffe in 1967!
Prayer Requests:
- Pray for the January-March Wycliffe Association volunteer season when almost 200 people spend the winter in Arizona at this translation center helping with maintenance and supporting Bible translators.
- Wise management and leadership skills in carrying out responsibilities.
- Fruitfulness of God's Word in the languages of Mexico, most are being typeset and prepared for publication in Arizona.
- New Testaments nearing completion--protection of the translators from the enemy.
- Willing hearts with humble and understanding spirits to obey what God leads each day.
- Daily time with the Lord and His Word for their own growth in Christ.
- God would encourage and bless their partnership team and churches in their vital involvement in Bible translation through their newsletters, email prayer guide or visits.
Email: valerie_hires@sil.org, george_hires@sil.org
Jonathan and Dawn Lewis
Jonathan and Dawn Lewis were sent out by Community Bible Fellowship to Peru in 1980 to work in church planting and leadership development. They returned to Portland in 1982 and Jon became CBF's first missions pastor. At that time, the Lord also gave Jon and Dawn a burden and vision to train those involved in the emerging missions movement in Latin America. A major effort involved the production and publishing of a Spanish "World Missions" course in three volumes. Jon and Dawn spent most of the next ten years in Argentina with their four children, helping to promote a national missions movement. After completing a PhD they assisted in establishing the Cordoba Cross-cultural Training Center. The Lewis' other text/course, "Working Your Way to the Nations: A guide to effective tentmaking," was published in 1992. It is widely used in Latin America and has also been translated into several other languages. Their current project is to deliver this course over the Internet in both English and Spanish (see www.wearesources.org).
Jon joined the staff of the World Evangelical Alliance Missions Commission in 1992, and is involved in management activities. From 1998-2002, the family lived in Canada and helped develop the Gateway Mission Training Centre, while Jon initiated the ACTS Intercultural Ministry Centre at Trinity Western University. Jon's current role with the WEA is with the International Missionary Training Network (IMTN), dedicated to fostering missionary training among WEA's global network of evangelical Christian constituents. The IMTN is committed to providing anyone seeking missionary service with the opportunity to receive culturally appropriate training for effective ministry. Jon's work includes providing leadership for the network, training missionary trainers, developing culturally appropriate curricula and training packages, assessing programs and consulting, and delivering resources over the Internet for missionary training in the most widely used languages of instruction.
Prayer Requests:
- Their ongoing involvement in the development of the Cordoba Cross-Cultural Missionary Training Centre in Argentina (www.ccmt-online.org).
- The launch of a new Spanish language Ph.D. in missions through William Carey International University.
- Responsibilities for program design for WEA's General Assembly in Pataya, Thailand, October 2008 (www.ga08.org).
- The development of WEA's Leadership Institute.
- Personal impact of witness in their neighborhood and community.
To receive a monthly email update with ongoing details about these areas of ministry, please send a request to: jlewis@worldevangelical.org
Email: Jon: jlewis@worldevangelical.org, Dawn: mariondawnlewis@yahoo.com
Brian and Mireya Overcast
Brian and Mireya Overcast, with daughters Kristina and Keila, work in Morelia, central Mexico, where they helped found the NOE (New Educational Opportunities) Center in 1992, under the Brindar Foundation. The Center offers educational programs to over 500 children and their families in hopes that they will meet Christ and make a difference in their community. Brian administers a staff of gifted teachers and volunteers, as well as coaching and overseeing several regionally-acclaimed basketball teams. Mireya supports her children, teaches English and art, provides hospitality to visitors, and paints award-winning watercolors. Both Brian and Mireya spend much time ministering personally to NOE families in need. For more information on the NOE Center, please visit: noecenter.org
Brian is from Montana and received a teaching degree from Liberty University in Virginia. He then went to teach math in Arizona. Mireya, who is orginally from Mexico, was in the States studying English at that time. They began dating and Brian moved to Mexico to work and court Mireya. After marriage the Overcasts lived in Portland and attended CBF. They connected with Brindar Foundation and then went to Morelia to work with Brett and Margaret Hespen at the NOE Center.
Prayer Requests:
- Praise for the 15,000 sq.ft. piece of land that the City of Morelia donated to the NOE Center in the fall of 2007.
- Funds needed to begin construction of a new NOE Center on this piece of land.
- That the NOE staff would grow in vision and heart for the ministry. Every day is full of opportunities to minister God's love to the students and parents.
- Preparation for the students who will be coming to Portland this year for the NOE summer exchange program. This can be a life changing experience for them.
- Preparation for the Trinity Youth group that will be traveling to Morelia in the summer of 2008.
Email: overcastmx@prodigy.net.mx
North Africa Group
A group of five adults are working among unreached muslims groups in various aspects and approaches to church planting. Please pray for this group of people and the effectiveness of their ministry.
West Africa
Trinity has mission workers who work with Wycliffe Bible Translators doing translation for the Fulbe people group in West Africa. The work involves writing the Fulbe language using Arabic letters (a script that Fulbe are familiar with).