May, 2009 Report of MTW Missionaries from North Texas Presbyery

Note: this report has been redacted to take out information from our missionaries in sensitive ministries.

MTW MISSIONARIES

FROM NORTH TEXAS PRESBYTERY

Rick & Pam Box #010519 Bogotá, Colombia

Christ Presbyterian, Flower Mound

Rick is working with the Colombian leaders in churches and church plants in four major cities of Colombia. He and his wife, Pam, are working with the growing reformed Presbyterian Church in Colombia, South America. While the primary task is church-based training of Presbyterian pastors and elders (through church planting), ministry opportunities extend far beyond to other evangelical churches and leaders who are hungry for the Word of God.

Andrew & Rebecca Bronson #010731 Thailand

Park Cities, Dallas

Andrew and Becky are in their first year of seminary work at Covenant in St Louis. Andrew is working part-time for MTW while in school, continuing to support the work of MTW Thailand from the States assisting in fund-raising and administration. They plan to spend two months this summer in Thailand.

Ruth Dinkins #011718 Brazil

Christ Presbyterian, Tulsa

The new school year began March 2nd. They have 28 in the 3rd year (graduating class), 28 in the 2nd year and 26 in the 1st year. Ruth has added to her full schedule a music class (flute) and an elective English class (translation) for the guys that plan to go on to seminary. So many of the books in the libraries at the seminaries are in English and they need to know the content of these books. Of course, the girls are allowed to take the English class too.

Peter Dishman #011731 RUF-UNAM, Mexico City MTW/RUM

Town North, Richardson

"We are past the midway point of the semester, and God is at work in the lives of UNAM students. Pray for the group to continue to grow in Christ as I preach through the 10 commandments, small groups knit students together around the word, and we work through individual issues daily. Praise the Lord for a fun and transformative Holy Week retreat in Guanajuato on "a precious faith, a promised future" taught by TE Marc Schiebe - pray especially for the many seekers who heard the gospel clearly there. Praise the Lord for our first RUF couple, whose wedding I co-officiated this weekend! Pray that their marriage will be firmly established in Christ as they finish their majors and move into the work force. Please continue to pray diligently for a ministry location and for the ministry team for next semester."

Caleb & Aimee Dunn #011783 Mexico Church Planter Training

Park Cities, Dallas

In Monterrey where he grew up, Caleb continues ministering as the Director of the Theological Institute of Ministry in partnership with RTS Charlotte. The institute currently supports church planters and lay leaders with a B.A. in Theology, and also offers continuing education for presbyteries. He also continues to work toward his D.Min in Pastoral Counseling at WTS Philadelphia.

Ben Graber #012803 East Germany

Fort Worth PCA

Well into his second year, Ben is starting up a third round of English courses and preparing for summer English camp. His support is now enough to last through the summer, and he is exploring the possibility of continuing his work with the church plant through the end of the year.

Chris & Julie Koiner #14017 Monterrey, Mexico

Heritage, Oklahoma City

Chris and Julie (and 5 children) are in the support-raising phase of the MTW process. They plan to join the church planting team in Monterrey and assist in the areas of finance/administration, evangelism and mercy ministries, short-term team support, training church leaders on financial stewardship, and women’s ministry.

Scott & Mary Ann Nelson #015418 MTW/Wycliffe SIL Support

Trinity Presbyterian, Plano

Based in North Carolina serving translation teams around the world, Scott provides computer support for Bible translators working in Africa, Europe, South America and parts of Asia. He maintains the servers and services to provide email, language/scripture text version control, remote collaboration and other tools used by translators and support staff. Mary Ann serves as a counselor for missionaries and their families with the stresses and issues they face.

Howard and Deidre Shelden #016816 MTW/Wycliffe

New Covenant Presbyterian, Dallas

Deidre directs personnel administrators in the Dallas office of Wycliffe USA, helping with the difficult decisions needed to care for and deploy Wycliffe missionaries. Howard writes promotional and publicity materials about Wycliffe missionaries' achievements and milestones to enhance credibility in academic circles and in foreign government relations.

Doug & Masha Shepherd #016819 Ukraine

Christ Presbyterian, Tulsa

Doug and Masha are continuing to make contacts in L’viv in the hopes of planting a church in this influential western Ukrainian city. The Shepherds are active ministering to university students, working with families, orphans, teammates and interns. “We have recently returned to L’viv after visiting churches in the States and are busy meeting with many young families and students. Please pray for conversions and a core group of believers.”

Dawn Brady Sparks #010572 Ukraine

Fifth Street Presbyterian, Tyler

Dawn and her husband, Steve, are living in Austin. Dawn is continuing her financial and administrative duties from the U.S. supporting the Ukraine team from here, freeing the resident team members for other duties. Steve has almost completed his first distance course from Covenant Seminary and is feeling more confirmed in his desire to pursue his degree there.. You can keep up with them on their ministry blog www.sparksministry.org.

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NEWS FROM BEAMM

Border Evangelism and Mercy Ministries

• Steve Milvain, Village Seven PCA, is the Chairman of BEAMM Partnership.

Next Partnership Meeting – May 14-16 at Catalina Foothills Church (PCA), Tucson, Arizona. The meeting will be preceded by and followed by Vision Trips to Nogales, Sonora (May 15) and El Centro/Mexicali and Tijuana (May 17-18).

Contact Gene Bowman, (915) 838-3747 or glbowman@BEAMM.org, for details.

BEAMM Partners NTP Are: 5^th St., Tyler, Ft. Worth PCA, Redeemer, McKinney, and Westminster, Gainesville. steve@milvain.com

• GREAT NEWS!! The land purchase for a community center in Juarez was completed last Friday, April 24. The Community Center in the city of Ciudad Juarez will become home to Gracia y Paz Church, the San Pablo Seminary, a place to house the short-term teams, and a place of outreach to the nearly two million people in the city.

• Dan Young chosen as Eastern Region Director (Rio Grande Valley border area).

• The donated 14,000 sq. foot building for Dios Soberano (Sovereign God) Mission, Mexicali, Western Region has been dismantled and is being stored at El Centro, CA, in preparation for being exported to Mexicali.

• Missionary Units or Church Planters now headed for the border: Charles & Bonita Davidson have arrived and are settling in to life in El Paso; Ray & Michelle Call are in language school in Edinburg, Texas; Rick & Sharon Marooney, Julio & Arlette Navarro, Gary & Kay Whiting are in various stages of support raising.

• Personnel Needs: English Language Trainers: Intern, Two-Year, Career:

Seminary Instructors: Two-week, Two Year, Career:

Contact Gene Bowman, 915-838-3747, glbowman@BEAMM.org

Summer Interns to host Summer Mission Trips – 2009,

Contact LuAnn Bowman, luannbowman@BEAMM.org

• Special Note to Summer teams – don’t finalize any plans until you have communicated with LuAnn luannbowman@BEAMM.org Circumstances are different this year.

• Check in at www.BEAMM.org to keep abreast of events on the border.

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AROUND THE PRESBYTERY

Planning a vision trip? Other plans to develop mission work in your church?

Notify John Butler. okcalvin@gmail.com

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OUR FEATURED MISSIONARY THIS QUARTER

LUKE SMITH #17118 - CAMBODIA

NEW ST. PETER’S, DALLAS

Luke grew up on a farm in west central Illinois. He went to college planning to pursue a career in agriculture. Through a couple of short-term missions trips with a campus ministry while in college at Western Illinois University, he started thinking about missions. Toward the end of graduate school at the University of Missouri, he was impacted by the missionary biography Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot, and his burden to be a missionary continued to grow. After completing graduate school, Luke went to Dallas Theological Seminary to further prepare for the mission field. While in seminary, he began to have a vision to serve in an area that was unreached and poor. He has continued to prepare by working with refugees in Dallas and serving in his church, New St. Peter's Presbyterian. Luke has been called to work in rural Cambodia training pastors. The majority of the country's population of 13 million live in villages spread throughout rural areas. It is a country struggling to recover from years of famine and civil war. Currently, fewer than 1 percent of the people are considered Christian. He is at 46% in his support raising.

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