Christian Challenge and Missions
"Go therefore and make
disciples of all the nations..."
Matthew 28:18b
Christian Challenge has a long history of involvement in
missions. Several of our graduates have gone on to serve the
Lord on the foreign field. Below is a listing of some of the
missions we support. Some of our missionaries have email. Feel
free to click on their name and drop them a note of
encouragement. Further down the page we've also included an
encouraging article by Bill Wilson, of the Overseas Missionary
Fellowship. Enjoy! Our Missionaries
 Bolivia
Ed & Sherilu Grant
Ed Grant served in Mexico (alongside our associate pastor Nathan Martin)
before fulfilling a lifelong dream of ministering in Bolivia. He moved to
Bolivia in 1991. He and Sherilu oversee a network of churches and minister
in Sucre, home to Bolivia's major universities. You can write them at:
Ed & Sherilu Grant
Casilla 737
Sucre, Bolivia
011-591-64-4-24-17
Webpage
PHOTO, another
PHOTO
 Costa Rica
Stephen & Georgiana Thomas
Stephen & Georgiana founded an orphanage in San Jose, Costa
Rica in cooperation with a local church. Their goal is to begin a series of
orphanages throughout Central America, training tomorrows leaders today.
Mailing Address:
Stephen Thomas - SJO2326
1601 NW 97th Ave, Unit C101
P.O. Box 025216
Miami, FL 33102-5216
Phone: 011-506-279-2611
PHOTO
 Mexico
David & Elsa Garcia
David has served as a missionary to Mexico
since the mid 1980's. The Lord saved him out of a life of
crime and has used him extensively throughout southern Mexico.
He ministers in the hard to reach areas where outsiders are
viewed with suspicion. Because of his faithfulness, he has
been accepted by the indigenous peoples and has raised up many
churches in and around the state of Chiapas.
Apartado Postal 154
Palenque, Chiapas
Mexico, Central America
PHOTO,
another photo
 Asia
Ralph & Joanna
US Center for World Mission
1605 Elizabeth St
Pasadena, CA 91104
(Due to security concerns their last name and country are not
listed. You can email
RalphJoanna@ChristianChallenge.Org
and we'll forward your message to their email address.)
PHOTO
Latin America
Christians Sharing Christ
Christians Sharing Christ is a missions organization that
uses film evangelism to preach the Gospel in 11 countries throughout Central
and South America. (Our associate pastor, Nathan Martin, serves on the CSC
Board of Directors.) They work across denominational lines to bring the
Gospel to the remotest areas. They are headquartered in Central Louisiana
but minister through over 100 missionaries in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala,
Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, Peru and Colombia.
Christians Sharing
Christ - webpage
P. O. Box 508
Libuse, LA 71348-0508
Home Missions - Local & National
AWANA
Dave and Patty Stone
115 Deer Creek West
Pineville, LA 71360
1-318-484-2659
Dave and Patty are the AWANA missionaries for Louisiana. We join with other
AWANA churches in supporting them so that they can continue to provide
leadership, training and coordination to the AWANA ministry in Louisiana.
Shepherd Center
A coalition of churches ministering to local people in
practical ways, such as help with utilities, food, medicines,
etc.
KVDP Radio - 89.9FM
A community owned educational radio station that shares encouragement
throughout Central Louisiana.
Past and Present Missions involvement
 Mercy Ships
Kevin Gates
Kevin left in July 2002 to serve on the Mercy
Ship Anastasis.
After serving on an outreach to Sierra Leone, the poorest country in this
world, Kevin worked to help equip the Africa Mercy, Mercy Ship's newest ship.
He returned home at the end of 2004 and is currently waiting for further
direction from the Lord while he continues his professional development.
PHOTO ~
MORE
PHOTOS
Mercy Ships
 Japan
David & Kathy Stellwagon
Currently on Furlough in US
David is the son of lifelong missionaries to Japan. He came to Christian
Challenge during college and received training for ministry (as well as a
wife). David and Kathy spent over 11 years in Japan where their three sons
were born. They are currently back in the US serving with Christian
Challenge in various ministry capacities.
PHOTO
Missions Philosophy
If you look closely at the list above you'll see that
the missionaries we support cover a broad range of types
of ministry. For example, we support:
- Church planters in Bolivia and Mexico
- Medical missions in Africa
- An orphanage in Costa Rica
- Strategic missions development in Asia (more
information not available due to security risks)
- Film evangelism in 10 countries throughout Central
and South America
- Children's evangelism through AWANA
- Local benevolence through the Shepherd Center
- etc
It's interesting to us that we didn't intentionally
plan it this way, but it seems the Lord has directed us to
spread our support in many different areas, exposing our
members to many kinds of ministry. We encourage every
member of our congregation to adopt at least one of our
missionaries and support them through prayer,
communication and finances. We would encourage you to do
the same, if the Lord so leads. For more information about
any of our missionaries, feel free to contact them
directly or contact us at
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7 Ways to Pray for Your Missionary
- Day 1 - Relationship With God
- Loving and studying God's Word
- Strong prayer life
- Be filled with the Holy Spirit
- Maturing spiritually
- Progress over personal sin
- Day 2 - Physical and Emotional Needs
- Adaptation to climate
- Health in the midst of disease
- Safety in danger
- Victory over loneliness and depression
- Day 3 - Family Relationships
- Husband/wife
- Children/parents
- Family life as model to nationals
- Coping with singleness
- Day 4 - Ability to Communicate
- Language ability
- Continual improvement/fluency
- Cultural adaptation & understanding
- Day 5 - Effective Ministry
- Teaching, preaching, witnessing
- Boldness, open doors
- Prepared hearts, fruitfulness
- Day 6 - Team Relationships
- Other missionaries
- National evangelists, pastors and teachers
- Day 7 - Country of Service
- Government - national and local
- Political situation
- Visas, continued open doors
- Outreach to cities, villages and tribes
Written by Bill Wilson, Overseas
Missionary Fellowship. As quoted in the Spring, 1997 issue
of The King's Courier, a publication of
The
King's Way Missionary Institute
- Interested in more information about missions? Check out
the US Center for World
Missions and also
Brigada. They are good places to start learning about
missions.
- Christian Challenge offers a course on missions in the
School for Christian Workers.
Based on the Perspectives on the World Christian
Movement college course, Vision for the Nations
will take you through the Biblical basis for mission, the
historical record and let you have a peek into the
strategies being used by successful mission agencies around
the world. For more information, send email to the
SCW Director.
Mission Trip Reports
July/August 2003 - 19 members of Christian Challenge
traveled to the Benito Juarez Orphanage in Reynosa, Tamaulipas,
Mexico July 27-August 2, 2003. While there they painted a
couple of buildings and replaced a leaking roof on the dorm. A
photo diary of
the trip is available.
February 2003 - Associate Pastor Nathan Martin accompanied
a group with Christians Sharing Christ to view the CSC work on
the Amazon River in Colombia, South America. Read the
Colombia Trip Report
for his perspective and some great photos of the trip.
November 1997 - Associate Pastor Nathan Martin and his
family visited one of the churches they helped found in Mexico
while they were missionaries there in the 1980's. Read the
Mexico Trip Report which is a
compilation of email reports sent home during the trip.
October 1997 - A group of ministers associated with
Christian Challenge went to Honduras for a week to visit
missionary Adán Villanueva. Read the
Honduras Trip Report written from one member's
perspective.
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