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OCC's Community Outreach Team
partners with
ministries and agencies to serve
OCC's World
Outreach Team supports
missionaries all over the world.
Activities of the Missions Ministry:
Ways you can serve:
Who
to contact: ________________________________________________________
OCC
Supported Missionaries in Japan:
Phil and Kim
Kornegay (website)
(blog) Phil is the Team Expansion Team leader for the Tokyo group. The Kornegays work with Corey and Nicki Shields, currently in Niigata prefecture, and Tim and Lisa Turner of Central Japan Christian Mission who serve as Field Advocates. The Japan Field Coordinator is David Atkins, of Team Expansion Taiwan. The Kornegays are very thankful for the partnership of over 20 churches in the U.S. and several individuals for their prayer and financial support. Japan is a materially rich but
spiritually starving country. Less than 1% of Japanese people claim
to be Christians. Japanese Shintoism, Buddhism from India and China,
and many other cult groups have distracted people from the truths of
the Bible. Most Japanese people say that they are not religious, but
they still follow the religious traditions of their families,
visiting shrines and temples, keeping a 'god shelf' in their homes
and praying to ancestors. Societal and cultural pressures have led
to high rates of mental and emotional problems and Japan has one of
the highest suicide rates among industrialized countries. Please
pray for the polite, hard working Japanese and our witness among
them. After a 10 month home service with supporting churches, they returned to Tokyo in late April 2007, moving to Higashikurume-shi, a suburb of Tokyo. They continue to help with the Machida church but will soon be joined by teammates from another part of Japan to begin home Bible studies in preparation for a church plant in the Northern Tokyo/Saitama area. Phil is also continuing language classes 3 days a week. Phil and Kim have 3 children, Kayla (13), Seth (10) and Christian (8). Kayla and Seth take the city bus each day to an international school. Kayla is on the school volleyball and basketball teams. Seth enjoys Japanese class and intramural soccer. Christian is home-schooled and likes Japanese superhero Ultraman, and the video game Dragon Quest. The Kornegays rent a house in a typical Japanese neighborhood with a front yard large enough to park their 5 bikes and a nice street to play in. Nearby is a slightly noisy intersection that has a sushi restaurant which serves cake on one side, and a Pizza Hut which serves squid pizza, on the other side. Welcome to Japan. Team Expansion is a missions-partnering ministry associated with Christian Churches, headquartered in Louisville, KY. Phil is the Tokyo team leader. Japan is a modern but unreached country with about 1% of the population claiming to be Christian and even less regularly attending a church or Christian ministry. Please pray for the Kornegay family and for the polite, hardworking but spiritually empty people of Japan. Thank you very much for your continued prayer and financial support! Shintoism and Buddhism are Japan's two principal religions. Shintoism is founded on myths and legends emanating from the early animistic worship of natural phenomena. Since it was unconcerned with problems of afterlife which dominate Buddhist thought, and since Buddhism easily accommodated itself to local faiths, the two religions comfortably coexisted, and Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples often became administratively linked. Today many Japanese are adherents of both faiths. From the 16th to the 19th century Shintoism flourished. Christianity, first introduced into Japan in 1549, was virtually stamped out by the government a century later; it was reintroduced in the late 1800s and has spread slowly. Today it has 1.4 million adherents, including a relatively high percentage of important figures in education and public affairs. Beyond the three
traditional religions, many Japanese today are turning to a great
variety of popular religious movements normally lumped together
under the name "new religions." These religions draw on the concept
of Shinto, Buddhism, and folk superstition and have developed in
part to meet the social needs of elements of the population. The
officially recognized new religions number in the hundreds, and
total membership is reportedly in the tens of millions.
OCC Supported Missionaries in Venezuela:
Jorge and Diana
Lugo Everything happened in God’s wonderful plan. At the age of 18, I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, a missionary family led me to union with Christ in Christian baptism. As I matured in Christ I began to serve him in various ministries, and eventually I was trained how to preach and serve as a leader in the church. My wife, Diana, was raised in a missionary family that worked with the Christian Church in Caracas, Venezuela. She was on the worship team and was always praising the Lord. I also joined the music team to sing, and later I was part of the leadership of the Christian Church in Caracas. At the same time I was working with the police department of Chacao County. I was employed there for 8 years. I later made the decision to follow the Lord completely and dedicate my life to full time Christian service. Because of my experience as a police officer, I am familiar with various areas of the city of Caracas, particularly in the district of Chacao where I working with a new church plant. My connections with the mayor help us coordinate evangelistic events in public areas in the community, as well as provide safety and confidence to all who participate. When I was 28, I made the decision to move to Cincinnati, Ohio, to study at the Christian University there. I began to better prepare myself to become an active missionary to my beloved country of Venezuela with great hopes and expectations, and a great vision from the Lord. When I arrived to study, I was given a scholarship with the plan to return to train and serve in my native country. In December of 2005 I finished my studies at Cincinnati Christian University. The Lord has called me to go back to Venezuela to serve him with much hope and excitement. Caracas is the capital of Venezuela, it has nearly 7 million people, and it is there where we are serving. Venezuela has a diversity of nationalities, mostly a mixture of European and South American nationalities. One of the advantages of working in Caracas is the nice weather year-round, without any drastic seasonal changes. This is a big advantage because we can work outside doing street evangelism, as well as other outreach without being interrupted much by the weather. The people are very receptive, and easy to communicate to. Many have had a good education, or at least the basic. They love many activities and lucrative events. Caracas is a city with great technology, and it has always tried to be almost at the same pace as the USA. It has many technological advances as well as a big chain of public transportation. Today, even though there is political instability the accessibility to the country is completely normal at the time. Tourists from all over the world come and go constantly. From the US is pretty fast connecting in cities from Miami, Atlanta or Texas. The main airlines have many schedules available. Today you don’t need a visa to get into Venezuela if you are from United States, you can stay 90 days without a problem, so come to see us here anytime, you are more than welcome. The Venezuelans are very receptive to Americans because most of them either like to listen, practice or try to learn English. We want to plant Christian Churches with solid Bible doctrine, following the principles of the New Testament churches and the Restoration Movement. We want to plant a vibrant growing church willing to reach out to the community and disciples who will in turn make more disciples and so on. Caracas is a City with a population of about 6 million people who need the Gospel and new churches. We want to establish native leaders from Venezuela who can be prepared and trained to plant new churches and lead them to maturity. Since we came to Venezuela in august 2007 we are working with the ICE (Eastside Christian Church) church plant along side of Team Expansion Missionaries Steve & Priscila Dye. Steve is my brother in law. We are currently meeting in a rented Meeting Hall in a residential building. It has been proven that working as a team is much more productive and effective in planting and growing churches in Venezuela, than simply having a missionary family do it all on his own. We love working together and reaching out to a community that we both love and feel strongly called to reach out for Christ. Our goal is to raise up a ministry team to lead the ICE church to be a growing church that impacts its community for Christ. This church plant is in Los Palos Grandes where over 20 percent (nearly 14,000) of the population of Chacao live. It is also the same area where I worked as a Police officer for 8 years, and I am very familiar with the area and the authorities here. OCC
Supported Missionaries in Italy:
Jim and Caranita Wolsieffer Jim (1950) and Caranita (1951) are originally from Indianapolis, In. Jim attended the Oaklandon Christian Church while Caranita was from the Greenwood Christian Church. They met at Camp Allendale when they were only 12 and 11 years old. They are both graduates of Johnson Bible College and have been serving in Italy since 1971. Their two daughters have married very fine Italian Christians and both couples are active in their local churches in Italy. They have four grandchildren - Federica, Riccardo, Anyssa, and Raffaele. Jim preaches on a rotation basis and Caranita is a Christian counselor. The Wolsieffers also have experience in camp, puppets, drama, children and youth work, radio broadcasting, slide and power point presentations, home Bible studies, and small group work. In January of 1996 the Lord led them to an old Italian farmhouse surrounded by 3,000 olive trees. This location provides a marvelous opportunity to expand into new areas of ministry depending on the needs of the local churches. Approximately 11,000 square feet of space is available for the Christian resource/training/counseling Center “Risorse del Levante.” Funds are being raised to build a dormitory on the second floor. There are six local evangelical churches that are currently using the facilities in one way or another. Approximately 70% of the participants in the various activities offered at the Center are not Christians which indicates the great potential for outreach in the area. OCC Supported Missionaries in Haiti:
Mike and Teresa Grant
Taking the Promises of God to Northwest Haiti Mike has been going into Haiti since 1992. Throughout that time Teresa was able to accompany me on multiple trips. We were in the located ministry for over 27 years with preaching ministries in Illinois, Alabama, South Carolina and Florida. We have 3 grown children who are all working in the ministry. We have 3 beautiful grandchildren - 2 girls and a boy. God has really blessed us. We left a located ministry in Cocoa, Florida (our home church) to go on the mission field. Haiti had held a place in Mike's heart for over 15 years. Mike works with the pastors and churches in Haiti to help them grow in their spiritual lives and in their knowledge of God. He is teaching in the bible college in Haiti that was just started a year ago. They are in their second year. Mike is also working with the vision of expanding into the far west region of Haiti. We have had over 120 baptisms this past summer and now have 10 churches he will be working with. This has grown from 4 last summer to 10 this summer. We are running to try to catch up with God! Teresa is working with the women's group at the Citadel church with bible studies and is now working with trying to provide employment for a few Haitian ladies with having them sew donated flannel into baby blankets for the birthing center. Please pray for us as we continue this journey that the Lord has put us on. We need prayer for the strength to do this on a daily basis, for a Haitian family to move out to the far west with us when our house is finished, for funds to build the housing for the interpreters and family, for strength to withstand satan and his attacks in this dark country. Mike and Teresa Grant can be contacted at MTinHaiti@mac.com.
OCC Supported Missionaries in Ethiopia:
David and Marsha David and Marsha have worked with Christian Missionary Fellowship in East and Northeast Africa since 1984. Before that, David was a manager for an airline. Both David and Marsha come from the Rocky Mountain west, Utah, Idaho and Colorado. They have two grown daughters. Their work in Africa has been Bible teaching, discipling, Cell Church planting, and administration for the CMF teams in the three countries they've worked in. They spent nine years in Kenya, three and a half years in Ethiopia, six years in a closed NE African country. Currently, they are again working in Ethiopia.
OCC Supported Missionaries
in Southeast Asia:
Phil & Michelle
OCC Supported Missionaries
in
the Arab World:
Name not disclosed for safety Please pray for our global partners in the Arab world - for safety, wisdom, for health for their children and grace for their marriage.
OCC Supported Missionaries
in
Guinea:
Marty & Tina The Marty & Tina left for Guinea in January 1995. They went to Cameroun first to attend a 3-month African Orientation Course to help them adjust to life on the continent. Then they arrived in Guinea around April 4, 1995. Guinea contains 3 major Muslim ethnic groups (Susu, Fula, and Maninka) and around 28 other minority groups, most of which are majority Muslim and/or animistic (practicing their traditional religions). ‑ Current stats call Guinea 85% Muslim, 1 1/2% Christian, and the rest (13 1/2%) animistic. |
The next ...
July 18, 2010 4:30 - 7:30pm
For more information or to RSVP, Class
pre-work for 401:
Upcoming Mission Trips
(arrived home on Monday, January 11). Team Lead: Lee Jones. ______________________________ Learn more about OCC supported missionaries in...
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Outlook Christian Church | 317.335.6815 | 6531N 600W, McCordsville, IN 46055 |
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