Agape Flights
Agape Flights is a Christian aviation ministry. It was started in Sarasota/Bradenton in 1980 by a group of Christians as an answer to prayers on how to help missionaries in Haiti get dependable mail and vital delivery service from home. Today Agape Flights is based at the Venice Municipal Airport . It makes regular flights to Haiti , the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas delivering mail, donated Bibles, nutritional supplements, medical supplies, school and building supplies. Agape is a vital lifeline to over 300 missionary families. Each year Agape Flights touches the lives of over one million people through its affiliated missionaries. These missionaries provide clean water, community health, education, evangelism, medical services, micro enterprise, orphan care and vocational training. You can become a mission partner with Agape Flights through prayer, financial support, as a volunteer pilot or volunteering your time organizing supplies and loading planes at the Venice airport.
Contact: For more information and participation interest, contact Agape Flights at email: GoMissions@AgapeFlights.com (Phone: 488-0990); or our Church of the Palms representative,
Bob Geyer at rwgeyer@sunsetautogroup.com
Honduras Eye and Dental Clinic (CCSM of Honduras)
Centro Cristiano de Servicios Medicos (CCSM), located in El Progreso, Yoro, Honduras, was founded by the late Dr. Douglas Perry, a member of Church of the Palms, in collaboration with Rev. Daniel and Ruth Castro, Directors of Sociedad Medica Cristina, and Willie Hunter, General Director of Medical Ministry International. The Christian medical center, opened in 1997, was designed to provide quality ophthalmic and dental care for the poor who were unable to afford medical services elsewhere. Its main objective is to witness God's love by caring for the poorest of the poor. Church of the Palms played a major role in helping establish the clinic and continues to provide both financial and spiritual support.
A mission team from Church of the Palms assisted in a major renovation of the eye clinic in 2009. In 2010, a grant was given by the Church of the Palms Foundation to help renovate the surgical area of the clinic. The clinic seeks volunteer ophthalmologists, dentists, and other medical personnel to come and work with the Honduran staff as they share God's Love. All COP members are invited to come and work with the Hondurans to share in God's blessings !
Contact: Maxine Perry @ 349-3282 or email: dperry3603@aol.com
Honduras Good Samaritan Fund
This fund was established to assist individuals and other non-profit Christian organizations in Honduras who have needs that do not fall within the guidelines of the budget of the eye and dental clinic. In the past, the fund has been used to pay for transportation, food and lodging for patients who could not afford to travel to the clinic for surgery. It also provides fresh food on a weekly basis to a home for malnourished children and collects toddler toys for these little ones. Hogar Suyapa, a local orphanage, is the recipient of educational toys, books, and other items. Seniors living in a home for the elderly receive their Sunday dinner, prepared by a local couple, paid for by donations from this fund.
Major items purchased in the past with contributions to this fund are appliances for the Nutrition Center (home for malnourished children) and new mattresses for the residents of the seniors' home.
There are several families in the local area that the Good Samaritan Fund has "adopted" by supplying basic food each month and financial aid to allow the children to attend school by providing shoes and school supplies.
Contact: Maxine Perry @ 349-3282 or email: dperry3603@aol.com
Honduras – Mission Paujiles
After 5 years of Vacation Bible School trips at five different villages in Honduras at the suggestion of our Pastor and our in country advisor we decided to become more involved with a village. To penetrate deeper into a relationship with a village knowing the obstacles of language, foreign travel, upcountry travel, and learning a new culture last year we made trips to our last vacation bible school village (Paujiles) for meetings with the village elders. After two planning trips and a vacation bible school in Paujiles, we felt this was the village to build a relationship.
Paujiles is situated about an hour drive due North of El Progresso close to the Caribbean Coast . It is a village of about 800 people that work mainly on the Palm Oil Plantations surrounding the village. There are three churches in the village, a kindergarten school, and a school for first through 6 th grades. The village has built a community building, and is in the process of building a Marco-shelter for refuge from periodic flooding. They have a soccer field, and small food shops. The streets are dirt, but there is some running water to maybe 20% of the homes that can afford to pay for it however no sanitary sewer availability.
The list of needs is long and through discussions with the village elders have determined what they consider their priorities. The people are very friendly, have welcomed us with open hearts and through the vacation bible school many of the Children and parents have received Christ.
Contact: Dale Vollrath @ 586-1143 or email: Dale.maryann@verizon.net
Presbyterian Church of Kirkuk, Iraq
In
2004, the Kirkuk Church , which was founded 80 years ago by Affiliate Member Carol Haeussner's missionary parents , started a Kindergarten and Childcare Center that has been a very successful outreach to children of all faiths in the town of Kirkuk. Operated under Christian principles of love, peace, tolerance and nonviolence, this center is a welcome institution in its Middle Eastern context. Requests for enrollment far exceed its current capacity of 170 students. In its six years of operation, the Kirkuk Kindergarten and Childcare Center has improved the quality of early education in the town of Kirkuk . Dedicated Christian teachers provide the highest level of instruction in general knowledge, health, athletics, art and music to kindergarten students. Already at full capacity, the center hopes to expand, adding a primary school on a nearby property. The current kindergarten building is now for sale. A grant from the Presbyterian Women's 2010 Birthday Offering will help to fund the purchase of this building and a neighboring building to house the primary school. The Church of the Palms also provides support, but more funds are needed to help sustain the Kindergarten, Childcare Center , and new Primary School. The pastor of that church spoke at Church of the Palms and Peace River Presbytery last year sharing his joy for our prayers and support . Donations may be made through PC/USA Extra Commitment Opportunity Fund #051722 and designated for the Kirkuk Church Kindergarten.
Contact: Charlie & Carol Haeussner @ 941-907-3851
or email: charlesncarol@live.com
CHURCH OF THE PALMS MISSIONARY SUPPORT
Chris and Greg, Missionaries with the Kurds in Eastern Europe
Chris and Greg are Presbyterian (USA) missionaries serving Christ through their work with the Kurds by sharing the love of Christ with Kurds throughout Eastern Europe . Church of the Palms began both financially and through prayer supporting them in Christ's work in Eastern Europe in 2010. Pray that many of the Kurds that they interact with will receive Christ personally. Anyone interested in a short term mission trip in Eastern Europe with them and the Kurds should contact a member of the COP mission's committee.
Contact: Reyn Kamphuis for further information email: rakamphuis@aol.com
Eric Yearwood, Campus Crusade for Christ
Eric is a young man totally committed to serving Jesus Christ. His life was radically changed in graduate school when he got involved with Campus Crusade. “A Crusade staff guy named Matt took me under his wing and taught me how to seek God with all of my heart”. After graduating he decided to join CCC full-time and he was introduced to the Tuesday Morning Men's Bible Study. He has served on college campuses, in the Middle East, and is currently in a staff development program at the Campus Crusade for Christ world headquarters in Orlando . When the year is completed Eric says “I'll be better equipped for more effective ministry. I'll be challenging young people to serve God in over 60 ministries within Campus Crusade all over the world.” The men in the Tuesday morning group have been supporting Eric financially and in prayer for more than two years. Contact Eric for his monthly email newsletter.
Contact : Bill Watrous; wtwatrous@aol.com or Eric.yearwood@uscm.org Campus Crusade, P. O. Box 628222 , Orlando , FL 32862
Drs. Les & Cynthia Morgan
Drs. Leslie and Cynthia Morgan are missionaries of the Presbyterian Church, (U.S.A.), serving in Bangladesh as staff physicians at Christian Mission Hospital in Rajshahi and as advisors for the health programs of the Church of Bangladesh. They live next door to the hospital, a short walk from the banks of the Ganges River as it enters Bangladesh from India .
Their healing ministry of compassion reaches out to Muslims, Hindus, and Christians. At the heart of their personal ministry is their bedside care for sick people. Les takes care of adults, while Cindy manages the care of infants and children. They also help the hospital provide primary care services, such as immunizations, health education, antenatal care, nutritional rehabilitation, and family planning.
The Morgans regularly travel to rural areas to assist the church's community health programs, where they visit the homes of some of the poorest people in Bangladesh and support the church in its ministry of understanding and hope. They have helped the church initiate village health seminars, helping villagers address their most important health problems, such as malnutrition, tuberculosis, and problems during pregnancy and delivery.
The Church of the Palms provides prayer and financial support for our medical missionaries in the far reaches of Bangladesh . Drs. Les and Cindy Morgan have been serving as God's hands and feet in Bangladesh since 1989.
Contact: Maxine Perry @ 349-3282, dperry3603@aol.com
Drs. Leslie and Cynthia Morgan, P.O. Box 4026 , Shreveport , LA 71134
Our mail is accumulated and forwarded to us by FedEx)
Email: leslieymorgan@gmail.com or cynthialmorgan@gmail.com
New Hope International
New Hope International has been at work in Eastern Europe since 1971. Founder, Hank Paulson, began by smuggling Bibles behind the Iron Curtain with one goal: to strengthen the church. When freedom swept across Eastern Europe, New Hope was asked to help train Christian leaders, especially in children, youth and family ministry. Indigenous leaders are best at reaching their countrymen, so New Hope 's ministry is built on raising up and empowering leaders within Eastern Europe . New Hope does this by teaching leadership and management to nationals who then teach godly life styles to their families, teens and children, using government sanctioned public schools as their classroom.
New Hope is involved in "Building bridges to mobilize churches that win the next generation for Christ." New Hope partners minister in Slovakia , Hungary , Bulgaria , Moldova , Czech Republic , Romania , Ukraine and Belarus . Church of the Palms is privileged to support Dimitrie Todorov in Bulgaria .
Contact: Rev. Phil & Margarette Bliss @ 359-6688
or email: pbliss@churchofthepalms.org
Pam, Mediterranean Region
Pam is serving on leadership team of a local church /Pioneering Student Ministry. The focus of her ministry with the church is supporting and mentoring some of those with leadership responsibilities, assisting with the youth ministry and co-leading the prayer mobilization ministry. The other half of her time she works together with a team to pioneer a student ministry by encouraging and discipling believing students, and together with them reaching out in various ways to non-believing students. The goal of this ministry is to create a vibrant, evangelical, indigenously led student movement.
Contact: Reyn Kamphuis for further information email: rakamphuis@aol.com
Wycliffe Bible Translators
Today about 350 million people and over 1,950 languages still do not have the Bible in their own language. Wycliffe's US Headquarters are in Orlando , Florida . Every couple of months Church of the Palms has a full day bus trip to Orlando . Wycliffe's vision is to see the Bible accessible to all people in the language they understand best. To make this vision a reality, Wycliffe also focuses on community and literacy development, and church partnership. Church of the Palms has supported Wycliffe over the last 6 years in a variety of ways including direct support and close contact with the following:
A. Dale & Carole Hoskins - Wycliffe Bible Translators
Wycliffe Bible Translators is pressing on toward its vision that all languages needing Scripture would have a translation in progress by the year 2025. Wycliffe formed The Seed Company with the special role of accelerating translation by equipping nationals to translate in their own language. The critical shortage of Bible translation consultants is the #1 bottleneck to turning our vision into reality. Consultants actively train and encourage translators to excel in their work, approve their translation drafts for publication, and mentor nationals to become translation consultants. Dale has leveraged his translation experience in Kenya with formal training and now serves as a Seed Company translation consultant in Nigeria while completing doctoral studies in Bible Translation. Meanwhile, Carole actively recruits new translators and support staff for Wycliffe in western Michigan . Dale and Carole have three delightful teenage boys: Carl, Joel, and Eric. Contact: Dale_hoskins@wycliffe.org
B. Darcie Drymon – Wycliffe Bible Translators
Darcie is a daughter of Church of the Palms in that her mother, Joan Drymon, is a member of Church of the Palms. Darcie joined Wycliffe Bible Translators in 2009 when we began both financial and prayer support for her. In April 2010, Darcie returned from the West Asia region to receive training in media in order to meet the great need she saw for people who live in oral cultures. She is now dedicated to help develop and create Biblically-accurate media tools to communicate truth to oral learners. Darcie is a Media Specialist with Vernacular Media which is a partnering organization of Wycliffe Bible Translators. They develop any materials such as videotape, audio cassettes, music, drama, filmstrips, and flip charts produced in the heart language (mother tongue) of the intended audience. Translation teams use vernacular media to encourage literacy and scripture use in their projects. One of the most dynamic effects of media is that it allows Wycliffe to reach the millions of people who cannot read, and who may otherwise never learn to read the life changing Word of God. Darcie lives in North Carolina but travels the world for months at a time using these media tools in training others with the ultimate goal of creating media products that give access to the Scriptures in culturally appropriate contexts. The last quarter of 2010, she traveled throughout the Asia area providing strategic and technical assistance for creating media programs which involve members of the language/people groups in all aspects of media production - visioning, authoring, production, and distribution. She also continues to consult on a variety of training projects ranging from Inter-Cultural Communications to Scripture Use.” Please pray: I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. (Psalm 32:8) Contact:Darcie3@gmail.com
C. Chris & Christy Winkler – Wycliffe Bible Translators in Nigeria
Compelled by the overwhelming need for Bible translation in Nigeria —more than 300 languages there do not yet have the Word of God—Chris and Christie Winkler moved to Nigeria in 2009 with their infant son, Judah. Chris uses his background in nonprofit management to lead the financial and operations team of Language Development Facilitators, a primary Wycliffe partner. He makes sure that translators, linguists, literacy workers, and other Wycliffe staff have everything they need to carry out their jobs effectively—a well-equipped office, project finances, security plans, etc. This allows the 100 language projects currently operating in Nigeria to progress more quickly with no loss of quality, helping accelerate Bible translation across Africa 's biggest country. The Winklers would love to hear from you and keep in touch. You can read their stories at thosewinklers.wordpress.com or e-mail them at thosewinklers@gmail.com.
D. Church of the Palms is the Prayer Anchor Church for Nigeria
Church of the Palms is partnering with Wycliffe Bible Translators as the Prayer Anchor Church for Nigeria . That means that we are to regularly pray for the translation work in Nigeria . There are over 500 different people groups in Nigeria and 231 of those language groups have no scripture available in their “heart” language. That means that over 7 million people in Nigeria do not have access to God's Word in their language. You and I can help them get access to God's Word by praying regularly that God will clear the way for missionaries such as Wycliffe Bible Translators to come and translate their verbal “heart” language into a written language and then translate the scripture into each of their 231 remaining language groups in Nigeria . Please pick up a colored brochure entitled “Pray for Nigeria ” located in the back of the sanctuary, the campus center and in the church office. The color will change every two months to reflect new prayer requests. The Hoskins, our missionaries with Wycliffe, are working with 24 of these 231 remaining language groups in Nigeria .
Contact : For more information, please contact Reyn Kamphuis at rakamphuis@aol.com or visit Wycliffe at www.wycliffe.org or watch for bulletin announcements for the next day long bus trip to Wycliffe.
