Papua New Guinea is a land of almost 9 million people who speak over 800 different languages. For those almost 9 million people, there are only approximately 500 doctors in the country. Every year 1 in 20 children under the age of 5 will die. Many die from common things such as diarrhea from drinking contaminated water. About 40% of the country has no access to a source of clean water. While looking up statistics on PNG you will see that it is considered a Christian nation, it is very much in name only. While much of the coast has been evangelized as well as some of the bigger cities, when you go into the interior of PNG, you will be met with people who still live as they have for thousands of years. They still practice their animistic tribal customs. While some may have heard of Christianity and may even call themselves Christian, most will take one or two aspects of Christianity and merge them with their animistic beliefs. There is not a true separation and a turning away in many cases.
Our first missions experience was to Haiti in 2007 where we worked in a clinic and also an orphanage. It was our first exposure to the mission field.
Amy felt called into missions as a child and knew that someday she would use her nursing skills to reach people overseas. David felt called into missions as a young adult. He was praying in church one Wednesday night and felt like God was telling him that he was going to be used as a missionary. He wasn't sure how that would work since he had no Bible school training and was not a pastor. However, God confirmed his calling through the pastor who was speaking that night. God confirmed that it wasn't the right timing, but about 10 years later, David went to the alter at church and was praying again and God once again stirred in his heart the calling into missions and that it was the time to start the process. Once again we questioned how we could be missionaries when we weren't pastors and weren't Bible college graduates. However, God called us right out of the pew and gave us the giftings and talents that He has in order to be used to bring people into his Kingdom. David has since gone on to receive his minister's license from the Southern Missouri District of the Assemblies of God.
Amy Julian - Wife
Ben Julian - Son
Daniel Julian - Husband
Tod and Andrea Chapin are pioneering a ministry in the capital city of Edinburgh in Scotland. They minsiter to university students and young families seeing lives transformed by the power of Jesus and giving the spiritually hungry an encounter with the living God.
Steve and Trina are missionaries with Assembly of God World Missions in Nairobi, Kenya, Africa. They are serving as Team Leader Overseers of Live Dead East Africa. They have responsibility for teams in 6 countries. Their primary focus is church planting among unreached people groups and training. In addition, Trina ministers to young ladies.
Herb and Karen work in Manila, Philippines, in addition to the general Asia Pacific. Their main role is teaching EPHOD seminars.
Richard and Kim work with Youth Alive, which strives to equip Christian students to reach their peers with the Gospel. This is provided in schools through training, resources and outreach opportunities.
1 in 6 people in the world are considered disabled. This is over a billion people worldwide. One of the biggest unreached people groups
Most of the people that we minister to come from very simple educational/vocational backgrounds with low to modest income. Many of them live in rural areas or low-income neighborhoods in various cities. Some even live in very remote Amazonian villages with limited services (i.e., electricity, access to medical care, etc.). Even though they may be “simple” folks by our American standards, we know they are full of potential!
The Carranos’ ministry is to young adults/students in Spain, as well as church planting & leadership development.
Estonia is a small country, about 1/5 the size of Minnesota with just 1.3 million people. About 400,000 of them live in Tallinn, the city we live and work in. Estonia is one of the least religious countries in the world. Only 14 percent believe religion has any influence on their lives, and less than 1 percent are Evangelical Christian (Pentecostal, Baptist, or Methodist). After centuries of various occupations, Estonia was established as a country in 1918, but Soviet and Nazi occupations would follow. Estonia regained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The country is around 70 percent Estonian and 20 percent Russian, although some border cities are up to 90 percent Russian. Despite such a difficult past, Estonia leads the way technologically. Skype, Pipedrive, and Wise were all born in Estonia, and it's not uncommon to see delivery robots pass by on the sidewalk.
Mark and Anjali are located in Swaziland, a small, landlocked country within South Africa and bordered by Mozambique.