In September 2021, I felt God pressing on my heart more than ever the idea “what if I am called into missions?” I remember having this conversation with my dad because I was in a relationship at that time. In May 2022, I continued to become more open to the idea becoming a reality. I committed to River Valley as my church home and learned more about the MAP. I signed up for Global Team Thailand, was fully funded, read “Change the Map”, went to team meetings, went on the Global team, came home and processed the experience, and stayed in contact with the Missionaries. Raising funds was a huge challenge for me in many ways. Internally, God led me through lies that I believed and hooks that were on my heart. I was lead out of the boat of hyper independence and softened up to the idea of dependence on others. I experienced a willingness to support without ties. It encouraged me to build more relationships with people at church and share with other what God was doing in my life. Mark Durene’s book “Change The Map”, opened my eyes to the spiritual realm, Buddhism, and the Thai culture. Through reading the book, I was able to relate to the spirit of religion, connect experiences of religion, and learn more about religion, spirituality, and strongholds. I grabbed a hold of relating Catholicism and Buddhism together and the beauty of sharing the hope in having a relationship with Jesus. In Thailand, we were involved in painting, light construction, children’s ministry, prayer walks, street ministry, and more! I enjoyed connecting with the missionaries, Thai pastors, and community. Three things that stuck with me were: 3. The length that relationships take to form due to cultural and linguistic barriers. 2. The reality of family being 22 hours away and the uncertainty life brings, praying is the only response at times. 1. One evening we had a time of games and fun together at the Missionaries home. A group of us were playing Farkle. At home with my family it is common for us to play games as well although I haven’t been one to be very successful. Anyhow, we are playing Farkle and the dice were showing me favor. I won the first round, then the next… jokes were being thrown around about me going back to Thailand for missions, then eventually the group agreed, “hey, if you win this round you are staying” well.. the rest is history. I won the game and lo and behold.. I AM going back to Thailand. Through prayer God has grown my heart for Thailand, the Thai people, and current team over in Thailand. When I got back to the states I dealt with jet leg for 2+ weeks, prayed into and through the weight of my experience, and stepped deeper into the MAP program. God is GOOD.
“Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”” Genesis 28:15 ESV
Japan has a population of 126 million people with roughly 37 million of those living in the Tokyo area. We have close to 600,000 foreigners living in Tokyo with that number expected to rise dramatically in the next few years based on Japan's shrinking labor force. Less than 1% of Japan's population consider themselves an evangelical Christian, with an estimated 95% of the population never having had an adequate presentation of the gospel. It is widely recognized as the 2nd largest unreachable people group in the world. Japan also has one of the highest populations of elderly people in the world and one of the lowest birthrates in the world. Japan's culture is heavily influenced by Buddhism and Shintoism but with many living out an atheistic or agnostic existence. Our church is located directly across the street from Tokyo University, one of the largest universities in Japan. There are around 28,000 students currently enrolled there.
River Valley 500. Our focus is equipping local Christian leaders (for Venture and with our local church) in hard to reach (tough) places in SE Asia with resources to help them share the Gospel, plant churches, and build the Kingdom of God.
Chad and Dargain work in North America and minister all over the globe. Their focus is on the missionary families. Chad directs every aspect of the Missionary Kid ministry, from pre-field to re-entry. As a former missionary to Europe, he also still does a few youth camps in Europe.
Guinea is approx. 14 million in population 47 people groups and 29 are unreached 86.9% of the population is unreached Largest religion is Islam, there is some mixture of animism 0.68% evangelical Currently, God has opened the door for Guineans to receive the gospel. The surrounding countries are predominantly Islamic states where it is against the law to proselytize. Guinea currently has an evangelical president so the government is favorable to the Gospel being preached. The General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God has a calling to plant churches and is eager to see this work happen in his country. As God has made this opportunity possible. Me and several others including AGWM (who has never sent a missionary to Guinea in its history) and AMI (where I serve full time) has both been led by the Spirit to come into partnership to reach the lost. God is moving and we are excited to minister in this country while the opportunity is here!
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.
This year the River Plate Bible Institute is turning 75 years. It is considered the largest AG school in Latin America. We have over 300 residential students, 400 in the Saturday program, 150 online, and hundreds in our ministerial schools. As the students come from over 15 different nations, each of them goes back into their communities and has an exponential impact. Additionally, many of them have a call to missions on their lives. Most of the missionaries from Argentina to other countries are graduates of our Bible School. As far as the country, Argentina has 45.81 million people. It is a predominantly Catholic nation, but because of syncretism, their belief system is very superstitious. They would have no problem going to mass in the morning and the witch doctor in the afternoon.
Mark and Janie have served as missionaries in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, since 1994, where they have been involved in university campus ministry, leadership development, and church planting. Through their “Churches for Churches” program, the Durenes are helping with new church plants in 5 cities, including Teung, where River Valley Church partnered to launch the church. Currently, they are helping to train several other potential church planters, and also serve as mentors to many other pastors throughout the northern Thailand area. In addition, they are the directors of the Global University Thai’s second Bachelor’s program, where they are training current and future Thai ministers. Mark serves as the AGMF Thailand Country Moderator, as well as on several national boards, including Evangelical Fellowship of Thailand (Northern region); Every Home for Christ, Thailand; Thailand AG Northern Region Board of Presbyters; and others. Janie writes Sunday school curriculum for several churches and directs the children’s program at a church in Chiang Mai.
Indonesia is the fourth most populated nation in the world; approximately 266 million people in which more than 80% are followers of Islam. Though with social and political persecution, Indonesian Constitution allows freedom of 5 major religion including Protestant churches. They allowed the Indonesian church to invite missionaries with religious visas, which is invaluable for evangelism.
Amazon River Basin has 306 tribal groups, the majority of which are unengaged/unreached. 900,000 people populate those tribes
Luke and Tanya McKinley’s mission field is the country of Estonia. Their primary focus is church planting in Tallinn, Estonia. They work with a team of missionaries in a multiplication network.
Jon and Jennifer Dahlager serve as missionaries in Costa Rica, Central America. They have served in the country since March 2000.
Thailand has a population of around 70 million people. The country of Thailand is primarily Buddhist, roughly 5% Muslim, and around 1% believed to be Christian (as of 2021 according to the department of religious affairs). We will be staying in Chiang Mai Thailand which has a population of close to 2 million people and thrives on tourists coming from all around the world. From our experiences in Chiang Mai, there are a lot of young children who are open to hearing more about the Gospel and their parents are Buddhists. We are excited to go to Thailand as a family with young children to hopefully make more connections with families who are in a similar stage of life.