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.
Krista Smith - Wife
Jotham Smith - Son
Alaithia Smith - Daughter
CASA DE ORACION FAMILIAR - 12 CAMPUSES PRISONERS OF HOPE INTERNATIONAL - 14 Prisons Maximum Security Prisons - 3,169 Medium Security Prisons - 2-Year Intensive Discipleship - 1,295 National Prison Institute Training Academy - 1540 Police Department (DPI) - 185 Total Prisons - 14
Mentoring men that are coming out of addiction (some are still fighting it); men coming out of incarceration; All In Ministries is open to all men
Patrick works as the coordinator of 4 schools for Bethany International Missions in Brazil and Paraguay, and his role has mainly been to expand the school programs in partnership with other churches and missions. Patrick also helps with supervision and member care for expatriate missionaries in the South American region. Both Patrick and Nedra are writers and will have books published in Portuguese in 2012.
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!
1 in 6 people in the world are considered disabled. This is over a billion people worldwide. One of the biggest unreached people groups
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.
Only 1% of French people know and follow Jesus. Many communities have no church and there is a great need to train pastors and plant more churches. The most active faith in the public sphere is Islam, where France has the largest Muslim population in the EU. An interesting stat that shows the need is that there are 40 spiritual mediums for every Christian pastor in France. Most people will never hear the gospel from another believer and the few born again Christians that exist are marginalized.
England is the 4th most secular nation in the world, with close to 70% claiming to be non religious.
El Salvador is in the aftermath of a 12 year civil war so Gang Violence, Drug Cartel, Immigration and Poverty have pillaged the Salvadoran Family. We are working to Transform El Salvador one family at at time.
Lead Pastor of International Christian Assembly, a church of over 40 nationalities located in Bangkok, Thailand. Launch Chi Alpha at one of the largest Universities in the world in Bangkok. Continue to lead "Sealed" a ministry touching those enslaved in human trafficking.
25,000 Japanese commit suicide every year. Yet in spite of this God is moving among young people. In Vietnam, Cambodia, and Myanmar their is a strong church planting movement evolving. Our time there will be to equip and empower church planters with a means to develop sustainable income.
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.