Ryan and Andrea Crozier minister in Bucharest, Romania where they work to prevent human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
Ryan’s first experience with missions happened when he was 12 years old and he went to Romania on a short-term trip. He describes the experience as “it ruined our lives in the best way possible”. By the time he was 17 he had been back 5 times and spent a few summers volunteering with various organizations. Andrea’s first mission experience was when she was 17 years old and she went to Panama with her father, River Valley Associate Campus Pastor Greg Youman. They spent time in schools and with children in the community, telling them about Jesus. During her third year in college she went on my second mission trip to L.A. and worked with the Dream Center program. That trip developed a passion for people coming from difficult situations, such as homelessness, drug addictions and those being prostituted.
For Ryan the call came during the summer he spent in Romania as a 17 year old when he sensed the Lord telling him he would live there one day. That moment set him on a path to attend North Central University for preparation for the missions. Andrea received her calling through a dream one night, in college. The dream was a vision of herself on streets that she didn’t recognize and working with children of a different nationality. When she woke up the next day she felt peace as she sensed the dream was confirmation from God that she was called to live in Romania.
Empowering People for Social Good in Romania.
Andrea Crozier - Wife
Conrad Crozier - Son
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!
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.
Slovenia is a country of 2 million people with a proud heritage and rich traditions, however it is a country that struggles deeply with alcoholism and depression. It has deep roots in Roman Catholicism, however the majority of the population has no personal relationship with Jesus. Currently there are 13 pentecostal churches and with about 1,000 evangelicals in the entire country.
We stay up to date with information from the Joshua Project and from Evangelical/Pentecostal groups based in Ethiopia by which we can see the numbers of languages, ethnic peoples, churches that have been planted by the major Pentecostal groups in country (including the EAG and the Full Gospel Believers Church of Ethiopia), UPGs in Ethiopia and our surrounding neighbors.
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.
River Valley 500. Paul and Robyn are serving in Northern Thailand. They are leading church planting teams reaching university students through English teaching centers.
The Carranos’ ministry is to young adults/students in Spain, as well as church planting & leadership development.
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.
River Valley 500. We minister to the people of Thailand. We focus on Thai nationals who are discipling other people and then we help them. We also look for any lost or broken person that God brings into our life and we minister to them.
The Kenyons are missionaries to the Youth Culture of Panama and present the gospel to students in the high schools of Panama City. They are launching a Youth Church that will establish a model to other churches in Panama of how to incorporate the emerging generation into their community without requiring them to meet an unstated list of rules and regulations in order to enter the premises or participate in the church community. This church will also provide a place where Panamanian students can retreat to feel safe, valued, and heard…a REFUGE. This REFUGE will house and rehabilitate abused girls within the context of the church.
The Portuguese speaking nations of Africa are home to some of the largest and fastest growing churches in Africa. The growth has greatly out-paced Biblically trained leadership needed to conserve help establish new believers in the faith and preserve established believers in that faith. The Assemblies of God in Angola with its 2.5 million members, is the second largest AG church in Africa, followed closely by Mozambique with nearly 2 million. The Bible college we began in Angola in 2012, since December, 2023, under complete Angolan leadership and we continue serving in a mentoring/consultant ministry. We have been asked to help in the same manner in Mozambique and will spend a part of February in that country.