Rick has 2 main jobs. For his first job, he travels to campuses across the U.S.A. for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, doing training and evangelism with an apologetics emphasis. From 2010-2012, he worked at 40 different campuses. His second job involves serving as the InterVarsity staff member at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, where there has been an active InterVarsity group since 1941.
Rick received his call into missions in 1978 during a summer evangelism project with InterVarsity in Aspen, Colorado.
Rick was a student leader in InterVarsity at Southwest Minnesota State College in Marshall, Minnesota. When he graduated, it seemed only natural for him to come on staff with InterVarsity, and the Marshall Evangelical Free church became his first sending church.
Sharon Mattson - Wife
River Valley 500. Paul and Robyn are serving in Northern Thailand. They are leading church planting teams reaching university students through English teaching centers.
Taiwan is predominantly a Buddhist and Taoist practicing country. 19% of the population is still unreached (roughly 4.5 million people), but only 3.3% are evangelical; leaving over 23 million people who have yet to accept the Gospel.
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.
According to the CDC, there are over ONE BILLION people in the world who live with some form of disability*1, including... - 61 million adults, one out of six children, in the United States. *2 - Within the disability population, more than 200 million experience considerable difficulties in activities in daily life. *2 - If pulled together, individuals with disability would represent the third largest nation in the world, with the highest rate of abuse, divorce, suicide, homelessness, and joblessness (WHO 2011 report). *3 *1 - 1 Billion people worldwide *2 - 61 Million Americans - Disability Impacts All Info Graphic *2 - Increase in Developmental Disabilities Among Children in the U.S. (1 out of 6 children) *3 This stat can be found in the WHO Disability Report on the WHO website here:
Our mission field is in a university town called Potchefstroom South Africa. The general population is university students, Afrikaans families, township communities and very few internationals. South Africa is extremely culturally diverse and acts as almost a ‘melting pot’ of Africa! There are 11 official languages spoken in this nation. The various religious beliefs here are Christianity, African religions, Islam, and Hinduism.
Currently our goal is to bring the church to all 18 Unreached People Groups in Ghana to see large percentage of over 1.7 million people reached with the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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.
Japan has 127 million people but less than 1% is Christian. We minister in Fukuoka city a 2.2 million. Japan is considered an Unreached People group by AGWM
Chris and Brook are the Directors for the Chi Alpha ministry on the campus of St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minnesota.