tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-307138362011-07-27T00:05:57.371-07:00We serve in the mininstry of Every Community for Christ, a ministry of One Mission Society (OMS). Serving 48 ministries in 43 countries in 2010.Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.comBlogger661100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-84707195888828533062010-05-19T14:31:00.001-07:002010-05-19T14:50:34.689-07:00

In March 2010, Anita and I spent almost three weeks in a Caribbean nation. We participated in 3 marriage enrichment seminars for 70 pastors and their spouses. It was a serious time and a great time.Each person had to share in front of the group something romantic about their spouse. Probably half of the couples sang to each other. A number of others, one person of the couple sang to the other.

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-66740177112768358442010-05-19T05:53:00.000-07:002010-05-19T14:30:47.295-07:00

This is the time of year when we in ECC publish the statistics from the previous year. Once again, they "numbers" are greater than ever, even with fewer paid people. This is due to the "number" of people that are working with our paid workers. We call them bi-vocational ministers. In 2009 in the world of ECC, the Lord raised up 3,548 churches.It is wonderful to see how a group of new believers

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-9201425812964583782010-05-19T05:44:00.000-07:002010-05-19T05:52:50.092-07:00

Here in the US, we tend to like to get on with facing the issues and not mess around. In may places, like in Mexico, if you want to "solve" problems, you must have some under the tree time. We may think it is putting on a false face to have fun with someone we disagree with, but not there.So we had plenty of under the tree time to allow for informal discussions. It reminds me of an interview I

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-67435723704871489812010-05-19T05:35:00.000-07:002010-05-19T05:44:02.266-07:00

During the days of May 11-14, I was a delegate to the partnership meetings between OMS/ECC and UNIFAM. UNIFAM is the Mexican national church founded by OMS missionaries about 20 years ago. It was time to have some formal meetings to discuss how the partnership is working and not working. This was needed since UNIFAM leadership has grown and become stronger and more independent, which is a good

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-70266832989394944592010-04-11T11:01:00.000-07:002010-04-11T12:57:13.991-07:00

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-19252620023173044482009-08-07T13:48:00.000-07:002009-08-07T13:51:40.913-07:00

Currently at OMS we have a group of 19 church planters attending a two week training course, which we had also hosted in August of 2008. The training delegates are from a number of countries with ministries in many more countries. In ECC, we spend much time talking about and training leaders to reproduce themselves. It is always exciting to receive reports from leaders that have attended

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-80553478775938012142009-08-07T13:39:00.001-07:002009-08-07T13:48:37.926-07:00

June 2009During our visit to a Caribbean island, we had the privilege of participating in a four day training event on the multiplication of leaders and groups. The group had almost 70 participants, about half of the delegates were within the ECC ministry. The others were church pastors that want to have a more effective church planting ministry going out from their church. It is exciting to

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-71908236758844009492009-08-07T13:35:00.000-07:002009-08-07T13:38:42.279-07:00

June 2009In the middle of June 2009, I had the privilege of visiting our 3 ministry partners in Colombia with another OMS missionary. We each had our own purpose, mine being financial administration. Since we have few OMS missionaries in Colombia, we in ECC must send funds from the OMS office directly to our ministry partners. I needed to communicate our ECC and OMS expectations on the handling

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-54907627072454079622009-08-07T13:29:00.000-07:002009-08-07T13:34:56.684-07:00

June 2009When me and another OMS missionary arrived in Colombia at the national convention of the IGLEICO national church in Medellin, the President invited us into his temporary office for a snack and something to drink. He was very happy to tell us about the church reaching all of the Americas, but he was even more happy to tell us that many young adults have received a call to go and are

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-36621155977959333242009-05-17T18:57:00.000-07:002009-08-07T13:28:43.644-07:00

Click on the link to the left, "View Ministry Photos", to see our new ministry photos on Flickr.

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-7736916008371893842009-05-17T18:33:00.000-07:002009-05-17T18:50:34.081-07:00

In April, Anita and I visited Mexico City and spent one day helping at a drop in center for the homeless.  That day 20 homeless people came to the center for two meals, a shower and to wash their clothes.  On the street, they live in "families" and the 20 were from 3 different families.There was a time of rest and games.  There was also a time of singing and Bible study.  The discussion was open

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-44977993464820348692009-05-17T18:23:00.000-07:002009-05-17T18:32:21.057-07:00

When Anita and I visited Mexico City in April, we were privileged to attend a baptism service of people from newly established house churches. Since house churches don't have a baptistry, the baptism was held at a water park!  Two bus loads and 7 SUV's of people from 13 house churches went to the water park for the service and a day at the water park.  About half of the people were

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-48896937770415473382009-05-17T17:59:00.000-07:002009-05-17T18:05:20.768-07:00

As I stood in line at the airport ticket counter to leave the Caribbean, a group was ushered to a designated line especially for them. Those of us who had been waiting wondered why they were receiving priority treatment.  At first it was said that they were a tour group.  Then we found out that this group of about 100, mostly younger families, were immigrating to Mexico.  As I moved from line to

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-55378671965252352662009-04-26T17:13:00.000-07:002009-05-17T19:00:23.152-07:00

Back in September 2007, I had went to the Caribbean with another OMS missionary to give a training on evangelism and church planting.  Our focus was to transition church planters from planting churches, to being trainers of people who plant churches.  Each one could have 6-8 people in on-the-job training for planting churches and training the leaders of the groups.I had written about a mother and

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-10125174520240859082009-04-26T16:45:00.000-07:002009-04-26T17:08:57.199-07:00

I had the opportunity to visit the Caribbean in January 2009.  It was a wonderful time of meeting with various ministry leaders.  I came away from my time there very happy with young leaders that I have had the privilege to support, encourage and work with to expand their ministries.The family in the photo has started 3 house churches in the past 7 years.  They have a passion for the Lord and

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-61104962512922069202008-10-01T14:28:00.001-07:002008-10-01T14:37:18.917-07:00

October 1, 2008 Each month the OMS staff spends a half day in prayer. We have a different prayer focus each month, such as praying for a region of the world and the OMS ministries in that region. Today was a half day of prayer, and we had two topics of prayer. We prayed for the persecuted church. Many people are coming to know Jesus around the world. In many places, this causes a harsh reaction

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-22819668344057967012008-09-28T16:39:00.000-07:002008-10-01T14:07:17.581-07:00

Date: May 13-24, 2008Anita and I went to the Philippines to participate in an ECC church planting training event.The training was scheduled for five days, until the typhoon hit and knocked out power, toppled trees and flooded areas. Trainees were to come to the training from the city that was most affected. However, the Philippine leaders decided to go ahead with the training, just eliminate one

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-38598799696393654032008-09-28T16:07:00.000-07:002008-10-01T14:02:08.112-07:00

Date: September 19-23, 2008I went from Mexico City to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic to make arrangements for the ECC Latin America Coordinators Seminar at the end of October.We do not have ministry there, so another ministry leader is helping me make arrangements for our group of 55 from 7 countries.The ministry leader is the country director for VisionTrust. They have about 1600 kids in

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-49939995113503640682008-09-28T15:18:00.000-07:002008-10-01T13:55:57.111-07:00

Date: September 11-19, 2008Rich and Anita travel to Mexico City to minister with the OMS missionaries and ECC pastors.Three years ago I, Rich, visited Mexico City for the first time. At that time, there was a group of young adults on a short term mission trip from Ireland. I joined the group one day as they traveled to various places to pray for that area. One of those was on a vacant piece of

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-6661612871205199952008-09-28T14:05:00.000-07:002008-10-01T13:53:33.144-07:00

Date: September 11-19, 2008Rich and Anita visit the OMS and ECC ministries in Mexico City.One of the exciting things about evangelism and church planting is the stories of changed lives. When people commit their lives to Jesus, their lives change. It is so exciting to meet people that the Lord has changed their lives. It is also exciting to see many of our younger ECC pastors grow in their faith

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-80698517387565674212008-09-28T13:41:00.001-07:002008-10-01T13:51:00.180-07:00

Date: August 11-22, 2008Church Planting Training at OMS headquarters in Greenwood, IN.I was previlidged to plan, organize, coordinate and participate in a church planting training event with worldwide impact, 15 countries of ministry represented.The leaders were Bill and Bill who have planted many churches in many countries and have trained people from all over the world. It was a pleasure to

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-16261252644565239792007-11-19T13:43:00.000-08:002007-11-20T12:23:22.781-08:00

PhilippinesIn October, our Every Community for Christ church planters in the Philippines held a leadership training seminar for 14 new leaders of house churches. The report I received from our National Coordinator was very encouraging.In the past year, they have begun over 100 house churches!One couple attended the training seminar along with their four children. They had left behind occult

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-38130188517888224242007-11-19T13:28:00.000-08:002007-11-20T12:22:53.218-08:00

Recently here at the OMS office, we received training so that we are able to be on a "Risk Assessement Team" (RAT) when the need arises.The world has become very dangerous for those that are going to the nations with Christ. Therefore, we need to be prepared to meet unsecure situations in many places around the world. RAT's are formed when a situation presents itself in a given country.We were

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-86249739123095256562007-11-19T13:11:00.000-08:002007-11-20T12:22:02.675-08:00

"Why did it take so long for us to hear of the Good News of Jesus?"That was the question that some South Pacific tribal people had after they received the Good News of Jesus.The church we attend here in Greenwood had it's annual missions conference and the main speakers were a missionary couple that had worked on a remote island in the South Pacific. They work with Wycliff Bible translators and

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-25411780299005047622007-10-15T13:18:00.000-07:002007-10-17T08:26:06.895-07:00

In September, I spent some time in the Carribean to give a church planting seminar. I taught with an OMS missionary from Ecuador.What part of the world does God want to save? He wants to save all people of all times, all nations, languages and tribes. According to Revelation(7:9), all of these will be present in heaven.We are commanded to go to the WHOLE world. When we consider that this is what

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-80971727478018912682007-10-15T13:13:00.000-07:002007-10-17T13:07:47.848-07:00

This mother and daughter attended the church planting seminar. The mother pastors a church and her husband pastors another church. The daughter helps with both of them.They have a vision to plant many churches throughout their province by training lay leaders to be pastors of house churches.They looked over a map to determine the population and the number of churches needed to reach all to people

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-23054765225314992202007-10-15T12:59:00.000-07:002007-10-17T08:43:48.525-07:00

I had the pleasure to meet a professional leaguebaseball pitcher. Baseball is very popular, so this man drew a crowd.I have not attended a professional game in this country, but I will one of these times.I was told that he has a unique pitching style,which is side arm and sub-marine.Each province has a professional team and the players on each team are from that province.He told me that he has a

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-17331923392227921592007-10-15T12:56:00.000-07:002007-10-17T08:45:24.954-07:00

New photo's of our family and the trip to the Carribean island nation.Just click on the link.

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-92214719223723195682007-10-15T12:44:00.000-07:002007-10-15T12:55:13.449-07:00

We are enjoying having a full house again. Emily is home from a year with Youth With A Mission(YWAM) in Australia. Her time included classroom learning about ministry and missions and outreach to the countries of Kuwait, Thailand and Indonesia. It is good to have her back home for a time as she prays about what the Lord would have her do next. Emily has enjoyed visiting family and friends.Jessica

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-60495761522772718002007-07-27T19:40:00.000-07:002007-07-30T06:24:47.734-07:00

The past year has brought a lot of change to our lives, and much stress. After traveling much of this spring, we were able to take some much needed vacation and spend time with both of our families.The first part of our vacation week, we spent with many of my family members in northern Michigan near Sleeping Bear Dunes. We enjoyed being able to stay right on the shore of Lake Michigan. My mom

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-79093520610796212432007-07-27T18:22:00.000-07:002007-07-27T21:09:02.150-07:00

We held our Every Community for Christ Worldwide Coordinators Seminar in Seoul, Korea, May 26-31, 2007. Our group was able to attend celebration services of the OMS founded church, the Korean Evangelical Holiness Church, which is celebrating 100 years of ministry.ECC has ministry partners in 40 countries, but not all could attend due to various problems, such as obtaining visas. It is very

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-87364195258146962572007-07-27T12:47:00.001-07:002007-07-30T06:23:10.632-07:00

In 1907, OMS missionaries went to Korea, since they were no longer welcome in a neighboring country. The missionaries founded a Korean church association called the Korean Evangelical Holiness Church (KEHC), since there were few Christians and churches.Today, it is one of the larger evangelical Christian church groups in Korea. The membership from that early founding is now almost 1 million!We

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-15979841869903903052007-07-27T12:31:00.000-07:002007-07-27T20:35:45.176-07:00

By the end of World War II, Korea was devastated. Then came the civil war that caused even more devastation and divided the Korean pennisula into two countries.I did spend some time in Seoul after our seminar. The city is beautiful. It is incredible to think that not many years ago this country was devastated by war. There are so many new buildings, roads and bridges. While there are many tall

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-44958755795549481472007-07-27T12:22:00.000-07:002007-07-27T20:16:50.063-07:00

During our ECC Worldwide Seminar, we were entertained by a group of ladies that performed Korean traditional dances.The colorful costumes and fans complemented the dancing and the music.We enjoyed this very much.

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-77629078675463634692007-05-02T17:58:00.000-07:002007-05-06T18:16:59.762-07:00

In April, I visited some of the ECC teams in Mexico City, Mexico. The ECC teams are busy going house to house to tell people about Jesus. They are starting churches in homes. The photo to the right is a map of an area where the ECC team has an apartment rented that is used to train the house church leaders. With the map, the ECC team keeps track of the houses they have visited. Vicky said she

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-64374875092345430042007-05-02T17:56:00.000-07:002007-05-06T17:42:58.027-07:00

There are many small restaurants in Mexico City that serve great tacos! The photo is from one of those restaurants.The photo shows a big hunk of meat being slow roasted. The flame is to the left. When you order a taco, or 4 since they are small, the chef chops off some of the meat that is done, which is why the bottom part isn't as big around as the upper part.The tacos made from this meat

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-5231290970835923282007-05-02T17:55:00.000-07:002007-05-06T18:50:41.062-07:00

In April, I visited a country in the Carribean. I was excited to attend two showings of the Jesus Film.I was excited because this film is a powerful tool for bringing people to Jesus in many countries around the world.The event is well organized. Often, local churches work together to plan, staff and show the film. They also follow-up with new believers after the showing of the film. Church

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-52856942482351741892007-05-02T17:50:00.000-07:002007-05-07T13:06:12.169-07:00

The photo to the right is of ECC Pastora Helen(not her name), her mother and husband.Years ago, Helen and her husband had both suffered through an alcohol addiction. But they were set free from the addiction.After that, they became active in their local church, which was in the next town about 10 kilomters away.Recently, the church became full and her pastor asked her if she would be willing to

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-2328804508149562442007-05-02T17:49:00.000-07:002007-05-06T19:19:55.247-07:00

In April, I visited a country in the Carribean and visited with a pastor and his family. Many times I have visited with this pastor and attended the church that meets in his apartment.The apartment was small for the family of four. There wasn't much room for the growing church to meet. During services, people stood outside the windows.For several years, each time I visited we would pray that

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-86568596857144633532007-02-16T13:37:00.000-08:002007-11-19T13:06:11.439-08:00

*We are thankful that ECC has received a travel license from the US government so that some of us are able to travel to Carribbean! Rich will be in Carribbean the first three weeks of April.*We praise the Lord for the fruit of the ECC ministers around the world in 2006:Over 142,000 decisions to follow Jesus!Fully functioning churches established......... 737!*We pray for all our supporters

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-37238703623046089782007-02-16T13:25:00.000-08:002007-02-16T14:25:33.877-08:00

The children praying in the photo are in an orphanage in India.*Please pray for us as we coordinate the ECC budgeting process.*Please pray for wisdom as our ECC team makes decisions about what ministries will receive funding for the coming fiscal year.*Pray for Jessica as she finishes her last year of law school and prepares for the bar exam and full time work.*Pray for safety for Emily and her

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-78513653274653197952007-02-16T12:50:00.000-08:002007-02-16T14:30:13.072-08:00

During the last several months we have had three major events going on in our lives:1) Enduring the process of selling our house, packing and moving.2)Preparing for our ECC ministry budgeting process during the month of February.3)Making plans for our ECC Worldwide Coordinators seminar in Seoul, Korea in May 2007.We have found that planning international seminars is no easy task, especially when

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-50897560655322053092007-02-16T12:41:00.000-08:002007-02-16T14:27:10.493-08:00

Our house in Middlebury has been sold and we have moved to Greenwood! Thanks for your prayers for us during this process.We are currently living in an apartment here on the OMS campus. We'll move into our new home soon (pictured in the photo).Our new home address:745 Cowman DriveGreenwood, Indiana 46142

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-1163628858082042392006-11-15T14:09:00.000-08:002006-11-17T10:36:28.280-08:00

I have written the following six posts after my trip to the Philippines and then India. I have posted many photos from the trip so just click on the 'View Ministry Photos' link.Thank you very much for all forms of support, so that we are able to support ministry around the world.One day I was taking some photos of the mountains and when I turned around, there were 3 Philippina school girls

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-1163628453305524112006-11-15T13:53:00.000-08:002006-11-17T10:32:52.173-08:00

October 13-26, 2006The ECC members gathered up in the mountains at a Nazarene Bible school for a week of training, prayer, worship and renewal. This training takes place three times a year. Many Philippinos are very musically gifted, so it was a great joy to start out each day with worship. The day was filled with training sessions, beginning, intermediate and advanced sessions depending on the

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-1163627563687888242006-11-15T13:36:00.000-08:002006-11-18T08:30:53.706-08:00

October 13-25, 2006The Philippine ECC ministry is growing stronger with each passing day. The Lord is using the 37 ECC ministers to reach many people, disciple them and train them to be leaders in their churches.Anita was with me for some of the time in the Philippines. We had opportunity to hear the ECC team ministry reports and then to be with them in small groups to hear in more detail and to

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-1163626595953942812006-11-15T13:24:00.000-08:002006-11-17T10:28:39.196-08:00

October 22, 2006The Philippines is one of the countries I am assigned to Shepherd the ECC leader and ECC ministers. However, while in the Philippines, I took time to attend a Sunday service and preach at the Brethren church in the Philippines.This church has started many cell groups and has begun to plant two other churches.The Lord has opened the door in the Philippines and many are coming to

Rich and Anitahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16532864023914648327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30713836.post-1163625862754395632006-11-15T13:06:00.000-08:002006-11-18T08:33:36.313-08:00

October 26-31, 2006In the top photo are our ECC Team leaders in India. We came together at a church camp beside the Indian Ocean, a beautiful setting, for a time of teaching and prayer.While the daily rice and curry doesn't sit well with me, the fellowship is so good that I begged my boss to let me attend again this year, since I was in a country close by anyway!This group of leaders is in

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November 1-5, 2006 While in India for the ECC Leaders Seminar, I took several days to minister with the leaders of the Brethren Church (top photo).The ministry is bringing many to faith in Jesus, having planted about 150 churches. The ministry has met the medical needs of Indians by seeing over 1 million people at the free medical clinic. Many orphans, currently 80, have had a place to grow

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India is filled with so many people, 917 per sq. mile as opposed to the US which has only 79 per sq. mile! You hear a stat like that and say, WOW. Then you visit India and really say WOW!India is a democracy with 19 official languages and many more spoken. India mostly feeds itself and has enough crude oil production to supply most of their energy.The landscape is beautiful, as in the photo of

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At this moment I am in India, after having spent almost two weeks in the Philippines.In the Philippines, it was exciting to see and hear testimonies of how the Lord is working thru the ECC ministers to bring people to Jesus. There is much fruit, many new believers and new house churches being started.However, the work is difficult and the ECC ministers can become discouraged. Please pray for

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ECC African Coordinators SeminarSeptember 2006Johannesburg, South Africa I returned home from attending the ECC African Coordinators seminar on evangelism and church planting, tired, but excited about what God is doing on the African continent.The ministry of Every Community for Christ exists to evangelize, make disciples of Jesus, train church leaders and start new churches. The ECC ministers

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Johannesburg, South AfricaThe country of South Africa is one of the stable countries in Africa, so many from other African countries go there as refugees to escape all the problems in their mother country. This has created an opportunity to train church planters from many nations in one place and send them back to their country as pastors/church planters. In ECC we call this the Into Africa

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Johannesburg, South AfricaSince the seminar ended Friday evening and myflight wasn't until 11:30pm Saturday,I was able to take in 2 events before I had toleave South Africa.First, we went to a lion park where they breedlions. They are so beautiful! This park is verypopular since they have an area where you canpet lion and hyena cubs. It was great!It was a wee bit of a challenge to get to the

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ECC supports evangelism and church planting in about 14 African countries. The coordinators from each country will be attending an ECC seminar at a church camp near Johannesburg, South Africa. The seminar will be for a week.Since South Africa is one of the stable countries in Africa, there has been some difficulty for some coordinator's from un-stable countries to get visas to enter South Africa.

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On September 8 & 9, we had a garage sale so that we don't have so much stuff to move. Right now, it looks like we will be moving into a two bedroom duplex.The sale went well, we got rid of almost 90% of the items that we put out. Our garage was full and there were many items in the yard.We don't have much experience in having a garage sale or even going to sales, but it went well.One step closer

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> Safe travel for Rich going to the ECC African Coordinator's Seminar in South Africa, Sept. 16-24, 2006.>That ECC will receive a license from the US government to send funds to Myanmar so that we are able to support the ECC work.>That ECC will receive a license from the US government so that we are able to travel to the Carribean and support the ECC ministers.> Praise the Lord for a license to

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Recently we visited a church that had a banner that said to "Live for 'THE' Day, not for today. It was a good thing for me to read and think about; staying focused on what God is calling us, me and you, to do.I was reminded of Hebrews 12:1:Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let

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We feel that the Lord is telling us to make the move, from Middlebury, IN, to the OMS campus in Greenwood, IN, which is on the south side of Indianapolis.There are some good reasons to make this move. We will live in an OMS house, which will reduce our financial needs. We will be able to work in the office with the other ministry staffers. Jessica has accepted a job in Indy for after her

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On September 16, I leave for South Africa. We are having our African ECC Coordinators seminar. Africa faces many challenges, but there are signs of hope that it can get better for Africans. Below is a story from the ECC Shepherd to the African country of Burundi.The rebels have fought the government forces for years. During the day they hide in the mountains and at night they attack the

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The following testimony is from a country that I can't name on the Internet. It is a country that I have traveled to many times. This was told to me by the ECC Country Coordinator.One kind of ECC team that we have in this country are the “Jesus Film Teams”. These teams do abundant gospel sowing by taking the Jesus film to neighborhoods in cities and small towns and projecting it onto the wall of

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In the last five years as a missionary, some of my views have changed while others have been set more firmly in my mind.Patriotism: I never would have guessed that I would become more patriotic. Not in the sense that I support our war efforts, but in the sense that we really do have freedoms that most people in the world only dream about. In one country I visited, they boasted that they have 99%

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Nirmala and HusbandIn October 2005, I visited India and witnessed God at work. Before the 2004 tsunami, many members of OMS International's partner organization in India, the Evangelical Church of India (ECI), had attempted to evangelize the people in the fishing villages along the coast, but they couldn't gain access. The village leaders would accept humanitarian aid, but not the Christians

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Prayer Concerns:July 6, 2006- Please pray for the safety of an African ECC Coordinator as he supervises church planters in several African countries. We received a message stating that he is happy that God saved his life.July 3,2006-A message was received stating that four pastors in East Africa were arrested at a prayer meeting and jailed. Please pray for their safe release.UPDATE: The President

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Our Schedule:July-August 2006-Please pray for our fund raising efforts.August 11-25, 2006 -Carribbean, to visit ECC ministers.September 19-28, 2006-African Coordinators Seminar, South AfricaOctober 13-27, 2006-Philippines, to visit ECC ministers.October 28-November 2, 2006-All India ECC Leaders Seminar, Chennai, India

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Rich and Anita serve in the ministry of Every Community for Christ, a ministry of OMS International, Greenwood, Indiana.As ECC, Director of Operations, we oversee the budgeting process and adminstrate the budget.As ECC Shepherd's to the countries of Cuba and the Philippines, we provide emotional and spiritual support as well as evangelism and church planting training.View more information about

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