The Mission Commission

 

  • Gail De Graaf, Mission Commission Deacon, chair
  • Cynthia Fisher,
  • Darren Georgeff
  • Somer Gillett
  • Lois Lundgren-Stecker
  • Dan Marvin
  • Julie Norem
  • Wendy Reed
  • Lois Swartz
  • Sherie Whitehead
Westkirk Presbyterian Church

Mission Commission

 

Our Sovereign God, in His providence, has brought many local, national, and worldwide ministries to Westkirk for our support. Our mission statement is: "To support local and foreign ministries to enable them to make Christ known by prayers, offerings, and service."

 

This is the process by which we give support: a member of Westkirk makes the recommendation to the Mission Commission or Pastor Michael. We interview them and have them write their information and statement of faith as well as what they will be doing in ministry. We then make a prayerful decision whether to support them. At present we support 4 local ministries, 4 national campus ministries, and 5 international ones. Below are brief summary reports of these ministries.

Foreign Missions

Westkirk is pleased to support these fine missionaries as they serve Christ in distant lands. Pray for them often, send notes of encouragement as you think of them, and always be open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit in your own heart to serve in full-time ministry. There is much work to be done.

Gary De Graaf

Gary De Graaf: Greater Europe Mission FRANCE

Gary and Kate now live in Lille, one of GEM's Initiative Cities.  They work with a church in Croix and one in Lille.  They are church planters, and are beginning to get acquainted with their neighbors, and plan activities to invite people to a city wide barbeque, handing out cookies, helping the needy and homeless, handing out calendars and tracts.  It's all about proclaiming Jesus Christ to those they meet.
 

The churches in the Des Moines area who support greater Europe Mission in France are preparing to go on a mission trip to Lille in May, both to help Gary with the activities listed above, and others who will be doing construction work on the Croix church building.  May this team encourage and help this evangelism France.  For more, visit www.gemission.org

Johnathan and Becky Schuster

Jonathan and Becky Schuster: Greater Europe Mission Ireland

A year ago the Cornerstone Church was organized in Skerries, Ireland by Jonathan and Becky.  It has just celebrated its first anniversary, and is continuing to grow.  They have an elder that serves as youth director, and the group is very active and is growing in numbers.  Jonathan continues teaching at the Irish Bible Institute, and finds his students hungering for deeper knowledge of the Bible.  Becky continues teaching women's Bible studies.  In the spring of 2010 they will be pursuing application for renewal of their work visas. Visit www.germission.org

Dr. Peter and Ana Lucaciu

Dr. Peter and Ana Lucaciu - Romanian Evangelistic Medical Mission

Dr. Lucaciu and his wife are the founders of the ministry. The Mission's desire is to reach people of Romania with the Gospel message. Peter is the executive director of REMM www.remm-ministry.org   Ana overses all mission teams that travel to Romania and directs the REMM adoption/child placement services. Casa Josif is the orpahanage in Beius and the Bridge Coffee House is located in dowtown Beius which offers a place for teachers, town officials, townfolk, and teens a gathering place to build relationships and talk about Jesus Christ. During the school year, Peter and Ana reside in Gurnee, Illinois. They have four children.

Jessica Duff with The SEED Company of Wycliffe Bible Translators, is now on leave of absence from her duties. She continues to struggle with the effects of malaria, headaches, and other pain difficulties. We pray for the Lord's complete healing and that she will be able to return to her duties. She may be contacted at home: 2714 Manor Drive, Springfield, OR  97477

Cathy & Greg Huffer

Back2Back Ministries - Monterrey, Mexico - Cathy and Greg Huffer, Ben, Luke, and Mark work primarily with the orphanages. There are several of them with many children dependent on their care. We sent a mission team in November, 2008, and plan to send another. There are many groups who travel there during the summer months to help with VBS, helping with the other ministries with poor and homeless people in the neighborhood. Recently a class decorated some pillow-cases for the orphanage and we will also send stuffed turtles made by the Kids of the Kingdom class which meets during Sunday worship. We send our love to these orphans. For more information, visit them at - www.back2backministries.org


Home Missions

America is a culture in need.  With the support of Westkirk, and others, servants like these are reaching out to hurting people,  meeting their needs, and pointing the way to Jesus.  Please pray for these friends and their ministries.

David and Karen Eggert

David and Karen Eggert

Campus Crusade for Christ - Iowa State University

David heads up T.I.P. (The Ishmael Project of Bridges International) by contacting several universities to reach out to International Students and more specifically Muslims Students that are interested in getting to know about Jesus Christ. Karen works with International wives teaching them English.

Ward and Gwen Schmeidel

Ward and Gwen Schmeidel

Campus Crusade for Christ - Upper Midwest Region

Ward and Gwen Schmeidel (Children, Preston and Julia) are staff members of Campus Crusade for Christ. They oversee the upper Midwest region working alongside ministry directors from various Universities. (Univ at Wisconsin La Crosse, Univ of North Dakota, Iowa State Univ. Univ of Minnesota, Cloud State Univ. Mankato University and many others.) Gwen works with developing and editing of a newsletter for staff wives.

Freedom for Youth Ministries

Freedom for Youth Ministries, Des Moines, Iowa

Mark Nelson is the Executive Director at this Ministry. Various HouseKirks as well as the Mission Commission have served food to the young people. Non Perishable food has been collected and brought there for future dinners. One House Kirk has even provided canned foods for specific meals. Mark provided tours of the facilities and has a definite vision for the future. He came out to Westkirk and presented the Ministry to the adult classes.

Hope Ministries

Hope Ministries, Des Moines, Iowa

Leon Negen is the President/CEO of Hope Ministries. There are three ministries involved (Bethel Mission, Door of Faith and Hope Family Center) Julie Norem is Westkirk's Ambassador to this Ministry. Cynthia Fisher is another Ambassador helping in the Hope Ministry. These two keep us well informed about needs. We are grateful for the Lord's leading us to help in this ministry.

Heather and Brian

Heather and Brian Hanneman - The Navigators -

Brian and Heather with baby Timothy, their first child, have been involved in sharing the Good news on Saturdays during the summer months as they worked with the Navigator Camps. They now look forward to one of their weekly gatherings called SNASM (Sunday Nite at Snow Mountain) as well as building relationships during this upcoming school year. Pray for them as they witness to the college students at Colorado University.

Ruth Harbor

Ruth Harbor, Des Moines, Iowa, is a Christ-centered home for young women who are alone and facing unplanned pregnancies. Mark McDougal is the Executive Director. They sponsored a "Walk for Life " fundraiser this spring. Westkirk took part in the "Baby Bottle Project" and raised over $1300.00 for this Ministry.

Diane Skinner is our representative for Ruth Harbor. Mark Mc Dougal provided a tour of the facilities for several of us earlier this year. We are pleased to participate in this ministry

Teen Challenge of The Midlands

Warren Hunsberger - Teen Challenge of The Midlands, Colfax Iowa -

Warren and his family have moved to Jacksonville, Florida where he now serves as Executive Director for Teen Challenge International Ministry Institute and still serves as Regional Director for the Colfax center. Bob Larson is the Executive Director for the Induction and Training Phase Center in Colfax. Isaac Hunsberger is the Executive Director for the Admissions Center in Des Moines, Iowa. Candace Wilson is the Executive Director for the Women's Center in Pella, Iowa and Michael Hunsberger is the Executive Director for the Re-Entry Center in Omaha, Nebraska. Continue to keep all these in your prayers.

Teen Challenge of The Midlands

Brett and Micki Strait with their children, Evan and Eliza, live in Colorado Springs and serve with The Navigators with the collegiate ministry. Specifically they are a part of the EDGE-Corps, a 1-2 year ministry opportunity, which recruits, trains and sends Christ-centered college graduates and young adults back to college campuses to work with The Navigators.
Brett trains those young college-age students and when that is completed, they raise their own money and work with a veteran Navigator staff who will mentor and train them to work on a college campus.
Brett was ordained in Westkirk to be an evangelist, and he considers this his home church. We give him the opportunity to preach here at least once a year.
The Navigaator mission statement: "To advance the Gospel of Jesus and His Kingdom into the nations through spiritual generations of laborers living and discipling among the lost!"

Special Mission Projects

 

We provided special gift offerings of money, service projects, food, clothing etc. to several agencies:

 

  • Restoration Ministries of Alleman, IA sends teams to Cuba to help in various projects.


  • Jane Hammarlund has gone to Cuba twice and will be returning with a team in March, 2009. We have given towards taking items that would help the Presbyterian Church there reach out to those in need. Medical items are high on the list, and Westkirk is happy to be a part of this ministry.


  • Operation Christmas Child www.samaritanspurse.org. We had "CHRISTMAS IN JULY" in 2008, and it worked so well that we will participate in it in July, 2009. We find that items for the boxes can be purchased all year round and we filled over 60 boxes in July, and another 140 in November.


  • International Messengers www.internationalmessengers.org is a group locally based in Clear Lake, IA. Dan Marvin, a member of Westkirk and the Mission Commission, has been going to Hungary to participate in English camps during each summer. He shared this ministry on Wednesday, January 21 after treating us to Cold Fruit Soup!!! We support his ministry.


  • Through special offerings and gifts, after the Mission Team returned in November, 2008, from Back2Back, Monterrey, Mexico, we were able to help provide a stove/oven and fuel necessary to use it for the lady who runs the soup kitchen in the shanty town.