February 2021 Mission Prayer Prompts

The COVID-19 worldwide pandemic has affected the ministry of all the missionaries we support. Limits and restrictions have been implemented that restrict travel, size of gatherings, etc., just as we have experienced here in America. In some cases the restrictions are greater than we experienced here. Please note this fact as you read this Prayer Prompter.

Stephanie Alderman –, Africa. Church planter working with women and children ministries. Here is the Converge link to the work Stephanie is focusing on: https://converge.org/project/africa/6-degree- initiative/togo-church-planting to learn more. You may remember that voodoo is heavily practiced in Togo. One percent of the population is Christian. Stephanie has been in the U.S. on home assignment during the COVID-19 pandemic. She has returned to Togo since the travel restrictions were lifted.

Bob and Barb Bartz – Jakarta, . Far Eastern Broadcasting Company. Bringing Christ to the Nations through Media. Bob and Barb returned to Jakarta just as COVID-19 began to spread worldwide. They have been living with limits due to the pandemic. No travel and great care being taken to stay healthy and they have stayed healthy.

Bob was encouraged by FEBC to explore his options in finding a ministry organization who would benefit from his Content in Context seminar during the pandemic. Here are Bob’s words from his October newsletter: “Working from home was further confirmed by ministry developments across FEBC. The ongoing travel limitations highlighted the need for FEBC members to rely on local staff for ministry expertise. I was encouraged by FEBC to explore media opportunities with other ministries, of which there were several. With the onset of the pandemic, more ministries are turning to media in digital environments as a means of reaching those exploring answers to life's questions. One such ministry, is developing media resources and services to support their ministry teams working among many of the least reached people groups around the world. Following a series of contacts with the director of this initiative, I've been loaned from FEBC to serve as media strategist, consulting and equipping ministry teams to apply media to their ministry strategies. Already I've been interacting with several interested teams.

The Content in Context workshop that I developed fits right into my new role with this new organization (Bob asked we not share name over the internet). However, there are significant adjustments to be made. In the past, the workshop has been conducted in specific locations where teams can gather together. The lack of travel and restrictions on gatherings due to the pandemic further illustrates the need for this workshop to be available online. So my first major focus over the past few months has been shifting the concepts and applications of the workshop into a module based format for teams to access virtually and at their own pace. This requires adapting to available platforms and modifying team activities to accommodate this.”

Because of the new organization Bob works for is international and is being formatted to be used online rather in workshop gatherings, it is no longer necessary to be based in Jakarta, Indonesia. Bob and Barb are planning on moving back to the United States to base their work from here. They emphasize they are not retiring from work at this time. Since their work is internet based, they are simply changing home base locations to work from. CrossRoads will continue to support them in this new but similar endeavor. For more info: https://www.febc.org/give-to-missionary/bob-and-barbara-bartz/

Peter and Carmosina Carlson – Wycliff Translators working from North Carolina in the Portuguese language.

Peter sends big news: “Yes, it is time for Carmosina and me to retire from Wycliff Translators effective October 31, 2020. We have served for 41 years and 47 years respectively.”

Thank you, Peter and Carmosina, for a lifetime of serving the Lord in translation work. You have been found faithful! It has been a privilege for CrossRoads Church to be on your team! This will be the last inclusion of the Carlsons in our prayer prompter.

For more info: https://www.wycliffe.org/partner/pccarlson

Asian Missionaries – Converge missionaries sharing the Gospel with Hui Musl*m group living in the same country.

This couple has been restricted also by the pandemic. They have been outside of their host country back in the country of their birth waiting for travel restrictions to be lifted. “We are now staying with Mao’s mom. We know this is from the Lord, for us to be able to have extended time with her.” I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his Word I put my hope. Psalm 130:5

Prayer topics: For spiritual breakthroughs that some of us are still waiting for, in our personal lives and in our ministry!! We wait for breakthroughs with the Hui also… 1. That when the Hui hear the Gospel, they will understand Abba Father’s love and follow Him. 2. That God will display His power over evil amongst the Hui, and open their eyes to the truth that Jesus is their Savior and Lord.

For more info: https://converge.org/missionary/mao-phoenix

Juan and Elena Felipe – Minnesota / Iowa Conference Baptist Missionaries serving in Pelican Rapids and Park Rapids. Juan is a Pastor and an evangelist to Spanish speakers living in our State. Juan shared in his last letter that he and his immediate family did get COVID-19. They were not hospitalized, but were very sick and weak. Recovery is ongoing and still they feel weak. They seek our prayers for full recovery. They were sick for four weeks. Many in his two congregations have also experienced sickness from COVID-19.

Pastor Felipe shared one story in his last letter: “In November, this young man come to my house and gave himself to the Lord, asking for forgiveness of his sins. We were so happy to have been part of this decision. My wife and I left that afternoon to go to our service in Park Rapids, MN, as we do every Saturday. When we returned, he was ready to be baptized and it could not wait. By 10 p.m., this young man was baptized and reborn. This is how the Lord has been blessing us. We will not stop preaching His word, even with the pandemic raging, we will overcome.”

Pastor Felipe thanks CrossRoads for our financial support of his ministry.

For more info: https://converge.org/north-central/giving-campaign/juan-felipe

Todd and Karen Indehar – Converge Missionaries evangelizing and church planting in Thailand. You may recall that the Church plant area in Bangkok is in the inner city slums. Recently, Todd led a team to a northern province to share the Gospel and more with children of a village. Please pray for these requests Todd shared: 1. Protection from the evil one. This is strategic, end-times ministry and we have had significant warfare in the past. 2. Wisdom as to next steps. We got the phone number of the village elder. He will need to give us an official invitation if we are to return to do some kind of formal activity. We will contact him soon. We have funding to do some kind of outreach event and hope to do it sometime in April, 2021. 3. Confirmation that a language preservation project is the bridge into this community. We are specifically praying for sufficient funding, a person or team with expertise in language preservation, and/or a church planting team to complete this project. 4. Unengaged Unreached People Groups. According to Finishing the Task, there are 218 remaining unengaged, unreached people groups numbering over 5.7 million souls that are still beyond the reach of the Gospel in Thailand. These 218 ethnic groups are perhaps the neediest of the needy as they are unengaged, which means that no church, no missionary, no mission agency…no one has yet taken responsibility to tell them about Jesus Christ.

As always, thank you for your prayer and support.

For more info: https://converge.org/missionary/todd-karen-indehar

David and Carol J. – Converge Asian Director of Missions. There is a degree of uncertainty with the ministries I participate in throughout Asia. And yet these words spoken by Jesus readily come to mind: “Don’t be afraid; just keep trusting…” [Luke 8:50] As we trust, here is some of what we see coming about: Seeing God’s work around the world. That gives us hope, and joy, and expectation.

From Dave’s newsletter:

“The organization I work with, Converge, is asking God for a gospel movement among every least-reached people group — in our generation.

In 2020, 1,769 churches were launched (bold is my emphasis) in cooperation with international partners — all among the world's least-reached peoples. These new churches are discipling 28,304 newly baptized believers. In addition, 20 new Converge global workers passed the assessment process. Converge now has 175 workers around the globe with another 63 preparing to deploy.

I am diligently searching for partnership in ministry among the least-reached people of Asia. I am discovering local workers and building stronger partnerships in Japan, , , Thailand, Indonesia, and Philippines.”

NOTE: this short video Pray for Buddhists (prayercast.com) (https://prayercast.com/buddhism- landing.html for further information) may be of interest to you.

For more info: https://converge.org/missionary/david-j

Jim and Lynn Jarman – Converge Missionaries working in Sweden with the Nordic Baltic Initiative. You will notice a new name for our newsletter. We have been asked to expand our roles as church multiplication catalysts. Now instead of working with one church network in Sweden we have been tasked with overseeing and developing partnerships and projects in the five Nordic nations: Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, and Finland. We will still be based in Stockholm, but will be saying goodbye to our staff position with the New Life Network. God has been gracious to increase our sphere of service for Him throughout the Nordic Baltic region, including Russia. Most of our mamas used to say, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." And, of course, they meant for us to make the best of bad situations and turn them around for good. By God's grace, this is exactly what we have been able to do in the middle of a pandemic from our less than ideal circumstances in Sweden. We have been given the opportunity to influence over 100 thousand people from 45 nations on a daily basis. Scores have accepted Christ for the very first time. We are in awe of God's goodness. And, it is your prayers and faithful financial support that have carried us forward. We are so grateful for your kindness and generosity. Thank you for standing with us and caring for us. We trust that new doors of opportunity will open for each of you as well.

LOOK AT THIS NEWS, FRIENDS: You may remember that a year ago in May, Jim tore the "widow maker" artery close to his heart and needed emergency surgery. This July, the heart doctor declared, "We can find no evidence of heart damage. Your heart is completely normal." We are so thankful for this miracle.

We can't begin to tell you how much we miss our family. Zoom is wonderful, but it's not a real hug. We have not been back stateside in almost 2 years and it's been over 3 since we've been with most of our family. We appreciate your prayers for them and for us.

God keeps expanding our ministry. We serve the Nordic nations and Russia. This summer we have had numerous zoom conferences with our partners in Russia planning for the future. Jim hopes to be back in Siberia in February.

Please pray for us and rejoice with us!

For more info: https://converge.org/missionary/jim-lynn-jarman

Mike and Samya Johnson – Converge Missionaries to Muls*ms under Call of Love Ministries based from Ohio.

Mike is an evangelist traveling to the Middle East to participate in crusades. Mike is a musician playing a string instrument. While Mike normally travels part time (COVID-19 has limited travel over the last year), Samya focuses on providing evangelistic materials and discipleship materials to those seeking more information about Christianity. Mike certainly works in this Call of Love Ministry also. In their last letter they said, “we are responsible for Call of Love Ministries and Almagd TV”. Almagd TV is satellite TV that can be viewed individually in people’s homes on their cell phones and devices. They produce the programming to reach out with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In spite of all the challenges the pandemic has brought, we praise the Lord for all He has done through our ministry in 2020 to make an impact among 450 million Arabs. Our initiative of Almagd TV continues to introduce Muslims to Christ and help them move from darkness into light. We have served and communicated with over 6,500 viewers so far by phone, WhatsApp, and Viber, and thousands more on social media! Praise the Lord with us! 550,000 Arab viewers visited the Almagd TV website in 2020, 30% of them from Saudia Arabia! 10,000 viewers downloaded the Android App which includes the Arabic Bible.

I am sure we can pray for softened hearts to hear the Good News of the Gospel. We can pray for discernment as they expose themselves to answer questions and promote the truth of the Gospel. We can pray they can raise enough funds to run these two ministries. Almagd TV has 20 employees to pay, plus production and air time costs. I am sure there is pressure on the finances. They share very encouraging news in the Call of Love newsletter for Sept. Check it out by clicking on their site below:

For more info: https://converge.org/missionary/mike-samya-j ; Call of Love Ministries

Kryukov Sister Church in the . Pastor Oleg is the Pastor of this church and an evangelist at heart. With the money CrossRoads sends to this church, the Kryukov Church has divided the church into five evangelistic teams (each team focusing on a group for ministry): 1. Orphans 2. Very Poor 3. Widows 4. Disabled 5. Outreach outside their city. Language difference is an issue between us. He uses a computer program to translate communication between us. Pastor Oleg sends photos of ministry presentations made by different teams to me about every two weeks. CrossRoads has been a vehicle of blessing from God to these five groups in the Ukraine. I notice Kryukov Church supplying food to each of these groups listed above is a common theme in the photos sent to me. Pastor Oleg has said that Kryukov Church is welcome everywhere they go. Kryukov Church is bold in sharing the Gospel as they meet humanitarian needs within these five groups. CrossRoads Church members have been faithful in giving toward this faith promise giving to Kryukov church. They have been faithful at reaching out to others with the Gospel and humanitarian help.

Ellie Lundquist – Converge missionary working with the deaf population in Brazil. Ellie is very poor at communicating with us. She never writes to give us information. We had Ellie at CrossRoads Church for a visit about 18 months ago and that was a wonderful visit. But other than that, little is shared with us. I have tried many avenues to communicate with her, but so far to no avail. You will have to use your prompting from the Lord as to how to best pray for Ellie.

For more info: https://converge.org/missionary/ellie-lundquist

Nordic Baltic Regional Initiative – Bill Ankerberg – Director. Converge ministry focusing on the Nordic Baltic region. Several years ago we were told the Nordic and Baltic countries were some of the spiritually darkest places in the world. The Nordic countries have just moved on without God. Their hearts seem to have hardened. The Baltic countries were former countries where belief in God was strongly discouraged by the government. People got used to life without God and few have interest in spiritual things today. Bill is the Director over the Jarman’s ministry. The money CrossRoads sends is used to provide training opportunities and retreats for ministry leaders and pastors. Bill is a retired pastor and I don’t believe he draws a salary. In Bill’s most recent letter he shares that COVID restrictions have prevented him from leading a Pastor’s Conference for the Pastor’s in the region. The Conference went on without Bill’s presence at the Conference. Bill is excited about how God is moving.

For more info: https://converge.org/missionary/william-ankerberg

Doug Hansen, Mission Council CrossRoads Church