OUR MISSION TO SPREAD THE GOOD NEWS
A message from the Missions Committee,
Since the beginning of this decade, there have been incredible changes and adjustments that we have all had to make in our lives. Many of those were short-lived, but many of those have lasted and continue. We have seen the same with our international mission efforts and the seemingly endless changes and shifts that we have encountered over the last three years. Change has become a recurring theme it seems. Change has brought new mission fields as well as the sunsetting of old missions. Change has been the result of war or political and civil unrest. Change has been necessary due to new missionary partners, illnesses, retiring missionaries, and current mission works that need increased support. With change we are challenged to look at our mission efforts in a different way. We must therefore change our perspective.
Often, we might feel frustrated by our current situation and the struggle or challenge that it makes us face. Sometimes our efforts may seem fruitless. One of the things that I enjoy in the middle of the summer is fresh, hand-picked blackberries. The fruit doesn’t come easy and between the oppressive heat, the thorns, and the bugs, it almost seems as if the yield is not worth the effort. As I was picking late in the season on a particularly hot day in July, I was discovering that many of the good berries were dried up or were being devoured by beetles. I almost gave up and left the patch until I discovered that a change of perspective made all the difference. I looked into the bush from a lower and different angle, lifted the upper branches, and to my surprise were plenty of big, ripe and juicy blackberries that the sun had yet to shrivel and the beetles had yet to ruin. They were mine for the picking and I was rewarded with another gallon of berries due to my changed perspective.
As we have changed perspective in our mission efforts over the last years, we have seen the reward of fruitful harvests. In John 4:35 Jesus tells his disciples to “open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” In the same way we have had to open our eyes, change perspective, look from a different angle, look past the bugs, and see the wonderful fruit of our mission efforts that have occurred in spite of the difficulties, challenges, and changes. We are thrilled about the new opportunities that we may have in places like Togo and Honduras. We are encouraged by how the Lord is providing opportunities for spreading the Gospel in Ukraine, despite several of our missionaries having to serve their congregation and country from abroad due to the war. We are excited about long time missionaries being called to serve in capacities that preach not from a pulpit, but from their actions of love, kindness, and service to the poor and the refugees among them. We thank God for showing us that by changing our perspective we can see so many more wonderful ways in which to share the good news to expand His kingdom, producing an abundant harvest that we could not have even imagined otherwise. We look forward to the blessings that this year’s MES will provide for God’s kingdom and we thank you for supporting the efforts of the international missions of the Bentonville church.
MEXICO MISSIONS
Reyes and Chanita Medina, Ensenada, Mexico
Reyes is the lead minister at the Colonia 89 Church of Christ in Ensenada, Mexico. Faithfully serving in that position since 2007, through good times and bad, he and his family have become very dear to us. Jhovanny Avila is the new youth minister for Colonia 89, and he is supported by his wife Celeste. We have developed a close relationship by serving alongside them the last week of July each year when our youth and families go to Ensenada. Due to the pandemic, the last trip we took with the youth group was in 2018. We are praying we can take a group next Juy 2023.
Roberto and Betty Zepeda | Toluca, Mexico
As a church we support the Latin-American Bible Study Institute (ILEB) by providing part of the salary for Roberto Zepeda. Roberto was one of the first to work with the missionaries, starting and growing the Toluca church, and currently serves as one of the Shepherds. Roberto is the director of ILEB which has many graduates that have become missionaries and preachers with the broad reach of ILEB branch schools throughout Mexico and three other countries.
Raul and Kim Solis
Toluca, Mexico (currently living in Portland, Oregon)
Raul and Kim work for ILEB. Raul teaches classes remotely and Kim manages the online platform the school uses to connect with students and teach classes. They are currently living in the States while Raul finalizes his American citizenship and Kim takes care of her mother who is aging and in poor health. They find themselves in a difficult stage of trying to figure out if and when they can return to Toluca. We support ILEB by providing part of their salary.
Coco and Tish Serrano | Oaxaca, Mexico
Tish is the Director of Casa Compasiva (Compassion House), a Christian birth and midwifery training center dedicated to helping expecting and birthing mothers, many of whom are indigenous and too poor to pay for health care or do not want to go to a hospital because of COVID-19. Coco provides spiritual support to the families, and they both work with a small church just outside Oaxaca. We support the mothers and families of Compassion House and the church by providing part of their salary.
Click here to watch the Serrano’s video
Haiti
Jean Claubert | Bonnett, Haiti
We continue to be involved in our mission efforts in Haiti even though a group has not been able to go in person for a couple of years. Political unrest and now COVID have continued to disrupt our ability to travel to Haiti to serve with a medical mission team. However, individual members remain active in supporting the continuing efforts of our brothers and sisters in Haiti. We have continued to support the efforts of the Church of Christ in Bonnet in numerous ways. Jean Claubert preaches at the church and is also acting as the director of the Christian school there, which serves 450 students through the 8th grade. Aid has also been delivered to an orphanage to help with the drilling of a well to provide water to the children in the orphanage. Other individuals have remained active in support of the ongoing efforts of Wilguens Estavien and his ministries of education and health in Deyemon and Port-au-Prince. We continue to monitor the situation in Haiti and hope to make another medical mission trip there when the conditions will allow us to safely do so. Until then we continue to support them in prayer and in whatever other ways we can as opportunities present themselves.
WATCH NOW to hear a message from Jean Claubert.
Biodun Owolabi | Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria
As a church, we support West Nigeria Christian College & School of Biblical Studies by providing the salary of their leader, Biodun Owolabi. The school focuses on training thousands of preachers and church leaders for the purpose of raising up leaders to evangelize and build the churches of Christ in Nigeria, as about 2,500 of these churches do not have a regular preacher. The students study the Bible as it was written in its original languages, Hebrew and Greek. There were 204 students this past year, and they are expecting 269 students this year. Due to COVID-19, they have started online classes and will continue with a hybrid approach. Students will be able to come to the school while they practice many safeguards around COVID. They got a new roof for a boy's dormitory, so it is now usable, and they recently got a new provost. They also learn vocational skills related to poultry, fish farming, agriculture (started a plantain program), computer skills and networking; these programs benefit the students and help provide revenue for the school.
UKRAINE
Volodya
“Praise be to God for EVERYTHING!” Meet Volodya and Arusik, courageous and kind men and women of God. Volodya sends his greetings from Ukraine where for the last twenty years he has a led a small church, despite receiving warnings of imprisonment and even death threats since his city (Makeevka, population 700K) was invaded by the Russian Army. Even though he faces immediate danger, Volodya happily and boldly continues to preach. Last year, Bentonville Church started supporting Volodya and his congregation. Recently due to the war, he is no longer able to receive funds. Your prayers are desperately needed. Arusik helps us translate during out tele-conversations with our Ukraine ministers; she and her family reside in Ohio. Learn more about Volodya and Arusik by watching their video now!
Arusik and Volodya
Sergei and Maryna Flegontov
(Now living in Bentonville, AR)
Sergei has been active in ministry in the congregation at Soborna for over six years. At the beginning of the war, he became lead minister of the congregation. He and Maryna are both passionate about sharing their faith. Due to the enormous number of refugees relocating to, or transiting through Dnipro, they expanded the congregation’s ability to provide food, shelter, and transportation. In August 2022, the Ukraine government ordered an evacuation from the Donbas region due the unavailability of heating oil for the coming winter and a lack of food and water. The Dnipro church prepared for even more evacuees transiting Dnipro. Sergei and Marina continued to serve despite the nightly threats of artillery and missile attacks. Due to the worsening situation because of the war and Maryna’s pregnancy, in August 2022, they decided to accept our invitation to come to the US. They arrived in Bentonville on October 28, 2022. In January 2023, Maryna gave birth to healthy twin boys, Mark and Stefan. The family will worship and serve with us while they are here. Sergei and Maryna continue to stay in touch with the Soborna congregation for leadership, advice, encouragement and support.
Click here to watch the Flegontov’s video
Rita Girenko | Dnipro, Ukraine
Rita has been our agent for all things administrative and financial since the mid-1990’s. She directs the Widows and Orphans Ministry. She is in constant contact with the “Far-Off Orphanage” to coordinate visits to Dnipro so some of the orphans can attend worship and fellowship in Dnipro. (Those visits are on hold due to restrictions resulting from the war.) The number of homebound widows has increased lately; Rita checks on them regularly and coordinates visits to make sure their needs are met. She and her husband, Andrew, and son, Tom, coordinate the provision of food, clothes, medical supplies, etc., in an area that is constantly under threat of attack.
Bohdan & Elena Yasinskii
Bohdan joined our mission team, arriving from Kiev in 2018. He is full of energy and very bold in sharing the Gospel with anyone who will listen. He actively recruits orphans to participate in church activities. He organizes and conducts sports events and camps for the youth of the region. These events are a great outreach tool. An orphan himself, Bohdan is passionate to make sure children have the opportunity to know Jesus. Bohdan and family relocated to Western Ukraine at the beginning of the war, and then recently moved to the US, sponsored by the Tuscumbia Church of Christ in Alabama. He continues to teach and to direct the ministry to youth and orphans in Western Ukraine remotely. He and Elena have three sons, Oscar, Edgar, and Damir.
Ihor Ham Aha (pronounced Eager)
Ihor is a brand-new Christian who has been working with Sergei for several months. He came to the church via the Smart Elephant School for Adults. He is enrolled in the Ukrainian Bible Institute (remotely). We began supporting him as part of the ministry team at the Soborna congregation effective August 2022. His talents include organization, marketing, and lots of energy. He may be a modern-day Timothy. Ihor’s wife is currently in Spain due the war.
Veronica Zhuravlyova
Following the death from COVID-19 of her husband, Arthur, Veronica and her son have continued the family mission in support of church members in the occupied zone (now a war zone) in eastern Ukraine. Their ministry helps provide food and medical supplies to Christians in an area where those items are not readily available. They currently live in a suburb of Kiev.
Lina Kotumanova
Lina is a longtime member of the Lord’s church and a graduate of the Ukrainian Bible Institute. Starting in January 2023, we are supporting her in directing the Ladies Ministry at the Soborna Church of Christ. She teaches weekly Bible classes and organizes/facilitates monthly/quarterly Lady’s Seminars attended by ladies of Soborna and congregations in the Dnipro region.
ENGLAND
Paul Hill
Paul has led the congregation in Leicester since inception in November 2014 steadily growing the group both numerically and spiritually. Janet, his wife, and their family are all involved in the work and they have established a second church group in Derby as well as setting up an online course in association with Sunset to teach young brethren, primarily in the Uk through the Leicester Bible Institute. Paul and Janet make a wonderful team and since Paul started in full time church work in 1991, Janet has worked whenever necessary to allow Paul to focus on being a preacher. Paul and his family do a lot of community work including furniture banks, soup kitchens and Street ministries.
Support
Harding Scholarships
Gary Hutcheson Memorial fund
Member’s Mission Fund (MMF)
If you would like to submit an application for assistance funding a mission, please click here.