Below is a list of our Missionary Associates along with a brief decription of their respective ministries. Please join us in praying for them and their families as they continue serving the Lord.

 

BaretDon Baret / Mission to North America / Greenville, SC

Don is the Media Producer and Assistant ESL Ministry Director for Mission to North America (MNA) part of the Presbyterian Church in America. Mission to North America’s media ministry was launched back in 2019. Last year, MNA’s monthly video magazine Multiply, which we create and produce, has had nearly 7,000 views. Every month Don and his team are discovering new and wonderful stories of God’s hand at work through His people. It’s my prayer that these stories will show the beauty and the power of the body of Christ at work. I also pray that these stories will stir the hearts of Christians to use their God given gifts, to mobilize, and to serve in His Kingdom. Don and his wife, Kim, are members of First Presbyterian Church, Coral Springs. Don is the director of the church’s English as a Second Language (ESL) program and teaches ESL Sunday School.  In addition, Don and Kim are teacher trainers for MNA’s ESL Ministries.  

Prayer needs:

  • That the stories they produce will show the beauty and the power of the body of Christ at work and will stir the hearts of Christians to use their God given gifts, to mobilize, and to serve in His Kingdom.
  • Their prayer for 2023 is that the Lord would bless and increase viewership both within and outside our church, to take the voices of the PCA to a wider and more diverse audience.

 

etiennesRev. Esaïe & Natacha Etienne / Mission to the World / Gonaives, Haiti

Esaïe and Natacha are natives of Haiti who live in South Florida. They have 3 sons, Ishtyler, Isaiah and Ishmaiah, and a grandson, Emmaus. Esaïe has been in the church-planting ministry since 1993. He is a graduate of Reformed Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity. Natacha is completing a master’s degree in social work at Florida Atlantic University. They have worked in Haiti as MTW missionaries since 2006. Their ministry includes church planting, leadership training, and mercy ministry. In conjunction with MTW, they plan to move to the Dominican Republic in September 2023 and lead and oversee ministries there and in Haiti. Esaïe returned on January 27 from his first trip to Haiti in 7 months due to the increased violence everywhere in the country. This and the increased poverty among the people because of inflation and the invasive nature of the gangs that control so much of the country have presentedmany challenges for their ministry including theft of electricity-producing equipment, need to provide more security for the ministry, difficulty in hiring staff and inability to get food for the school. The need is great for substantially more resources. Please visit the MTW.org website and Haiti projects to help support their ministries: Haiti Mercy/Compassion Needs, Haiti LoveOne Project, and Trinity PC Construction.

Prayer needs:

• Praise God for Esaïe’s trip to Haiti in January: for safe travels, the provision of a new

administrator/worship leader and the school finally restarted in December.

• For the funds needed to get food for the school and others who are highly food insecure.

• For healing for the ministry and members after changes in administrator/worship

leader and efforts to divide Trinity Church. For wisdom and humility as they move forward.

• For Dociné Christian Academy and all its financial needs.

• For a permanent solution for the constant instability and the complex security situation of the country.

• For wisdom for Esaïe, Natacha and all the ministry leaders in Haiti as they navigate through these issues for solutions that honor God

• For Esaïe and Natacha’s preparations for the move to the Dominican Republic and for the complexity of leading and overseeing ministries in 2 different countries.

• For God to provide the funds to finish the construction of Trinity Church.

 

Joe & Bev Fitzpatrick / Mission to the World / San Juan, Puerto Rico Fitzpatrick

Joe is part of Mission to the World’s Global Theological Education team with a concentration in teaching Spanish-speaking pastors and church leaders in Latin America. After having served with MTW in Manila, Philippines, for six years and in Puerto Rico, the homeland of Joe’s mother, for 13 years, they are now based in the Philadelphia area. Joe travels for modular courses in mostly Old Testament topics. He provides one- to two-week classes for gatherings of students who prepare prior to and after the class weeks. Lately he has had the opportunity to assist SRL Seminary (srlseminary.org), which began through the vision of PCA churches in Philadelphia, to provide seminary education on-site in Latin America. They have a main campus in Medellín, Colombia, and sites in 15 locations. Joe loves what he does and never gets tired of seeing the Holy Spirit renew students’ desire to study the Word as they see the story of redemption in the Old Testament—the ‘unfolding mystery’ as Edmund Clowney called it in his classic book on seeing Christ in the Old Testament.

Prayer needs:

  • Please pray as Joe teaches pastors and church leaders in Latin America. Many of these leaders are bi-vocational with busy lives and ministries as they also study the Word. Pray that the Spirit will nurture their love of Scripture and that they will be able to share that in their ministries to their churches and communities.
  • Pray as Joe teaches a new course on the Holy Land. He is excited about sharing his passion for Biblical geography and history with his students.
  • Joe and Bev are new grandparents of Evelyn Grace (born in March 2022) which is a joy. Pray as their three children (all in their twenties) work and study in FL, MD, and PA.

 

HunterBrad & Stacy Hunter / PCA / World Harvest MissionVienna, Austria

Brad serves as the church planting pastor of New City Wien, a bilingual (German+English) reformed church in the heart of Vienna, Austria.www.newcitywien.at   By God's grace, their church has grown to some 180 attenders from 25 nationalities.  In 2020, they purchased a building to use as offices, Bible studies, and outreach, and began renting the adjacent, larger building for Sunday worship.  They seek to purchase that larger building in the near future, as God provides.   Additionally. Brad coaches/consults a group of 4 church planters in Vienna and Graz.  Also, Brad chairs the International Christian School of Vienna building project and their director search committee.

Stacey exercises her gift of hospitality by opening their home for home group, dinners, and other gatherings, as well as by welcoming people in the church, meeting with many people, and partnering with Brad by offering pre-marital counseling and spiritual care.  Additionally, she assists young mothers in the Moms & Tots ministry, which she founded.

Their son Luke (24) is married to Anna and attends Richmont Graduate School of Counseling in Chattanooga.  He plans to be a counselor for children & families.

Their daughter Abigail (22) is a senior Biola University with a degree in Elementary Education.  She plans to teach at an international school after graduation.

Their son Levi (19) is a freshman at Erasmus University of Rotterdam studying International Economics.  He plans to work in global sustainability.

Prayer needs:

  • For Brad and Stacey as empty nesters
  • For their kids around the world
  • That God would continue to open hearts to the Gospel
  • For the launching of a ministry apprenticeship this year
  • For unity, growth, provision, and protection of their church
  • For the purchase of their worship space
  • For the church plants in Vienna & Graz and for more church planters
  • For International Christian School of Vienna building project and director search

 

MMcMahanike & Robin McMahan / Mission to the World / Chattanooga, TN

Mike is currently in his last class at RTS which is a 75-page integrated thesis.  He hopes to finish this paper by the end of May.  Mike recently took on a new role with Mission to the World where he will serve as on the Member Care Team. His role on this team will be helping U.S. churches to better care for their missionaries.  Mike also continues to serve as vice-chairman of the Southern Africa Reformed Mission Board, which helps connect U.S. churches to churches and projects in Southern Africa.

Robin continues to work with the training arm of MTW. Her major role is coordinator of Kingdom Foundation, a 10-month mentoring and discipling program for all new missionaries. Robin also continues to do work training churches to use savings groups as a ministry of the church.  Robin twice a year helps facilitate the pre-field training in Brussels, Belgium, that all new missionaries go through just before leaving for their field.  Mike and Robin both believe that their years of field experience enables them to train and care for new and existing missionaries. 

 

Prayer needs:

  • Mike for wisdom and endurance as he finishes up at RTS
  • Mike wisdom in his new role on the Member Care Team.
  • Robin for wisdom as she coordinates Kingdom Foundation.  She is responsible for recruiting and training cohort leaders, coordinating the week of orientation for new missionaries, and for developing the schedule for Kingdom Foundation.
  • Robin for wisdom and opportunities to train nationals in promoting savings groups as an outreach of the church.
  • Pray for both of them as they grow spiritually and as they parent adult children and grandchildren.

Kurt & MarSchimke1lene Schimke / American Bible University / Kampala, Uganda

Kurt & Marlene serve at the African Bible University in Kampala, Uganda. Kurt is a teaching elder from Rocky Mountain Presbytery PCA, assigned to ABU, and therefore is a Professor who Heads the Biblical Studies department and teaches many of the Biblical and Pastoral courses. He also does evangelism and discipleship with Motorcycle taxi drivers. Marlene is active homeschooling their 2 children remaining at home, and is working hard to prepare Biblical parenting courses that they believe will have an impact with their graduates and others around the world. 

Kurt and Marlene have four children: Zoe, who will be getting married in April (McKinney, TX), Ana, a massage therapist (Colorado Springs, CO), Nick, a high school senior (Kampala), and Lexie, a sixth-grader (Kampala)

Prayer requests:

 

  • Strength and endurance during this extremely busy season of their lives
  • Zoe and her fiancé, Seth, as they begin their life together after their wedding in April
  • Kurt and Nick as they seek to get Nick into a German University by October
  • Kurt is also going back and forth to Namibia to repair and fly a Cessna 182 from Namibia to Uganda, hopefully by April.  ABU will be using this airplane to promote its degree programs and other Reformed work. Please pray for continued safety and effectiveness of this program.

 

Peter & Dagmar Smuts / smuts 2Bible Institute of South Africa / Cape Town, South Africa

Pete is Dean of Graduate studies at BISA, and teaches in the college’s residential and online degree programs. He is also involved in a regular preaching ministry in the local churches. Dagi serves the women at the college and in our local church. She co-leads a women’s Bible study group at our church, and visits and encourages women in need. 

The Smuts have 4 children, 3 of whom are married, and 5 grandchildren. Two of their children live nearby, one lives in a city about 500 miles away, and the other in London (UK). 

Prayer needs: 

  • that the Lord would be glorified in our college’s centenary celebrations this year
  • that the college’s government academic reaccreditation application will be successful
  • for the Lord’s blessings on Pete & Dagi as they serve the Lord on and off campus
  • for one of their children who is not walking with the Lord