DR. GEORGE COWAN: WYCLIFFE BIBLE TRANSLATORS

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Ecclesiastes Chapter 3 is the famous chapter in which King David speaks about a time for everything. While it is not written in this chapter, it is implied that there is a time for working in the field and a time for rest. For Dr. George Cowan, the father of our recent visiting missionary who spoke to the WCC congregation, Ruth Cowan and her sister, Esther Cowan who we support as well (Campus Crusade for Christ International, otherwise known as Cru), his current life entails restful days in Florida at the youthful age of 98 (turning 99 this month of February). Dr. Cowan served from 1957 to 1981 as President of Wycliffe Bible Translators and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Summer Institute Linguistics (SIL). His other duties put him in charge of areas covering Europe, Africa, Mexico, Canada, and Germany among other places. In his letter that he wrote (with the help of Esther) to the WCC Missionary Committee he shared the following:

While his health limits him to a lesser schedule than what he normally was used to (whirlwind would be a good word for that), he has been finding time to do quite a bit for a youngster of his age. He recently moved into a more conducive apartment within the retirement complex that he has been at for the last 5 years. Ruth stays with him there while Esther visits on a very regular basis as well. He has also been taking in visits from his long list of family members with jaunts to attractions like Wild Florida. He even went on an airboat ride to look for alligators and other animals native to Florida waters!

George has been keeping busy with things such as taking in an Arabian horse show, watching the curling events from this past Winter Olympics (he used to curl), and attending a couple of organ concerts at big beautiful local churches. He’s taken in some other musical concerts at his church that he attends as well. His local social life included meeting with a resident whom he found to have been a school-mate with his older brother. They ended up eating out for a Christmas dinner at a local restaurant to share stories.

Ever the book reader, George has been busy reading books that Ruth and Esther provide for him. He’s been reading up on things such as biographies of D.L. Moody and former President George H.W. Bush, written by his son, former President George W. Bush.

As his letter wound down George gave a glimpse of the character that this wonderful servant of God has. While his prayer requests for “daily living and communicating with people” were given to us he also made a point to say, “Do let me know….how we can pray for you”. Dr. George Cowan, how can we not love you and pray for you?

BENJAMIN & JUDITH MUSYOKA: BREAKTHROUGH PARTNERS, KENYA

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Back in 2012 when we hosted an open house to share about the missionaries that WCC supports, two of the missionaries that we shared about were Benjamin & Judith Musyoka of Breakthrough Partners. At that time they were helping to raise funds for a water supply project in Kenya, where they reside and work. This past November we received a letter from them explaining what the Lord has led them to do.

Outreach to Mombasa

Benjamin teaches at a local university in Kenya. Some of his students recently took part in a door-to-door outreach in Mombasa, the 2nd largest city in Kenya. This is an area that is predominantly Muslim and dangerous enough to have driven out open air preaching of God’s Word and caused churches to be guarded by police during worship hours.

Benjamin taught 2 different classes this past semester at the theology university on Spiritual Formation and Foundations of Christian Leadership. He asks for prayers for financial support and for God’s wisdom and knowledge as he teaches and mentors young students.

Judith and the Youth Ministry

Judith is now the full-time pastor at a rural village church in Makongo and it is truly a church of young people. She too has been led by the Lord to mentor the youth in such a way that they have begun to take leadership roles in not only putting on the church worship services but also being key components in leading peers to give their lives to Christ. Just recently, Judith organized a 5-day youth camp at her former high school. Approximately 500 young people from 5 other local churches of other denominations attended. Please pray that God will begin stirring the hearts of those who attended who does not have Christ yet so that they might accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

Additional Prayer Needs

The Goat Project III

This is a project that just completed its 3rd phase of providing goats to needy families as their source of income. The initial phase planted 14 goats to 7 families. The 2nd phase planted 60 goats to 25 needy families and this most recent phase placed 100 goats to 38 families. Please pray that this wonderful ministry will continue to thrive.

Training of Sunday-School Teachers

Benjamin and Judith are asking for prayer as it relates to getting funds to gain transport, accommodations, and materials for at least 50 teachers to be trained to be Sunday-School teachers. They are looking at February of 2015 as their goal for this to take place.

Financial Support

The last prayer request is for the financial support that is required for Benjamin and Judith to continue doing what God has called them to do. Please pray that the Lord will provide them with the provisioning that they need so that they can not only support themselves but also support the different projects that they take part in as missionaries.

TECATE CHRISTIAN CENTER, MEXICO

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Take a little drive to San Diego, turn east through the hills, and you’ll come out at the Mexico border in Tecate, Mexico. One of WCC’s ministry partners, the Tecate Christian Development Center (CDC), is located here. They partner with local churches to help train, equip and disciple local Christian leaders for the Kingdom. These leaders under Tim Nash, seek to bring their community to the Lord, bringing Him glory in their ministries and in all they do.

In mid-November, WCC’s Media Department went down to meet the ministry and hold a day-long media seminar to train the church partners. About 20 people from different churches in Tecate came and learned the basics of videography. It was a blessing to get to work alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ in Mexico! If you would like to learn more about the ministry, talk to Pastor Jonathan Mortiz or Jamie Krumland, or visit http://www.convergeworldwide.org/give/176336

GLENN & SUE KENNEDY: CHRISTIANS IN ACTION MISSIONS INT’L.

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In a letter that Sue Kennedy wrote to our Missions Committee on behalf of herself and her husband, Glenn, it is evident that their lives provide a wonderful reflection of what a heart for Jesus looks like. Both Glenn and Sue are very active in the business of church planting for Christians In Action Missions International (CINA) which is based in Okinawa, Japan. Glenn also takes part in medical missions through Asian Relief Medical Services (ARMS). These are the specific points she shared in her letter.

Back in July, due to a typhoon that passed through where their home church and mission building are located, there was a deluge of mud and sewer water entering those complexes. The damage and losses from this were around $40,000. They are slowly recovering but not quite out of the woods yet.
Sue happens to be the Chairman of the Board of Directors for Okinawa Christian School and has a prayer request for the school to overcome financial issues, more students, filling a Missionary Elementary Principal position and the allowance of God to work through her.
Two miraculous healings for a man and a woman who part of their congregation. One (the woman) of them had a torn ACL that healed on its own (so the non-believers might think, but she and we know God was behind that). She shared that an ACL tear can only be repaired by surgery .
Recent Activities & What Lies Ahead

Glenn shared about how he’ll be slowing down in the future and delegating things such as a recent medical mission trip to Cambodia in which 2 team members oversaw the operation. Glenn will participate in an upcoming medical mission trip to the Philippines either this month (December) or in January. In April he’ll be on a planned outreach trip to visit local pastors and missionaries in the field in Asia. A future site for outreach that he is asking preliminary prayer for will be in Miramar (Burma) in 2015 or 2016.

Sue recently returned from a trip to Israel along with a translator from their church. We look forward to hearing about the details later. She will also be traveling to Kobe (Japan) in May of 2015 to take part in the Japan Family Gathering and is asking for prayer that language will not be an issue.

In the closing of the letter Sue shared about an article that she read regarding the first Muslim friendly hotel that opened in Nago, Japan. She sensed that the article was not portraying the truth in terms of the motive behind the article. She asks that we pray “that the enemy’s tactics and strategies be uncovered and thwarted”.

PASTOR JOSEPH MOSES: OMEGA FOUNDATION, INDIA

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Pastor Joseph Moses, born prematurely in a city called Guntur in South India, was not expected to live through the day. His Mom was advised by some Christian believers to pray to Jesus. She prayed with blind belief and hour by hour, day by day, she noticed change in her infant son. As he survived and grew, his mother grew in her faith in the Lord and she started attending church and later got baptized. His father initially was not receptive to his mother’s belief and used to physically abuse her for being a Christian. But every day at 4 am in the morning, she would pray for her husband and children. A few years later, her husband accepted Jesus, got baptized and the entire Moses family became Christian.

Growing up, Joseph put one foot in the Lord and the other in the world. In 1990, he got into a serious motorcycle accident and while he was hospitalized, he heard a voice say to him, “Come back to my fold”. This encounter was the turning point in Joseph’s life and he decided to leave his job and serve the Lord.

In 1993, he married Annie, a theology graduate. He soon started a home church and later planted several small churches with 15 to 20 people in various villages. Three years later, the Lord spoke to Joseph and this time called him to serve the unreachable hill tribe people of South India. At first, he rejected God’s plan due to lack of funds. Later God molded his heart at a crusade meeting where he rededicated his life to do God’s work in the tribal villages and put his complete faith in Jesus to lead him in this journey. He set up small hamlet churches in the interior mountains of South India for various tribal groups and started training youth in Bible and faith, nurturing them to be tribal pastors.

What started as a home church grew to 82 congregations, 45 tribal pastors, children’s home (HIV infected children), senior citizen’s home and teams of community workers (natural disaster relief). Joseph and Annie, with their two daughters, Fannie Joy and Joanny Sama, continue to fulfill God’s call to take the good news and compassionate care to thousands in South India.