First Presbyterian Church - Greeley, Colorado

• A STEP INTO AFRICA-EXPERIENCE AIDS:  World Vision will bring an African village to Colorado State University October 10-13, 2008.  This experience will introduce you to the nature and scope of the  HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa, and what you can do to help. This is a major focus of the Missions Ministry of FPC during the Fall, 2008.   To learn more about this opportunity follow this link.
  
  
• VOLUNTEER to assist in the Step into Africa Experience.  Contact John Trull or Scott Urquhart to do this as a part of the congregation.  Some information about this is available at this link.
  
  
• FILL CAREGIVER KITS.  To learn more about this project, visit the WorldVision site above, then select "Act Now," then "Caregiver Kits."
  
  
• UPCOMING ACTIVITIES:
• Operation Christmas Child - a shoebox of gifts for an impoverished third-world child.
  
• Angle Tree - Christmas gifts for children whose parent is incarcerated.
  

The First Presbyterian Church of Greeley (FPC) has a rich history of supporting diverse mission activities.  These mission activities occur in two primary ways:

• Support of full-time missionaries, both national and international.  Most of the supported missionaries have had some sort of direct involvement with the congregation at some point in their lives; several were and some still are active members of the congregation.
  
  
• "Members in Mission" who have felt the call from the Lord to become active in His great Commission (Matt. 28:26-28).  Again God is using his people on both national and international levels, but in short time activities.
  

These are some of the missionaries working within the United States which receive some of their support from FPC:

• TAD and JANE GILMORE, long-time members of FPC, have been engaged in full-time missionary work since 1995.  Through 2001 they served in Nepal, mainly in medically related activities.  From 2002 through 2006 they worked with international students in New York City.  Since then they have worked with international students in northern Colorado.   They recognize that many international students of today will be leaders in their respective countries in the future.  Earlier they ministered in Swaziland for several years.
  
  
• DOUG and JEANNIE CUMMINGS minister under the auspices of Campus Crusade.  They have been involved in evangelism, discipleship, church planting, and recruiting.  Most recently they work with CrossRoads, a strategy of Campus Crusade for Christ that helps transform communities with the hope, life and truth of Jesus Christ. For the past 14 years, CrossRoads has modeled this approach through a world-class educational curriculum and training that focuses on the global HIV/AIDS epidemic.  The CrossRoads curriculum develops and disseminates widely respected materials which are very effective in HIV/AIDS prevention.  The materials are available in many languages, and with illustrations which are culturally appropriate in many countries.  Doug has been with CrossRoads for ten years as the administrator in the office and as a strategy consultant for CrossRoads ministries in French-speaking Africa.  Doug was affiliated with FPC when he was a student at UNC.
  
  
• MATTHEW and CATHY (Gilmore) GROVES work with Campus Crusade at University of Missouri-  Springfield.  Their goal is to give every college student the opportunity to hear and understand the gospel. They seek to train students to walk with God and equip them to help others to do the same.  They offer students a variety of ways to get involved, including large group meetings each week for fellowship, Bible studies, one-on-one discipleship, and seasonal retreats during the year, and summer projects where they can put their faith into action.  Cathy grew up in FPC.
  

The identity of many of the missionaries we support abroad might jeopardize their safety.  See the bulletin board about missions in the atrium for some of their locations.   The ones listed here are in safer locations, or involved in supporting international mission efforts from sites in the United States.

• NUEVA ESPERANZA:  Casa Hogar Misericordia is described below in the section on Members in Mission.  Often times teens there feel pressured to work at a young age or to go back to the streets instead of continuing their schooling and living in the safe environment of the orphanage; in any event they must leave when they graduate from high school.  The need for teenagers to be prepared to live in society is overwhelming, especially for girls who can be  easily victimized.  SARAH ANDERSON visited Casa Hogar as a youth, and then spent six months there as an volunteer.  She was called to start a facility, now called Nueva Esperanza in Chihuahua City, Mexico.  This facility is a non-denominational Christian ministry that provides a safe environment for young girls from orphanages, where they can learn to set and achieve goals, realize their potential, and experience Christ's love through positive relationships.   Follow this link to learn more.
  
  
• NILES  and ANN  REIMER went to Ethiopia in 1955, appointed by the United Presbyterian Church to serve in evangelism and church planting among the Anuak people.  They were appointed for a new outreach of the Church to an unevangelized area in western Ethiopia, an outreach that envisioned closely combining training ministries of medical, educational, agricultural and church planting.  A major part of their very successful effort has been in bible translation and associated teaching activities.  Even though they are officially "retired," they return to Ethiopia twice a year to continue their projects.
  
  
• MARTA FRASER has accepted an assignment with Campus Crusade International to work with college students in Greece.  She will be headquartered in Athens, but will do organizational and witnessing work at several universities.  For the past seven years she has been an active member of the congregation and worked with students at the University of Northern Colorado.  More recently she has led the work of  less experienced Campus Crusade staff and students as a regional director.  She has been active in summer training of students, and will return from Greece in the summer to continue that.
  
  
• MIKE and MARGARET (Skinner) BASHKOV have served with Wycliffe Bible Translators in the Philippines between since 1981.  For the past several years they have been active in the congregation while they have been recovering from illnesses contracted in the Philippines.   They recently received new assignments from Wycliffe:  Mile will serve as Scripture Publishing Liaison and Margaret will serve as Donor Appreciation Representative.  They anticipate returning to the Philippines in 2010.  Margaret grew up in FPC.
  
  
• DOUG and ANN JOHNSON are with Global Community Resources, a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. Doug has been on the staff of Campus Crusade since 1972, and Ann since 1978.  In the summer of l998 they moved to Doug’s hometown of Longmont, Co., and have made that their home base.  The Johnsons assist Campus Crusade’s national directors in the Muslim countries of the world in the development of community ministries, reaching out to business professionals, encouraging church-based evangelism ministries, and also pioneering work in areas where the church is a minority or non-existent.
  
  
• MONTE and ALBINA RACE serve  in Tatarstan, Russia, with the ministry of Entrust.  They primarily minister as leadership trainers and practitioners in Marriage and Family.  Russia has many family-related problems, including very high divorce rates (as high as 84% in 2002, and about 55% currently), domestic violence, and alcoholism.  Their goal is to train leaders to develop healthy marriages and family relationships within the local church and to use the same tools as outreach to the community.  Monte and Albina are opening a Family Center in Naberezhny Chelny that will reach out to the family-related needs in their community and be a  model for future such centers in other cities.  They will continue to serve as church planters and mentors of church planters.  Through their ministry God has planted two churches in Naberezhny Chelny.   The first church,  “God’s Love,” has approximately 60 members and is oriented toward younger adults.  The second, "Grace," has recently experienced some difficulties; Monte once again has been serving as its pastor.  Monte, son of Nina Satter, grew up in FPC.  Albina is from Tatarstan.
  
  
• RYAN REEVE, a member of FPC who has been active with Sunday School,  works on the UNC campus as a Campus Crusade staff member.  He is planning to minister among the many collages of the University of Pretoria, South Africa during 2009 - 2010.
  

Members in Mission

•  FPC's Encounter Youth Ministry sponsored three trips to Gulfport, Mississippi to assist in the recovery efforts following the devastation resulting from hurricane Katrina.   Although these trips were sponsored by the youth program, a number of adults accompanied the trips.  More than 30 FPC members helped with recovery, rebuilding, and reroofing of six dwellings.
  
  
•  With the arrival of our new youth director, Donnie Butkus, additional short term mission opportunities within the United States are currently being developed.  Donnie hopes to have two to three new short-term mission opportunities available in the foreseeable future.  Contact Donnie for his current plans.
  

Members of the congregation have participated in mission activities in diverse parts of the world.  Here are some recent trips:

•  MEXICO - The congregation has a long standing relation with Casa Hogar Misericordia in the state of Chihuahua.   Teams of our youth and adults have spent a week or more working with the children and on the facilities, once or twice each year for more than 10 years.  During that time the number of children at Casa Hogar has grown from 20 to over 100.   Other individuals from the congregation have spent longer periods of time there.
  
  
  
  
  

• AFRICA - The TANZANIA SCHOOL MISSION TEAM (TSMT), led by Shirley Forbes and Scott Urquhart of FPC, has sponsored five trips to Tanzania.  Eight members of FPC and four members of other congregations have carried school supplies to rural schools in north central Tanzania.  The team, with strong support from FPC and other sources, has assisted in the funding of three classrooms, many desks, several related resources, and school supplies purchased in country.  Visit this link for more information.
  
  
  


• KIM LAWRENCE, a member of FPC, grew up as a missionary kid in CAMEROON, Africa, until he was 13.  He has returned to Cameroon on short-term mission trips several times: 1996, 2000 and 2004. The Cameroon Short Term Mission Teams do evangelism, work with and encourage the Christians, and put roofs on churches.  Over 200 congregations have churches buildings without roofs.  They worship in the rain and the heat praying that God will provide the means for a roof for their place of worship. 
  
  



• JOHN TRULL, a member of FPC, has become very involved with World Vision's Clean Water Initiative; learn more about it by visiting this link.  John has made trips to Ethiopia and Niger to help evaluate and implement deep-well projects.  These and related projects have provided clean water to about half a million people!
  
  
  
  
  
• SPORTS FRIENDS ETHIOPIA:  In the last two years several FPC members, including Senior Pastor Dough Brown, have traveled to Camp Langano, Ethiopia, to participate in a sports camp ministry that includes bringing together the youth of Ethiopia and native Ethiopian Christians to experience the Lord's love.  FPC is in the process of establishing a three-year relationship with an Ethiopian church to promote this ministry.  Do you want to participate?  Contact John Trull or Mandy Hammack.  Learn more about this kind of ministry at this link.