History of Missions at Sycamore Presbyterian Church

By Jim Deady
May 6, 2006

I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you this morning. I need to thank Chris Robinson for inviting me and I’m flattered he would think I had anything to say worth listening to (especially given the way I conduct the Missions Committee meetings).

Nonetheless I am humbled to be the Missions Committee Chair for this year, since I’ve only been a member here for less than three years. The Missions Committee has eleven members, they are: Sondra Adams, Jennifer Bryan, Sheree Coy, Rebecca Hankins, Judy Harris, Lee Harris, Wanda Noble, Amish Ray, Chris Robinson and Larry Temple. And Glenn Kurtz is our liaison with the Session.

The Committee oversees, orchestrates and builds consensus for a variety of initiatives, which include the Samaritan’s purse (gift packets to children in third world countries), Angel Tree (gifts at Christmas to children of an incarcerated parent), special collections for Hurricane Katrina and the Gideon’s. This year we oversee a budget of approximately $130,000.00 which is dispersed among 27 ministries and Para church ministries, such as Good News Prison Ministries, The Christian Counseling Center, Crisis Pregnancy Center and Needles Eye Ministries. In addition to we review new missions efforts who either present themselves to the committee or whose work supersedes their request and we are drawn toward their ministry. Our funding has taken on an even more significant role in recent years where today the Benevolence Budget represents 13% of the total Church budget.

Sycamore has a legacy of Missions Committee leadership including Robert Adams, Walter Lastovica, Pat Pritchard and Glenn Kurtz, to mention a few. Pat Pritchard was chair for three years in a row (that is a yeoman’s effort). Members on the Committee have included Barbara Campbell, Tim Corcoran, Kurt Diemer, Tim Galage, Trisha Larocque, Jim and Eileen Nyholm, Trevor Roberts and Dave Watson (the elder), to mention just a few of them as well.

Let me begin by giving you a little history of the rich history of Missions at Sycamore. When the church was still meeting in Gordon Elementary, relationships with some of the missionaries we have today were being formed. For example, the Fiol’s, the Shoof’s and the Keiweit’s (which I will mention later) became recipients of some of the first benevolence budgets we had.

As early as the summer of 1984, Sycamore sent a missionary to Korea. Her name was Leslie Harrison and she was sent as a part of the Student Impact Mission, which was a one-on-one ministry by students from foreign countries to Korean students. Throughout the 80’s many individuals, both youth and adult participated in short term mission’s trips, mostly during the summers.

During the late 80’s and early 90’s Carol Donnelly [a Sycamore member] as well as Allison Jones [Adam Jones’s wife and another Sycamore member] were added to Sycamore’s Benevolence List. Carol has risen through the ranks to hold a very high position with Campus Crusade for Christ. And Allison added the fourth or fifth child to the Jones family last fall. (I’ll also mention these two later)

In 1991, a Missions Conference was held here and four of our Missionary families were here for a weekend [everyone believes the families were the Shoof’s, the Fiol’s, the Kings and the Dager’s]. They participated at a church wide conference on Saturday, were hosted at a social on Saturday night and spoke during the Sunday school hour. One of them preached at the eleven o’clock service and then a luncheon was held for them after the service. (Much like we do today when only one family comes.)

In 1998, Sycamore sent a missions group to Jamaica to help build a school as well as assist in conducting a Vacation Bible School. They were hosted by Joy and Tracy Dager, whom many Sycamore members have created a lasting friendship. (I’ll have more on this later.)

In 2000, Sycamore sent its first mission group to the Ukraine. This was a tremendous success. The goal of this trip was to teach conversational English using the Bible as the text. There were two more missions trips to the Ukraine, no one has been very precise about exactly when those were but everybody believes it was in 2001 and again in 2003. These were organized and orchestrated by Rich Leary and his ministry at the time.

Since 2003, Andrew has conducted short term Missions trips for the youth to West Virginia, Philadelphia and even here in town at the ROC [Richmond Outreach Center] as recently as last summer. These have had a lasting effect on the youth as well as all who participated. In 2004, Harry and Mary went to Scotland along with Trevor Roberts and his fiancée (now wife- Annette). Then Trevor went back last summer to cement out relationship with the Free Church of Scotland. Becky Galage went to Zambia on a Soccer related Missions trip last summer. Wanda Nobel has started a comprehensive ESL program to complement our foreign Missions efforts with an excellent in home Missions effort right here at Sycamore. And Phil Gelston will be leading a Youth Missions trip to Belize this summer to help build a school and assist in conducting a Vacation Bible School.

This brings us up to the present time and perhaps the most challenging foreign Missions trip so far. Leonard, along with a couple, Kurt and Jill in Europe, is putting together the details to lead a Missions trip to London in January of ’07 to plant a PCA church in a Muslim community. This is unique and I would like to take this opportunity to invite each of you to find out more and pray about your participation in this exciting trip. It will be wonderful to see how God works in this effort and to see how he uses everybody who gets involved.

This is just an overview and I’m sure I’ve left out lots of exciting stuff that others have done, and I just don’t know about it.

Now let me take you on a fast trip around the world to visit the Missionaries and their families and understand, even in a cursory way, what they do.

First we support Don Mountan (Mark Mountan’s father), who is president of Equipping Pastor’s International. This ministry, headquartered in Florida, is engaged in training pastors and their wives (primarily in Uganda) to become more Biblically-based and doctrinally sound in their teaching and preaching. EPI, led by Don and several others (our own Robert Adams will be going this August and Leonard Liu has been twice), go to Uganda for two week training sessions several times each year, after which these pastors return to their villages and congregations better equipped to teach and preach sound truths. In addition, Don takes along lots of books and literature and distributes them to the pastors (Leonard says they are starved for anything reformed about the Gospel.)

We also support Adam Jones, who married one of our own – Allison Jones. You may recall Adam came to Sycamore in October to explain his ministry – Global Hope Network. GHN is affiliated with Campus Crusade for Christ and takes teams into countries that ostensibly close their borders to Christian groups. GHN primarily goes into countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq as a humanitarian agency providing disaster relief and setting up vocational training centers. In Afghanistan, they have set up an orphanage and in order to share the Gospel they must do so clandestinely with one-on-one contacts and small group relationships. This ministry is filled with intrigue such as conducting Bible classes at night in these centers and Adam explained a couple of life-threatening encounters when the local officials found out about them. This spring, Adam has organized a trip to Tibet in which the only way in and out is a train and his group will be distributing Christian literature at each stop along the way. God is using this ministry in mighty ways that ordinary missions agency are not experiencing.

Some of you may know the Missions committee has supported Carol Donnelly (again one of our own) for many years. Beginning with Campus Crusade for Christ as a staff member fresh out of college in the eighties, she has risen steadily within the ranks so that recently she was elevated to Human Resources Director for the entire CCC organization. In this extremely important position, she makes it possible for thousands of personnel to serve Christ in a variety of ministries worldwide.

Until a year or so ago, one couple we have supported from the beginning, Tracy and Joy Dager, were in full time mission for MTW at a church and school in Jamaica. There both of them were administrative staff and helped coordinate the Sycamore Missions trips of 1998 and again in 2002. Now they are headquartered in Atlanta, where Tracy in a Disaster Relief specialist going into regions such as those hit by the Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina and when these are not immanent, he serves as a computer specialist providing IT support to MTW staff. His wife, Joy, is on staff as an administrative assistant and conducts a Bible study to Muslim women in the Atlanta area.

In Scotland, we support Robert Rahaim and his family where Robert is a full-time Christian counselor and also serves as a lay leader in a small home church. He reports his work has been overwhelming at times with all the problems and issues one would face in faith-based society, much less one where the Gospel is hardly recognized and actually ignored. He is connected with the Scotland Free Church which is trying hard to win back that country for Christ. He and his family along with another family - the Murchison’s - from that small church are planning on visiting Sycamore this summer and I hope you’ll have an opportunity to hear them.

In Croatia, we support Jim and Lynn Lehn and their three sons – John, Timothy and Paul. Sycamore has supported the Lehn’s since 1992 when they first went to the field where Jim is the head of Greater Europe Mission, whose primary goal is church planting. He has planted a church in Zagreb where as the minister he faces many cross cultural challenges from members who are in various stages of accepting Christ as their Lord and Savior and maturing in their faith. Most recently they participated in a European-wide week-long evangelistic crusade where their church received satellite broadcasts from Germany which were simultaneously translated.

Also in Eastern Europe, we support Will Traub and his wife Judi, who are involved in setting up theological studies in colleges and universities in Germany, Czech Republic and Bulgaria. While he lives in the US finishing up his doctorate in Theology, he travels to these countries several times each year to facilitate a discussion group on the status and issues surrounding theological education in Missions and church planting in Europe.

And, of course, Rich and Barb Leary are returning to Ukraine in August where Rich will be National Coordinator of the Crossroads Ministry of Campus Crusade of Christ. The Crossroads Ministry was developed in response to a request by the Malawi government (in Africa) to help fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic there. The curriculum has been adapted for the Ukrainian school population where HIV/AIDS has the highest counts in all of Europe. Rich will be taking the 30-lesson course called ‘Life at the Crossroads’ to teachers throughout the Ukraine showing Jesus as the perfect role model for good character and how students can experience a personal relationship with Him. He’ll do this by conducting four-day seminars to approximately 150-200 teachers at a time and providing them with all necessary materials to go back into their schools and teach this course.

In South Africa we support Jeff and Patty Borden, who founded and teach at a mission called The Bible Institute of South Africa in Johannesburg. This school teaches a basic seminary education and confers a Batchelor of Theology degree after four years of study. (Their son Jeff attends the school and will be seeking a secular degree in Political Science in the US after he finishes there.) Jeff and Patty will be back in the US starting this summer for a one year Home Missions Assignment. They plan to visit Sycamore and I hope many of you will attend the social we have for them on Saturday night when they come.

In India, we have supported almost from the very beginning of Sycamore, David and Eleanor Fiol. These two lifetime missionaries founded and established the Presbyterian Theological Seminary in the early 80’s that has become a fixture in Dehradmus. This school graduates pastors and, most recently, they are facing a major crisis in that the Dutch Reformed denomination in Holland which provides the major funding for the school now wants to decrease that funding substantially and, perhaps the loss of the support altogether. The committee continues to pray for the Fiol’s and the Seminary and I would ask you to do the same.

In Australia, we have supported the Keweits and the Shoofs since their entry in the field in the late 80’s. (The Keweits are long-time friends of Harry and Mary.) David Keweit started a PCA seminary in Queensland which has grown to the point it recently called a full time academic dean. Jan Keweit, has been teaching in the public schools there for many years where she introduced the Gospel to the curriculum. As a sign of the times only recently has she encountered any opposition (and this came from a parent not the school system).

The Shoofs, Steve and Beth, work through MTW in Perth to promote Evangelism and Church Planting. As if this weren’t challenging enough, Steve pastors a church of about 500 and has initiated a Kids Evangelism Explosion Clinic which he plans to take to other churches in the area.

In Mexico, we support Bryce and Noreen King who are part of the Presbyterian Fellowship (headquartered in Bristol, VA). Near El Paso, TX along the Mexican border they have a church as well as a junior and senior high school. The focus of the school is to provide a Christian education and prepare the students to understand their role in the community and thus assume leadership roles in both the church and the community.

That is just a few of the foreign Missions we support, back home we support any number of entities who are spreading the Gospel in unique ways.

For example, we support the Gideon’s, through the work of both Larry Temple and Barton Campbell. The Gideon’s primary focus is to distribute bibles in professional offices, hotels and motels, commercial buildings, hospitals, etc. with funds donated through area churches. In addition, the local chapter meets at area camps monthly but has prayer together every Saturday. The membership of local chapters speak at area churches regularly to tell of testimonies of individuals who have been profoundly changed and accepted Christ as their savior upon finding and reading a Gideon Bible in a hotel room, dentist’s office, even on the field of combat.

We also support RUF (Reformed University Fellowship) staff in three area Universities: Chris Daniels and his wife Genevieve @ VCU, Shawn and Jennifer Slate @ UVA and Larry Temple’s son-in-law and daughter, Ben and Dawn Robertson @ William and Mary as of a couple of weeks ago. I am impressed with the commitment and focus of RUF because they emphasize the sufficiency of Christ for salvation through large and small group Bible studies on campus. Chris Daniels, in particular, has invited noted speakers to debate Evolution vs. Creation to large gatherings at VCU and most recently he had a noted speaker come and debunk the De Vinci Code heresy at another large meeting. These types of strong Christian influences especially when college students are bombarded with four years of liberalism in most state-supported institutions are a mighty work of God in some very dark places.

We support The Christian Counseling Center here in Richmond. The CCC is a non-profit organization that provides highly-structured Biblically-base courses and curricula to individuals who seek to become rock solid in the foundational truths of the Scripture. This intensive study in undertaken in order that the participants return to their churches or work places or their everyday lives to witness from a position of power and strength found only in revealed knowledge of the Bible.

We also support the Crisis Pregnancy Center here in town as well. This organization advises both wed and unwed mothers on issues surrounding pregnancy from a Christian perspective. They distribute literature, hold seminars, conduct meetings and forums in Churches, among other institutions and work tirelessly to support a Pro-Life goal for all pregnancies.

And finally, we support Needles Eye Ministries to the ‘up and out’ business and professional community who through monthly meetings around the Metro area have a business or professional person testify as to how a personal relationship with Jesus Christ has changed their lives. In addition, this ministry, led by an ex business executive, Buddy Childress, conducts multiple Bible study and support groups for both men and women to encourage Christian principles in the workplace and beyond.

That’s probably enough for today, but certainly not the full reach of the Mission Committee’s oversight and giving. We are constantly requested to consider gifts of money and time to dozens of worthy Christian and secular causes and each month brings more new requests. It just shows me that the reward for Christian service is more service. Thank you for having me to speak to you this morning.