Carolyn's Corner

Missionary of the Month

Paul & Mary Nuth | Cambodian Christians for Christ | Cambodia & U.S.

Background: Paul was born and raised in Cambodia in a Buddhist family, where 95 percent of Cambodians still claim Buddha as their god.  In 1973, Paul received the living Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord.  In 1975, The Killing Fields devastated Cambodia when three million Cambodians were killed—30% of the population! The Church, its people targeted for execution, survived though it was desperately weakened and fragmented, losing an entire generation of pastors and leaders.

In 1981, Paul and Nary were blessed to be able to escape from the terrible situation in Cambodia to freedom and eventually to the United States. They were married in 1986 and now have two children, Nicholas, 23 years of age, and Pauline, 20. In the U.S., Paul went to Bible school and worked with CityTeam Ministry for 21 years and Missions Door for 4 years. As a Church Planter, he planted churches and trained North American Cambodian Christian leaders. He has also assisted in the church planting work in Cambodia for 20 years. Paul served as the pastor of a church he planted in 1983 in San Jose, California.  He co-founded Cambodian Ministries for Christ and served as its mission coordinator through 2007.  Recently, Paul has led the Cambodian national Christian leaders and several U.S. churches to form a new association of over 1100 churches called Cambodian Generations for Christ, focused on planting and establishing churches in Cambodia.

The Ministry: Paul and Nary, following the Holy Spirit by acting and obeying Christ's Great Commission, are committed to the evangelism of the lost, entrusting the truth to faithful men, and establishing the local church in the way of Christ and the Apostles. Their ministry is focused on establishing and expanding the church by working to provide church-based leadership in:

• Train and equip leaders in the Kerygma, Didache and biblical processes to participate in the Great Commission and the maturation of churches to expand the Gospel
• Planting and establishing network of churches by enabling indigenous leaders to partner and network together as a unified  family for the progress of the Gospel
• Promoting the health of Christian community by supporting churches in compassion ministries which provide a visible witness of Christ’s Gospel 

The Vision: Paul and Nary’s passion is to see individual believers and whole churches strengthened and equipped to go into their communities bringing the Good News to the lost and disciple believers to maturity.  They are committed to seeing this accomplished through “the way of Christ and the Apostles”, working with indigenous leaders who in turn train others within the context of their own local churches, both in the U.S. and in Cambodia.

International Ministries Cambodia: The Formation of the Ministry and the Vision. The vision of Cambodian Generations for Christ is to reach Cambodia with the Gospel of Jesus Christ by planting self-sustaining churches and establishing those churches through training capable leaders, reaching generations of Cambodians to promote the welfare of the communities in which they live.

www.cambodiansforchrist.org

Dec. 2010

Christmas With A Mission 2010

Missionary of the Month

Fred and Anastassia Naff | Greece

Fred is an architect, and received his training and work experience in the United States, Italy, and also Greece, where he and Anastassia live.  He is in charge of the work of the Design Group of “EuroTeam” (www.etdesign.eu), a part of Greater Europe Mission. EuroTeam works to assist the church in Europe with building design, construction assistance through volunteer teams, and other training through volunteers in areas like English language learning and computer skills.  In his role in the Design Group, Fred does architectural design work and consulting for evangelical churches, camps, Bible schools and other ministries in Europe. He also coordinates the work of outside consultants in Europe and the United States who donate their time to help with architectural and structural design and related work. 

Fred is also part of the leadership of MarketVenture (www.marketventure.org), also a part of Greater Europe Mission, which assists persons called to serve the Lord in Europe to do so while working in a secular job.  Sometimes called "tentmaking" and sometimes called "Business as Mission", this type of approach gives people a platform from which to serve the Lord and also gives them immediate contact with co-workers, clients, and other people they meet through their work.  

Anastassia owns and operates a pharmacy in Rafina, the town where she and Fred live, and this gives her many opportunities to talk about the "medicine that never runs out" (and has no side effects!), which is Christ. She also teaches a Greek language class as part of the program taught in English at the Greek Bible Institute.

 

Missionary of the Month

Eric and Karyn Sorenson | Pacific Island University | Guam

After twenty years in pastoral ministry, Eric Sorenson became both instructor in theology  at Pacific Islands University (PIU) in Guam and dean of Pacific Islands Evangelical Seminary, the only seminary of its kind in Micronesia. Pacific Islands University is a fully accredited college and seminary, founded as a missionary school for the next generation of leaders for the Micronesian islands. Eric graduated from Simpson University, Princeton Seminary, and Fuller Seminary, from which he holds both his masters and doctorate. He is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Covenant Church. His wife, Karyn, is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who teaches social sciences at PIU. They have been married since 1985, and have four children, two of whom are in college. Check out their blog to read more about their ministry in Guam: eksorenson.blogspot.com.