A place to learn – A people to love – A partnership to share

Missions

MISSIONS: Reaching Out to the World

Midtown Church has a passion for reaching people for Christ, both in our community
and throughout the world.  Because of that commitment, we help support missionaries in the
countries of Brazil, in South America, Cameroon, in Africa, Cuba, in the Caribbean, and Canada.

World Team

Gary and Sandra Clow are missionaries with World Team, which they joined in 1986 and served as church planters through 1994. In 1995 Gary became World Team Cuba Ministries Coordinator. In 2004 Gary took on the role of Operations Manager for the Americas Area of World Team. From 2014 until 2022 he served as the America Areas Director, overseeing World Team ministry in South America, the Caribbean and North America.

In 1990 Gary began serving as as communications liaison between World Team and The Evangelical Convention of Cuba, Los Pinos Nuevos, the denomination begun by World Team missionaries in 1928. As a Spanish speaker Gary is able to speak directly with church leaders in Cuba.  Ministry also includes preaching and teaching in Cuba, as well as leading ministry trips to Cuba for Christians who wish to be involved in that exciting ministry.

Gary’s involvement in Cuba grew until 1995 when he was appointed Cuba Ministries Coordinator, one of the positions he currently holds within World Team.  This work involves coordinating World Team’s ministry with our denomination in Cuba, The Evangelical Convention of Cuba, Los Pinos Nuevos, and with other denominations, as well as coordination of ministry involving other missions who work with World Team in Cuba.

Over the past ten years Gary has become involved in the World Team training department.  He is one of the facilitators in several of World Team’s online eLearning courses and helped in the development of some of the courses. In January 2022 he took on the position of Oversight of the World Team Online Training System as well as overseeing the World Team ministry in Cuba.

Sandra is always active in evangelism, discipleship and mentoring.  When we were church planting she led the women’s ministries and social activities.  Today she continues to do the same things.  She has weekly Bible studies, one on one with women, especially younger women.  She is mentor to many women, visits the sick in hospital and is head of women’s ministries in the church we currently attend.  Sandra is busier in personal ministry than Gary!

 

Power to Change – Digital Strategies

James Warkentin is a missionary serving God as a Web Programmer with Digital Strategies, a part of Power to Change (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ). As Technical Director, James is responsible for much of the back-end code required to make the websites work properly. He manages a small team of other programmers and designers as well as doing a lot of the programming himself. 

Half the world is online. As of today, that’s over three billion people. And they’re turning to the Internet for answers, for some kind of hope. They’re looking for people who understand and can offer love and support. So Digital Strategies helps them know Jesus. They start by telling compelling stories that get right at the need people are experiencing. Then they encourage people to talk to an online mentor. Digital Strategies equips and mobilizes over 1,000 online mentors to walk with people throughout their spiritual journey toward Jesus, both online and in person, and also partners with churches and ministries to do the same. Because the world is online, that’s where Digital Strategies is too. They’re helping people know Jesus, one conversation at a time.

Learn more about Power-to-Change, Digital Strategies at https://p2c.com/digitalstrategies/

You can find out more about James and Carolanne at https://ptc.jamesandcarolanne.com

 

One Life One Chance Ministries

One Life believes in establishing long-term, interdenominational relationships with the local community and its leaders.

One Life continues to serve the people of the San Quintin Valley by building long-term trust, encouraging and supporting children’s education, supporting and mentoring local leaders, facilitating healthy opportunities for community fellowship and unity, and helping meet basic human needs such as housing, food, and hygiene, as well as emotional and spiritual support.

 

Manuel began serving with One Life in 2018. As Executive Director of the organization in Mexico, he provides leadership to the ministry and Los Olivos park staff teams. He manages the everyday affairs of the ministry and is a key connection point between our Mexican and Canadian staff. Manuel is married to Anarely and they have three children: Saith, Christopher, and Nicole.

 

Hipolito (Poli) Ramirez Nazario grew up in Puebla with his family, but at the age of 16 he moved to Baja California. He came to know the Lord in 2013 and married Belen, the daughter of a local pastor. Since then, Poli has grown in his faith and actively served in his home church and community, and in 2019 he and his family were blessed with the construction of a home by One Life. Poli joined the One Life team in September 2021, working alongside Arturo & Heather in pastoral care and community outreach. Poli & Belen have a 6-year-old son Yeshua, and are expecting a new baby in June 2022.

 
 
For more information, please go to their website at https//onelifeonechance.ca.

 

Brazil

This field’s main ministry focus is training pastors and church workers for local church ministry and church planting in the Brazil Baptist Convention. CHAIN of Love, a ministry based on Christian compassion, meets the needs of abused and abandoned children by providing genuine love in a group home environment.

Lyndell Campbell & Paulo André Réquia. Lyndell is a Seminary Teacher and helps her husband with church planting.  To find out more about Lyndell and Paulo, and read their latest prayer letter, go to:  http://nabconference.org/missions/lyndell-Campbell

 

Cameroon

The following is a letter written by Calvin Hohn in January 2022 on their upcoming retirement from their missions assignment in Cameroon:

Twenty-three years ago, our journey together in Cameroon began. The first nine years, we lived and worked at the grassroots level, engaged in discipleship and community development amongst a least-reached people group. The past fourteen years we’ve been serving the larger missionary body connected to the Cameroon Baptist Convention (CBC) and leading the solid and integrated partnership between the CBC and the NAB. We’ve built countless mutually encouraging relationships and invested in what we pray will be lasting fruit for God’s Kingdom. For our daughters, Ysabelle and Elianna, Cameroon is their primary home. They both embraced the many opportunities that have led them to be the beautiful third-culture adults they are today.

So it is with a full spectrum of mixed emotions that we realize our journey in Cameroon is coming to an end. Primarily for medical and well-being reasons, it is not wise for us to continue here. This decision has been made after counsel, advice, and, of course, prayer. After Elianna graduates from Rainforest International School in June 2022, we will return to Canada to begin our final one-year home assignment. This will provide us the opportunity to visit and thank many of you, our faithful supporters, before fully resigning as NAB missionaries in June 2023.

We value your thoughts and prayers during these next six months as we wind down our Cameroon journey. Pray especially for the CBC leadership as they seek God for a new Director of Cooperating Missions. We will still be sending our quarterly newsletters over the next eighteen months and will keep you updated through them.