MISSION INTENTIONS

CALEB INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES.    Rev. Louis LaGatta, a member of the Clen-Moore church, is the executive minister of this group which serves through prayer and organization across the world in an ecumenical atmosphere.  Areas served include Ghana, Cairo, Egypt, El Salvador, Thailand and China as well as small areas in Africa and Latin American.  www.calebministries.com

CHAPLAIN FUND, NEW CASTLE .  The Chaplain Fund located in New Castle, PA provides chaplaincy for the Jameson and St. Francis Hospitals and for the Youth Development Center.  The chaplain also visits nursing homes and conducts funerals for those people who do not have a church home.

CHILDREN’S HOME, LEWISBURG, WV.  The Children’s Home is a residential treatment center for moderately and severely disturbed adolescents located in Lewisburg, WV.  The agency was founded as a Synod Children’s home to meet the needs  of neglected, dependent, and orphaned children as well as diseased,  dissolving, and helpless families with both spiritual and physical needs.  The program includes clinical services, a full-time chaplain, an on-grounds school, and work-experience training. 

 CITY RESCUE MISSION.   The City Rescue Mission partners with the local churches to offer hope and help to the needy in Butler, Lawrence, Mercer and Beaver counties.  The purpose of the City Rescue Mission is to provide excellent, relevant and personal services which lead to changed lives for the needy, both spiritually and physically, in this area.  The program includes Covenant House, Family Care Ministry, Youth Programs, and True Life Men’s Ministries. www.cityrescuemission.org

CONTACT  E.A.R.S.   Contact E.A.R.S. is a con-profit agency which offers a 24-hour helpline available to anyone regardless of are, race, sex, creed, gender, disability or national origin.  It is staffed by volunteers who have completed an extensive training program 24 hours a day.   The three specific areas of service are listening counseling; crisis intervention, and information and referral. 

COPTIC EVANGELIC CHURCH.   This church is located in Cairo, Egypt.   Carole Landess is the volunteer coordinator at this time.  Dorothy Cushman , who was one of our former 4R4 Missionaries, worked in this project to improve the future of Egypt’s children and helped pastors establish day-care center for the children of working mothers.  With 50,000 communicant members, it is the largest Protestant denomination in the Middle East.

CRISIS SHELTER OF LAWRENCE .  This local organization provides services for those faced with Physical abuse, Mental abuse, Sexual abuse, or Property or Economic abuse.   It offers emergency shelter, 24-hour hotline, counseling for adults and children, parenting classes, referral service, medical advocacy, court accompaniment, education classes for individuals and groups.  Their mission statement is "The Crisis Shelter of Lawrence County, a non-profit organization in Pennsylvania, provides leadership services and initiatives committed to ending physical, sexual, and emotional violence." www.crisisshelter.org

GRACE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, BRAZIL.  The work at the hospital in Wagner, Bahia, Brazil is directed by Dr. Jonas Dias de Araujo and his wife, Janet Graham de Araujo.  The originally opened a small clinic seeing the need of the people and were after several years able to purchase the hospital property and equip the hospital.  They were supported initially by several church from western Pennsylvania including many from Shenango Presbytery.  Their ministry is both physical and spiritual  as they minister to these people who have a monthly income of $75.

HABITAT FOR HUMANITY .   Lawrence County Habitat for Humanity is dedicated to providing affordable housing for qualified families.  It is a volunteer organization who seeks help from people in both construction and non-construction positions.  At the present time, Habitat for Humanity is in the process of organizing the first Apostles Build.  This is a project in which 12 churches come together to raise the money, and provide the labor, prayer support, and other resources needed to build a home.  www.habitat.org

KAYENTA INDIAN MISSION, AZ.   The Kayenta Presbyterian (Indians)  Church is located in Arizona.  It was once the most isolated ministry in the United States.  The parish extends into Utah through Monument Valley and among small sheep camps and isolated hogans to the New Mexico border to tell the story of Jesus.  The parish provides pastoral support to guide and love the people.  www.pbygrandcanyon.org/kayenta

MEDICAL BENEVOLENCE  FOUNDATION.   MBF provides medical personnel, equipment, supplies and funding to assist 118 Presbyterian Church (USA) validated mission hospitals and clinics worldwide.   It is currently establishing a nursing school for the people of Haiti.  At the present time there is less than one nurse for every 3,000 Haitians.

MISSION AVIATION FELLOWSHIP.  www.maf.org

NEW CASTLE CHRISTIAN ACADEMY.  The Academy is a private Christian School for children in New Castle, PA.  Students range in age from Pre-School through 8^th grade.  The school provides academic education while preparing students “head, heart and hands for Christian life and service.”  All teachers are fully accredited with state certificates. 

NEW WILMINGTON MISSIONARY CONFERENCE.  The object of the New Wilmington Missionary Conference is primarily the deepening of the missionary spirit, with a view to the fulfillment of the Lord’s great commission.  Our special emphasis and concern is high school/college-age youth (14-22).  To this end, a prominent place is given in the conference to mission study and to the presentation of the duty and ideal of carrying the gospel to all the world.  Because of the vital relationship existing between the missionary spirit and a deep spiritual life, the conference aims at the cultivation of a life of fellowship with God by promoting service and witness for Jesus Christ.  www.nwmcmission.org.

NORTHWEST CAMPING ASSOCIATION.   The camping association is responsible for camps at Westminster Highlands and Camp Lambec.  The camping ministry reaches more than 4,500 persons per year and aims to help people by offering direction for their life to youth, adults, and families.  Youth programs include music camp, sports camp, camper reunions and special focus options.  Adult programs include the Women’s Retreat and Young-At-Heart retreats for those 50 and older.  www.capnwp.org.

NUBA INTERNATIONAL MISSION.  The Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church has one main presbytery in Khartoum which is home to more than 50 tribes.  The center is in El Obeid.  Thousands have heard about Christ as they were helped through suffering and fighting.  Now they want to take the Good News back to their people.  The center at El Obeid serves existing preaching centers and sends out evangelist to establish new churches in the mountains. 

PITTSBURGH THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY.

PREGNANCY RESOURCE CENTER  in New Castle.

SALVATION ARMY,  LAWRENCE COUNTY.

SENECA HILLS RETREAT CENTER.  Seneca Hills is an interdenominational camp and retreat center in western Pennsylvania committed to operating as an extension of the local church to reach the lost and enable those who have placed their trust in Him to grow in His likeness.  It conducts conferences for all ages, but especially youth, with the express intent of leading them to a vital, personal relationship with Jesus Christ and to a life of dedicated service to Him.  It also conducts senior citizen conferences. www.senecahills.org

SHELDON JACKSON COLLEGE, SITKA.   Sheldon Jackson College, located in Sitka, Alaska, serves the native people of Alaska as a training center for Tlingit Indians.  It has a Christian heritage  and is the oldest educational enterprise in the state of Alaska.  It attracts students from diverse background, locally, nationally, and internationally.   

SUDAN PRESBYTERIAN EVANGELICAL CHURCH (SPEC).   SPEC in the southern part of Sudan does theological training for pastors where the church is growing rapidly even with great persecution.  It is a sister presbytery to Shenango Presbytery.  The missionaries in this project with which we have contact are Betsy McCormick, Barry Almy, and Bill and Lois Anderson.

UNITED WORLD MISSION. 

WBZY.  A part of our Mission Outreach is also the broadcasting of the Sunday Morning Service on WBZY.   We do know that people are listening to it from our church if they are unable to attend for some reason and some have told us that they listen because they do not attend a church of their own.

WEE KIRK CONFERENCE.

WITNESSING MINISTRIES.  Their goal is to establish a self-supporting, mission-capable rural Presbyterian Church in India which would provide spiritual nurture and education to untouchable children in residential schools.  They also send out pastors into the villages by bicycle to meet with the families and conduct a worship service on a regular basis. 

WORLD MISSION INITATIVE.

JIM AND CAROL BREES 

Jim and Carol are a part of the Clen-Moore 4R4 Mission program.  Rev. Jim Brees and Dr. Carol Brees are mission co-workers serving in partnership with the Presbyterian Church in Pakistan.  Dr. Brees is a medical doctor in charge of obstetrics and gynecology at Memorial Christian Hospital.  Rev. Brees serves in the area of pastoral and church development. 

Following is a part of the letter we recently received from them. 

"What an amazing reality!  The more maternal and neonatal mortality I see here, the more awe filled I am by the Incarnation.

Recently I heard a sermon pointing out how Mary delivered 'without even a traditional birth attendant present."  Hearing this, I whispered to the person next to me. 'That's probably why he survived.'   Why would I saw that?  Aren't we supposed to be supporting local practitioners?  Aren't we supposed to be training them?

When I came here over 19 years ago, I attributed the deaths I saw to lack of education of midwives, who were practicing to the best of their abilities.  They just didn't know good techniques.  Teaching proper techniques was the solution.

I met Seema in our labor room about a month ago.  She doesn't remember that meeting.  She was barely conscious.  Minutes after her arrival we were doing cardiopulmonary resuscitation to saw her life.  I asked the women with her, 'What happened?'  They answered, 'Nothing.  She's just a 'normal delivery case.  After the resuscitation, we realized that her uterus was probably ruptured.  In short order, she was in the operating room having a hysterectomy for her ruptured uterus and repair of her ruptured bladder.  She recovered.  However, she has some ongoing brain injury due to her cardiac arrest.  Her family took her home a couple weeks ago.

They go on to explain that many of the midwives use Oxytocin to induce labor.  It is very risky and should only be used by those more schooled in the practice, but it is given out to the midwives because there are no restrictions on it.    If things go wrong, 'It is the God's will.'" 

 MISSION AVIATION FELLOWSHIP

MAF is a faith-based, non-profit ministry. Teams of aviation, communications and technology specialists overcome barriers, transform lives, and enable the work of more than 600 organizations around the world.

Some 200 MAF missionary families raise ministry support for the privilege of serving God and helping people in need. In 23 countries throughout Africa, Asia, Eurasia, and Latin America, MAF overcomes barriers and transforms lives through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. MAF services enable and maximize.

 These are some of the pictures and work of the MAF from a recent newsletter.  You can see more about their work by going to www.MAF.org.  One of the most exciting developments at MAF is an outgrowth of the Afghanistan flight program.  MAF has established the MAF/PACTEC Disaster Response Unit, to be ready the moment communications or flight services are needed on an emergency basis, anywhere in the world.  When the Pakistan earthquake struck, taking the live of some 75,000 people, it was the PACTEC program in Afghanistan that responded across the border with personnel, flights and communication resources.  Sharing and reallocating resources on an emergency basis proved very effective. We see God moving to make the Disaster Response Unit available throughout the world.

 The U.S. military has recently donated two high-performance King Airs to PACTEC, perfect aircraft to operate in the high altitudes of Afghanistan.  A PACTEC King Air boarding humanitarian aid workers at Faizabad.   (Note the mountains in the background.)  The government of Afghanistan holds PACTEC personnel in high regard, knowing it’s a Christian group.  Now they have asked PACTGEC to open three new airstrips in the Badakhshan area, helping to bring hope and the life to 700,000 isolated people.  

One of the King Airs donated by the U.S. government to PACTEC is shown in this picture.  This $3 million provision of God, once the plane has been refurbished, is being readied in Nampa, Idaho, for field service.  The other King Air (not shown) will be deployed somewhere in the world where it will be available for the new MAF Disaster Response Unit.