Missionaries we support:
Peter and Mary Clift served as missionaries in Japan for many years but have recently retired and moved back home to the Twin Cities. In their retirement, they have decided to take on and head up the Set Free Prison Ministry for Minnesota. See below for a short description of that ministry. In addition, they are actively involved in our church. Furthermore, they have begun to interact with the Japanese community in this area and are enlisting the help of some of the Japanese believers in the translation of more Bible correspondence courses (also mentioned below) into the Japanese language.
Henry and Emma Tita were born and raised in the nation of Cameroon. They now live and work here in the Twin Cities but have a strong burden for their hometown of Nkwen, Cameroon, especially for the AIDS orphans of that area. Several years ago, this burden led them to begin a holistic ministry to these children. At present, they, with the help of others, are paying for the educational expenses of about 120 orphans as well as assisting with their needs for food, clothing and medicine. Furthermore, their associates in Cameroon – Fred, Michael, Daiheru and John – are meeting regularly with these orphans to teach them the Bible and lead them to faith in Christ. Henry and Emma’s vision is to eventually see an assembly planted and a trade school developed in Nkwen.
Tom and Michele served for over 20 years on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. There they worked among the Maranao and other people groups in that area, resulting in the planting of a network of 10 or more churches which are actively continuing the outreach that Tom and Michele started. They have since moved on to another restricted access country in Asia and are currently learning the language and building many friendships among the majority people group of that country. Their goal is to see many people come to faith in Christ from among this largely unreached people group.
Dane and Mirjam Hanson are with the mission group Operation Mobilization. Shortly after the fall of communism in eastern Europe, they entered Albania, labored there for a number of years and were instrumental in the planting of several churches in that country. Eventually, Dane was asked to oversee the work of OM throughout southeastern Europe. Currently, he is responsible for supervising 16 teams in 14 cities in that region. In the last few years, they and members of these teams have been deeply involved in ministering to the needs of the refugees flooding into Europe from Syria, Iraq and various other countries. In addition, Mirjam and some other ladies have carried on an outreach to the many women in prostitution operating in the area of Germany where they live.
Story Book Lodge Christian Camp, located near Biwabik and Giant’s Ridge in northeastern Minnesota, held its initial summer camp in 1948. Its primary goal has always been to preach the gospel to children and young people who attend camps in the summer and retreats scheduled at other times of the year while also providing many indoor and outdoor activities. Many have chosen to put their faith in Jesus as Savior through exposure to the preaching of the Gospel and of God’s Word during these camps. Story Book Lodge trusts the Lord for all financial provision; there is no fee charging structure for attending a camp. This principle has been unwaveringly practiced to assure that every person who wants to come to camp can do so regardless of their family’s financial ability.
Set Free Prison Ministry is part of the larger ministry of Emmaus International (EI) headquartered in Dubuque, Iowa. Using the multitude of Bible correspondence courses made available by EI, Set Free attempts to reach male and female inmates here in the US with the Gospel by sending these courses free of charge to any inmates who request them. As prisoners complete these courses, they return them to believers outside the prison system who will correct and respond to their answers and then send the courses back to them, hopefully with yet another course for the inmates to work through. Many a convict has been saved and many a life salvaged and transformed through the impact of this outreach.
There are two other missionary couples whom we support in a significant way. However, due to the sensitive nature of their ministries, we cannot share details of their endeavors online.