ABWE
We are a missions agency with more than 90 years of experience helping missionaries start relevant, effective, creative & adaptable ministries in more than 70 countries.
Glenda
আচ্ছালামু – আলায়কুম! নমস্কার!
My name is Glenda and I have the privilege of serving God in South Asia.
I grew up here at First Baptist of Newaygo and trusted Christ at an early age. I am thankful for pastors, Sunday school teachers, junior church, AWANA, and youth group leaders who taught me from God’s Word. Missionaries also had a big impact on my life as they spoke of the need to share Truth not just in my school and neighborhood but all around the world.
God used various circumstances in my life to lead to me South Asia. My adopted land is one of the most densely populated countries on the earth and so it is not difficult to find people who have never heard the Gospel…in any context. The hospital in which I work as a nurse services a catchment area of several million people. The majority of the people are Muslim or Hindu. Healthcare has opened doors in this needy land.
During my first term, most of my waking hours were spent working on the women’s ward in our small hospital. I also had the joy of helping to teach in our College of Health Sciences.
Please pray that God would send more workers to join us in South Asia. My focus is hospital ministry and professional medical education, but healthcare is just one, small facet of extensive ministry opportunities. Whatever skills and gifts God has given you…we can use it on our field!
If you would like to know more about the work in South Asia, please contact me through the church address.
Serving in South Asia,
Glenda
Larry & Jane Golin
November 2010
Thank you in 9 languages for your faithful prayer and financial support of our ministries for the past 47 years. We thank Him for the establishment of a rehabilitation center at Memorial Christian Hospital in Malumghat, Bangladesh. We thank Him for the trained national workers who daily witness to patients and for the 27 churches that we were some part of helping to establish. However, the greatest thing He did thru us was to help bring a Holy Bible in the language of the people of Bangladesh.
After leaving Bangladesh in 1998, the work of International Director for Ministries to the Disabled led us to witness to Disabled in 14 countries. Now we are heading for another challenge. On March 31st, 2011, we are retiring from full time work with ABWE.
Tim & Nancy Hepworth
Dr. Tim provides healthcare for missionaries via in-person meetings, email, or virtual appointments. He also provides healthcare education for national healthcare workers on the field.
Nancy provides consultations for English teachers in ministry, equipping them with instructional resources and professional development opportunities. English teachers are uniquely situated to reach people for Christ through their teaching and to encourage the spiritual growth of believers.
- With Christ at the center of our teaching, we share the knowledge we have, training others to enhance their ministries.
Home address:
11065 Crawford Lake Trail
Cedar Springs MI 49319
Contact Info:
Tim 717-649-3023 drhepworth@abwe.org
Nancy 717-649-9231 nhepworth@abwe.org
Steve & Sue Mayo
Steve and Sue Mayo facilitate missionary-national partnerships in the Asia Pacific region. Their overarching goal is to foster church planting movements that mature into missionary sending movements to the glory of God. They are based in Sydney, Australia, where they also represent the Australian Fellowship of Bible-believing Churches (www.afbc.net.au) – assisting established churches to plant daughter churches and to expand their leadership base. For leisure, the Mayos enjoy singing with their grown children (who have all settled in Australia), picnicking in the Blue Mountains, and touring historic homes.
Dick & Betty Sterkenburg
Missionaries with ABWE 1958 - 1998.
We retired after 40 years in Brazil. While on the field we started and assisted in 5 church plants and aided the ministry in 16 congregations over the years. Dick taught and served in various capacities in the Sao Paulo Baptist Seminary and as President in his final 14 years. Betty was always active in teacher training at the church level and or in the Seminary program. At the seminary she served as office coordinator, dean of women and librarian (putting ten thousand books on computer card files). In December of 2011 the Seminary dedicated its new edifice. We were there for the occasion. I was the dedicatory speaker. They have named the building "The Dr. Richard and Sra. Betty Sterkenburg Edifice - That in this edifice Jesus Christ might always have the preeminence, Cl 1:18." A week later the Pan American Christian Academy, where I served as Treasurer for thirty years, presented me with a Christian Service award. To God be the glory!
I am currently working on a fund raising effort of two thousand dollars for a sign to be placed in front of our Brazilian Seminary (see artist conception).
We continue our volunteer work two afternoons a week at the Radio Bible Class Ministries (RBC-ministries - soon to be changed to OurDailyBreadministries). Betty works in the mail department and Dick in graphics. I also write a monthly blog for RBC's Brasilian office calling myself the "Word Doctor." I take one Biblical word and show how understanding that word helps to understand the text. I wrote the time line charts for all the books of the Bible for RBC's "Adventuring through the Bible" by Stedman. A project of over a hundred hours of work and drawings. I have returned to the mission field to give Master's level seminars in Liberia, Sao Paulo and Lisbon, Portugal. I have extensive correspondence with people at the rate of about five hundred yearly. For exercise I play tennis twice weekly for two hours. while Betty uses the exercise machines. And with what time is left I make and repair mantel, wall and floor clocks. And last but not least we recently celebrated our 61st wedding anniversary.
John & Betty Teusink
Content to come...
Tim & Barb Vermilyea
Tim and Barb Vermilyea responded to God’s call in their lives for vocational missionary service in 1985. They moved to the Quebec City, Quebec region in 1986 – they’ve called that part of the world “home” ever since. Their children all grew up in the French-language and French-Canadian cultural setting; all are perfectly bi-lingual and hold dual citizenship. Church-planting and leadership training have been the driving passions of their ministry since they arrived in what is known as “la belle province” (the lovely province). The first ten years in Quebec, the Vermilyeas were part of the Baptist Mid-Missions missionary team. In 1996 they became a part of ABWE’s new initiative in the province – they have now served with the ABWE team for 18 years.
Church-planting has been and continues to be a major part of the ministry in Quebec City. In 2004 an evangelistic Bible study was begun in the city with the goal of forming a nucleus of believers that would become a new church. [The greater Quebec City region’s population is approximately 750,000 – there are still only a small number of Gospel-preaching churches seeking to reach the most unevangelized people-group (French-Canadians, les Québécois) in the Western Hemisphere.] In 2005 Credo Baptist Church was established under the leadership of the Vermilyeas and ABWE colleagues, Mark & Jill Billington. The church is growing, is being led more and more by national leadership, and is beginning an initiative in 2014 of establishing a missional community in another area of the city, the expansion of Credo Church.
Canada is, per capita, the #1 nation in the world to welcome immigrants. That reality is part of God’s leading to an expanded ministry for Tim and Barb. Two years ago a “new” logo was added to their prayer card and their ministry accent. Crossing Cultures w/o Crossing Borders is possible almost anywhere in Canada, including Quebec City. God is bringing the nations of the world to North America, which means that multi-ethnic and multi-cultural churches can be established. Credo Church currently has 8 nationalities represented in the family. The Vermilyeas are also seeing an expanding ministry as they work with ABWE teammates in Toronto who are ministering in the Chinese community (nearly 500,000 Mandarin-speakers)…and helping with the establishment of a new ministry team in the city of Montreal that will minister in French, English, Arabic and other languages. On a personal note, they are thrilled that their daughter, Mandi, is currently raising support with ABWE to join the Montreal team!