MINISTRIES
Missionaries
Célia Mendes
Mozambique
Célia Mendes is a Brazilian born missionary that has been serving in Mozambique for the past 17 years. Her passion is to see social and spiritual transformation in areas she has a chance to minister to for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
She has been working along the years with church planting in the community of Gumbane, children’s feeding program, water supply, shelter construction for widows, school classroom building, discipleship and Bible school teaching, transforming the whole community with one action of love at the time!
Kim Franks
Registrar and Lecturer at Berea Theological University College.
Kim Franks has always known that God called her to Missions and already went on short-term Mission trips as a teen. Over the years and through events that took place in her life she thought her dream of being a missionary was over. However, she found God faithful when He opened doors, sending her as Missionary to Zambia.
Kim is a Graduate of the Pentecostal Theological Seminary with a Master Degree in Theology/ Biblical Studies and has since then started pursuing her PhD at the University of South Africa. She is an Ordained Minister with Church of God, and appointed by Church of God World Missions as Missionary. Currently she is serving as Lecturer and as Registrar at Bethel Theological University College (BTUC) in Lusaka, Zambia.
Her vision is reaching out to the lost, hurting, and dying. Her passion is teaching mentoring, and disciplining. She feels blessed to be called to work at BTUC, teaching, training, mentoring, and discipling men and women of God who will be future Pastors, worship leader’s, Youth pastors, and Evangelist in the Church. She makes use of opportunities to go into churches in the bush, villages, towns and cities in Zambia to preach and seek out the lost and tell them the good news. She is grateful, honored and blessed that God is faithful and has called her to Africa.
Everaldo and Lydia Nascimentos
Guinea-Bissau
Everaldo and Lydia Nascimento are passionate about fulfilling the Great Commission! They are pioneering the Church of God in the nation of Guinea-Bissau. Through soccer ministry, church planting, personal evangelism, English teaching, discipleship ministries and community outreach they are sharing the Good News of Jesus and raising up a generation of Christ followers and leaders for the church in Bissau. To God be the glory!
Everaldo has prepared himself for Missions by holding a certificate as football coach (from Brazil!) and Lydia did her studies to enable her to teach English as a foreign language. Both of their training has been instrumental to pioneer the new work in Guinea-Bissau.
Teaching English
Baptism
Baptism
Soccer as outreach
Nascimento Family
Max and Debbie Thompson
Liberia
After working in Brazil for 12 years, Maxwell and Debbie Thompson were called of God to Liberia in West Africa. Debbie is a Registered Nurse and Maxwell has earned his Bachelor of Arts in Bible and Theology with Lee College and a Master of Divinity with the Pentecostal Theological Seminary. The Thompsons have five children and nine grandchildren as well as many young people around the world who call them Mom and Dad.
Maxwell serves as Chief Administrator of the Phebe Grey Memorial Orphanage that cares for over 100 children. This includes oversight of the Christian Martyrs School, K-12 with 585 students. Debbie employs her nursing skills overseeing the health care of the children and even the employees and helps Maxwell with these duties. In addition, Maxwell and Debbie are Church planters, evangelists, educators, mentors, and foster parents for five Liberian children, bringing people to Christ and training them for powerful Christian life and ministry.
Their Vision is to bring Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit into the lives of the young people of Liberia through caring, sharing of the gospel, discipleship training and mentorship, preparing them to be workers in God’s Kingdom and powerful leaders in Liberia and in the world.
Roger and Saundra Wiklund
Latinos
Senegal
Neil, Jennifer & Joshua Lawrence
The Lawrence’s are Church of God Missionaries in Kenya, East Africa since 1993. Their focus is to reach the lost and disciple new converts. Neil’s primary ministry is to lecture at the Church of God Discipleship College, Eldoret, Kenya since 1999. Students from many African countries are enrolled at Discipleship College. The involvement in Theological formation with the students is Neil’s greatest joy and focus of his calling. In 1999, Neil and Jennifer established “Eagles’ Wings Gospel Team” a crusade evangelism team to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ throughout Kenya and Eastern Africa. Thousands have received Christ as their savior by their evangelism effort. In November 2015, another venue of outreach has been added to their ministry: “A Higher Place” TV program of 30 Min. teaching/preaching episodes broadcast in Kenya and seen in many more African countries twice per week.
www.facebook.com/NeilStevenLawrence
Rev. Linda Brown & Dr. Tonya Hawthorne
Kenya
Rev. Linda Brown and Dr. Tonya Hawthorne are serving in Ngoswani, Kenya. They are the founders of the Ngoswani Community Health Center that offers 24 hours medical services to the community. They are the co-pastors of Good Shepherd Fellowship a branch of the Church of God, Kenya. In addition, they are the directors of Linda’s Kids Academy, which is a primary school that currently has 102 children from PP2 through grade 4 (and getting ready to expand). They are passionate about medicine and education as their tool to share the Gospel.
William and Karen Sivel
Damaris Vollmar
Zambia
Damaris Vollmar, a German COG missionary to Zambia since 2011 with WWHA (World Wide Help Africa) serves as a State Registered Nurse in a Mobile Outreach Clinic with CHRESO Ministries in Lusaka and surrounding areas. In addition, she assists the Leopard Hill Retreat and Conference Centre as site nurse and with other matters arising.
Her main passion however, is ministering to children and young people. She has initiated numerous Children Clubs and ministries geared to reach the young generation with the Good News. She provides educational assistance to neighbourhood children at Leopards Hill Centre, at a community school, at compounds and Sunday school classes at some of our congregations. She also maintains a feeding program for some of the most desperate children.
Jonas and Sarah Schmid
Lusaka
Jonas and Sarah Schmid are appointed by Church of God World Missions as Project coordinators and administrators of Leopard Hill Retreat and Conference Center in Lusaka, Zambia. Jonas and Sarah feel a deep call to missions. Jonas being a construction engineer by profession and Sarah being a child educator and having grown up in Africa they will bring a great wealth of professional skills and experience to their ministry. They hold ministerial credentials with Church of God and bring many years of experience of spiritual ministry in their local church and beyond with them. In the past, they have been engaged in a number of short-term mission endeavors.
Their mission is the supervision, maintenance and development of the facilities, which they perceive as a spiritual ministry to the Body of Christ and to all who will stay at the Center. Their vision is to serve the Lord by providing a spiritual base for Church of God World Missions Africa, catering for guests, arranging for large gatherings/conferences and sharing the Good News of Jesus in, and through all they do. They perceive their role and function at the Center and beyond as fulfillment of the great commission.
Profile Scott and Carol Rains
Scott and Carol have served as Church of God missionaries in Europe and Asia/Pacific for 23 years, where they ministered as Evangelism Coordinator for Portugal, Director of Youth & Discipleship for Western Europe, President of the Asian Seminary of Christian Ministries (ASCM) in the Philippines, and Director of Education & Youth for Asia/Pacific. In 2020, they were appointed to serve in Africa as the Director of Berea Theological University College (BTUC) in Lusaka, Zambia. It is their desire to Raise Up Pastors and Leaders to Reach Africa.
Open-air service in Bandim
Where it all began
