We have served as missionaries in our home country of Sao Paulo, Brazil for eighteen years with Restoration Ministries. We reached underprivileged children and their families in the slums. Both of us came to Christ as children through the Ministries’ outreach and our lives were transformed, motivating us to become missionaries. As singles we served with RM and eventually abroad in Mozambique. In 2012, we were married and continued to serve the ministry as a couple until 2019 when we moved to Mozambique. We have four children: Victor, Isaac, Caleb and Ariela. We serve in church planting and leadership development among the unreached Makhuwa-Nahara people at Lumbo and Mozambique Island (off the Northern Coast). Our outreach strategy is always discipleship. We want to make disciples and mobilize them to make even more! One of the many aspects of the ministry is operating a chicken farm to create employment and ministry opportunities in our community. Of course, we still love working with children and have already begun building a children and youth program while also praying and hoping that someday the Lord would allow the farm to help fund a preschool. We find great joy in planting Gospel seeds in the hearts of youth as well as equipping them with an education to help them join the process of making disciples with us as they grow.

Jim and Annie Culp are the founders and directors of Iglesias del Oeste. Iglesias del Oeste exists to advance the Gospel by training, equipping, mobilizing and caring for leaders who are transforming their communities, nations and the world. Currently, Iglesias del Oeste trains and equips leaders in 8 Spanish-speaking nations and has mobilized missionaries to 12 countries. Jim and Annie have been married nearly 30 years and have three kids: Daniel (married to Danielle), Benjamin (married to Sara) and Kate.

Christy Gates is the National Director of Scripture Engagement for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Believing that every college student deserves an opportunity to investigate the Bible with a trusted friend, Christy and her ministry team create Scripture tools and experiences that equip student leaders to reach their peers with the gospel message. A gifted trainer and coach, Christy serves across the country as a strategic consultant for various churches and ministries who want to increase the effectiveness of their Scripture engagement, better helping people meet God in His word.

Christy is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary, and she graduated with honors from Marquette University with a master’s in Physical Therapy and a bachelor’s in Psychology. Christy loves reading, sports, languages, chess, and video games, and she lives with her husband and two stepchildren in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

Glen and Wendy Gibson serve with Open Door Libraries (ODL) - Glen as the Executive Director and Wendy in missionary care and partnership development coaching. They also serve as Regional Directors for the Middle East and portions of Africa for New International.

ODL seeks to make disciples through the development of safe spaces (public lending libraries and community centers) where people can not only access and borrow Christian resources but also develop friendships that will open the door to the sharing of the Gospel. It is ODL’s goal to plant the seed of the Gospel in places that would be considered “hard soil”. These are places where people are not usually open to Gospel discussions or entering into a church building. ODL currently operates three libraries in Berlin, Prague, and the Middle East. We are always seeking to expand into additional locations and to experiment with new approaches to open the door to the hearts of people to the Gospel.

Prior to serving with ODL, Glen and Wendy served for 17 years as church planters in the Philippines and for 14 years in various mission leadership and training roles in the USA. Glen also served as an Associate Professor of Intercultural Studies at William Jessup University for seven years. They have three married daughters and three granddaughters.

Melanie got involved with Cru as a college freshman at Cal Poly and learned, for the first time, what it meant to truly follow Jesus. Her life changed drastically as a result of that--learning how to live a life that honored the God that she loved. Melanie has now been on staff for 10 years, 5 years serving in the US and the last 5 years in the Middle East. She just moved back to CA and will be serving as an International Sending Coordinator - helping with the logistics and care of our staff around the world. She saw firsthand while overseas how crucial good care and training are to thriving longterm on the field. Melanie is really excited to help our field missionaries stay healthy and flourishing while they live out God's call on their lives.

John and Eriko have served the Lord in Japan and Greater Asia for nearly 40 years with WorldVenture and now with SIM/Asian Access. John is the director of Three Stream Ministries which provides coaching, counseling, mentoring and training to pastors, missionaries and churches. He is the author of Resilience: How Japanese Pastors Can Thrive in Every Season. Eriko teaches at Tohoku International School. They both partner with Hokushin Calvary Church in Fukushima City. They have four children and five grandchildren.

Hector & Norma Hurtado have been pastoring a church in rural Mexico for many years. Hector also oversees a camp property in Mexico, coordinating its usage and upkeep. Norma ministers to the young people of the church and is the president of a women’s association. Their son David helps lead worship at the church.

Isabelle is focused on discipleship making in an unreached area.

Blake and Jenni Kasha are missionaries stationed in Kona, HI where they help bring leadership to Respect The Corners, a ministry dedicated to impacting not only the Island but all the nations of the Earth. They do this through foster care and training, equipping, and sending the next wave of missionaries into the nations to see the Great Commission fulfilled.

Laurie Krieg is the president of Impossible Ministries, a teaching, podcasting, and coaching ministry with the mission to equip the Church with a gospel-centered approach to marriage and sexuality. Laurie's favorite part of this work is guiding churches and individuals/families to engage the LGBTQ conversation with theological faithfulness and courageous love. Laurie serves on the Board of Directors for The Center for Faith, Sexuality & Gender, and is earning a master’s degree from Wheaton Graduate School in Evangelism and Leadership. Laurie and her husband, Matt, a licensed therapist, are the authors of An Impossible Marriage and live in West Michigan with their three kids.

Paulo and Ireni Mota serve at Restoration Ministries in São Paulo, Brazil, a city of over 22 million people with huge contrasts - the wealthy living side by side with the poor. They serve in the slums of São Paulo, impacting the “favelas” (slums) with the message of the Gospel and making disciples of Jesus Christ.

Ted and Judy focus primarily on the world’s unengaged people groups. These are the tribes, castes, and cultures with no believers, no churches, and no one currently endeavoring to evangelize them. Their objective, as they work in partnership with national leaders in India, Nepal, and Myanmar, is to engage the culture with the Gospel with the first conversions and the planting of the first informal fellowships. In 2015 and 2016, 30 of these caste-defined cultures in Nepal and India were engaged, with a total of 2,500 new believers and 120 new house churches. Judy also leads the way in training workers in the skills of Bible storytelling skills and has recently completed training in India, Myanmar, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Canada’s BC region. Ted and Judy have two sons, James and Dan, and 12 grandchildren.

From the time Louis and Lisa Shanks joined Wycliffe Bible Translators in 1977, their hearts’ desire has remained the same: To make it possible for people in every corner of the world to have access to God’s Word in the language they understand best. Louis checks the quality of Scriptures drafted by local speakers of minority languages. Lisa assists Louis in various editing and communication tasks. Currently their area of ministry is in the Americas, especially in the Spanish-speaking countries.

Ken Taylor has been a WorldVenture missionary to Japan since 1997. Ken is involved in innovative and creative ministries, including leading a movement of over 50 black gospel choirs hosted by local churches all over Japan. These choirs are made up of over 1,000 members, 80% of whom are not-yet Japanese Christians. Ken is the Japan Field Leader of a growing mission with over 60 missionaries. Ken started a Business As Mission initiative in an attempt to reach a wider section of the Japanese population.

Hello dear family in Christ. We are the Valverde family. We are Costa Rican missionaries working in a rural area on the north pacific side of our country in a town call Nosara. We planted the church Casa Vida Nosara in 2012 and since that day, the Lord has allowed us to serve the local community, an international community established in this area, many people that have moved to this area from San José (capital of Costa Rica), and lots of tourists. Our mission for Casa Vida is, as we depend completely on God and His Word, to make disciples of Jesus Christ who long to share the Gospel and see God’s kingdom grow. We thank God every day for allowing us to serve Him. Pray for us to be a church that impacts and transforms our community through the love of Christ in our words and in our lives.