March 7, 2023
Jhustin serves in a college ministry assignment with Every Nation Campus (ENC) and VMMissions, and is sent by Divine Unity Community Church (DUCC), Harrisonburg, Va. “My work and goal is to show the love of God and be a light to campus. I want to see lives changed by the good news and do the work of God,” he writes.
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March 7, 2023
Prayer is a fundamental underpinning of how we partner with God to engage in our small part of the great gospel task. As followers of Jesus pray together, the Holy Spirit enables us to see the grand reality of God’s plan for the restoration for humanity, and to see the immediate needs of the people right in front of us.
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March 1, 2023
Receiving the call to go to another place implies many changes and a lot of learning in unfamiliar areas, such as language, culture, and food. All of this can become overwhelming,” David and Marta write. “But we can be filled with encouragement and hope knowing that the Lord will be with us.”
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March 1, 2023
“God’s mission is bigger than mine,” church planter Juan José Lagos writes. “That allows me to join his story and his mission rather than carrying the burden of accomplishing it all on my own strength. This is how we must see ourselves as we follow the call of God our Father who reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ.”
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February 27, 2023
God leading this mission helps me acknowledge that he doesn’t need us to accomplish his plans, but rather, God invites us to partner with him. Personally, this demolishes any ounce of pride in my heart that tries to make disciples without Christ’s partnership. This also allows me to rest in the fact that I don’t have to be in control.
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November 11, 2022
Anita (name changed), serving in a slum in Indonesia, writes, “It is lovely when we have attainable rhythms and goals to keep us healthy and measure “success” clearly. But on the mission field, so often this seems impossible. Much of our energy is spent just surviving in a different culture, language, and religious context. For those of us in uncharted territory of ministry, it can feel impossible to measure.”
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November 11, 2022
“In my four years on the VMMissions Board of Directors, I have found that our vision statement serves as a beautiful and life-giving objective,” Paul Yoder, board chair, writes. “The verb “envisions” speaks to the “picture” that we are painting. Three scriptures have recently been helping me more fully “envision” success in God’s kingdom.
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November 8, 2022
One experience that Anne (name changed) had illustrates her struggle with success. “How could people in our own faith community act so vengefully and with so little consideration for their children’s faith?” she writes. “Just when I rejoice at how good things are going, at how much fruit is resulting from my ministry, things fall apart. I could easily name ten other situations where seeming success crashed down into failure.”
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November 8, 2022
“My own definition of success has to run deeper than just a sense of accomplishment, or I’m not going to make it very far,” Nathan Carr writes. “Early in my ministry I fell into that trap of thinking I was the one who had to make things happen. I put everything on my own shoulders, and it wore me out. I was forced to face the reality that I could only give them so much.”
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November 7, 2022
Joyel writes, “We can see there’s something so special about creation being with our creator. The outflow of abiding and being with God is the fruit that we bear that not only benefits us, but those around us. We’re constantly approached with opportunities to remain distracted, in bondage, and lost. But even then, God is faithful to redirect us back to him.”
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November 7, 2022
“My teammate and I stood soberly looking at each other—wives and mothers with parallel journeys across those seven years together,” Carol Tobin writes. “Both of us had struggled and endured, but because we struggled in vastly different ways, each was always a frustrating enigma to the other. The painful judgments and the bitter disappointment we had been to each other hung heavily between us. ‘Was it worth it?’ we asked. But it wasn’t a question either of us was prepared to answer.”
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November 7, 2022
Ken serves as the initiator and director of a youth discipleship program called SLAQ (Servant Leader Quest), which seeks to raise up diverse cohorts among the next generation of serving leaders in the way of Jesus through outdoor adventures, community service, and “crucial conversations.”
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September 26, 2022
From the one year old riding in a bike seat with her dad to the 81 year old who rode the 50K route, all 84 participants of the 25th anniversary Bike Shenandoah enjoyed their time on the road and in community on September 17, raising money for six local organizations. The event was a resounding success, raising a total of approximately $28,000.
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September 1, 2022
On August 31, Carol Tobin retired from her staff role as Mission Advocate and Transforming Content Editor. Though her formal role has ended, she will continue in volunteer roles for VMMissions, including helping to coordinate the upcoming Perspectives course and local missions recruitment efforts.
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September 1, 2022
My assignment is to disciple children in our local Hispanic churches in the way of Jesus through word and song. I am currently partnering with Iglesia Menonita Monte Moriah. I teach piano, violin, and biblical truths about worship to Pastor Alfonso and Milagros’ daughters, who in turn help facilitate worship through leading music at their church.
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August 17, 2022
Excitement builds as an existing barn on the property is renovated into a space for training, meeting, and community events. Taking a storage barn and transforming it into a training center will give it a new purpose for a new generation of missional leaders.
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August 15, 2022
VMMissions is blessing communities through kingdom business through a subsidiary board of business experts who find and coach partners, vet plans, monitor progress, and makes loans to new and growing enterprises. Christian-led businesses can create just employment and sustainable economic growth even as they invite spiritual transformation through the gospel.
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August 15, 2022
VMMissions is mobilizing church planters from around the globe to the places where the gospel is needed most. The following profiles feature the first recipients of the Global Church Planting grant. What an opportunity to join God in launching this new generation of global church planters!
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August 5, 2022
Border Perspective, a VMMissions E3 Collective, is an immersive and educational service learning trip that will offer participants a first-hand connection with immigrant leaders serving families on the U.S.–Mexico border. Participants will gain an understanding of the complexity of immigration on the border and service opportunities to help support local immigrant ministries.
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August 5, 2022
Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course is offered next spring (held on Tuesday evenings, January 3 to May 2, 2023) in Harrisonburg. The 15-week course is heartily endorsed by a broad spectrum of evangelical denominations, ministries, and mission agencies.
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July 20, 2022
Watch the Church of Many Cultures Celebration as VMMissions celebrated nearing the end of a campaign raising $3 million for new initiatives through a service of worship and commissioning new workers. The service was held as part of Virginia Mennonite Conference Assembly at Zion Mennonite Church, Broadway, Va.
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July 18, 2022
Putt Fore Missions was a great way to connect with those who support the vision of VMMissions to strive toward a Spirit-led church of many cultures. It was a hot evening on the greens at Mulligan’s Golf Center in Harrisonburg as twenty teams of four enjoyed a friendly competition in pursuit of the “green jacket t-shirts” awarded to our top golfers in four age categories.
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May 31, 2022
As many persons gather June 18-19 in Albania to celebrate 30 years of Guri i Themelit Church, and 10 years of Lezha Academic Center in Lezhë, Albania, learn more about the long involvement of VMMissions in Albania.
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March 1, 2022
Nathan is serving in prison ministry, involved in reaching out to men like himself—helping to draw them out of addiction towards Christ. He can see the joy in the men he relates to when they surrender to Jesus, because he knows the new life that lies ahead for them.
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March 1, 2022
Ruthy and her teammates didn’t think much about missionaries who may have been in “Metal City” before them, until an Indian believer gave them a church history book describing work that had happened across northern India more than a century before. “We read about the first workers who came in the late 1800s and dedicated the majority of their lives to serving there. What a gift to read their prayer list!” she writes.
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March 1, 2022
“We’ve learned to pay attention when a God-given “holy restlessness” emerges within us,” Lee and Peg Martin write. “During these times, we pray for alertness to new doors God might be opening, while seeking to be steady and faithful in our present calling.”
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March 1, 2022
When people came to Christ through the ministry of “Building Healthy Families,” a program working with the most vulnerable and broken people in La Vega, Dominican Republic, Diomedes Franco used to refer them to the church closest to them to be nurtured. “But we realized that churches were not ready to disciple people with such brokenness. We felt that God was challenging us to refocus on pastoral work, discipling and equipping the people God had given us to care for. This is not a change of calling but of focus,” he writes.
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March 1, 2022
“As a young missionary, I was full of zeal to save the “unreached” Maasai of Kenya. I assumed they knew nothing of God,” VMMissions board member Clair Good writes. “With great conviction and enthusiasm, I offered answers to questions the people I was trying to reach were not even asking. I was met with resistance and had little success in convincing people to follow my religious views.”
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March 1, 2022
“I went to Orange Walk, Belize, in 2005 with a clear call from God to start a church among the Deaf. The only problem was that I had no idea how to do that. I wasn’t worried about failing or disappointing anyone because I knew God was telling me to trust him. Somehow this would work out. I was sure,” Nancy Marshall writes.
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March 1, 2022
Fifty-two years after Willard and Eva Eberly were called to serve in Italy, they look back on key lessons they learned. “Our basic mission philosophy and methodology was modeling, discipling and equipping believers in every aspect of Christian living,” they write.
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December 3, 2021
In addition to the many ways that they share life with each other at 264 OSH, Lydia also leads discipleship groups, weekly prayer on the campuses of EMU and JMU, and Bible studies with women from both universities, nurturing cross-cultural connection and watering their souls with the living water.
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December 3, 2021
“In God’s kingdom we are born anew to multiply, and Luke’s gospel has been teaching us that multiplication is preceded by prayer,” Lizzette Hernandez writes. “So in response to the Spirit’s invitation, we have been meeting once a month for the last year to pray. As we’ve come together, God has done new things.”
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December 2, 2021
“Moving towards multiplication takes time, energy and patient trust in the One who makes the harvest,” Mike Metzler writes. “Yet multiplication is also simple. J.R. Briggs, a church planter who is ministering near my hometown in Lansdale, Pa., caught my attention with this statement: ‘All of us are missionaries disguised as good neighbors.’ His words resonate with me.”
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December 2, 2021
As a discipler with Every Nation Campus and partner in mentoring a number of VMMissions tranSend interns, Carlin Kreider uses four principles:
December 2, 2021
Life Enrichment Church (LEC), a network of house churches in a forgotten rural corner of Thailand, was planted with the vision of multiplication in the late 1990s. How might God reach this impoverished, minimally educated corner of the country? Those first pioneer missionaries mounted their motorcycles, braving heat and dust – or monsoons and mud – to spread seed broadly, looking for the few who would respond.
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December 2, 2021
“We must make disciples for the kingdom of God,” Rafael Tartari writes. “We are not setting goals for our own convenience, according to our own agenda. This is not something we choose to do. It is something for which God has chosen us!”
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October 22, 2021
My Coins Count is an annual campaign that benefits programs designated by Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) and VMMissions. In 2021, contributors donated a preliminary total of $17,073.74, of which $8,536.87 will benefit the family discipleship ministries of VMMissions workers Hannah Shultz and Seth & Theresa Crissman.
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March 10, 2021
VMMissions is pleased to announce the hiring of Todd Van Patter as Director of Operations, beginning March 31. In this key role, Todd will lead the Support Services Team and serve on the Leadership Council. His background is in organizational design and culture: the systems and practices that lead to vibrant and effective organizations.
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November 18, 2020
With thankfulness for the ways that God has been faithful to the ministries and partners of VMMissions, and out of gratitude for the prayer and financial support of God’s people, VMMissions hosted an event on November 21 to express our thanks and share stories from our ministries.
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September 28, 2020
On September 11-12, a group of 24 motorcycle riders covered a total of 419 miles in support of the ministries of VMMissions. Despite ominous skies, the first group left Harrisonburg early Friday morning, and met up with another pack of riders at Powhatan Mennonite Church. VMMissions workers Tyler and Kendra Yoder met them to share about their church planting work in nearby Richmond.
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April 28, 2020
Thank you to everyone who participated in the Keep Your Distance 5K! Over six days, walkers and runners from around the world came together (virtually) and completed 232.5 miles while showing their support for VMMissions.
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April 24, 2020
When it became apparent that Rosa’s house needed a new roof, church planter and pastor Armando Sanchez was ready to add his roofing skills to the energy already present in the Springdale and Waynesboro Mennonite churches. This led to a productive work day in which these congregations came together to give the house a new roof.
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April 19, 2020
Lloyd Weaver Jr., ninth president of Virginia Mennonite Missions, died on April 7, 2020, at age 96. Recognized as a man of integrity by those with whom he served: humble, strong, encouraging, committed and full of good humor, he was enthusiastic about missions and especially enjoyed visiting the missionaries on location.
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December 31, 2019
When the walls came down, “We were swept along, praising God for opportunities! We didn’t program it! We could hardly keep up with it,” Willard Eberly exclaimed. An isolated nation after a forty-five year communist regime, Albania opened in 1991 to the outside world and to the gospel of Jesus.
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December 20, 2019
Paul Timothy Yoder, Sr., president of Virginia Mennonite Missions (VMMissions) from 1985 to 1990, died on December 16, 2019. He was 91. Paul brought to his presidency the particular perspectives of his medical background, and during his tenure, Paul envisioned VMMissions as a channel through which personnel and material resources would be released for the purpose of expanding God’s kingdom.
moreDecember 5, 2019
VMMissions is delighted to report that the Albania Earthquake Relief Fund needs have been met! Thank you! Through December 31, 2019, VMMissions has received $28,712 towards the expenses of a temporary shelter in Lezhë, Albania, for 15 Roma families who lost their homes in Albania’s recent 6.4-magnitude earthquake.
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December 3, 2019
This year for #GivingTuesday, join with VMMissions as we equip the church to share new life in Jesus Christ with neighbors near and far. All donations will go to the Mission Fund, which allows us to support 32 individual ministries in 24 countries.
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December 2, 2019
“We know that in the time of the early church, ministry began in Jerusalem. Later, Antioch became an important mission center. The Shenandoah Valley is the Jerusalem of Virginia Mennonite Conference. But, realize, Tidewater Virginia is our Antioch!” What made that particular context so special? How did VMMissions contribute to the picture, promoting greater faithfulness and fruitfulness?
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September 26, 2019
By Priscilla Gnanamanickam Children don’t have a junior Holy Spirit.” This is what we were told by a missionary couple when we were young parents in India, as we were learning to listen to the voice of the Lord and follow him. “Encourage your children to listen to the voice of the Lord speaking, like […]
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July 20, 2019
VMMissions is celebrating one hundred years of equipping the church to share the good news with neighbors near and far. View images from the celebrations at Virginia Mennonite Conference Assembly on Thursday, July 18.
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