GLOBAL MISSIONARIES

THE GREAT COMMISSION

God is at work in the global church!  At CEFC we invite you to connect with the work of our missionaries and consider your own role in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) – as we seek to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to all nations! We support both local and global missionaries.  Not only do our missionaries receive financial support, but even more importantly they rely on our spiritual and relational support.  As you learn about the missions work CEFC supports, we encourage you to pray and connect with those on the mission field.

If you’d like to learn more, contribute financially, or explore other missions opportunities, please contact Shardé Hardy, Director of Service & Community Engagement.

LARRY & LULA FILBERT

PIONEERS

Larry & Lula Filbert have served with Pioneers for more than 36 years.  Half of the Filbert’s ministry life was spent in Indonesia where they were engaged in disciple-making and church planting among an unreached people group.  More recently, the Filberts have been stationed in the U.S. where they’ve spent the past six years as trainers in a one-year church planting internship for those preparing to work in the Muslim world.  Larry currently serves as the Church Planting Movements resource person for the Americas region of Pioneers.  In this role, Larry is focused on training and coaching Pioneers pre-field and field workers in the foundations of a Disciple-Making Movements approach to church planting.  He engages locally in training and coaching believers in local churches to understand and apply the Disciple-Making Movement approach to reaching the lost in their local communities.

Larry & Lula met at Columbia International University in South Carolina.  Both were pursuing a calling on their lives to be a part of taking the Gospel to unreached people groups around the world.  Larry & Lula have been married for 37 years.  They have three grown children and two grandchildren.

PRAY

  • Pray the Filberts would have the knowledge to design coaching that would be desirable and for those who are trained to desire and pursue coaching in their ministry. 
  • Pray for open doors and wisdom as the Filberts continue to navigate COVID-19 related challenges.  COVID-19 has made it challenging for the Filberts to travel, which means they’ve been hindered to meet in-person with those whom they coach and train.

FORGOTTEN VOICES

For more than 15 years, Forgotten Voices has been partnering with local churches to create safe, loving, and sustainable homes for vulnerable and orphaned children in southern Africa.  The organization works in Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi.    

Forgotten Voices believes that every child deserves to know the love of God and the security of a family, church, and community.  They take a church-based, family-focused, and child-driven approach to orphan care.  Through this approach, children gain an education and heal from trauma, caregivers gain skills to parent effectively and earn income on their own, and churches transform their communities by living out the Gospel.

In 2020, Forgotten Voices partnered with 61 churches, empowered 1,194 families and caregivers, and cared for 5,418 orphaned or vulnerable children.

Looking ahead, Forgotten Voices is seeking a greater focus on empowering caregivers who care for orphaned and vulnerable children.  As Forgotten Voices works with local church partners, they want to ensure the most vulnerable families have the skills and resources needed to provide the economic, emotional, physical, and spiritual support of children in their care.

PRAY

  • Pray that God will provide basic needs to the people who Forgotten Voices serves, such as food, medicine, and jobs/income.
  • Pray for God’s protection in the communities served.
  • Pray for the new wave of orphaned children: those who have lost parents due to HIV/Aids and are now losing their new caregivers due to COVID-19.
  • Pray for the Lord’s provision over Forgotten Voices, as the organization is looking to expand their work due to the negative effects of COVID-19 on the orphan crisis.
  • Pray that God will provide wisdom and discernment to the leaders and field staff of Forgotten Voices as they continue to work together with church partners to identify safe, effective ways of serving orphaned and vulnerable children.

PAUL & TUULA O'REAR

WYCLIFFE BIBLE TRANSLATORS

Paul & Tuula are serving with Wycliffe, in support of Bible translation worldwide.  Paul first went to Papua New Guinea with Wycliffe Bible Translators more than 40 years ago.  There, he met his wife Tuula, who was a native of Finland.  Both arrived in Papua New Guinea as single missionaries with a clear sense of God’s calling and a strong conviction that the Church is most firmly established in any community when the people have the Word of God in their own heart-language.

Paul and Tuula have two children – Hannah & Samuel.  Samuel was born with 1,000 genes missing from his 13th chromosome, which resulted in the O’Rears temporarily leaving the mission field and eventually Wycliffe in the mid-90’s

During this time, Paul began a career in software development and the family moved to Seattle, WA, where Paul worked at Microsoft for 13+ years.  During this season, the O’Rears continued to sense the Lord tugging at their hearts – showing them there was more to do with Bible translation – especially as it related to conducting research into biblical languages.

In 2015, the family returned to Wycliffe where Paul now serves as the International Coordinator for Translation Resources and Tuula serves as an Administrative Assistant for International Translation Services.

As an upper-level administrator, Paul oversees the development of resources which provides guidance in Bible translation for translators in many different missions organizations around the world.  Looking ahead, Paul hopes to establish a cross-organizational vision and governance model for the primary Bible translation software used across mission agencies.  He is also seeking to build up his staff (currently 30+) to provide effective Old Testament translation resources.  He looks forward to investing in the next generation of missionaries.

PRAISE GOD

  • Praise God for His provision!  Recently, Paul’s department received a $50,000 grant, which supported 200 Bible translation consultants in 2021.

PRAY

  • Pray that Paul will trust the Lord for big, cross-cultural initiatives – working through inter-relational challenges with grace and wisdom.
  • Pray for unity so the Gospel can continue to be translated into the heart-language of people groups all over the world.
  • Pray for Tuula, as she continues to care for their son, Samuel, who has special needs.  She seeks the Lord’s grace for each day and desires to lean on the Lord for patience, strength, and love.  

DEAN & ADA OVERHOLT

GLINTS

Dean and Ada Overholt serve with Global Intercultural Services (GLINTS) in the areas of church planting and leader training in Pakistan, Asia, and Cuba.  GLINTS’ mission is to see the acceleration of the global advance of the Gospel.  This mission is accomplished in three ways: (1) deploying global staff; (2) building capacity in partner ministries worldwide; and (3) equipping the local church to send their own mission fields across the globe.

The Overholts have served with GLINTS since the fall of 1979.  They’ve trained church planters who have subsequently planted churches in the Philippines, Thailand, Burma, Pakistan, and Cuba.  Dean even assisted in the original church planting team which helped to establish Carlisle Evangelical Free Church (CEFC) in 1985-86!  

Dean remains busy preaching and teaching locally and internationally (via Zoom) and looks forward to returning to the field when it is safe to do so.

PRAY

  • Pray for patience and that the Lord would encourage those in the field whom the Overholts work with, as many of the countries remain closed to international visitors, due to COVID-19.
  • Pray that God will use GLINTS to raise up more workers for the harvest.

T. S.

ORGANIZATION UNDISCLOSED
FOR SECURITY REASONS

T.S. is a missionary with an organization who is committed to serving the hard-to reach places of the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia.  Missionaries within this organization serve as a part of a team supporting one another while serving in healthcare, local businesses, and governmental support roles – working alongside the local people for the good of the community.

T.S. works in book translation and publication, seminar teaching, and individual counseling, which equips individuals to pursue Christian maturity and develop family relationship skills.  T.S. has lived and worked in central Asia for more than 25 years.

Because of the sensitive nature of the organization and ministry, please contact Shardé Hardy, Director of Service & Community Engagement if you are interested in learning more.

PRAY

  • Pray for T.S. and the team – that they may re-establish mentoring relationships and widen their Christian book distribution, which has been challenging due to COVID-19’s impact on the local church and economy.
  • Pray for the maturity of local believers to live their Christian value system in daily life.

SCOTT AND
RUTH YINGLING

AVANT MINISTRIES

Scott and Ruth were active at CEFC from its beginnings in the Todd Nursing Home.  Scott is a native to Newville, PA, and Ruth was born to missionary parents in Guatemala.  Scott and Ruth met at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago.  They sensed God’s call to serve in evangelism and discipleship in Mexico, which led CEFC to send Scott and Ruth as one of their first missionaries!

The Yinglings have five children (Josiah, Brianna, Aron, Monica, and Keegan).  All five children enjoyed growing up in Mexico, as the family worked to plant a new church in an unreached area.  The Yinglings’ primary focus was to provide resources for Mexican believers to reach their own country with the Gospel message.

Most recently, Scott and Ruth stepped into new ministry roles with the Avant Ministries’ Leadership team.  Scott serves as the Director of Global Engagement, which is a new initiative of Avant Ministries.  Its purpose is to equip churches in the Global South (Asia, Africa, and Latin America) to effectively send missionaries to the least-reached areas of the world.  Avant partners with churches and provides services in order to encourage missionaries from the Global South to join global church planting teams.

PRAY

  • Pray for wisdom as Scott and Ruth seek to help churches in Latin America develop a passion and pursue a plan to actively participate in God’s work around the world, a relatively new initiative in most churches.
  • Pray for creative funding options for new missionaries.  A primary challenge for missionaries from Latin America is how to fund their work.  The cost of living is typically significantly lower in Latin America than the cost of living in countries they are serving in. 
  • Pray for resources needed to develop missionary support services (i.e., pastoral care; security training; language, etc.) in Spanish.
  • Pray for the task force that is working on proposals for the leadership team, which is working to build effective multi-cultural teams in the field.  

J & A

ORGANIZATION UNDISCLOSED
FOR SECURITY REASONS 

More than 6,000 of the world’s people groups are still unreached.  Missionaries J & A are working with a sending organization, which exists to assist the ministry of the local church through mobilizing, equipping, and coordinating believers to evangelize unreached people groups, translate the Scriptures and see indigenous churches established to glorify God.

A key methodology is to work in the culture and language of the people.  Missionaries J & A have a long-term vision to see a church planted in one of the remote and unreached people groups of the country they are serving.  J & A are new to the field (2021) and are currently in the process of learning the national language and culture so they can be more effective towards their goal.  Relationships are a key factor in their work.

Because of the sensitive nature of the organization and ministry, please contact Shardé Hardy, Director of Service & Community Engagement if you are interested in learning more.

PRAY

  • Pray God would allow the country to reopen from COVID-19 lockdowns, so that people can meet and work to provide for their families.
  • Pray J & A can continue to make personal connections and build relationships, which will ideally bear eternal fruit!
  • Pray for grace and patience through the two-year language-learning process, as J & A desire to communicate God’s truth effectively.
  • Pray that God would do the impossible: opening doors for J & A to connect with the people He wants them to interact with, including those in remote locations.
  • Pray for God to provide strength and grace to J & A as they seek to accomplish His work, in a very dark place with a strong spiritual battle.

DAVE AND KATRINA SMITH

Dave and Katrina Smith met in college where they both had the conviction to use their gifts for the mission field. After getting married in 2015, they started exploring how they could serve God overseas together. Dave is a commercial helicopter and airplane pilot. He aspires to use his flying experience to further God’s kingdom in South America. Katrina spent the past decade serving on short-term trips to Latin America and working with the Spanish-speaking community in her surrounding neighborhoods. She hopes to pursue a life that engages in holistic discipleship with her Spanish-speaking brothers and sisters in Christ. Dave and Katrina have three wonderful girls: Kaylin, Natalie, and Addison. Dave is the son of Bill and Judy Smith; Dave attended CEFC throughout his childhood. In joining SAMAIR Bolivia, Dave plans to support the team in Santa Cruz as both an airplane pilot and mechanic. Katrina plans to partner with a local organization called Peace and Hope International to help minister to victims of crime.