WMU: Mission Friends

During this month, Mission Friends celebrate Christmas in August.
The following missionaries received gifts in 2007. Their prayer requests and how the gifts were used are listed.

James Herron serves in Madison County and St. Clair County, Illinois. He and his wife, Sonya, have three adult sons.

Prayer Request
Pray for his efforts to start new Bible studies/preaching points in nearby associations.

Missions Area
Mr. Herron serves multi-ethnic congregations made up of African-Americans and Anglos. In his ministry with public housing, he works with pre-teens and teenagers and teaches abstinence from sex, drugs/alcohol, and violence.

Christmas-in-August gifts provided school supplies for children at back-to-school events in three apartment complexes in two counties.

Debbie Wohler serves in Lake Tahoe, California, with local children, has a ski ministry, and works with Olympic athletes.

Prayer Request
Pray that God will send volunteers (college and adult groups) needed to reach people in the community.

Missions Area
Lake Tahoe is known as “America’s Year Round Playground” and 12 million people visit annually. People come from all over the world and many speak French, German, or Spanish.

Christmas-in-August gifts from recycled ink cartridges and cell phones helped purchase vans to transport children from schools and preschools to the church so they can hear about Jesus.

William Wayne West serves as a chaplain in a Veteran’s Hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas. He and his wife, Kathy, have adult children and two granddaughters.

Prayer Request
Pray for God’s guidance and grace in meeting the needs of veterans.

Missions Area
Chaplain West works with veterans and their families during crisis situations. The biggest joy is seeing a patient or a family member receive Christ or grow closer to the Lord through their suffering.

Christmas-in-August gifts were distributed to veterans and their families who needed them.

Dereck Spain serves at Lake Placid, New York, in resort ministry and as a church pastor.

Prayer Request
Pray for those involved in winter sports and Olympic athletes to give their lives to Jesus.

Missions Area
Mr. Spain shares the love of Christ with Olympic winter sports athletes and others who are in this area. They serve at events, pray for them, encourage them spiritually, and lead the Athletes Bible Study that meets at the Olympic Training Center each week.

Christmas-in-August gifts helped fill goody bags for winter sports athletes, staff, coaches, spectators, and others during winter events. This includes Bibles to athletes and hand warmers to staff and spectators.

Grace McGraw served with M-POWER Ministries in Birmingham, Alabama. She leads the tutoring program for the children in a disadvantaged area of the city. She recently began a similar ministry in another part of the city.

Prayer Request
Pray for the growth of M-POWER ministry, which includes a health clinic, tutoring, job skills training, and adult literacy, as well as summer programs for children.

Missions Area
Mrs. McGraw shares the love of Christ with children and adults as she helps them with their schoolwork and skills. Christmas-in-August gifts provided school supplies to the needy children and office supplies for the ministry.

Jeff Ford served in Gulf Shores, Alabama, as a resort missionary with Barefoot Believers and the Baldwin Baptist Association. He recently left to become youth pastor at a church. The ministry continues under the direction of Nate Deihl.

Prayer Request
Pray that the people served by the ministry will want to know more about Jesus and that many youth groups and others will come to help serve.

Missions Area
Tourists come year round to enjoy the Alabama Gulf coast. Barefoot Believers minister in recreational vehicle parks; on the beaches; and to “snowbirds,” people who come from farther north to spend the winter. Christmas-in-August gifts helped provide gas for vans to transport summer missionaries and volunteers, water bottles to give out at beach reaches, food for summer missionaries, and snacks for ministries.

All photos except Chaplain West are NAMB photos. Chaplain West provided his photo.

For additional missions area information and activity ideas, see Summer Start, pages 62–85 and First Steps in Missions, vol. 13, pages 85–92.

See How to Involve Preschoolers in Missions: Includes a Guide for Mission Friends for planning and administrative help.