Explanation of our New Phase of Ministry
Fall 2021

Dear Friends and Ministry Partners,

Missionaries are mobile! The biblical term for missionary is "apostolos" which means an envoy sent on an official duty. Missionaries pioneer new work for the Gospel or fill gaps / temporary needs where the church is already established. This describes well the Apostles' ministries and that of their traveling companions.

Our role in Haiti over the past 12 years has been to fill some gaps. Our ministry partner, the MEBSH denomination, is strong and self-governed. That doesn't mean that they would not make good use of new missionary partners. In fact, World Team and MEBSH are still actively recruiting new missionaries to assist with: children's ministry, youth ministry, family ministry and missionary training!

Two of my Haitian colleagues on a short-term missions trip to a Wayana village in 2019 to the Amazon rainforest of Suriname, with a Wayana elder.

Our home assignment (June 2020 - October 2021) was a renewing time with family, fruitful ministry, and a time of reflection and gaining perspective. After much prayer and many conversations with our World Team leaders, we have decided to return to Haiti for six months to complete some ministry projects and to prepare our personal effects for our departure from the field. We will remain fully supported missionaries with World Team, just with a new assignment. Our reasoning for this major decision is:

In 2009, World Team sent us to Haiti so that I could help the team at the Bible School start an accredited bachelor’s in theology program and allow the Haitian staff to work on their master’s degrees. Not only has this been accomplished, but one of my former teaching assistants has his master’s degree and is our assistant academic dean. Some of our Haitian professors are making plans to start on their doctorates!
World Team has a long history of trusted partnerships in the Caribbean, and I have been asked to assist with those, especially in church leadership training. It is easier to travel to these islands from the U.S. than it is from Haiti, especially with Haiti’s ongoing security problems.

Locations where World Team has ongoing relationships in the Caribbean.

Sean and Heather have visited most of these places and have been building trust and collaboration with church leaders there since 2016.

3. Heather and Sean have some unique opportunities to mentor new missionaries, to produce materials for continuing missionary education, and to minister to missionary kids, both in World Team and through CIU.

35 MK's gathered at our house last week from CIU's Mu Kappa chapter.

We discussed prayer and spiritual warfare and enjoyed homemade chai tea together.

Over 20 countries were represented!

4. World Team has a vision to facilitate new church planting efforts among the growing immigrant populations in the U.S. and Canada, especially among people groups where it is very difficult to go as missionaries. I’m already on a team working to form a new church planting initiative in Toronto and I’ve been able to offer encouragement to WT-USA’s International Neighborhood Network (the INN) working with immigrant groups in several US cities.

Sean and Keith (WT-Canada Director) have been working since December on forming a team to reach these "unreached people groups" with the Gospel, who are living in the Greater Toronto Area.

Please pray for this initiative!

5. Our family needs proximity. With three sons at CIU who are going through major life transitions, and with social and educational opportunities for Ellie locally, we decided to purchase a house a few miles from campus, at 900 Sycamore Ave, Columbia, SC 29203. This will be our home base starting in April 2022 for the next few years. As the Lord directs, we are open to a new foreign assignment once Ellie is in college, but as Jesus instructed, we will just walk with Him day by day until we need to know more.