Twelve new mission co-workers leave for assignments 

Their destinations span several continents

by Catherine Cottingham

LOUISVILLE — Twelve mission co-workers completed their orientation this month prior to undertaking overseas assignments by the PC(USA)’s Worldwide Ministries Division (WMD):

      Joe Dyer — a member of First Presbyterian Church in Lenoir, NC, will serve as a consultant with the Presbyterian Church of Sudan (PCOS). He will work with the PCOS’ Presbyterian Relief and Development Association, which provides support for Sudanese refugees in Kenya and in southern Sudan. He has six years of prior experience working in Sudan with Sudanese refugees — working with Samaritan’s Purse in 1998 and since 1999 with Servant’s Heart, a small Christian development agency. He has also worked with Voice of the Martyrs. Prior to hearing a call to serve in mission, Joe worked in sales and marketing for 22 years.

      Dusty and Sherri Ellington — will be working with the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo (ETSC), Egypt, where Dusty Ellington will teach New Testament. Prior to this assignment, he was a Ph.D. student at Duke University and visiting instructor at Duke Divinity School, Durham, NC. Previously he was associate pastor for youth and young adults at First Presbyterian Church in Visalia, CA. Sherri Ellington, now a homemaker, is a member of Triangle Presbyterian Church in Durham, NC. She has elementary education credentials and has taught in Visalia and other schools in California.

      Kyle Joachim — a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Boardman, OH, was appointed to serve for two years in Berlin, Germany. He will work with a team organized by Berliner Missionwerk ministering among Kurdish people living in Germany. He will coordinate the team’s English-language activities, such as English tutoring and an English camp. During his college years Joachim participated in two evangelistic trips to the Czech Republic for Athletes in Action, and in the New Wilmington Mission Conference’s summer service program he served two months doing experiential relationship-building mission work in Malawi. He also was an English tutor and coordinated English-speaking activities at the Technical University of Ilmenau in Germany during 2002 and 2003.

      Jin Eun Kim — has been serving as a professor of practical theology at the Canaan Theological Seminary in St. Petersburg, Russia, since 1993, although his WMD assignment there begins this month. He is also pastor of the Light of Christ Church in St. Petersburg. Prior to his studies at Princeton Theological Seminary and his ordination in 1992, Kim was a visiting research professor at the Korean Educational Development Institute in Seoul, Korea. Kim’s wife, Young Ja Kim, who currently works at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, MD, plans to join him soon.

      Grant Lovellette — has been appointed to serve as facilitator of the “Roma-Gadje Dialogue,” a project of the General Synod of the Reformed Church in Hungary (RCH). This project is part of the “Roma Initiative” of the European Council of Churches, which does community service in Roma communities. Lovellette, a member of First Presbyterian Church in Cookeville, TN, earlier served a year in the PC(USA)’s Young Adult Volunteer program in Ukraine.

      Pix Mahler — after serving as a Hunger Action Enabler (HAE) for 14 years in the Presbytery of the Peaks (VA), has been appointed partnership facilitator for Haiti. As HAE Mahler promoted and interpreted the Presbytery of the Peaks’ relationship with the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti, the PC(USA)’s partner in the country. She now does the same for all churches and middle governing bodies interested in doing ministry in Haiti. She is a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Lynchburg, VA.

      Todd and Tricia Reinschmidt —  members of First Presbyterian Church in Cartersville, GA, have been appointed to serve with Pasos de Fe, one of seven mission projects of the Presbyterian Border Ministries (PBM). PBM is a joint project of the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico and the PC(USA). Pasos de Fe is located in El Paso, Texas, and Juárez, Mexico. The Reinschmidts’ responsibilities include hosting, organizing, and facilitating the visits of “mission teams” that come to help in various projects organized by Pasos de Fe.

      Walt and Valerie Shepard —  will serve in Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Walt Shepard is returning to the country of his youth — he is the son of Caroline and Walter Shepard, who served there (then the Belgian Congo) from 1947 to 1961. He will divide his time between the pastorate of the International Protestant Church of Kinshasa and the Booth Superior Institute of Theology (ISTB). For Valerie Shepard also this is a return to the mission field. She is the child of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot, missionaries to Ecuador, whose story was written by her mother in Through Gates of Splendor. After her father was killed, she returned with her mother to Ecuador and lived with the Aucas for five years. Walt Shepard served in Uganda for short terms in 1992 and 1996 and in Sudan in 1996. Prior to the current appointment he was pastor of Harrison Bridge Road Presbyterian Church in Simpsonville, SC (Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church).

      Kara VanderKamp —  who prior to her appointment was living and studying for her master’s degree at Teacher’s College, Columbia University, in New York City, is a member of the Presbyterian Church in America. She will serve as an educational consultant with the Evangelical Church of Niger (EERN) doing teacher training and curriculum development and assisting with communication with EERN’s church partners and other international agencies. From 1997 to 1999 VanderKamp served in Kenya in an educational ministry for the Reformed Church in America. Earlier she was a facilitator for Habitat for Humanity in Chicago.

      For more information about these and other mission workers, visit www.pcusa.org/missionconnections.