ABD Foundation: Eden Prairie The mission of Eden Prairie A Brighter Day Foundation is to provide a safe and nurturing home and learning environment for academically high-achieving minority high school students, coming from economically and educationally distressed situations. We do this by housing and supporting them while they are attending Eden Prairie High School. This allows them "a better chance" of achieving their full potential. For more information, visit their website listed below. Church Liaison: Michele Cohen
Contact Eden Prairie A Brighter Day Foundation: 8761 Preserve Blvd.
Eden Prairie, MN 55344-5301
Phone: (952) 975-8310 www.abrighterdayfoundationep.org
Al Norby - Intervarsity Christian Fellowship Al Norby is the area director with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship for Southern Minnesota. Al lives in Minnetonka with his wife Tracy and three sons, Harrison, Jackson and Carson. He has a heart for working with young souls and served in local church ministry to high school students for 15 years before joining InterVarsity staff four years ago. InterVarsity is a college campus ministry with a vision to see the lives of college students transformed by the Gospel. EPPC has been partnering with Al in his work on college campuses in southern Minnesota for this past year. He works to equip staff and students on three southern Minnesota campuses to be world changers for the Gospel, with a focus on three campuses: St. Olaf, Winona and Mankato. This means grooming students to affect their world with the Gospel wherever they are.
Church Liaison: Britta Bloomberg AMOR Ministries — Building Homes and Hope in Mexico AMOR Ministries works with Mexican churches to improve the living conditions of their church members. EPPC hosts one-week family mission trips with AMOR every other summer; the next trip will be in the summer of 2008. Typically, a group of 15 people builds an 11 foot by 22 foot two-room home, with a concrete-slab floor and stucco-finished exterior. In 2006, EPPC sent a team of 70 and built five houses. An AMOR house is a simple design, built to the standards of the community.
Church Liaison: Gary Van Schooneveld
Contact AMOR Ministries:
1664 Precision Park Lane
San Diego, CA 92173 www.comebuildhope.com
Compassion International — Child Development Compassion International is a Christian child-development ministry that partners with Christian churches in 22 countries. Individuals and families within EPPC’s church family sponsor a child for $38-44 a month and become that child’s special friend. EPPC famlies sponsor over 50 children around the world.
Church Liaison: David Ocar
Contact Compassion International:
PO Box 65000
Colorado Springs, CO 80962
Phone: 1-800-336-7676 www.compassion.com
Feed My Starving Children Feed My Starving Children is a non-profit Christian organization committed to “Feeding God’s Starving Children in Body and Spirit.”
The organization purchases food supplies and materials that volunteers pack to send around the world. EPPC members of all ages have volunteered to hand-pack nutritious meals especially designed for starving children; the meals are then shipped to over 50 countries around the world.
Church Liaison: Steve Chicoine
Contact Feed My Starving Children:
18738 Lake Drive East
Chanhassen, MN 55317
Phone: 952-937-2329 www.fmsc.org
Tracy Groves — Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan Tracy Groves, a member of EPPC, is serving in Kyrgyzstan.
Church Liaison: Open
John and Gwen Haspels — Surma, Ethiopia John and Gwen Haspels, PC (USA) missionaries, work with the Surma and Baale people of Ethiopia. This mission includes the construction of a health post, schools, a road and an airstrip. The primary objective is to see the church planted among the Baale people.
Church Liaison: Mike Gladhill
Contact John and Gwen Haspels:
Box 1111
Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA
Hospitality House Youth Directions — Inner-City Outreach Hospitality House Youth Directions encourages inner city youth to develop a relationship with Christ, and challenges and supports them in gaining skills to become capable adults. The majority (85 %) the youth are from low-income, African-American families.
Church Liaison: Norm Scott
Contact Hospitality House Youth Directions:
Rev. Johnny Hunter, Director
1220 Logan Avenue North
Minneapolis, MN 55411 www.hhyd.org
Make Old Things New — Helping Men in Transition Focusing on the housing needs of men in transition, Make Old Things New is committed to reclaiming living space for low-income individuals. Those who have no home cannot address the many other critical issues in their lives. Working with MOTN also offers a chance to gain marketable skills and an opportunity for wages, clothing, food, shelter and transportation.
Church Liaison: Jeff Maenke
Contact Make Old Things New:
John and Karen Troyer
PO Box 583777
Minneapolis, MN 55458
Jonas and Beth Menezes — Porto Velho, Brazil Jonas and Beth Menezes are church planting missionaries working with Avant Ministries in Porto Velho, Brazil, located in the Amazon River Basin on the Madiero River with a population of more than 500,000 people. Because Jonas is Brazilian and Beth is the daughter of Brazilian missionaries, they are especially suited for ministering in this area. The church they have been planting and nurturing in Porto Velho is now on its own; they have been on furlough in the U.S. visiting church partners. Their new assignment will bring them back to Porto Velho where they will apply the Short Cycle Church Planting strategy working with believers from the previous church plant in Porto Velho. Jonas will train and lead the team.
Church Liaison: Mike Gladhill
Contact Jonas and Beth Menezes:
Rua Waldemar Estrela nº5372
Bairro Rio Madeira
78.908-280 Porto Velho
Rondônia, Brasil www.avantministries.org
Metro Paint-a-Thon — Home Maintenance Assistance The first weekend of August, the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches organizes a painting day for those in the community who are unable to care for their own homes. Each year, EPPC teams with St. Andrew Lutheran Church to paint a house.
Church Liaison: Dave Bowman
Sherry Mohamed - Rajo Somali Outreach Ministries with World Relief Minnesota Sherry Mohamed is the Program Director of the new Somali Outreach at World Relief Minnesota: Rajo Ministries. “Rajo” is the Somali word for hope. The ministry was established to build bridges of friendship between churches and their Somali neighbors. A native of Somali and raised in the Muslim tradition, the story of her faith journey and her heart for reaching the Somali people are inspiring. She is uniquely positioned to reach out with understanding to Somali Muslims and share what God has done in her life. Sherry has been actively working with Somalis in the Twin Cities for the past three years and has built relationships with the community.
World Relief Minnesota is a Christian agency that mobilizes churches to minister to refugee and immigrant families in Minnesota.
Church Liaison: Open
Contact World Relief Minnesota:
1515 E. 66th St.
Richfield, MN 55423 www.worldreliefmn.org
Deo Mwamba – International Christian Ministries Deo Mwamba, a former Muslim leader came to Christ after reading about him in the Quran. Deo's ministry is to train and equip pastors and lay leaders in the French speaking countries in Africa. Deo also trains Christians on how to share Jesus with Muslims and he also has a heart for the Pygmies. Deo, his wife Sarah and three children live in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire).
Church Liaison: Roger Turner
Contact International Christian Ministries:
PO Box 9071
4201 Ardmore Avenue Suite 6
Bakersfield, CA 93389
Phone: (661) 832-9740; Toll Free 1-888-896-9740;
Fax: (661) 832-9741 www.icmusa.org
New Life Family Services — Crisis Pregnancy Counseling NLFS services include crisis pregnancy center and hot line, adoption services, abstinence resource center, domestic abuse counseling, family counseling and STEP parenting program, foster care and support homes. Support groups are available for pregnant women, those with post-abortion needs, single moms, couples affected by infertility and those who have given children into adoptive families.
Church Liaisons: Renae Froemming & Shelly Maenke
Contact New Life Family Services:
Mary Jane Carlson, Director
1515 East 66th Street
Richfield, MN 55423
Phone: 612-866-7643 www.nlfs.org
Operation Christmas Child — Shoeboxes Full of Gifts and Love Operation Christmas Child is a part of the Samaritan’s Purse ministry. Each fall, the EPPC Children’s Ministry encourages EPPC members to participate and fill a shoebox with gifts for a child and contributing $5 for shipping. The boxes are collected and processed for shipment overseas in time for Christmas.
Church Liaison: Jeanette Twedten
Steve and Tanja Pankratz—Sofia, Bulgaria Steve and Tanja are missionaries for SEND International at the Logos Bible Institute in Sofia, Bulgaria. Steve teaches apologetics. Leadership development is one of the key activities for Steve and Tanja, as the Bulgarian nationals have a vision for reaching their country, but need theology, church planting and other ministry training.
Church Liaison: Gary Van Schooneveld
Contact Steve and Tanja Pankratz:
MN Furlough Address:
4516 West 56th St.
Edina, MN 55424-1555 www.send.org
Prayer Ventures The Prayer Ventures vision is to invite people to experience the life-changing power of Christ through prayer by providing teaching, training and resources that transform and empower them to serve others. Prayer Ventures provides teaching and training opportunities that are exciting, engaging, and allow people to experience God’s presence and power in their lives first hand. This organization strives to produce prayer resources that are relevant, user-friendly and provide practical help to real-life problems, to pray with individuals and couples for healing, transformation and empowerment, and to partner with churches and other Christian organizations to enhance and strengthen the prayer component of their programming. Prayer Ventures is led by Betsy Lee, president.
PROP — Food Shelf, Transportation, Clothing, Holiday Assistance Major PROP programs are a food shelf, information and referral to other agencies, transportation assistance, children’s clothing closet, holiday baskets, school supply program, gardening program and financial assistance.
Church Liaison: Diane Hanson
Contact the PROP Foodshelf:
8080 Mitchell Road, Suite 102
Eden Prairie, MN 55344
Phone: 952-937-9120 www.propshopep.org
Contact the PROP Shop:
15195 Martin Drive
Eden Prairie, MN 55344-4531
Phone: 952-934-2323 www.propfood.org
Youth Missions — Transforming Youth in Service to Others EPPC’s youth participate in a yearly in a youth mission project. Their work includes serving organizations that paint and improve homes or operate clothing and feeding program. Another key youth ministry event is the 30-Hour Famine, sponsored by World Vision, where youth learn about and raise awareness about world hunger and raise money for special projects in our partner villages in Zambia.
Church Liaison: Darrin Geier
World Vision
World Vision is a Christian relief, development and advocacy organization dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice. Inspired by Christian values, World Vision is dedicated to working with the world’s most vulnerable people. This organization serves all people regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, or gender. World Vision is an international partnership of Christians whose mission is to follow our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in working with the poor and oppressed to promote human transformation, seek justice, and bear witness to the good news of the Kingdom of God.
Church Liaison: Britta Bloomberg
Local World Vision Office:
Mike Owen, Church Representative
4325 Upton Avenue S
Minneapolis, MN 55410-1556
Phone: 612-920-0455
Website: www.worldvision.org
