Financial Support for Other Individuals

While our primary pattern has been, and will continue to be, developing and sustaining full-time missionaries under the Parkside umbrella, we see an opportunity to support some in our church who are serving in full-time ministry with other organizations. In 2014, in an effort to expand our missions outreach, the leadership at Parkside Church began providing pastoral care, as well as $5000 per year, to these Parkside family members who were already engaged in ministry or missions work:

Amy Cottle

I am serving as a missionary in Thailand with OMF International, working with the team at Mahasarakham University. Maha Sarakham is in Isan, the NE part of Thailand. My team has established good connections with the faculty at the university to practice English with the students each week. We operate an English center called 180° Learning Center. There is no Christian student ministry on campus as there are only a handful of Thai Christian students out of an enrollment of 41,000. Therefore, our aim is to make disciples from the students who currently do not know the Lord. At each English teaching session, we tell a Bible story and pray for the students. We then try to build gospel relationships with the students and professors through one-on-one interactions, Bible studies, or small group meetings. Additionally, each Sunday afternoon, a worship service is held for the international Christian students. There are very few churches in the region (and no English speaking ones!) so this is a great source of encouragement for the students who attend.

Follow Amy’s blog: amycottle.wordpress.com

 

Emily Ackerson

I am currently serving with Bridges International with my husband, Blake, at the University of Texas in Houston. We have the great privilege of connecting with international students from around the world. We want to come alongside students and introduce them to Christ, build them up in their faith, and send them back to their home countries equipped to influence others for Christ. Our week consists of  meeting with students for investigative Bible studies, discipling believers, and building relationships with students off campus through activities, trips, dinners, and living life together. We also help connect interested international students to local families and churches.

Follow Emily's blog:  https://beackerson.blogspot.com

 

Matt (& Laura) Pheneger 

I serve as the Operations Director for Ambassadors Football, an international organization whose mission is to communicate the good news of Jesus to all people through football (soccer). My responsibility is to oversee the day-to-day running of the mission as we come alongside our staff and volunteers globally to provide them with what they need to minister. We seek to reach kids, teens, women, men, and entire families who are passionately involved in football. Training national staff, local churches, and others to form soccer teams, clubs, camps, and community outreach programs, in order to coach players with excellence and direct them to Christ, are just some of the ways Ambassadors Football is reaching the next generation with the good news of Jesus.

Learn more about Matt’s work: ambassadorsfootball.org

 

We are also supporting a fourth individual who has requested to remain anonymous due to security concerns in the countries to which he is ministering.