On Mission To Reach The World

River Valley 500

We are passionate about fulfilling our vision to raise up and send out 500 full-time missionaries from our church. These people are from all walks of life—young and old, married and single, college students and retired—and everything in between. They have committed to serve God overseas for at least one year and pray about giving Him a lifetime.

These 500 missionaries are known as the River Valley 500.

Watch the story of the 500 below.

Today, over 200 individuals have already been sent to the mission field all over the world.

Missionaries

Steven Bolton

Steven Bolton

Proclaiming Jesus to the hockey world through chapel programs and hockey camps! Our family is currently serving the Minnesota hockey community at the youth level!

Dennis Otto

United States

Dennis Otto

United States

Mentoring men that are coming out of addiction (some are still fighting it); men coming out of incarceration; All In Ministries is open to all men

Marty Vanderzanden

Thailand

Marty Vanderzanden

Thailand

River Valley 500. We minister to the people of Thailand. We focus on Thai nationals who are discipling other people and then we help them. We also look for any lost or broken person that God brings into our life and we minister to them.

Chris Carter

Japan

Chris Carter

Japan

Chris and Lindsey Carter are missionaries in Japan. They are transitioning from the Philippines where they ministered for three years. Chris will be teaching at Central Bible College in Tokyo starting a Master of Divinity Program. Lindsey’s involvment will be children’s ministry. Together they will participate in church planting and evangelism.

Greg Owens

South Africa

Greg Owens

South Africa

Cape Town, with a population is 4.5 million people, is known across the continent as the Mother City and is one of the most influential cities on the continent of Africa. With the average age being 29 years old, there is great potential to reaching many university students, young professionals, and families. Nestled behind Table Mountain is the University of Cape Town which is the premier university in all of Africa. Our goal is to launch a thriving Chi Alpha ministry in this influential university of almost 30,000 students. Cape Town is also the Parliamentary capital of South Africa and boasts other major industries like manufacturing, tourism, oil and gas, agriculture, marketing and media in addition to Information Technology an

Todd Anderson

India

Todd Anderson

India

Their passion and heart is to reach the unreached peoples of their region, planting multiplying churches among them, and to show God’s love to the poor and needy in their city. Its their dream that as people in these communities encounter Jesus, their lives, their families and ultimately their community would be radically transformed. That dream is starting to become reality and they are excited to see it continue to unfold!

Mark Jones

Eswatini

Mark Jones

Eswatini

Mark and Anjali are located in Swaziland, a small, landlocked country within South Africa and bordered by Mozambique.

Garrick Duckett

Japan

Garrick Duckett

Japan

We have been appointed as church planting missionaries to join an established team in Nara, Japan. Japan is a country of 125M inhabitants, where only .5% of the population is Christian, and the number of believers and missionaries has been only shrinking for the last 30 years. Also, over 70% of Japanese church leaders are over the age of 70, which means that they are desperately hurting for the next generation to rise up and carry the torch of the gospel to their neighbors and fellow citizens. In our first year and a half in Japan, we have engaged most heavily in language learning and partnership with our local church, Nara New Life, who have been mentoring us in our future venture to start a church in the surrounding area. Our main focuses have been ministry through the vivacious young family community in our town: children’s ministry, gymnastics class, local play room, parks, and soon Kaia will be joining our neighborhood pre-school. In addition we have been investing in relationships with a number of other individuals long-term, leading worship, and visiting Japanese churches around the country sharing our testimonies and building a network of national believers. Our current short term goals now: Continue language learning for another 2 years, 2024 begin surveying neighborhoods in summer for church plant (move spring 2025 to target area), establish parent relationships at Kaia’s preschool.

Paige Prestholdt

Honduras

Paige Prestholdt

Honduras

Paige serves at the Jungle Hospital in Rio Viejo Honduras as a nurse bringing health hope and healing to the surrounding mountain villagers.

Brandon Powell

Thailand

Brandon Powell

Thailand

98% unreached – There are more ‘7-11 convenient stores’ than churches. Most people have never been in a church building, or spoken with another Christian . . .BUT the past 3 years have seen unprecedented growth, with thousands of people being baptized in a day multiple different times in Central Thailand! God is on the move and we get to be a part of it!

Brian Klancke

Cambodia

Brian Klancke

Cambodia

River Valley 500. We serve under Dareth & Thida Ly in Siem Reap, Cambodia for 2 years. They have been in Cambodia since the mid-90s working with children and young adults. They help run 3 schools and provide a place (The New Dream Center) for children from the floating village to live who want to continue their education past 6th grade. By living at The New Dream Center, these children are able to attend the junior high and high school across the street and have access to additional English and computer classes through Dareth & Thida’s ministry. They also hold a Sunday church service at The New Dream Center. In the late 70’s, after the Vietnam War, the Khmer Rouge killed roughly a 1/4 of the population of Cambodia. Anyone with a higher education or held a position of leadership were killed. Families were separated and taken to working camps, where they endured extremely long, hard days working in rice fields. Many were killed just to set an example of what would happen if you disobeyed and many others died from the harsh working conditions, long days and lack of food. This event has had a huge impact on the Cambodian people as they continue to deal with the effects of such trauma from PTSD to the lack of knowledge of what a healthy family unit should look like. They deal with a struggling economy, widespread corruption, the highest HIV rate in Asia and some of the highest rates of child sex trafficking in the world. They have prayed that God would use them; that he would reveal His plan for their lives and in February of 2016, He did just that. God has called them to be missionaries to Cambodia. Never in their wildest dreams did they think this is what He would have in store for them. God has given them a calling and theyre simply trying to be obedient servants; vessels to be used by Him to share His glory and truth to the people of Cambodia.

Matthew Collver

United States

Matthew Collver

United States

Matthew and Elora work in Summit County, Colorado, which is located near Denver. It is a community ignorant to Christianity, with a focus on ‘new age’ and eastern religions.

If God asks you to serve Him overseas for at least a year, your journey will be a series of small steps of obedience toward that goal. Each journey will be filled with different adventures and challenges, but the goal is the same: to bring glory to Jesus Christ. For some, the journey to the mission field will happen relatively quickly, but it will be more difficult and take longer than imagined for others.

The journey will take twists and turns you cannot anticipate, but regardless of how long it takes or where you end up, God is faithful and His timing is perfect. The Global Project team is ready to assist you along the road of obedience.

If you know God is asking you to serve him overseas some day, registering for the Missionary Action Plan (MAP) is a great first step for you! We have created the MAP as a starting point to explore missions at a deeper level.

This process is designed to help you discern the role God is calling you to play in the Great Commission. Whether that be going, sending or supporting, we all have different roles to play.

If you’re ready to register for The Missionary Action Plan, click here.

If you have questions about the River Valley 500, The MAP or general questions about the journey to the field, please feel free to email us at globalproject@rivervalley.org.

“He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.”

Quoted from the journal of Jim Elliot, Martyred Missionary to Ecuador