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

David Julian

Papua New Guinea

David Julian

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea is a land of almost 9 million people who speak over 800 different languages. For those almost 9 million people, there are only approximately 500 doctors in the country. Every year 1 in 20 children under the age of 5 will die. Many die from common things such as diarrhea from drinking contaminated water. About 40% of the country has no access to a source of clean water. While looking up statistics on PNG you will see that it is considered a Christian nation, it is very much in name only. While much of the coast has been evangelized as well as some of the bigger cities, when you go into the interior of PNG, you will be met with people who still live as they have for thousands of years. They still practice their animistic tribal customs. While some may have heard of Christianity and may even call themselves Christian, most will take one or two aspects of Christianity and merge them with their animistic beliefs. There is not a true separation and a turning away in many cases.

Joe Butler

United States

Joe Butler

United States

According to the CDC, there are over ONE BILLION people in the world who live with some form of disability*1, including… – 61 million adults, one out of six children, in the United States. *2 – Within the disability population, more than 200 million experience considerable difficulties in activities in daily life. *2 – If pulled together, individuals with disability would represent the third largest nation in the world, with the highest rate of abuse, divorce, suicide, homelessness, and joblessness (WHO 2011 report). *3 *1 – 1 Billion people worldwide https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/disability-and-health *2 – 61 Million Americans – Disability Impacts All Info Graphic https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/infographic-disability-impacts-all.html *2 – Increase in Developmental Disabilities Among Children in the U.S. (1 out of 6 children) https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/developmentaldisabilities/features/increase-in-developmentaldisabilities.html *3 This stat can be found in the WHO Disability Report on the WHO website here: https://www.who.int/health-top

Clark Barnard

Peru

Clark Barnard

Peru

Clark and Beth Barnard work in Iquitos, Peru directing a base with Youth with a Mission (YWAM). They also oversee Youth with a Mission Peru on a national level.

Joanne Oftedahl

Philippines

Joanne Oftedahl

Philippines

Joanne Oftedahl teaches and serves as Student Missions Advisor at Immanuel Bible College, Cebu Philippines. She preaches, teaches, and helps provide resources for evangelism and discipleship in local churches of Cebu and neighboring Islands.

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!

Jeffrey Dove

United States

Jeffrey Dove

United States

Harry Osland

Portugal

Harry Osland

Portugal

The Portuguese speaking nations of Africa are home to some of the largest and fastest growing churches in Africa. The growth has greatly out-paced Biblically trained leadership needed to conserve help establish new believers in the faith and preserve established believers in that faith. The Assemblies of God in Angola with its 2.5 million members, is the second largest AG church in Africa, followed closely by Mozambique with nearly 2 million. The Bible college we began in Angola in 2012, since December, 2023, under complete Angolan leadership and we continue serving in a mentoring/consultant ministry. We have been asked to help in the same manner in Mozambique and will spend a part of February in that country.

Samuel Dunya

Ghana

Samuel Dunya

Ghana

Discipleship, Church planting, relationship building, evangelism, living among the UPG, partnering with local churches and missionaries, teaching and preaching. There are about 18 unreached people groups of 111 with a population of 1,658,000 and the total population is about 31,639,000. The southern part of Ghana is predominantly Christian and the northern, muslim. The largest religion is Christianity with about 60%.

Sierra Hawthorne

Guinea

Sierra Hawthorne

Guinea

Guinea is approx. 14 million in population 47 people groups and 29 are unreached 86.9% of the population is unreached Largest religion is Islam, there is some mixture of animism 0.68% evangelical Currently, God has opened the door for Guineans to receive the gospel. The surrounding countries are predominantly Islamic states where it is against the law to proselytize. Guinea currently has an evangelical president so the government is favorable to the Gospel being preached. The General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God has a calling to plant churches and is eager to see this work happen in his country. As God has made this opportunity possible. Me and several others including AGWM (who has never sent a missionary to Guinea in its history) and AMI (where I serve full time) has both been led by the Spirit to come into partnership to reach the lost. God is moving and we are excited to minister in this country while the opportunity is here!

Jean Johnson

United States

Jean Johnson

United States

Jean coaches worldwide church leaders in Asia, Africa and the U.S.A. on how to conceptualize, plant, cultivate and multiply churches and ministries that are indigenous in nature. She makes sure to do this in ways that are culturally relevant, self-functioning, self-determining, self-supporting, self-propagating and self-giving, and that promote a healthy self-image and a healthy community-image.

Austin.Kayti.Y-eurasia

Austin.Kayti.Y-eurasia

Raegan Glugosh

Romania

Raegan Glugosh

Romania

Raegan’s ministry in Romania has a three-fold mission: First to care for adandoned infants. Second to assist foster care programs for adandon children. Third to provide maternal care in a facility offering mothers alternatives to adandonment. Raegan is the network facilitator for Europe’s compassion care network as well as the lead pastor at the International Church in Bucharest, Romania.

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