Herb and Karen work in Manila, Philippines, in addition to the general Asia Pacific. Their main role is teaching EPHOD seminars.
Before becoming missionaries to the Philippines, the Johnsons served in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tahiti.
Karen Johnson - Wife
Mike and MonaRe’s mission field is Latin America, where they work primarily in evangelism and international ministry, in addition to leadership training.
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.
Almost 18 million people, .2% evangelical, over 90% Muslim, 26 unreached people groups, 6 UPGs with over 1 million people each
Rick has 2 main jobs. For his first job, he travels to campuses across the U.S.A. for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, doing training and evangelism with an apologetics emphasis. From 2010-2012, he worked at 40 different campuses. His second job involves serving as the InterVarsity staff member at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, where there has been an active InterVarsity group since 1941.
The Walking Street in Angeles City has about 15,000 girls that are trafficked in bars working for barely any money. Many girls are here sent by their families or were tricked into believing they would be waitresses. Due to extreme poverty, they have no option but to stay and send money back to their parents.This street is for tourists - Wipe Every Tear sends mission teams out to do bar ministry and invite girls to a banquet and the Girls Getaway trip to experience freedom like never before! Wipe Every Tear secured their first safe home in 2012. Since then they have served 200+ women. They have had contact with about 25% of the Walking Street through meal distribution. I believe they now have 5 safe homes and have 90+ women in their care. The harvest is ripe and girls want to be set free!!
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.
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!
Japan has a population of 126 million people with roughly 37 million of those living in the Tokyo area. We have close to 600,000 foreigners living in Tokyo with that number expected to rise dramatically in the next few years based on Japan's shrinking labor force. Less than 1% of Japan's population consider themselves an evangelical Christian, with an estimated 95% of the population never having had an adequate presentation of the gospel. It is widely recognized as the 2nd largest unreachable people group in the world. Japan also has one of the highest populations of elderly people in the world and one of the lowest birthrates in the world. Japan's culture is heavily influenced by Buddhism and Shintoism but with many living out an atheistic or agnostic existence. Our church is located directly across the street from Tokyo University, one of the largest universities in Japan. There are around 28,000 students currently enrolled there.
This year the River Plate Bible Institute is turning 75 years. It is considered the largest AG school in Latin America. We have over 300 residential students, 400 in the Saturday program, 150 online, and hundreds in our ministerial schools. As the students come from over 15 different nations, each of them goes back into their communities and has an exponential impact. Additionally, many of them have a call to missions on their lives. Most of the missionaries from Argentina to other countries are graduates of our Bible School. As far as the country, Argentina has 45.81 million people. It is a predominantly Catholic nation, but because of syncretism, their belief system is very superstitious. They would have no problem going to mass in the morning and the witch doctor in the afternoon.
Thailand has a population of around 70 million people. The country of Thailand is primarily Buddhist, roughly 5% Muslim, and around 1% believed to be Christian (as of 2021 according to the department of religious affairs). We will be staying in Chiang Mai Thailand which has a population of close to 2 million people and thrives on tourists coming from all around the world. From our experiences in Chiang Mai, there are a lot of young children who are open to hearing more about the Gospel and their parents are Buddhists. We are excited to go to Thailand as a family with young children to hopefully make more connections with families who are in a similar stage of life.
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.