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
Jen Butler - Wife
While the people of Estonia have made advances in technology and are reaping the rewards of those efforts, they are spiritually dead. In fact, Estonians considered themselves one of the least religious countries in the world. Among those that do hold religious beliefs, many have shaped their beliefs from folk tales and cultural influences, such as the popular belief that trees have souls. Within this population these sorts of beliefs significantly outnumber those that know our Savior and the hope that is found in Him. The Estonian people are spiritually hungry but don’t have many Christ followers to guide them on how to satisfy that hunger. Many of the people still suffer from the trauma of the Soviet occupation and the oppression that came with it. It is that pain and hunger that our Lord longs to heal. And we are honored that he has placed the calling on our hearts to begin planting seeds of a new day of hope in Estonia.
Global Initiative has done trainings in over 91 countries. We work with National Church Leaders, Bible schools, and local pastors. We teach undergrad and graduate level classes as well as do many Lay minister and church seminars and conferences. Recently we have been creating resources and curriculums that we are (and have) been translating into multiple languages and posting for free online. Many of these resources can be found at our “connect link” above. We have a BIG DREAM that we are working on now. It is to create a secure app we’re christian around the world can download and receive training on reaching Muslims for free. **again on another note :-) when we are in Springfield, we help organize and participate In and English conversation club put on for the Saudi families here in town. Through this club we have built friendship with the Saudis that are here in the states for one year. We have them to our house for dinner, go to theirs and go on outings together. Each holiday season we host a large Thanksgiving dinner and facilitate multiple Christmas parties and events. These times give us many opportunities to share the truth of Jesus.
Slovenia is a country of 2 million people with a proud heritage and rich traditions, however it is a country that struggles deeply with alcoholism and depression. It has deep roots in Roman Catholicism, however the majority of the population has no personal relationship with Jesus. Currently there are 13 pentecostal churches and with about 1,000 evangelicals in the entire country.
We are planting a church in West Java. West Java is home to the Sundanese people group, the largest Muslim UPG in the world. We are focused on reaching the Sundanese specifically, but Indonesian muslims generally. We will do this by planting a church in 2019. Indonesia is the 4th largest country in the world, it is made up of 17,000 islands, its the largest Muslim country in the world, there are 227 UPG's in Indonesia.
Herb and Karen work in Manila, Philippines, in addition to the general Asia Pacific. Their main role is teaching EPHOD seminars.
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!!
River Valley 500. Staffing and leading (directing) DTS: This includes being a mentor and walking alongside students in this 3 month lecture phase and leading the 2 month international outreach. -Worship and music ministry: We get to lead worship at our YWAM base and once a month at our local church, Horizonte. Currently we are leading worship for our summer Mission Adventures teams (highschool/college teams that come back-to-back for a week camp to be trained in evangelism and go out into our community and share Jesus). We’ve also been a part of the music ministry called Contraste where we play music in cafes/restaurants and use it as a tool to draw people in to evangelize. -Homes of Hope: Building homes for families living in poverty in our community. My husband and I get to host teams and be a part of the 2-3 day house builds. My husband has also been a part of the family-selection team.
John and Ruth Kerr focus on leadership training for approximately 120 students. These students attend classes on the Kerrs’ 160-acre campus. However, the community surrounding the campus is home to roughly 500,000 people who live in very poor shanty-town neighborhoods. As a result, the students on campus have created many social-impact ministries and turned the property into a development center. They provide HIV-AIDS-awareness ministry, skills training, micro-financing, agriculture training, sewing classes and computer classes—all simply in an effort to bless and benefit the surrounding communities.
Roger and Debbi Audorff want to help Mexico become a sending nation for missions, and they believe that with proper training, this will be able to happen. While the immediate spiritual battle is with the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses—Roger and Debbi believe that the Catholics in Monterrey could realize that God’s Word is for them to live out in their daily lives. However, idol worship of Guadalupe is prevalent in the city among the Catholic population, and the Audorffs are praying for the spirit of idolatry to be broken by the name of Jesus. Monterrey is also home to much poverty and has had many recent problems with drug trafficking.
I’m serving all over the continent of Africa. At the moment, leadership has asked me to temporarily base out of Springfield with the Africa’s Hope team here until a decision is made about where on the continent a new Africa’s Hope team will be based. Until then, I’m traveling regularly to different countries around Africa to teach, meet with church leaders and translation teams, and be involved with a variety of other ministry.
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.