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

Missionaries

Mark Jones

Mark Jones

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

Larry Gruetzmacher

Mexico

Larry Gruetzmacher

Mexico

The Gruetzmachers work directly with Hispanics here in the United States and within several countries in Latin America. Their main focus is to develop leaders, and their schedule is filled with ministry to Hispanic churches; coaching pastors and leaders; leading mission trips with Hispanic students; holding retreats for men, women, and youth; leadership training; and working with 2 Institutes for Church Planters.

Lila Farmer

Kenya

Lila Farmer

Kenya

Lila Farmer’s mission field is located in East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, South Sudan). The ministry is to provide leadership seminars to indigenous churches and humanitarian aid to rural communities. The organizations she serves are platforms to share the lifesaving truth of salvation in Jesus Christ.

Randy Freeman

South Africa

Randy Freeman

South Africa

Kyle Trewern

Italy

Kyle Trewern

Italy

Genoa is approximately 1/2 million people with less than 2% recognizing Jesus as Savior of their lives. Italy is home to an estimated 105 documented people groups, 23 of which are considered unreached people groups. Genoa is a port city and an International hub. AGWM has never had a missionary in this city and we are excited to be the first.

Chris Kelly

United States

Chris Kelly

United States

After working with college students and young adults for over 10 years, it has become apparent to us that the college campus is the most strategic mission field. The next world leaders and influencers are attending our universities and it is our mission to share the Gospel of Jesus with them!

Rob Mckay

Georgia

Rob Mckay

Georgia

Rob is currently the leader for the Assemblies of God World Missions team in the country of Georgia, as well as Armenia. The team works mainly with the national Pentecostal church in Georgia and their goal is to reach the unreached through church planting and strengthening the 130 existing churches in the area. The team also serves as a center for Christian education for the southern part of this region within the former Soviet Union.

Kristine Nelson

Kristine Nelson

this missions field is ripe, last year we saw thousands of gospel seeds planted, hundreds of salvations, healings, signs and wonders. South Africa is considered a Christian nation- but most people do not even know what it means to be Christian or why they call themselves Christians- but they’re hearts are open and ready to receive once they hear the truth!! They are seeking truth and something to fill them and the spirit is moving and breaking out here not only within the church but within all the spheres of society- we believe we are on the verge of revival and that God is up to something huge here in South Africa to move from here into all of Africa.

David Julian

David Julian

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.

Samuel Dunya

Samuel Dunya

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%.

Luke Mckinley

Lithuania

Luke Mckinley

Lithuania

Luke and Tanya McKinley’s mission field is the country of Estonia. Their primary focus is church planting in Tallinn, Estonia. They work with a team of missionaries in a multiplication network.

Ian Hall

United States

Ian Hall

United States

Ian and Sheila equip Romanian churches in Europe. They teach evangelism, and minister to the needs of Romanian nationals on many levels of care and outreach.

    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 The500@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