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Find out who they are and how they’re going to serve

Bob Abel

Country: Worldwide

Spouse: Amy Abel

Who he works with: Remember Nhu, an organization that works to end child sex slavery in 13 countries.

What he does: Bob serves as director of staff care. He provides pastoral care, discipleship support, and leadership development to its international and indigenous mission staff.

Key goal: Working with Remember Nhu’s Southeast Asia locations to develop a global care strategy for mission personnel and to prepare new mission workers to enter the field.

Watch a video about Remember Nhu’s mission:


Chris Briggs

Country: Jamaica

Spouse: Renae Briggs

Who he works with: Caribbean Christian Centre for the Deaf, which provides the Deaf community in Jamaica with a language, education, mentoring, and an opportunity to encounter the gospel.

What he does: Chris serves as campus manager at the Jamaica Deaf Village.

Why it’s so important: As much as 99 percent of the world’s Deaf population has never been exposed to the gospel, making it one of the largest unreached people groups. In Jamaica alone, tens of thousands of people are Deaf. Many of them have no access to language or education, so there is little hope for employment, inclusion in community life, or understanding God’s love for them.


Josh Bode

Country: Oman

Spouse: Erica Bode

Who he works with: Protestant Church in Oman (PCO), a diverse international congregation in Oman with members from expatriate Christian communities from all over the world.

What he does: Josh serves as the pastor of the English-speaking congregation of the Protestant Church in Oman and supports the PCO’s relationship with the Omani ministry of religious affairs.

Why he’s passionate about this call: “I have a heart for missional ministries of presence, not where I come to fix you but where we encounter each other in relationship and together discover how the Holy Spirit is creating both of us through our engagement, even across deep differences and conflict.”


Bob Oliveira

Country: Brazil

Spouse: Kelly Oliveira

Who he works with: The Presbyterian Church in Manaus, a 114-year-old congregation in the heart of the Amazon River basin that reaches out through medical boat missions, missionary training, and church planting.

What he does: Bob will work closely with both North American and Brazilian partners to serve as a bridge between project staff and church and donor partners in North America.

Why he’s passionate about this call: “There are nearly 7,000 riverside villages in the State of Amazonas that are without a gospel witness, and our partner’s ministry addresses the Great Commission in four primary ways: evangelism, discipling and church planting, training of pastors and missionaries, and compassion ministry.”


Andy Smothers

Country: Bahrain

Who he works with: The English Language Congregation (ELC) of the National Evangelical Church of Bahrain, a church planted by the RCA in 1893.

What he does: He is the associate pastor of the ELC. As associate pastor, Andy will be leading the discipleship program for the church, including Christian education programs and Bible studies.

Why he’s passionate about this call: “The community brings many perspectives (cultural, theological, and other) that help to demonstrate the day we anticipate, as shown in Revelation 7:9-17, where people ‘from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages’ will stand before the throne of God in worship.”