Bell Ridge Christian Church Missions Program

The Missions Minsitry has decided to add some "new to us" missions for us to support in the coming year. Two of them are local and the other is one of our own. The Edgar County Food Pantry and the Compassionate Clothing Ministry have been meeting the needs of people in Edgar County for a long time. They need financial support in order to buy food or clothing to help individuals with items that they might not have on hand from time to time.

As many of you may know at the beginning of our Faith Promise Campaign for 2007 one of the missionaries that we were supporting on a monthly basis was Cathy Sunkel and her work with Teen Missions International.  During the year Cathy decided to leave that work and go back to school.  Since that time the Missions Ministry has been considering who we might give that monthly support to.  We were made aware that The Crisis Pregnancy Center of East Central Illinois, which has an office in Paris, was in need of our support.  On September 9th the Missions Ministry voted to give our support to that work.

Bell Ridge Christian Church believes that God has asked us to take His message of love and forgiveness to the world.  We strive to support missions which we believe are doing the work of God’s Kingdom both here in the states and around the world.  We use a Faith Promise program to challenge the people of Bell Ridge to place their trust in God to provide their needs as they sacrificially give to those who are sharing the love of God.  The following ministries are the missions that we support on a monthly basis.

Donna Brinkley is the director of The Crisis Pregnancy Center in Paris and she is assisted by 3-4 volunteers.  She came out and made a presentation to our Missions Ministry about the scope of work that is accomplished in this ministry.  They assist women and young ladies that for whatever reason are not prepared for their pregnancy.  Emotional, physical, and spiritual support are given to women during their pregnancy, after the birth of the child, and with questions about parenting.  They are a pro-life group that answers questions of women who might be considering an abortion.  They offer post abortion counseling for women that have made that choice and regret their decicion.  They are also trying to establish a sexual abistenence program for our public schools.  Based on these facts the Mission Ministry felt this ministry was worthy of our support.  Please add them to your prayer list.

July 2009

• UPDATE: Some exciting news from the Crisis Pregnancy Center, God has blessed them in exciting ways in 2009.  They have been working to buy an ultra-sound machine so that pregnant women can see the life growing within them, and they have raised $50,000 of the $70,000 needed.   They have opened a center in Mattoon
  because God blessed them with a building and a Director.  They have continued to operate in the “black” and have expanded their services in our communities of East Central Illinois.  They are teaching their Abstinence program in 11 area schools and they are excited about the offering they are about to receive from their “Baby Bottle Blessing Program”  So if you have not turned in your bottle yet, please do, your gift is doing great things in this vital mission.

(The Mission Ministry Team is excited to see that we are doing well with our commitments, so keep up the giving. -The Link- April 26,2006)

Pine Haven Christian Children’s Ranch is a working cattle ranch located just outside St. Ignatius, Montana; whose primary focus is not cattle but troubled children.  Founded by Bob and Nancy Larsson several years ago, this ranch is now the home of 60 young people from all over the United States that need a place to come and put their lives back together.  They live in homes with Christian house parents that love them and help them.  The Larssons have seen the need to have their own school on the ranch to help these young people with their education, and as the number of children at Pine Haven grow so does the number of staff that is needed.  Pine Haven is a great place where the love of God is shared.

Todd and Tonja Hancock and their children, Mitchell and Mallory, are missionaries to Mexico City.  This city is one of the largest cities in the world where millions of people need to hear about the love of God.  Presently the Hancock’s are working to establish a ministry among the youth of Mexico City.  This is a huge task because youth ministry has never been a focal point.  The Hancock’s are working to learn the language, train leaders, put programs into place which meet the needs of the young people, and help their church to grow.  The Hancock’s work with the Christian Missionary Fellowship located in Indianapolis, IN.

Ed and Janice Nichols are missionaries working with ACM International to build the church in Nigeria.  The Nichols do this by raising support to fund the needs of the Christians in Nigeria, especially getting Bibles and printed literature in their native language to them so that they church can reach out to their communities in this nation that is split between Christianity and Islam.  There is also work done in leadership training and meeting physical needs such as buildings and safe water.  Ed visits Nigeria taking supplies and encouragement at least twice a year.  When not traveling Ed and Janice live in Kansas, IL.

Oblong Christian Children’s Home is located in Oblong, IL, and is a home for young people that for many different reasons are in need of a safe place to live.  Young people live with Christian house parents in homes where they are exposed to Christ through a family setting.  The young people attend public school in Oblong but are taught about life and how to make good choices in life through the family setting and the work that they do at the home.  Oblong currently has two nice modern houses filled with boys and girls and are looking to build a third one so that they might be able to help more kids.

Lincoln Christian College is located in Lincoln, IL and is a four year accredited college dedicated to preparing young men and women to be minister and missionaries around the world.  They have and excellent staff and campus where the motto of the “The Preachers are Coming” has prepared many to take the message of Christ into the world in many different countries and all areas of service.  Bell Ridge has a long history with this fine institution of higher learning with many of her ministers having been trained there and many of it’s young people going there to receive their education.

Camp Illiana is the church camp that are young people attend in the summer months located just outside of Washington, IN.  The camp has a wonderful facility to teach young people about the love of Christ and help them grow in their faith.  The camp is working to become a place where Christians can come to for retreats on a year round basis with all of it facilities winterized and open for use.  It is a great place to go and relax away from the stress of the world and focus on Christ.

Visit Camp Illiana online at: Camp Illiana

Master Provision is a unique mission that started in the Ukraine.  Two Christian men went to the Ukraine to see about a business opportunity in this former Soviet Union country and came away challenged to help the people there know more about the love of God.  They did this by establishing clothing ministries in the villages of Ukraine.  They collect clothing in the United States and send it to the Ukraine where local Christians sell the clothes to the people and share with them about God’s Kingdom.  This gives local people jobs, which they need, but also training in business to help them as they strive to better their lives.  Since that beginning 10 years ago, Master Provision last year sent 40 containers of clothes to 4 different countries and has been used by God to touch several lives with the Love of God.

I saw this article in the newsletter from Master Provisions (the people that we do the clothing drive for) and I thought that it was good to hear a little good news from Iraq.

Victory in Iraq

After 6 months of waiting, July 26, 2005 was a day of celebration as the container of clothing, shoes, toys, and paperback books finally arrived at Camp Victory outside of Baghdad. Major Rau will oversee the distribution to people that are in need. Soldiers from his unit, who provide security in the community, know many Iraqis personally. Our troops will be able to get clothing and shoes to the most needy people and reinforce the bonds of friendship between the U.S. troops and the citizens of Iraq. It is just another example of how God can use our clothes that we have outgrown to affect the lives of people around the world and our troops.