September 3, 2025
Filter of Hope has made it their mission to provide clean, safe drinking water to families living in poverty around the world, while also sharing the message of Christ’s love.
July 3, 2025
Denford Chizanga's life is a testament to transformation—not only the transformation of his own, but also transformation in the lives of countless people across Africa.
September 1, 2024
Latino Christian Mission trains and equips Latino pastors to start new churches in their communities and to maintain them over time.
What was a young American woman doing at a dump in South Africa? . . .
January 1, 2024
By Laura McKillip Wood When Troy and Roma Jean Backhuus started taking short-term mission trips in 1996, they had no idea they were beginning a ministry that would become a huge part of their lives. On that trip and subsequent ones, they witnessed how hard it can be for cross-cultural ministers to get the care they need, including mental health care. Studies indicate the majority of missionaries experience a mental health disorder such as depression, anxiety, or burnout during their time of service. These servants may not have access to counseling, psychiatric services, or even friends to support them in
November 1, 2023
By Laura McKillip Wood Jody Hesler was in Poland helping with a day of pampering and self-care for refugees from Afghanistan when she felt her phone vibrating persistently in her pocket. Absorbed in helping those she was serving, she opted not to answer. When she finally took a moment to read her texts, she saw a string of messages from several Ukrainian friends. They were all reaching out for help getting themselves or their children across the border. It was February 2022. The invasion by Russia had begun, and her friends needed help getting to safety. Jody and another worker
September 1, 2023
By Laura McKillip Wood Stacy Hollingsworth grew up in the mountains of East Tennessee and lived in Senegal for several years as a missionary. She then returned to the United States and worked as a forensic psychologist on violent crimes. Doing that work with the state, she saw firsthand how hard life can be for people with traumatic backgrounds. As an adoptive parent of six children, she is invested in improving the lives of children in her South Carolina community. However, her vision for helping impoverished people who have experienced trauma expanded when she visited Kenya for the first time
July 1, 2023
By Laura McKillip Wood Wendy Fitzgerald has a passion for serving God and for helping others see how God works in their lives. As a young woman involved in her church, she looked at the women around her and saw many who wanted to serve God with their talents but did not know how to start. Many of the women felt limited in their churches and did not know how to use their gifts in that setting. Some felt overwhelmed with childcare and family, while others felt isolated because they did not have husbands and families. Wendy began to pray
By Laura McKillip Wood Dr. Dennis Pruett was born in West Virginia, the son of a coal miner. During World War II, he served as a naval aviator and received a Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross. When he returned from the war, he became a surgeon; later he and his wife began serving as medical missionaries in Rhodesia, now called Zimbabwe. The Pruetts raised their family there and had a productive medical ministry. They were convinced they could most effectively share the gospel by partnering with Christian nationals working in the medical field, so in 1985 they began a
January 1, 2023
Remember the Children initially raised funds to help orphans and took medicines to orphanages, Andy Baker says. Later the ministry began focusing on finding Romanian families for orphans. Soon that work expanded to helping at-risk children living in extreme poverty. Eventually, RTC saw the need for communities of faith in places where the gospel was not having an impact and began planting churches . . .
November 1, 2022
By Laura McKillip Wood Renee Flory had already taken a mission trip to Eastern Europe when she heard Glen Elliott (a missionary to Ukraine for five years in the 1990s and later lead pastor of Pantano Christian Church in Tucson, Arizona, for more than 20 years) speak to her church about Tavriski Christian Institute (TCI), a Christian seminary in Ukraine. During her previous trip, she had felt drawn to the people of that nation but believed God was telling her to wait. She returned to teaching kindergarten in California. But then in 2000, when she met Glen, she told him
September 1, 2022
By Laura McKillip Wood Kevin and Renee Payton talked as they did their Christmas shopping. It was December 2002, and they were home on furlough from their ministry in Simferopol, the central city in Crimea, which was still part of Ukraine at the time. Kevin had been teaching theology at a college in Crimea for about four years, but they saw their work with these students ending, as former students who had gone on to seminary were returning to teach at the college. Maybe the need for American professors was waning. But what would they do? As they talked, they
By Laura McKillip Wood She was only 9 years old, but Gayla knew what God was telling her. “I will follow you, God,” she promised, certain she was hearing him tell her to be a missionary. That commitment made at Guadalupe Christian Service Camp in New Mexico stayed in little Gayla’s mind over the next few years, even though she did not know exactly how it would play out. By the time she was a sophomore in college, Gayla had shelved the idea of cross-cultural ministry. She was studying speech therapy at Arizona State University. Her pastor, Don Hinkle, who
May 1, 2022
By Laura McKillip Wood Natasha Reimer watched the video flash across her screen, horrified at the view of devastation and death in Ukraine. Lives lost, homes destroyed, orphans created.* She closed her laptop and dropped to her knees. “God, what will become of my people?” she cried. “What can I do to help them?” She prayed this same prayer every night for weeks. Years before, Natasha had attended Kentucky Christian University and eventually earned a master’s degree in diplomacy and international development at University of Kentucky. Although she made her home in the United States, her heart was in Crimea,
March 1, 2022
Noni stretched her back as she straightened from her work. She’d been putting in long hours at the café she owned trying to pay off debt incurred when the café was closed during the worst of the pandemic, but she still owed money and worried she would not be able to pay it. She thought of her son, who had been pressuring her to let him move to live with his father. Her eyes teared up as fear filled her heart. The future seemed uncertain, and she wondered what would happen to her and her family. Just then, the door
November 1, 2021
By Laura McKillip Wood Amy and Terry Ruff visited a friend soon after arriving in Ghana. During that visit, the Ruffs struck up a conversation with another guest. As they got to know one another, the man told the Ruffs, “You need to meet my friend, Solomon*.” He gave Solomon’s phone number to Amy and Terry, and they called him to set up a meeting. Solomon told the couple where to drive and said he would wait for them by the side of the road. After driving several hours, the Ruffs repeatedly thought they had reached the rendezvous site, but
September 22, 2020
By Laura McKillip Wood Anthony blinked hard. His head spun. He fingered the bottle of glue in his pocket; the effects of huffing it still lingered, dulling the memory of the night before, when a man from the neighborhood found him alone in the dark and took advantage of him. He closed his eyes and lowered his head. Nobody cared that he had nowhere safe to go, no one to feed him or provide for his needs. I’ll never be anybody, he thought. He shook his head as the dizzy numbness took over his thoughts. The Need Kenya has roughly
June 14, 2020
By Laura McKillip Wood Ignacio left the Catholic church long before he began studying at a university in Santiago, Chile. Although he was a self-proclaimed agnostic, a friend from his neighborhood invited him to El Oasis, a student group designed to provide students with a Christian community to call “home” during their college years. Ignacio loved music and discovered that an alum of his university led the band at El Oasis. Before long, Ignacio was a regular, hanging out with the other music lovers who attended. His interest in the band grew, and he asked to join it. The staff
March 15, 2020
By Laura McKillip Wood It was the 1980s, and civil war loomed on the horizon in the African nation of Liberia. Missionaries Ken and Carolyn Vogel and their children worked with Liberian medical workers at a clinic. One day, a man appeared at the clinic carrying two tiny babies. His 2-week-old twins, a girl and a boy, were fighting for their lives. His wife had fallen into a coma shortly after giving birth. Their aunt, who had a 10-month-old of her own, had been trying to nurse them, but her milk supply could not keep up with the demands of
February 22, 2020
Laura McKillip Wood Terry pounded the steering wheel and cried. It took her last ounce of restraint not to throw open the car door and march right back into the boarding school to collect her son’s things and take him home. Who cared if the mission organization she and her husband, Kevin, worked with required them to send their child to boarding school? Was it even worth it? “Please, God, just give me my son back!” she cried. In the stillness that followed, the assurance that God was working through them in their ministry settled her heart. “I loved Jesus,
April 7, 2026
John B. Penrose Jr
April 7, 2026
David Faust
March 27, 2026
Rick Cherok