Prestoncrest Missions

39 Wishart Drive
Broomridge, Stirling FK7 7TR
Scotland, U.K.
Tel: 011-44-1786-816259
Email: mitchvick@btinternet.com

Hello from Scotland

Our spell of really great Scottish weather continues, with only a few days of rain over the past month. For the most part we have had brilliant sunny weather, with the temperature in the 60’s and 70’s. That’s about as good as it gets!

Visit from the Antwines

Last week we were thrilled to have Clyde and Gwen Antwine visiting from Oklahoma. This wonderful missionary couple stopped off enroute to Germany to see Tristan and Leslie Block, who work with us here in Stirling under the auspices of the H.I.M (Helpers in Missions) program. It was so good to be with them and to introduce them to the Stirling congregation. Clyde preached for us on Sunday (June 8th), and the congregation enjoyed a fellowship meal afterward to enable Clyde and Gwen to meet the group. It was an excellent day, and several non-Christian visitors were present.

Church News

The congregation has had a much better month and is focusing well on our work and on the future. A congregational meeting is planned for Sunday, July 6th, after our next fellowship meal so that the elders can both present some ideas for future outreach and take suggestions from the church. We look forward to this special time with the congregation. John Renwick continues to get good reports after his surgery and is making slow but steady progress back to health. He and Irene have just returned from Aberdeen this week following the birth of their third grandchild, a 10 lb. 7 oz. son for John Anthony and Kristen. Our sister Maggie Campbell is also enjoying a better spell of health. We continue to have studies with one of our newer members, Pauline McGachy, and we were very pleased to have her husband Stephen with us for worship last Sunday. Tristan and Leslie also continue to study regularly with Jie Luo and her husband Danny, and they have just begun some extra work with Carey Lee, another FriendSpeak reader.

FriendSpeak

Our FriendSpeak work has been a little slower because of exams and travel by many of the students, though we are still pleased with how it is going. Wendy, one of the readers, has now moved to England, but we still have, in addition to Jie and Danny, regular sessions with Ann, from China, Carey, from Taiwan, and Marcia, from Brazil. Since it has been a time of some “coming and going” among our regular workers, that is a comfortable number to work with through the summer.

Youth Work

The youth work is also going well, though we have been unable to restart the Tuesday youth club. This will probably have to wait for the autumn now, when we hope the construction on the school will be finished. However, Tristan, Leslie, David, and Emma continue to get together regularly with our own group of young people, and they are all working hard to get ready for our Youth Day this coming Saturday. A lot of planning and preparation has already been done, and we are hoping for a really good group of youth from the Scottish churches.

BBS Extension Classes

My own teaching work for the British Bible School extension program is now finished. The last session took place last night. We averaged 8-10 students per week, one of whom is taking the course for BBS credit, so it has certainly been a worthwhile effort. I expect to be teaching again in the future, but in the meantime I look forward to having that evening available for other things.

Family News

Isobel and I enjoyed attending the wedding of Paula Ferrie and Stephen MacDonald a couple of weeks ago (Paula is the daughter of Alastair and Linda Ferrie, who work with the church in Dundee). It was a very good day, even though attending the wedding meant that we had to miss the 50th anniversary celebration of the Hyvots Bank church in Edinburgh. (They also had a really great day of fellowship.) We are looking forward to the arrival on Robin and Chrissy on Friday (June 20th) and the opportunity to spend some time with them. They have finished their first year at Sunset and are in North Carolina as we write. Hannah is doing well, and her first clinical placement, in ER, has been successful so far, though the 12 hour days have taken some getting used to. Laura is also well, and she has just been accepted to do graduate work in Library Science at UNT (University of North Texas).

We love you and appreciate your interest in our work so very much. Please don’t hesitate to drop us a note when you can, and please keep us in your prayers.

Yours in the Lord’s service,
Mitch and Isobel Vick

Heiderich News Brief - June, 2008

Family Institute of Latin America Website

jgheiderich@gmail.com

Salvador, Bahia

Salvador is the third largest city in Brazil, after Rio and São Paulo. It is 550 years old and was the first capital of the country. The ICOS (church of Christ Salvador) is one of 6 Churches of Christ in this great city. This congregation is being evangelized by 4 American missionary couples. They have 35 members and an attendance of 70 after 3 years of work. We spent 5 days with this mission team at the end of April. This was our second teambuilding workshop with this talented team. Last year they were in the midst of loosing one of their team members and things were very stressful and uncertain. This year we found a team that is working well together and focusing on evangelizing their part of the huge city of Salvador. We admire their desire to keep growing as a team and not to let anything hinder their effectiveness.

Thanks

We are so thankful that Jerry and Gail have been able to work with our team and family over the last two years. It is such a blessing to have a couple come in with so much experience in church planting. We know that when we share the challenges that we face as a new church plant here in Salvador that we are speaking to people who can truly empathize with our situation. Their experience gives them much wisdom that has allowed them to confront, head on, the problems and conflicts that our team faces. But the greatest thing is that they do this with so much love, care, and concern. At the end of our last workshop we commented to each other how comfortable we felt sharing our deepest fears and challenges, as this is not something that we would have to or want to do in any other profession. But after 2 short weeks of conversation over the 2 years, Jerry and Gail have gained our confidence. It is so freeing to be able to share with someone some of the deepest aspects of our lives, knowing that they will treat us with the love and care that we would expect from deeply concerned mentors or overseers. This is so important because as missionaries we do not have these kinds of relationships here on the field, as our mentors live so far away and don’t have the same perspective that Jerry and Gail can have when they come and work with all of the families of this church plant. Thanks again Jerry and Gail for your lifegiving, spirit-renewing, ministry.
In Him, Travis and Alicia

To me, the ministry that Jerald and Gail offered our mission team was a depth of understanding into our lives and our families that cannot be measured. They helped us to understand ourselves, our marriage, and our teammates in new ways while encouraging us to trust each other. They have seen it all and done it all, and they somehow manage to stay impartial while each family shares their defeats and victories over the life of their ministry. We believe that every family in mission work would benefit from an intensive workshop with the Heiderichs and hope that they continue to offer their considerable expertise to struggling families and mission teams who want to improve their relationships but do not know how. We have more fun and less conflict because of them. Thanks guys!
Em Cristo, the Quireys

We have been so blessed by our time with the Heiderichs. They have worked with us personally as well as our whole team. The first time they came to work with us was at a crucial point for our team. Through their guidance and counsel our team was able to be more open with one another and build a deeper level of trust than we had ever experienced. We know that God sent them to our team at just the right time and we continue to benefit from the tools they have given us. Through their second visit with our team we were able work more on how to be a healthy team and work together in productive ways. The Heiderichs worked to challenge us individually and as a team to grow for the betterment of the work here. Personally they challenged us to not have blind spots in our life that leave room for Satan and to stay focused. We are grateful for what the Heiderichs have done for our team and us and by extension the church family here in Salvador.
Randy and Jennifer Porter

Jerry and Gail helped our team work through some things that have come up in the first few years of our ministry here in Salvador. It was good to have them help us do that. We now have some great suggestions on changes we need to make to become stronger in our walks with Jesus and in our work together as a mission team and young church leaders.
Matt and Mary Virginia Mabery

Other News

We will be arriving in the US on June 24th. We will be traveling to report to our supporting congregations, fundraising and visiting with family until August 24th. Give us a call!! 214-669-8296. Your encouragement makes our work a joy and your prayers keep our spirits lifted. God is doing great things in the country of Brazil!!

Remember

All contributions for this ministry should now be sent to the Prestoncrest Church of Christ in Dallas, Texas: 12700 Preston Road, Suite 210, Dallas, Texas, 75230. We want to thank Continent of Great Cities for handling this for us for so many years and thank our sponsoring congregation, Prestoncrest, for being willing to take on the task. Please write to us if you have any questions about this change.

DINO & DEBBIE ROUSSOS
P.O. Box 70127 Glyfada, Greece 16610
Tel : 011 (30) 6944 344167
Fax : 011 (30) 210 8974405
E-mail : DinoRoussos@gmail.com

Pictures frmo the Roussos

Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

We are sending you our latest news from the mission work in Greece. Praise the Lord for His many blessings as we teach Jesus and His Word to those who are still in darkness and without the HOPE to live forever.

Five Souls were Baptized into Christ

The angels in heaven and all of us are rejoicing to see that God’s holy Word brings precious souls to Jesus. Natasha Glushko and Liutmila Savsenko gave their lives to Jesus, and I had the privilege to baptize them in the River Jordan in Israel, in April 2008. They are both from Ukraine but they live in Athens and speak Greek and Russian.

Natasha is a journalist for a Russian newspaper in Athens, and Liutmila is a teacher of chemistry. They are good friends and both of them are on fire for the Lord and His Truth.

It was an unforgettable event. In the River Jordan, where Jesus was baptized, we had the joy to baptize our two sisters for the remission of their sins. They surrendered their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ and now they are coming faithfully and with GREAT JOY to our assembly.

Irena has been studying God’s word with several members of our church in Athens. When brother, Sammy Flannary, came to teach recently, at the Sunset Bible Institute, he baptized Irena after our Wednesday Bible Study.

Patience is a Nigerian woman who attends the new congregation on the island of Crete where John Adasoye is preaching. Alexander Melirrytos with his wife Eleni and a group of American Christians visited the church in Crete and Alexander baptized Patience. Since last year about 15 people have dedicated their lives to Jesus and were baptized in Crete. Thank you for your prayers.

Mayia a Bulgarian lady was baptized by Christo at the congregation in Omonia in Athens.

Sixty-Seven from the Church in Athens visit Israel

For the last two years several of the members were asking me to put together a church group to visit the Holy Lands where our Saviour Jesus Christ lived, taught, healed the sick, died and was resurrected. I was surprised at the number that wanted to come. I was expecting around 15-20 people would be interested, but 67 were so excited to fulfill a lifelong dream. In the group we had Greeks, Russians, Romanians, Ukrainians, Philipinos and Americans. It was a spiritual and very educational study tour of Israel.

Wherever we travelled, we could study the Bible. In Tiberius, Capernaum, Cana, Nazareth, Jericho, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem. In the evenings we had Bible studies answering questions and we had daily devotionals.Two precious souls were baptized for the forgiveness of sins in the Jordan River.

I thank God for allowing me to lead this Christian group to Israel. For most of them, it was a life dream that became a reality. We studied the scriptures together, we enjoyed Christian fellowship, prayed together and our faith was renewed as we meditated upon the sufferings of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Here is the translation, in English, of our new sister, Natasha’s impressions from our trip in Israel:

“It had long been my dream to visit the land, where once was born, lived, preached, taught, was crucified and resurrected our Lord Jesus Christ. At last, with God’s help, I headed for the Holy Land with a group of pilgrims.

We were reading from the scriptures, touching the places where our Lord endured trials and agony, traced His way down Via Dolorosa, which is called “the road of the cross”. It culminated at Calvary where Jesus was crucified. We spent some time at the place of His ascension to heaven and took the opportunity to see the tomb of the Lord.

We were blessed to visit the birth town of Jesus, Bethlehem, as well as Jericho near the mountain where Jesus fasted for 40 days and was tempted.”

Teaching God’s Word in Athens

It is a great joy for me to preach every Sunday for the Greek, Bulgarian, Russian, or English services. Sometimes I have to preach 3 or 4 times on a Sunday. At the end of the day I might be exhausted but very happy that I had the privilege to teach God’s holy Word to the nations. Please continue to pray for us and the work in Greece.

Guest Speakers for the Church in Athens

The last few Sundays we had excellent gospel preachers who came to visit us and preach for our congregation.

Sammy Flannary, a teacher for the Sunset International Bible Institute and a gospel preacher gave us a good lesson on “The Law in the Old Testament”. He also conducted a three-day seminar for a charismatic Nigerian church in Athens concerning the “Power of the Holy Spirit in our Lives”. I enjoyed listening and learning from our brother Flannary who is a great servant of Jesus.

Jerry Heiderich, We were happy to have Jerry Heiderich, missionary to Brazil and his son, Chris, come through Athens last week. Jerry has been supported by the Prestoncrest Church of Christ for several years to perform counseling services for missionaries and church members in Brazil. His son, Chris, just completed a semester at ACU’s program in Oxford, England and spent a few days visiting Greece. Jerry spoke at our Russian worship service on Sunday evening and gave an inspirational message on the importance of human touch.

Larry Foster, spoke to us on Biblical archaeology and the historicity of the Bible. Through the presentation we were able to see the archaeological sites in Israel and verify that the Bible is very historic, authentic and true.

As you know many Russians were not taught that the Bible was inspired by God and they need historical evidence.

Francis Habashy, who is a preacher in Cairo, Egypt came to spend two weeks in Greece. I arranged for brother Habashy to speak in Arabic for a group of Arabic speaking people from Iraq, Somalia, Marocco, Algeria and Egypt. On Monday night we went to Evripidou. Doug Reeves, Dean of Sunset International Bible Institute, was with us as well. On Wednesday night he preached for the refugees at the Samaritan Refugee Center. Then we assisted in feeding the refugees.

Dr. David Burks, president of Harding University, preached for our English speaking congregation on May 25 on the subject of “We are the Light of the World”. Dr. Burks brought 24 members of his family (children and grandchildren) for a 10 day journey to Greece. Debbie and I enjoyed being with them on a four day trip to the Biblical city of Ephesus, the island of Patmos where John received the Revelation, and the islands of Rhodes, Crete and Santorini.

Christo Arnautov returns to Bulgaria

Christo Arnautov has been the preacher for the Bulgarian congregation of the Omonia Church for several years. Brother Christo and his wife, Jana, did a dynamic work among the Bulgarian population in Athens and, through their hard work, the Lord created a strong Bulgarian congregation.

We ask God’s blessings upon them as they leave us and pray that they will continue to work for the Lord wherever they go.

We now have to preach for the Bulgarian Church. Please pray for us as we find the BEST ways to serve Jesus.

Stephen and Debbie Return

Debbie returned to Greece on May 4 from her trip to the States for the birth of Nikki and Matt’s baby. She stayed to take care of the baby for a while after Nikki started back to work. She also went to Texas to see Melody and Andy and our other two grandchildren, Jackson and Zoe.

Stephen just arrived two weeks ago after finishing his semester at ACU. He will be here until July then will return to take the remaining classes he needs to graduate in August. He is enjoying seeing some of his old school friends, but is also studying for his GRE exams for graduate school.

Seminar in Corinth

June 25 - 28 we will hold our 4th annual Christian conference. I have spent the last couple of months making preparations for this event. There has been great participation each year from the Omonia congregation and many others. I have invited speakers from other countries as well as Greece and have extended invitations broadly. It will be held again at a beautiful hotel on the seaside, close to Corinth.

Trip to the U.S. in July

We will be traveling to the U.S. on July 8th where I will be one of the keynote speakers for the Global Missions Conference in Arlington, TX. On this trip we will also stop to visit Debbie’s father in Virginia, who underwent open heart surgery in September at the age of 80. We have not seen him yet since the surgery.

Since Stephen is supposed to graduate from ACU in August, we have arranged to attend the ceremony and return to Greece immediately afterward on August 13th.

Nikki and Matt come to Greece in September

Our daughter Nikki and son-in-law, Matt and their new baby girl, Ashtyn, are planning to come to Greece in September rather than July. They are waiting for their house to sell and, as everyone knows, the housing market has reached a crisis point. Please pray that their house will sell soon so they may come and start their ministry with youth camps and the young immigrant population in Greece.

Brethren,

We are looking forward to seeing you soon.

We appreciate, very much, your love to us and we thank you for your letters, cards, phone calls and support.

TOGETHER we can continue the ministry of the gospel of Christ.

In His Service,

Dino and Debbie Roussos

Italian Report - June, 2008

WHY DID I DECIDE TO BE A PREACHER?

God answers prayer! The day I was born, my mother started praying I would become a preacher. She never told me she was praying for this, but my mom and dad showed me the way.

In 1952, I enrolled in college at Oklahoma A & M at Stillwater, Oklahoma. I went to worship Sunday morning and the church received me with open arms. There were many other students there. Eldred Stevens was the preacher and he was a good one. He was preaching a series of sermons on world religions each Sunday night. It was a big thing. The elders put a big ad in the paper each week. One week it would be on the Baptist Church, one week on Pentecostalism, etc. This drew big crowds. When he preached on Roman Catholicism even the local priest was present. The next day he called Bro. Stevens and challenged him to a four day public debate. Naturally, Eldred accepted the challenge. I was there every night. Eldred did a masterful job. He built a fire in my soul. Eldred loved to teach young men to preach. He had classes for all the young men each Sunday afternoon. I decided I wanted to become a preacher. Eldred encouraged me to transfer to Central Christian College (the forerunner of Oklahoma Christian University) located in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. I sat at the feet of L. R. Wilson, Roy H. Lanier, Sr., Hugo McCord, Joe Spaulding and the other fine Christian teachers. This changed my whole life.

MY HEALTH

I have had a hard time for the last year and I still have a long way to go. However, I am doing a lot better. Last week I had to have Vitrectomy surgery on my left eye, as well as some laser procedures done and it went well. I am able to work most every day corresponding with the churches and preachers in Italy. I also receive several letters, E-mails and phone calls each week, almost every day.

PROBLEMS IN ITALY

All churches have their problems from time to time. This is true here in the States and also in Italy. This problem has to do with instrumental music. I know of three churches in the Dallas-Fort Worth area that use them and perhaps there are others. Recently, a front page article in the Oklahoma City area told that the largest Church of Christ in Oklahoma City had instituted musical instruments in their worship.

This is not our problem in Italy. We do not have a single congregation that uses instruments. Our problem is the problem that is sweeping America - the desire to have unity with the Christian churches in Italy in spite of what they teach and practice.

Recently, the congregation that we began in Rome held a lectureship near Rome and asked a Christian Church missionary to be one of the principal speakers. I was shocked. Immediately, I wrote to Vittorio Vitalone, my son in the faith, objecting. I wrote the elders of the church in Rome also. Several other former missionaries wrote to them. Another Italian preacher (another son in the faith) told the Roman elders that he could not attend the lectures in good faith and he didn’t. I asked them why they didn’t just go ahead and ask other denominational church preachers to speak. The conservative Christian churches have existed in Italy for over 50 years. We have talked with them again and again, with no avail. We went our own way and let them do the same. I warned the brethren to “beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, for a little yeast ruins the entire lump”. I also pointed out, “How can two men walk together except they be agreed?” Vittorio and the Roman elders replied that they were just trying to unify the churches and that the use of instrumental music was not used in the church at Rome and would not be used.

GOOD NEWS

Other than this all goes well in Italy. I have heard of 29 Baptisms since my last report. They have had some great lectures and gospel meetings. The churches are growing. I stay in contact with them weekly. I am happy to be able to work with them even though I still have to remain in bed.

God bless all of you. I am thankful for the elders at Prestoncrest who are not afraid to take a stand for the truth.

Until next time,

Charles Moore