Prestoncrest Missions

Family Institute of Latin America Website

jgheiderich@gmail.com

Impact Salvador!

During an extended weekend we gathered with five Brazilian couples who minister in two of the congregations in the city of Salvador. There are a total of 6 congregations with around 400 members in the city. We held a spiritual growth retreat similar to the one we did in Recife last year. Our goal is to help church workers all over the country grow spiritually, keep their families strong, and stay healthy in their ministries. At these intense retreats we give personal attention to each couple who are working on the front lines of evangelism and church growth. We create an atmosphere of support where the couples were able to learn new ideas, rethink priorities and share their needs and experiences. We place special empshasis on individual, couple and group prayer during our time together. Each couple shared that this was the first time they had experienced such a retreat aimed at their own spiritual and relational needs.

We chose couples who are having the greatest impact on the brotherhood through their lives and ministries, those leaders who already influencing others in their city and region. We challenged these couples to pass on their experience to others in their congregations so that this work can be multiplied. The funds for this retreat came from donations to our ministry. Your generosity is transforming the leaders and the growth of the Kingdom in Brazil.

Reactions to the Retreat

We were impressed by how the subjects discussed and the advice presented about the spiritual dangers surrounding the life of church workers were so relevant to our lives. It seemed like the Heiderichs understood our daily lives and recognized our specific needs and could, as such, offer biblical orientation to meet those needs. We left the retreat feeling renewed and excited. We made decisions to prioritize our personal growth and be more authentic before our congregation. We want to thank those of you who made this event possible, through financial resources, through your support of Jerald and Gail and through your prayers. This ministry to the ministers is so important! What a great vision Jerald and Gail have of the necessity of this work in Brazil. As far as I know, they are the only ones doing this type of work and it is very effective. God bless you for all you have done, through them, for God’s men and women all over Brazil.
Nilton and Rosemery Barretto

We are so grateful to God for you because you have taken such a weight off of our shoulders that we could hardly stand to carry any longer. We did not know how to give it all over to Jesus. The retreat was excellent and now, on Monday morning, without the masks we had been using, things are much better. Life seems so much easier and we feel we can handle the difficulties that were about to make us explode. Seems like only now I have realized that the church is not my personal responsibility and the world is not my problem to resolve. I feel the love of the Father and it is so good to feel at peace. You can’t imagine how happy and joyful we feel!
José Antonio e Nilza Zara de Paula

As a full-time church worker this retreat definitely helped me. The things I learned and recognized about myself became a launching pad. I now feel free to let God really restore me without putting up walls before the great work He wants to do in my life. I know this change will benefit my ministry, my family and my marriage. Thank you brother for this opportunity to look into my own soul without prejudice, masks or any other filters.
Rogério Fernando

I want to thank you, from the bottom of my heart, and tell you how much this retreat meant to me. Today I feel emotionally relieved to know that other people feel the same way I do. This was a great time of spiritual growth for me. I will gladly be a multiplier of this work in my congregation, helping my brothers and sisters here and showing them that we need to take off our Superman capes and share our real selves.
Rita de Fernando

My wife and I could not let this opportunity pass us by. It was a marvelous weekend; a gift to us. I thought the techniques used during our discussions were very interesting. We all shared intimate stories about our lives. It was wonderful to get to know my brothers and sisters better. The impact was greater because Jerald and Gail were the first to share deeply personal aspects of their lives. God bless you for this work that is so gratifying for all of Brazil and I want to thank those who I don’t even know whose contributions made this possible.
Thank you, Daniel Carlos Bahia Lopes

I thank God for this retreat and the work that Jerald and Gail are doing with the support of brothers that I will never know. But God knows you and He is pleased. This was an unprecedented experience in my life. It was so important for me to talk about things in my life that have kept me prisoner for so long. It was good to participate with my husband in this restoring experience. The fascinating part is that we were challenged to multiply this experience with other couples so that they too might benefit from God’s marvelous love. Thank you God. Thank you brothers.
Iracema Maltez Pimentel Lopes.

We thank God, we thank you and we thank the North American brothers for sustaining this important work, which has certainly blessed many families here in Brazil. For my wife and I, this retreat was a great blessing where we could see how useful we are in God’s mission and learn that our problems are not the most difficult in the world. This time together with our brothers and sisters was very important. We got to know our co-workers better, we prayed together and we strengthened our bonds of fellowship and friendship. We will do our best to continue this work with others because we were spiritually blessed and we want to bless other families in the same way.
André and Lilí Sanches

We will be in the US for another month (we leave on August 24th). Please give us a call at 214-669-8296, if you haven’t talked to us yet.

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

Mid-Summer in Scotland

This is always one of my favorite times of the year in Scotland, whether it’s a hot summer or a cool rainy one. This year, so far, definitely comes down in the cool and rainy category. Our brilliant sunny weather of May has given way to showery weather throughout June, but it is still very pleasant. Days are long at this time of the year (the sun doesn’t set until around 10 pm), making it possible to be outside a bit more, as long as you take an umbrella with you!

Stirling Church News

The Stirling congregation is doing well. Our congregational meeting in early July was an informal “feedback session,” getting ideas and views from the church which the elders want to process and work with over the coming weeks. It was a good and positive time together as the church looks to the future and seeks better ways of reaching the lost of Scotland.

Our members are doing well, though many will be out of town in the coming weeks. John Renwick has been given an “all clear so far” in his follow-up scans and check-ups. His three month post surgery recovery time is almost complete now, and we are hoping to see him beginning to resume at least some congregational duties next month. We praise God for the continuing victory of his recovery. Our sister Maggie Campbell has experienced some ups and downs in health, and we continue to keep her in our prayers, praying that she might be as healthy in body as she is in spirit! We continue to study weekly with Pauline McGachy, and recently the church held its mid-week Bible class in her home, which was quite a step for her husband Stephen. We believe we are slowly building bridges to Stephen, who is a committed Roman Catholic and has been difficult to reach out to in the past. There have been several “extra” fellowship activities recently. In late June, a number of Stirling church members enjoyed a recent Saturday trip to Bamburgh Castle and Holy Island, an early center of missionary activity to the British Isles on England’s northeast coast. It was a great day of fellowship together.

Temporary FriendSpeak Changes

The summer holiday season is now upon us, and this has disrupted our regular Sunday FriendSpeak sessions with so many people out of town in the weeks ahead. Until the university resumes in August/September we will continue working with our 4 regular FriendSpeak readers, Jie, Danny, Ann, and Carey on Tuesday afternoons. We are thankful that Jie, who was baptized earlier this year, Danny, and Carey all continue to attend Sunday morning worship faithfully. We are planning a BBQ at our home soon for all involved in the FriendSpeak work, and several other special activities are also being planned for the near future.

Stirling’s First Youth Day

The Stirling church’s first ever Youth Day was a big success with over 25 young people attending from Morley, England, and several churches across the central belt. Tristan and Leslie Block, along with David and Emma McCready, put a tremendous amount of work and preparation into this excellent day, and the feedback from all who attended was extremely good. We certainly hope to be able to host other similar events in the not too distant future.

Family News

Isobel and I are doing well. We are enjoying having our son Robin and his wife Chrissy back in Scotland at the moment. They are visiting various congregations as they gather information and begin to make some decisions about what they would like to do when they finish their studies in Bible school next year. They are committed, God willing, to returning to the British Isles to work with congregations here and, perhaps, in time, to planting a new work somewhere. Please keep them in your prayers as they plan and prepare for this. The Stirling congregation enjoyed hearing Robin preach in Sunday worship on June 22nd. Hannah has now finished her first clinical placement, in ER, and has started a second, in family practice. She enjoyed being able to spend the 4th of July holiday with Laura and Clay in Dallas. Laura and Clay are also well and are busy with their jobs, as well as making plans for her graduate studies next year.

Brethren, we love you and appreciate your interest in Scotland so very much. We ask you to keep praying for us.

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

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

Our beloved Christian brothers and sisters in the Lord,

We have just finished a very successful, 4th Christian Seminar at the city of Corinth in Greece.

We spent four unforgettable days with Gospel preachers coming from Russia, Bulgaria, Israel, Romania, Greece, USA and Austria.

More than 100 precious souls were with us. Also, the Harding University students and their professors came to visit us for a day. The topic was “Holiness”.

We had 14 teachers and assistants teaching children’s classes, daily, each morning and evening.

Debbie was the coordinator and organizer of the children’s classes and our Greek sister Mary taught at these classes everyday. We were delighted to involve new Christian ladies and also our teenagers in assisting the teachers.

The ladies had an hour of prayers and fellowship which Eleni Melirrytos coordinated. All sisters enjoyed the encouragement they received from one another.

The sermons on holiness given by Gospel preachers of the churches of Christ were powerful:

Joe Shulam from Jerusalem spoke on “Be Holy as I am Holy” and “Father keep them from the evil one.”

Alexander Melirrytos from Greece spoke on “Holiness in young people.”

Igor Egirev from Russia spoke on “Holiness in the workplace.”

Dr Bill Richardson from Harding University spoke on “Holiness in marriage.”

Tim Brinley from Russia spoke of “Holiness during crises in our lives.”

Ron Kretz from Greece spoke on “Holiness in the family.”

Also we had the opportunity to hear about the work of Eastern European Missions from brother Brant Rybinski. Rick Walker from Kiev, Ukraine, spoke about the importance of been educated in the Word of God.

I thank God for the opportunity He gave me to be in charge of this year’s Christian Seminar in Greece.

It was an amazing feeling to see so many nationalities of Gospel preachers, of the churches of Christ, come together in fellowship. Some preachers met for the first time. Also we had many visitors from around Athens.

We strongly believe that the Lord’s work will be more productive due to the precious time spent in Corinth, Greece.

We are sorry that a group of nine Albanian Christians with their Gospel preacher; Alfred Zike, were unable to receive their Visas in time from the Greek Embassy in Tirana. Although they had presented all the necessary documents in plenty of time. We missed them, but we hope that they will have the opportunity to join us another time.

On June 29th we had a SPECIAL worship service at the Omonia Church of Christ in the heart of Athens. Joe Shulam and Igor Egirev were the speakers. Songs were sung in Bulgarian, Greek, Russian, Romanian and English.

After our worship, I had the privilege in baptizing into Christ a Russian Muslim lady called Irena. She has studied the Word of God with us for several months and now she dedicated her life to Jesus. We were ALL very happy with her faith in Christ.

Debbie and I are flying to the States on July 8th to attend the Global Missions Conference. They have invited me, to be one of the keynote speakers. I will be speaking on July 26th in Arlington, Texas. You may receive more information at www.globalmissionsconference.com.

While in the States we will visit several congregations and we will spend time with our children and grandchildren in Atlanta, Georgia and Dallas, Texas.

We will return to Athens on August 13th.

Please keep us in your prayers.

May the Lord bless you all.

We will see you soon,

In His love,
Dino and Debbie Roussos

Holiness in Corinth

“Holiness” was the general topic for the Conference we had in Corinth in June 25-28, 2008. It sounds like a very good one for the Conference in a place which in 1st century was notorious for the lack of holiness. But for us, modern Christians, who gathered there from different countries, the topic still was very relevant.

There are several things which made that event special.
The first noticeable thing was of course the beauty of the place. Many people compared Kalamaki Beach with Paradise. Although we never seen Paradise with our own eyes, after being there, we got impression we have been there… done that and got a baseball cap with the sign “Holiness” in 3 languages: Greek, English and Russian. After staying in Kalamaki Beach we could not help, but compare all other beautiful places with it and say: Kalamaki is better.

Another important thing is the number of countries represented there. Being at the Conference we had chance to meet brothers and sisters from Greece, Israel, Romania, Bulgaria, Germany, USA, Ukraine and Russia. In a way, it was like traveling to all these places. We shared stories about our congregations and religious situation in our countries. It helps to get a better vision of the Church of Christ in general. Unfortunately, we did not get to see brothers and sisters from Albania. They could not get visas to Greece. That reminded us that the World is still divided, but, as famous Christian song goes, “we are one in the Spirit” in spite of that.

Wonderful teaching also was a remarkable feature of the Conference. We heard lectures on the subjects “Be Holy as I am Holy”, “Holiness in the family”, “Holiness in young people’s life”, “Holiness in our workplace”, “Holiness in marriage”, “Holiness during crises in our life”. We were privileged to hear brothers Dino Roussos, Joe Shulam, Ron Kretz, Alexander Melirrytos, Bill Richardson, Tim Brinley and Bartosz Rybinski. I am very thankful for the opportunity to speak with such brothers.

The trip to archaeological sight of ancient Corinth was short, but very educational. We got to see the place where Apostle Paul was judged, the evidences that support Bible story and signs of presence of Christianity in Corinth.
Last evening in Corinth, June 27th, was unforgettable. One Greek couple had their 50th anniversary on that day, and Alexander Melirrytos, a minister of the Greek congregation, had his 55th birth day. He shaved his beard on this occasion and “looked like a baby” (quotation from A. Melirrytos). There were enough reasons to have good calibration. We had a lot of singing and rejoicing that night.

We left Corinth on Saturday, June 28th. We went to Athens and our acquaintance with this wonderful country and its people continued.

Sunday morning, before the worship service, Dino took us to the Mars Hill and Acropolis. We stood at the place where Paul was standing and delivering his famous sermon, recorded in Acts 17.

On Sunday we’ve been to several worship services at the same location (Omonia square). People speaking different languages get together at different time, because they would not fit in the auditorium all together. I was surprised to hear so many languages in Athens and in church particularly.

It gave a good sense of International brotherhood, where no one feels left out. There is rather big Russian speaking community in church. They got together at 4 pm. There were so many Russian speaking people at the Conference in Corinth and in church in Athens, that brother Dino asked me to speak in Russian, which made a perfect sense. In Corinth Bulgarian brother George Vassilef translated for me into English.

In Athens at church assembly I also spoke Russian, George Vassilef translated it into English and Dino Roussos translated from English into Greek. Usually translation shortens the message. But the good thing about it was that while one sentence was translated I had enough time to think about my next sentence. I made a lot of friends among Russian speaking Christians and think that I was encouraged by them much more then they were by me. I heard their stories, their confessions, their prayers, the way they sing to God, and all of that lifted up my spirit. But I do hope that our fellowship had a mutual encouraging effect.

The highlight of the trip was the baptism of a Russian lady, former muslim on Sunday during the worship service.
I was leaving Greece with feeling that I’ve found another home. Part of me did not want to go and leave my newly found relatives: Artur, Anatoliy, Luda, Natalia, Sveta, Nicolas, George, Tanya, Bogdan, Gabriela and many others. Not mentioning my good old friends that I had chance to visit there with.

We are very thankful to Dino and Debbie Roussos and all brethren in Greece for providing such a wonderful opportunity to get together and think about the way God expects us to live as Christians. And ultimately, we thank our Lord for that event; for He knows we need meetings like that to strengthen our faith, hope and love. Let all these end up in our holy life for His glory.

2008, July 5th
Igor Egirev

Dear Dino,

Thank you very much for organizing the seminar, for your tour-guidance in Corinth, Athens and on the islands! We really enjoyed the time of teaching and of Christian fellowship. You chose such a beautiful place for the seminar! It was wonderful combination of the God’s creation around us (palm trees, blossoming bushes, singing birds and cicadas) and tranquil friendly atmosphere that was created by you and other Christians from Greece. We also enjoyed the Kalamaki Beach hotel stuff hospitality.

We look forward to meet you and Debbie again!

With Christian love,
Sergey and Tanya Shishkin

Dear Fellow Servants,

I thought longingly of your gas prices yesterday as I waited in a long line of cars at the gas station down the street that lowered its prices for the evening to the equivalent of 8.54/gallon. Amazing! The line of cars was all the way down the street. Needless to say, people are trying to drive as little as possible these days — no matter where they live!

CAMPAIGN

Otherwise, things are going well. For four weeks we had four students from Harding University, (in the photo) ROSIE, ANDREW, ASHLEY, and LAURA, with us doing English Bible studies (EBS) with people who wanted to practice their English. We didn’t have as many calls from the newspaper ads and posters this time, but the students did a good job dealing with all who came and left us with quite a few who will either continue studying with Alicia and me on Monday evenings or who want to be part of our other English activities – like the English movie we will be seeing and discussing this Friday. In the past, such activities have encouraged more people to join the regular study groups and have also allowed for them to get to know more of the Christians, who also take part.

This campaign was good in another way also. In the past, the EBS activities, including the student visits, have pivoted around Jim and me. This time, Jim is not here and I knew I was not able to deal with the stress. Enter TEAMWORK. Early on, the plan was that Mark would coordinate things, but as his plans changed, it became a group project led by RUEDIGER, FLORIAN, ALICIA and me. Ruedi and Flo gave it structure, and Alicia and I had our previous campaign experience to contribute. Actually, Alicia did most of the footwork: being the first contact (on the telephone) for most people responding to our advertising; helping to train the HU students by passing on her own EBS experience; and keeping tabs on all the contacts throughout. Though it was not always easy for CHUCK HICKS, (the faculty sponsor who accompanied the group with his wife MELINDA) to deal with four of us instead of just one, it was encouraging to see how the Lord could combine and use our differing personalities and talents and how smoothly we were able to work together. Though Alicia and I, as “native-speakers,” will be leading the English studies, the four of us continue to see it as a group project.

GOOD NEWS!

That brings me to some very good news. ALICIA, who came to us in October 2006 for two years, has decided to stay longer. I have written you before about her helping me personally in the past 9 months and in making Jim’s library useful for others, but her involvement here has gone far beyond that. She is a willing servant – whether with a kind and comforting word, a well-done Bible lesson, babysitting or swinging a mop. Watching her grow has been fun. She used to be sort of timid.

Her sponsoring church/main supporter in Searcy has graciously extended her support, but because of the weakness of the US Dollar, she will need to find an additional $400-500/month support at least through next summer. Please keep her fundraising effort in your prayers.

THE BREMEN CHURCH

Dependence on God’s Word has always been an attribute of this church, but all too often, I think we depended on Jim for our nourishment. Looking around, it is exciting how much study is going on right now, both with each other and with others. First, RUEDIGER and FLORIAN are taking courses online from Sunset Bible Institute in Lubbock, and this has encouraged several others to consider doing the same. Then on Tuesdays twice a month, there are three groups meeting: the Men’s Class; MICHAELA, INGRID and ALICIA in one part of town; and KATERINA, STEFANIE and ROTRAUD in another. On the other Tuesday evenings, we have our regular Ladies’ Class. Besides that, HELGA is trying to share the Gospel with Linda and BARBARA Sa., and INGRID with BARBARA So. Finally, in addition to the EBS, I am studying with SIMONE, who became a Christian in December, as well as with my neighbor HEATHER, and ALICIA is reading in the Bible with JANA. Not bad for a small congregation!

But that is not all. There is also JUERGEN, Simone’s husband. Last week, he asked Ruediger if he could come over with some Bible questions. It turns out that he is already in the Psalms on his way to reading through the whole Bible and had a page full of good questions. Both he and Simone are from the former East Germany, where there was little or no religious training, so in order to understand the Lord’s teaching and sacrifice, he wants to read all of God’s Word just as Simone did last year before becoming a Christian. Juergen also has attended worship on Sundays several times in the past few weeks.

PERSONAL

Rejoice with me! I have gotten the tax information far enough along so that others can help me and am very thankful for the CPA’s on both sides of the Atlantic helping me to get it in finished form. There is just something unsettling about dealing with the IRS! Actually, it was rather emotional going through last year in detail, invoice by invoice, but I think it did me good. However, at the end, I would have preferred to continue holding onto 2007 (and Jim) rather than adding up the totals.

If you remember, I told you I was looking forward to things slowing down a bit. Well, as it turns out, life is not that much slower, just more regular, which is good. Also, a couple of the people I am counseling at the moment are in emotional situations similar to mine, which means that helping them find solutions does a lot to help me as well. God is good.

Thank you for your continued prayers. Gott mit euch!

Your fellow servant,
Elsa Springer