Mission Interpreters

Beth Bauman, Director of Youth and Children’s Ministries
Mount Vernon United Methodist Church

I have been on international mission trips to Haiti and Costa Rica; disaster relief trips to Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, and eastern Virginia; and youth trips to Appalachia, middle Tennessee and Johns’ Island, South Carolina. When I start thinking of mission experiences, my mind is filled with wonderful memories! Worship stands out – the joy and passion in worship with a congregation in Port-au-Prince; sitting under the thatched roof shelter in Costa Rica while my father-in-law preached in Spanish; sitting on a porch in Appalachia listening to a minister’s wife share gospel songs with us; worshipping with the congregation in Biloxi on Easter Sunday morning after Hurricane Katrina. Joy in the face of adversity is inspiriting beyond words.

Reverend Linwood Cook, Founder and Former President
The Friends of Barnabas Foundation

35 years as a UMC Minister, with the last 10 years as President of The Friends of Barnabas Foundation. With the Foundation I was primarily leading and coordinating the Foundation’s Medical Ministry in the Central Mountains of Honduras by sending 11 Mountain Medical Teams and 3 surgical Teams a year for the last 10 years.

The photo is of me in Honduras with a young girl who changed my life. Dixie was 2 years old and weighed only 12 lbs when I found her. I have coordinated or led Volunteer in Mission teams to:

• 2  Teams to Mexico to build churches and clinics
• 3  Native American Reservations, Navajo, Blackfoot and Pueblo Nations
• 14  Disaster Relief Teams, Jamaica, Florida, South Carolina, Virginia, West
• ission to the Red Bird Conference, the Henderson Settlement
• 1  Mission to Henry Fork, Building the new addition
• 30  Home and Church repair teams on the Danville, Rappahannock, Richmond, Peninsula, Petersburg and Portsmouth Districts
• 41  Disaster Relief Missions Teams Supported going to Gulf States after Hurricane Katrina
• 149  Coordinated Medical Missions to Honduras

Reverend Brad Dulaney, Pastor
Redwood United Methodist Church
Rocky Mount, VA

The Rev. Bradley S. Dulaney is pastor of Redwood United Methodist Church in Rocky Mount.  In ten years of pastoral ministry, he has also served congregations in Chesapeake and Franklin County.  A native of Floyd County, Brad is a graduate of Emory & Henry College, and Boston University School of Theology.  During his college and seminary years, Brad was active as a camp director at two different United Methodist camps in Virginia, as well as a church musician in both Virginia and Massachusetts. Brad’s particular areas of vocational interest include preaching and teaching, evangelism and church growth, mission, and Wesleyan studies.  Brad and his wife, Kim, met as teenagers while on a mission trip in Singapore and Malaysia.  Kim is a family practice physician in Rocky Mount, where she and Brad are raising their three young children: Zora, Jesse, and Isaac.

Brad will be sharing the story of what happened when he and Kim were invited on a mission trip to El Salvador in his first pastoral appointment.  What developed was a unique sister-church relationship between his American congregation and a fledgling Methodist congregation in an impoverished city of El Salvador.  He looks forward to the opportunity to tell the story, and invite others to deeper levels of involvement in God’s mission!

Reverend Mike Eisenman, Pastor
Pleasant Grove UMC (4 years)
Martinsville, Virginia

I will be sharing about our Costa Rica mission with Strongs Mission but more importantly I hope to encourage others to take bold steps back into the world through the OPEN DOOR. My most memorable time was on our trip to Costa Rica last summer (the first international trip the congregation has supported, paying over $28,000).  We were in San Jose at Los Guidos mission, an area where the feeding mission means the difference between life and death for some.  One of the teens who was having a difficult time adjusting and was disconnected from the hundred or so local kids playing in the meeting room had sat down along the wall.  A three year old boy saw her, came over and sat next to her.  A minute later he crawled into her lap, layed his head against her, and fell asleep.  He needed a quiet, safe place to nap, her tears showed that she needed a still, quiet voice from God.

Phyllis Fisher, Member
St. Luke’s UMC
Danville, Virginia

I have been married to my husband, Bernie, for 44 years and we have two daughters, a son-in-law and two beautiful granddaughters. I retired from Social Security Administration approximately 8 years ago and got very active in volunteering and doing mission trips at that time.  I volunteer locally with our local food bank, God’s Store House, once a week.  I have had the opportunity to volunteer at the distribution center in Boone, NC for Samaritan Purse Operation Christmas Child and hope to become a year round volunteer for them.  I had the opportunity to go with members of my church to Russia on a mission trip in 2001.  Since 2005 I have been on a Mountain Medical Mission Team  to Honduras with the Friends of Barnabas Foundation six times and two of those trips I have been a team leader.  The trips to Honduras have a special place in my heart and when I get home from a trip I am always anxious for my next trip the following year.  For me mission work is a big part of my being and I feel honored to be God’s hands and feet in all of my work whether locally or in Honduras or wherever God decides to take me..

Reverend Bob Gochenour { Pronounced Go-Ken-Hour }, Pastor
Fairview UMC
Danville, Virginia

I was raised in the Methodist Church just about all of my life. I felt God’s call into ministry when I was 15 years old. I attended Oral Roberts University for both undergraduate degrees (BA in New Testament Greek) and for seminary (Master of Divinity).

I have attended and led Volunteer in Mission teams to Russia, Brazil, Franklin–VA, Matthews/Gloucester, VA (Hurricane Isabel Recovery), and D’Iberville-Mississippi (Hurricane Katrina recovery). On Sunday, I’ll be sharing my experiences on the Methodist Mission School project in Nakuru District, Kenya.

Steve Jennings, Executive Director and founder
Teens Opposing Poverty (TOP)

Steve has led the ministry since 1987. He has also served as a Certified Lay Speaker in the United Methodist Church since 1986 and was the 1995 recipient of the Denman Award for Evangelism (Laity ) in the Virginia Conference. Steve has served in many different capacities in the local church and is a member of the board of directors of the Society of St. Andrew.When he’s not serving the Lord in TOP, he plays everything from traditional hymns to Celtic music to the blues on the harmonica and enjoys camping, hiking and just about any other form of outdoor activity.  He and his wife of 20 years, Susan, have one teenage daughter Lindsey.

Steve Jennings will be sharing about his experiences over 23 years as the director of Teens Opposing Poverty.  His focus will be on Transformational Ministry with the Poor. He will detail the process of transformation and share stories of the life-changing power of Christ working in  people who struggle to survive.

Emma Johnston, ZOE – Secretary
Ferrum College Bonner Leader – Community Impact Intern / Senior Intern

Hey ya’ll, I’m Emma Johnston, a Junior at Ferrum College. I am majoring in Religion and Christian Ministries with the intent of going to Seminary in the Fall of 2011. My favorite things include bluegrass music, Monday Night Praise at Ferrum, and always finding time to laugh.  I hope to share with all of you my mission experiences in Portsmouth VA and Dallas TX where I was able to serve others and be humbled by the presence of God.

LeRoy V. Jones, President
LeRoy Jones Evangelistic Ministries

Evangelist, Missionary, Mission work in over 20 Nations. Graduate of Asbury College and Asbury Seminary.  Recipient of the Denman Award and the Philip Award  for outstanding work in Evangelism. For Sunday, May 23, 2010,  Subject:  “2009 Church Planting Crusades in Ghana, West Africa”  where the team planted 10 new Methodist Churches. The challenge is to be “World Christians”. Peggy C. Jones, Vice President and Secretary of the LeRoy Jones Evangelistic Ministries. Attended Asbury College. Missionary team member on many of the crusades, Bible teacher and Mission programs presenter, Musician and singer. She will be prepared to Present a mission program on Sunday, May 23, 2010 on one of at least three areas:  Haiti and our beginning missionary work,  Ecuador, or Navajo Nation.  Whatever is needed or wanted most.

Reverend David C. Magruder, Pastor
Swansonville United Methodist Church
Dry Fork, Virginia

I was part of a team who responded to the rebuilding effort in the gulf coast region after Hurricane Katrina. In conjunction with the disaster response leaders from the Danville District, I coordinated the efforts of a group of five churches in the Callands community to help plan and implement a mission trip to Biloxi, Mississippi. A total of twelve people from the five churches traveled to Biloxi in June of 2006, ten months after the storm hit. The devastation and grief from the Hurricane remained with the and in the people when our team arrived. We worked with a United Methodist Church in Biloxi to house the volunteers and to coordinate the rebuilding efforts. This group of church members revisited Biloxi again the next January and then three other times over the next two years in an effort to help rebuilding the homes and lives of those affected by the hurricane.

Kip Robinson, President
The Friends of Barnabas Foundation
Richmond, Virginia

Kip is the new president of The Friends of Barnabas Foundation (along with the Rev. Nancy Robinson).  His mission experience includes eight years as the United Methodist Volunteer In Mission coordinator for the Virginia Conference and a stint as the associate director of the UMVIM office for the Southeastern Jurisdiction in Atlanta.  Kip has led or participated on UMVIM teams to Honduras, Mexico, Haiti, Belize, Panama, and Brazil along with 19 mission teams to Africa, including Kenya, Mozambique, Uganda, Sudan, South Africa and Sierra Leone.  He is a former chief civil engineer in the nuclear division of Dominion Virginia Power and a Virginia Tech graduate. The Friends of Barnabas Foundation sends medical and surgical teams for the poorest of the poor in the mountains of Honduras, the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.  This 10 year old ministry, which has its origins in the United Methodist Church, sends 11 mountain medical teams and two to three pediatric surgical teams per year.  A pre/post operative facility in Honduras prepares children for surgeries and provides surgical follow up and extended care to children with inoperable conditions.  Over 200,000 patients have been seen by our volunteers but still much needs to be done.  The Foundation strives to make the world a little better…one child at a time.

Lee Warren, Virginia Director
Stop Hunger Now

Lee is a native of Southside Virginia . She received a B.A. in French from Sweet Briar College, and her Master of Divinity, magna cum laude from Duke University . She became a licensed local pastor within the United Methodist Church in 2001 and served as pastor of two local churches before joining the Stop Hunger Now team in June, 2006. She is an active member of the South Hill Rotary Club. Lee has long believed that caring for “the least of these” is a moral imperative that transforms the lives of both recipient and giver. She sought out Stop Hunger Now initially as a volunteer because of her concern for global relief as well as for the opportunity the volunteer packaging program provides for hands-on mission. Following numerous trips, she has a strong, personal relationship with the people of Haiti and our partners operating in that country. Lee lives in South Hill , Virginia with her husband, The Hon. Charles Warren. She has two grown children and one grandchild. I will be sharing about the opportunity Stop Hunger Now provides congregations to get directly involved in global hunger relief as well as an update on our immediate response to the Haiti earthquake and our commitment to a sustained presence in that country.

Reverend Pat Watkins, Executive Director
Caretakers of God’s Creation
Richmond, Virginia

I will be sharing how God’s mission includes caring for everything that God has made, in addition to people.  We will discuss the Biblical foundations for creation care and ways the church can live out its faith in mission to God’s creation.  I am a missionary of the UMC, a Church and Community Worker, assigned to Caretakers of God’s Creation, a VA Conference creation care ministry.

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Kathleen Overby Webster, Staunton District Superintendent
The Virginia Conference of The United Methodist Church
Fishersville, Virginia

I am looking forward to participating in the Danville District Mission Celebration.

I will be able to speak about my mission experience with the Cabinet Mission team and the Voices of Youth in July 2009; the Staunton District Guatemala Mission Team in 2005;  previous trips to Red Bird and Jubilee Project in Sneedville, TN, and one-day experiences with Pathways in Petersburg and various local settings.

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Reverend Walter A. Whitehurst, Retired United Methodist pastor
Virginia Beach, Virginia

Former Director of United Methodist Volunteers In Mission, Southeastern Jurisdiction, Atlanta, GA, and former Consultant for Individual Volunteers, United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries, New York, NY. My wife and I are authors of the book Following God’s Call: Individual Volunteers In Mission, Abingdon Press, 2008.

We will be sharing with the congregations of the Danville District stories about the work of individual volunteer missionaries who have served in many different ways in the Untied States and in other countries around the world.

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Dr. Betty C. Whitehurst, Retired Spanish professor
Virginia Beach, Virginia

Former Associate Director of United Methodist Volunteers In Mission, Southeastern Jurisdiction, Atlanta, GA, and former Consultant for Individual Volunteers, United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries, New York, NY. My husband and I are authors of the book Following God’s Call: Individual Volunteers In Mission, Abingdon Press, 2008.

We will be sharing with the congregations of the Danville District stories about the work of individual volunteer missionaries who have served in many different ways in the Untied States and in other countries around the world.