Missionaries.htm

David & Lori Persons

David and Lori grew up in the Congo where their parents were missionaries. Since 1978 they have been serving at Mulungwishi, Congo, (where Lori grew up) with the Methodist General Board of Global Ministries. David was a classmate of Rev. Neal Keller at Asbury Seminary and St. Paul's has covenanted to support the Persons in their mission work. The Persons have three grown children, Michelle, Andrew and Amber. Andrew and Amber graduated from college in 2004. Michelle was married in June, once in Denver, CO, and then a second time in her childhood home in Mulungwishi a short time later..
The Persons work under and with the Congolese District Superintendents in the church’s mission in church life, church planting and evangelism, education, medical work, women’s work and youth.

David is the Dean of the Methodist Theological Faculty and Professor of Missions at the university level, training the Congolese pastors for the United Methodist Church. Lori is the Director of the Women’s School which trains the wives of the pastoral students. Their e-mail address is Persons_mulungwishi@hotmail.com.

                          Steve and Sara Currey
                                  (w/ Annie Leigh & Julia Michelle)


     Steve & Sara Currey presently serve as directors of short term ministries with Pioneers, based in Orlando, FL. Steve is the son of St. Paul UMC members Paul and Jean Lee Currey.
   Steve and Sara met on the mission field in Togo, West Africa in 1995. They married in February 1997 with a desire to return to full time church planting among the unreached.
   Steve grew up in Coronado and made a commitment to follow Christ in his third year of college and after graduation he used his engineering degree to start a water well drilling project in Haiti. In 1992 he left Haiti to complete the Discipleship Training School (DTS) with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in Switzerland, which was followed by a three-month outreach to Bolivia. The next five years he served with Mercy Ships as a community development projects trainer working in Senegal, Ghana, Togo, Madagascar and South Africa.
   Sara gave her life to Christ at the age of 12. In 1990 she joined YWAM in Toronto and completed DTS in 1991. She continued her study of music, theater and dance and also earned a cosmetology license. She used this while serving with Mercy Ships in 1995. Shortly after their marriage in 1997, Steve and Sara moved to Chicago where Steve completed a MA in Missions and Intercultural Studies at Wheaton Graduate School. Steve and Sara have 2 beautiful daughters, Annie Leigh and Julia Michelle.
   In August of 1999, Steve and Sara were commissioned to lead a team of missionaries to Senegal, West Africa. Their focus was planting a church among the Wolof people who are 99% Muslim. The Currey's team co-led a church plant, developed a woman's ministry and focused on discipleship and leadership training. The Wolof church grew from 3 to 18 in three years and the Lord continues to add to their numbers.
   In 2004, Steve and Sara's 2nd daughter, Julia, was born in Senegal. The following day she was diagnosed with a rare blood disease. At one week she was evacuated to the USA and received her first of on-going blood transfusions. The Lord used this medical situation to bring the Currey's back to the USA where they began mobilizing college students and young adults to the mission field.
   Steve is currently the Short Term Ministries Director at PIONEERS International in Orlando, FL. This new ministry provides Steve and Sara a platform to invest in the recruiting, training and sending of missionaries to the field. They are passionate about short-term ministries as a fruitful tool for raising up and sending long term workers into the soon-to-be-finished task of world evangelism.
   "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." Matthew 9:37,38

Andy, Christen & Deb Kramer

Andy and Deb Kramer, with their daughter, Christen, are part of a new Ameritribes team. serving the LORD among the Tarahumara people living in the Sierra Madre Mountains of northern Mexico. Deb is the daughter of St. Paul member Annette Parker.
Mission effort among the Tarahumara people is demanding and without many of the amenities we take for granted. These native people are among the most traditional and needy that still exist in North America. They still speak their own language and many live just as their ancestors did hundreds of years ago. Centuries of abuse and neglect have created an atmosphere of distrust toward outsiders. Of the approximately 120,000 Tarahumara Indians, fewer than 0.5% are known as believers in Jesus Christ. Animal sacrifice and spirit worship are widely practiced. Fear,superstition and a social life dominated by native beer consume these people.
Andy's abilities and experience in construction and agriculture, coupled with his mature faith in Christ, enable him to build meaningful relationships with key native people that will lead many into the Kingdom of God. Deb brings to the team a tremendous love for God and the native people that is immediately felt by the Tarahumara. She also significantly complements the medical work with her knowledge and experience in dealing with malnutrition, so prevalent among the Tarahumara children.
Situated in La Mesa, the Kramers are four hours by rough road from the end of the paved highway. Located on a high mesa all water has to be hauled in from below. Christen is doing great with her computer-based high school classes, and helps out at the mission hospital, assisting in operations and translation work between the staff and the patients.

Andy says "This has been quite a year for us. God continues to work in and
through His creation, and we're in awe of Him as we witness His love made real

in people."
The Kramers email address is adkramers@hotmail.com