Larry Sohn Senior Pastor
First Assembly Cedar Rapids
319-393-6353 larry@lovethischurch.com 3233 Blairs Ferry Road NE
Cedar Rapids, IA 52402
MISSIONS FEST 2012 VIDEO HIGHLIGHT
On October 21, 2012 we held a Missions Fest with the theme " Cruising Into the Hearts of the Nations". We handed out boarding passes and everyone enjoyed a taste of Africa, Eurasia, Asia pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America. There was an array of delicious, delectable desserts! We had Sparkles the Clown entertaining the kids with animal balloons. We also had featured missionary guests, Ken Moeckl, Bob McKay, and Jonathon Barthalow sharing in both services. ENJOY THE VIDEO HIGHLIGHT ON THE RIGHT COLUMN.
Iowa Missionaries
You can view our Missionaries from Iowa by clicking here.
The Scriptural purpose of First Assembly of God's
involvement in Missions is:
-- To carry out the Great Commission,"Therefore go and
make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching
them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I
am with you always, to the very end of the age" Matthew
28:19-20.
-- To minister to the total human need."And if anyone
gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones
because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly
not lose his reward" Matthew 10:42. "I tell you the
truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because
you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward" Mark
9:41.
-- That men and women will be saved and taught in the knowledge
of God."to prepare God's people for works of service,
so that the body of Christ may be built up" Ephesians
4:12.
Missions Ministry Team Responsibilities -- To encourage the congregation to pray
in intercession for our missionaries and evangelism.
-- To educate and inspire volunteers for Missions service.
-- To develop and encourage the Faith promise program to maintain
the Missions budget.
-- To be good stewards of the Missions budget.
-- To recommend additions or deletions to the Missions support
list.
-- To act as a liaison between the church, Missionaries, and
Missionary organization.
First Assembly Missions Goals: -- To increase monthly support of our partners
5-10% each time they return for furlough.
-- To establish 5-6 new partnerships each year.
-- To take one construction trip out of the country each year
at a cost of $1200 to $1500 per person and a project of $10-15,000.
-- To send teams out for ministry trips with our partners, ie:
Book of Hope Distribution, Evangelism Teams, Healthcare Teams
and Prayer trips.
We need your help to meet these goals. Our partners need your
help to faithfully pray, give and go. And, those who Christ
gave His life for need your help so they can hear the Good
News and find their Savior.
FEATURED MISSIONARIES Last Updated May 3, 2013
KC and Diane Kopaska
Native American Ministries (NAM) exists in order to resource the vision of reservation pastors. This is accomplished by partnering with pastors, typically, for a period of three to five years. We provide resources they need to become strong, self-sustaining works that are eventually able to initiate and sustain ministry beyond their own communities. The ultimate objective of NAM is to better equip reservation churches to make disciples of Jesus Christ.
1. A brief synopsis/update about your current ministry (any changes either in your ministry focus or location should be included):
We minister in the Native American community within the United States with projects such as children's crusades, church building renovation, maintenance, and evangelistic outreaches. Annually, we coordinate the “Birthday Party for Jesus" in December to bring joy to under advantaged Native American children.
Our ministry has evolved in the 20 plus years we have served the Native American community. During these many years in ministry we noticed one thing that is a common denominator on all reservations. The pastors of these churches have a heart to serve God and their communities, but often due to a lack of funds and support they are unable to meet needs because they have no outside support system.
2. Describe the impact of your ministry on the local/regional community you serve:
For this reason, the mission's statement for our ministry is "To resource the vision of Native American pastors." This involves many reservations in South Dakota, New Mexico, Washington State and a few others. Because of the many years we have been in Native American ministries we often have pastors from Native churches contact us needing help with construction projects, outreaches in the summer, and a Christmas gift outreach in the winter. We gather the information and gather teams and resources to help with these events. Any type of ministry we help with is done through the local church on the reservation in order to build bridges between the church, tribal leadership and community.
3. Describe any special projects you may be involved in:
We work with these churches any where between 3-5 years and our goal is that the Native churches become self-sufficient, missionary churches. We have seen this happen in two different churches on two different reservations in South Dakota. We know from reports from the pastors we help on these reservations, that lives are being impacted and changed. Natives are being saved and discipled to become mature followers of Jesus Christ.
Because we are contacted by so many reservation pastors we need to continually raise financial support in order to try to meet their needs. We don't help all who ask for it, but only those pastors who we feel are truly reaching their reservations with the intent of raising Native leadership in their communities. We are still at times overwhelmed with the burden to help as many Native American pastors as we can.
4. Do you utilize social media or a website to communicate with your supporters?
We do have a web site www.Nativeamerican-ministries.org. We are in the process of updating the website so that it will let churches and individuals know of the current projects and ministries we are involved in. We also send out a monthly or bi-monthly e-newsletters of current happenings.
5. Provide a personal update and share any prayer needs that you may have.
As you can imagine we need continued financial and prayer support to meet the needs of those who ask for it. We also need teams that want to go on mission's outreaches in order to have the man power to help with these Native churches. We are always looking for people who want to help with construction projects or with Bible school type outreaches.
Once again let us say thank-you for all Cedar Rapids First Assembly of God has done for Native American Ministries. Many lives have been changed because of the prayers and support of your church.
