How God Has Used APMP To Bless People

"My time at the APMP conference each year is invaluable to me! It is a great place to network with other mission passionate people around the country, learn, share resources and be spiritually fed."
Melissa Brown
Grace Presbyterian Church
Houston, Texas

"Since becoming a Missions Pastor in September of 2005, the annual APMP conference has been the single most helpful and encouraging resource for me in the missions area. Being able to talk with and just listen to other more experienced mission pastors and ask them questions about what works and what doesn't has been invaluable. The presenters at all three APMP Conferences were the best I have heard anywhere. I plan to be back this year!"
Kermit Oppriecht
Eastminster Presbyterian Church
Wichita, KS

"Every year at APMP, my soul gets a spiritual boost that helps me keep going the rest of the year.
Jim Milley
La Canada Presbyterian Church
La Canada, CA

"APMP is a great place to exchange mission ideas and experiences, build life-long friendships and receive encouragement from colleagues from around the country. Those very same people, throughout the year, become my “go to” folks, when I have a question about some aspect of mission ministry."
Marilyn Borst
Peachtree Presbyterian Church
Atlanta, Georgia

"I always leave challenged in my mission thinking and full of promising ideas for the mission program in my church."
Rev. Tom Theriault
Solana Beach Presbyterian, Solana Beach, CA

"Finding I am part of a network of mission ministers has given me a resource of mutual support that adds confidence to my ministry and vision for what Christ is willing to do."
Tim Dobbins
First Presbyterian Church, Ft. Lauderdale, FL

"Getting involved with APMP right out of seminary was a wonderful way for me to meet the staff in Louisville and learn about the various opportunities through our denomination. Some exciting collaborative efforts have resulted from our time together."
Rev. Lynn Faris Blessing
Bethany Presbyterian Church, Seattle, WA

Read these stories:

• Shelley Ulrich, Director of Global Impact, Glenkirk Presbyterian Church
• Bill Young, Executive Director of Presbyterian Frontier Fellowship
• Art Beals, PC(USA) Regional Liaison
• KJ Kenfield, Coordinator, National Training Recruitment, Wycliffe

Wow, APMP has made a world of difference for the mission efforts at Glenkirk Church. My very first visit to an APMP conference was in November 1999. I was invited by my cousin Rev. Terry Gast, who was a missionary in residence with the PCUSA Louisville office. She said that she had heard this was a mission event I didn't want to miss...

Upon my first visit to an APMP conference I had been working at Glenkirk for about ten years and I had just been given the responsibility of Mission Director. Thrilled with the new position, I wondered what direction God wanted our mission team and whole church to take...I was very excited but had very little understanding about the mission work of the PCUSA...Well that first year at APMP I was so inspired and clearly felt God's spirit and direction that I could hardly wait to go back to Glenkirk and inspire my mission team (committee) to join me in this journey called, "Partnership." Of course the kind of partnerships described by Art Beals, Tim Dearborn, Harold Kurtz, and some of the other very successful churches in attendance that year.

Rev. Art Beals was the first to introduce me to the concept of task teams...He drew out the diagram and gave me some very detailed information about how to form these kinds of teams at my church. I went back to my sedentary mission team and innocently said, "If you didn't want to lead a team or ministry out into the world then you didn't need to be on this team." Of course there was some fall out of team members...however those that remained took Glenkirk to new levels of mission and we have humbly joined God in His work throughout the world.

My first year at the APMP conference, I heard detailed stories from Rev. Tim Dearborn about the successes of World Vision as they assisted whole church communities into partnering with a whole community in a developing country. I felt God speaking as Tim talked about this during one of our workshop session. His lecture affected me as if he was putting words to a vision God had already place in my mind. I went home and told the Glenkirk mission team about this concept of partnership and told them I felt God was truly calling us to to give it a try.

All that to say, we now have several teams traveling and working out the details of partnership in China, Ethiopia, Kenya, Ukraine, and with Women of Global action, just to name a few. Our partnership with the East African Presbyterian Church of Kenya at the Tumutumu Hospital is our strongest and longest ongoing relationship..I have been blessed beyond measure and so has the congregation of Glenkirk. Our mission spending went from about $150,000.00 in 1999 to over $500,000.00 in just a couple of years. We have sent at least 1000 people out on short team mission trips in the past five years and they say their lives have been change. The greatest blessing is to have witnessed the changed lives of our partners and their communities in a holistic way. God has been at work and we have witness this total
miracle...APMP played a major role....thank you from the bottom of my heart...I love my church and I love seeing lives being change for the sake of Jesus Christ...APMP plays a major role in the encouragement of churches and leaders throughout the Presbyterian Church U.S.A.

Blessings,
Shelley Ulrich
Director of Global Impact
Glenkirk Presbyterian Church

Bill Cunningham and I were two of the mission pastors that took leadership in beginning APMP Through this important contact I began to have interface with the then director of The Global Mission Unit, Cliff Kirkpatrick, Syngman Rhee, and others. At that time I was the Senior Associate Pastor at UPC in Seattle and was quite suspicious as to the commitment of PC(USA) to mission, especially as evangelicals understood it. The more I worked with leadership in Louisville at WMD, the more I saw that we shared so many concerns and priorities.

After turning down three different opportunities where Cliff encouraged me to apply for three different open positions, in 1993 he negotiated an agreement involving UPC, my time and WMD. Since that time I have had the opportunity to be a part of influencing both strategy and policy.....serving as a volunteer in a position that later became defined as "Regional Liaison." Now the RL's have become a key part of what I call the "delivery system" or mission between the home office and the field. Of course, the RL works closely and under the authority of the Area Coordinator. But this gives the AC "eyes and ears and ideas" that are beyond the capacity of any one person. And increasingly, I became aware of the deep commitment and shared mission values of an incredibly committed group of people that staff WMD.

And this all started as a result of becoming involved in our Church's mission through the friendly and maturing relationships between the APMP members and the Louisville office.

Art

Arthur L. Beals, Regional Liaison
Turkey, Azerbaijan, The Balkans
Presbyterian Church (USA)

When we joined Wycliffe in 1987 we had been trying to figure out how to go with PCUSA but just couldn't seem to connect. When we came back from the Philippines in 1994 to serve in Wycliffe's International headquarters I attended my first APMP conf. I was so moved to meet so many ministers and church leaders who were dedicated to our Church mission. I met the folks at PFF, many many mission pastors, and the dedicated staff at the WWMD, including you Jim. As a result of our contact we actually went on a mission trip together to Cameroon and Nigeria. APMP has given me a renewed joy and hope for the future of our church.

- KJ Kenfield