Mission Encounter: James and Jennifer (and Cade) Wolheter
Notes
Transcript
Today is a special Sunday...
We are kicking off our missions conference—although—we don’t call it a conference…we call it Mission Encounter…b/c we want you to:
encounter our missionaries in a very real and memorable way so that you can remember them and pray for them...
encounter how God wants you to be involved in missions in your daily life
and if you look at our title slide—it has words like plant, feed, water, grow, harvest.
We are currently in the harvest season…we see this all over the place in our county.
And the Bible uses these images of the harvest for our we are to encounter missions...
look at Matthew 9:37-38
37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
Jesus is of course talking about the spiritual harvest—all of us are needed to be workers in Jesus’s harvest field—to go and show and tell the good news of Jesus Christ.
Here is another one
5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task.
6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.
7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.
We all have a part to play in God’s mission—some of us plant the seed of God’s Word and Gospel, some of us water the seed that is already planted and lying dormant…but God is the most important—He gives the growth.
So to help us today…I have a family here—they are missionaries to Bolivia.
Their names are James and Jennifer Wolheter, and their 16 year old son Cade. They are missionaries with our denomination’s missions organization called World Partners. And fun fact—Jennifer and Beth Wilson were roommates in college, so if you need a funny story about Beth or maybe even Mike Wilson—talk to them.
they will go back to Bolivia sometime in January 2024.
I have some questions for you:
Give us a quick intro of your family and ministry in Bolivia
family photo - 1
South America photo map - 1
Bolivia and provinces photo map - 1
(if they don’t mention it—mention that James went to Purdue)
How long have you been ministering in Bolivia—and why Bolivia—what is your calling to Bolivia?
What is your main focus in this season of ministry? (Missionary Training School) and what do you see God doing in and through this? (Play 3 minute video)
Personal question - what are some challenges/struggles you face on the mission field as...
a married couple (marriage counseling)
as parents or a family together
in ministry—hard things—depression)
Cade, (how old are you?) what is it like to a be missionary kid growing up in Bolivia, yet also traveling back to the United States off and on?
Part of our missions encounter is for you to help equip us to grow in reaching out (we have core values of grow and reach) and disciple others. What encouragement or advice would you have for us to do this? How can we do this in our everyday lives?
Please be as personal and honest as you can—what do you wish we knew about missionaries or your ministry that doesn’t normally get asked?
What are some ways you have suffered on the mission field and how do you handle it? (some of this may have already come up)
James and Jen, you guys seem to have complementary gifts. Tell us about this. (For example,James you love to go into the mountains and rural areas. Jen, you love teaching and leading seminary training?)
How can we pray for you?
show prayer card photo?
show photo of Victor and Eunice who recently graduated from ECAMM and is preparing to go to Asia as missionaries teaching Spanish.
Some ways that First Missionary can get involved:
Follow-up event Nov. 1 with food and going deeper interview with Jen and Cade. We ask that if you come for food, you would register. This is kid friendly. Jen could you explain the food?
Give to the Missionary Christmas Offering - Nov. 5 (make sure you designate this in person or online (get an envelope)
Come and hear Joe Johns on Nov. 5—he works for World Partners our Missions organization and will be speaking and allowing me to interview him, and then we are visiting him on a field trip in Fort Wayne on Nov. 19.