Holy Shepherd strongly believes in Christ’s words of the Great Commission, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (28:19).  Our congregation financially and prayerfully supports outreach and mission initiatives on three different continents outside of the US.  The families we sponsor are a part of LCMS World Mission as well as Lutheran Bible Translators.   For more information, visit http://www.lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=4239 or http://www.lbt.org/. 

The Rasch family, Nigeria

Ivan and Jennifer Rasch are missionaries with the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, serving in Jos, Nigeria.  Ivan is the Volunteer Coordinator for AnglophoneWest Africa.  He connects LCMS short term missionaries and teams with Lutheran churches in Nigeria, Liberia, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and the Gambia.  Jennifer teaches choral music at Hillcrest School.

Heather is their 15 year old daughter.  She loves to play her flute and sing. She is also a good baby-sitter.  Timmy is their 13 year old son.  He loves math and computer games, and he is always full of fun and energy. Heather and Timmy both attend school at Hillcrest.  Hillcrest is an American-style  Christian school that was originally set up for missionary kids.  Presently many students are Nigerian kids and international students.

The Eisold family, Peru

Mark and Sandi Eisold serve the Lord in Peru as career missionaries through LCMS World Mission. Their specific ministry includes implementing a mission strategy and leading the LCMS team there. The Eisolds strive to reach people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, gather them into a worship community, raise up new disciples in the teachings of the Bible, identify leaders, equip them for leadership, and commission new believers and leaders to partner with missionaries as they are sent out to start more worship communities.

The Miller family, Thailand

Tim and Michelle Miller and their children Ellyn, Joel and Sarah serve in Thailand as literacy and multilingual education specialists among minority language groups there. The Millers’ role involves encouraging and supporting the efforts of local minority language communities to develop multilingual education programs. In this capacity they provide guidance and training in program planning, curriculum development, teaching methods and teacher training. Several minority languages in Thailand already have vernacular Scriptures, and Bible Translation is being done in several other languages. The Millers assist Christians in minority language groups to have access to these Scriptures through literacy skills.