We’re blessed to work alongside some amazing individuals who have taken their commitment to Jesus out into the world as long-term missionaries. Cumulatively, these individuals have given decades of their lives improving communities, serving others, and spreading the Gospel to individuals who otherwise may never be exposed to it.
Through their work, our church has been able to expand our global efforts to areas we may not have been able to reach without their selflessness. Get to know some of our missionaries and learn about the initiatives they’re working on to expand God’s Kingdom.
Phil and Heidi are natives of Harrisonville who moved to Israel in 1989 to serve as missionaries. They raised their five children in Israel and are currently raising their three young granddaughters. They have been through hardships in Israel, but God has used those challenges to open doors for them to proclaim His name. They have served with a local Messianic Jewish congregation, Beit Eliyahu, since the year 2000. Phil serves as an associate pastor at Beit Eliyahu and serves the congregation in numerous practical and administrative capacities. Israel is a Jewish nation with only 0.2 percent of the population being Christian. Today, Beit Eliyahu is home to over 450 worshippers.
Emily has been a missionary in Panama since 2014, with experience serving in both Latin and Chinese churches in different areas of Panama City and West Panama. She and her husband Jeremías currently live in Panama City, where they are serving and building community through their local church, La Gran Comisión. They focus on supporting weekly church operations, discipleship, and outreach initiatives.
Emily and Jeremías have also partnered to help equip churches in a variety of contexts; through discipleship, training leaders, supporting church plants, and mobilizing missionaries. In 2023 the Latin American Missions Society was founded, where Emily serves as the Director of Missions Mobilization and Jeremías as a board member. The goal is to help cultivate a Biblical understanding of missions within churches in Latin America and equip them to send out missionaries.
Tami’s missions focus is using her skills to see a thriving church in every ethnic group. She is a part of a team that helps develop software to train missionaries in language learning and cultural adaptation. In 2020, Tami was asked to join a team with Ethnos360 in the United States. This team is working to develop curriculum for missionaries and national believers to equip them to evangelize in a culturally relevant way. She is now an administrative assistant in her organization’s IT department, where she has the opportunity to help thousands of missionaries as well as continuing to encourage and disciple believers in Southeast Asia, where she previously served.
This family has been serving in West Asia since 2020. They currently live in an area where only 0.5% of people identify themselves as Christians, and the threat of persecution for being a Christian is high. At times, it’s an incredibly isolating experience for them, both spiritually and culturally. They are currently in a seven-year process of learning their country’s language so they can clearly share the Gospel. Their long-term goal is to plant churches in the town they are in and see believers gathered worshipping the name of Jesus. Everyday life for them consists of raising their four kids, discipling new believers, developing discipleship content in the language, meeting with friends who don’t yet know the Gospel, and building relationships with their neighbors.
Pasha, Ira, and their two girls, Grace and Gloria, moved to Kraków, Poland in the Spring of 2024 to serve with Fellowship of Christian Athletes, which is an organization focused on the discipleship of local athletes and coaches. They are Ukrainians, and war in their homeland has deeply grieved their hearts. In the midst of the tragedy, however, they have experienced God’s clear calling to serve other nations. Their service has taken them from FCA Ukraine to being a part of our JCI family in Lee’s Summit, to Armenia, and now to Poland. Their primary focus is building relationships with local athletes and coaches in hopes to share the Gospel with them and disciple them. Through FCA huddles, camps, and trainings, they have a special opportunity to teach the Word of God to these athletes and see them grow in Christ as well as connect them to the local church.
Liosha and Yana, with their two children Daniel and Manuel, are a part of Fellowship of Christian Athletes Ukraine, an organization whose goal is to lead every athlete and coach into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and with His church through sports.
In the spring of 2022, Liosha and Yana came to the United States for an FCA conference with many other Ukrainian families. Because of the war that began between Ukraine and Russia, they could not return home and instead moved to Kansas City. During that time, JCI became a church home to them.
They continued to seek out what God would have them do and felt called to Krákow, Poland to continue to serve with FCA to disciple coaches and athletes. Their focus is to develop, support, and care for every FCA ministry leader in Europe and Eurasia by overseeing the planning, development, and onboarding processes for that region.
Chris and Robin’s primary focus is evangelism, discipleship and resource development in the remote bush of the Northwestern Province of Zambia, Africa. They have three children and 10 grandchildren in the United States. Beginning with short term trips to Zambia in 2016, Chris and Robin made the decision to move to Zambia in 2021. They are employed by Shepherd’s Staff, a mission facilitation organization in Knoxville Tennessee, and Zambia Christian Missions in Many Lands. Their mission includes evangelism, discipleship and resource development for the Lunda people.
Chris and Robin connect with local pastors, church leaders and Sunday school teachers by teaching Bible School sessions at Nyangombe Christian Training Centre. They also have opportunities throughout the year to preach and teach in villages, women’s gatherings, as well as at regional and general conferences.
Japan is in great need of the Gospel, being only 1.5% Christian. Many people in Japan feel isolated, lacking any real hope; yet, they are also seeking answers to spiritual questions. Reaching the Japanese with Christ requires building relationships with the local people, modeling what it means to be a follower of Christ, and sharing the joy and forgiveness found in the Gospel through a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Through partnership with Sapporo Garden Church, a relatively new church, Jake, along with his wife Saeko and daughter Airi, are reaching out to the surrounding community and throughout Sapporo, Japan. Jake serves in a pastoral facet to help teach new and old believers about Scripture, assist in preaching, cast vision for new ministries, provide leadership training for new leaders, and reach out to the local community to share the Gospel with all who will listen! Their goal is to see people receive the Gospel, have their lives transformed, and then carry the Gospel back to their workplaces and families resulting in a city and nation transformed for Christ.
"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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."