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The Brooklyn Tabernacle Belize Missionary Ron & Edna

Ron & Edna | BELIZE

Ron and Edna Juran serve in Belize through a diverse range of ministries. They help needy students with scholarships and tutoring programs. Ron does prison ministry and conducts a Bible study at a re-entry house for men coming out of prison; and Edna conducts a Bible study at a Christ-centered pre- and post-natal care pregnancy center. Men and women have been led to the Lord and families restored through the ministry of Ron and Edna in Belize.

Nick & Sandi | BIBLE TRANSLATORS

Nick and Sandi have served at The Brooklyn Tabernacle in various ways—in the Greeters Ministry, Moms Ministry, Men’s Ministry, Missions Ministry, and counseling. God opened their hearts to the needs of the global church through the Missions Ministry. After leading Bible studies on unreached people groups and the persecuted church, they felt God calling them and their young children to go overseas to serve in Bible translation, helping people groups have access to the Scriptures for the first time ever.

“…pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ,…” –Colossians 4:3

Cristina Peña & Milly Bello | DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Cristina Peña was a member of The Brooklyn Tabernacle when she felt the call of God to return with her daughter Milly Bello to her native home in Santo Domingo. There she started a church in the living room of her old home. El Tabernáculo de Salvación y Alabanza is now a beautiful congregation that ministers to its community through medical clinics and other outreaches. Several years ago, el Tabernáculo established a work in an impoverished rural area outside Santo Domingo called the 36th Kilometer.

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Rhayna | DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

As a member of The Brooklyn Tabernacle, Rhayna felt a call to missions. In 2008, she left for the Dominican Republic and has been serving there since in various capacities under the leadership of Brooklyn Tabernacle missionaries Cristina Peña and Milly Bello of El Tabernáculo de Salvación y Alabanza. A teacher by profession, Rhayna wants to open a Christian school in the future to provide valuable opportunities to the people in the communities where she serves.

The Brooklyn Tabernacle Romeo and Glennis Smith - Couple smiling

Romeo & Glennis Smith | GUYANA

Longtime members of The Brooklyn Tabernacle Romeo and Glennis Smith returned to their native homeland of Guyana several years ago to start a ministry home for street children. They teach the children God’s Word and provide them with food, clothing, medical care, schooling, and instruction in personal hygiene. The government provided the ministry with the land where they built dormitories and a kitchen, chapel, dining hall and guest house. The ministry also began a primary school that is now accredited.

The Brooklyn Tabernacle Beverly Roberts

Beverly Roberts | GUYANA | TIGER BAY

A former reading specialist for the NYC Department of Education and longtime member of The Brooklyn Tabernacle, Beverly Roberts returned to her native homeland of Guyana in 2016 to start a food/nutrition program for some of the poorest children in the neighborhood of Tiger Bay in Georgetown. Working in partnership with local churches and ministries, Beverly’s desire is to feed the children spiritual food as well as the physical food they need to concentrate and do well in school.

The Brooklyn Tabernacle Missionary - Bonite Affriany

Bonite Affriany | HAITI

A registered nurse by profession and a member of The Brooklyn Tabernacle, Bonite Affriany returned to her native homeland of Jacmel, Haiti, years ago to begin a children’s program that quickly expanded to a church with a number of outreaches, including educational sponsorships for children and adult literacy programs. Bonite has also built a Children’s Center that provides a home for needy children and meets their physical, educational and spiritual needs.

The Brooklyn Tabernacle Missionary Elsie Lherisson

Elsie Lherisson | HAITI

Originally from Haiti, Elsie Lherisson had a successful career in New York and was attending The Brooklyn Tabernacle when she felt called by God to return to the capital city of Port-au-Prince to start a children’s ministry. In the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake, which left more than 1.5 million people homeless, the ministry house became a disaster relief center for the community. The ministry has served the spiritual and physical needs of more than a thousand children and young people since 1996.

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Moffat & Rosemary Phiri | MALAWI

Moffat Phiri is a native of Malawi who has been planting churches in Malawi for over 20 years. In 2001, he and his wife Rosemary, who is originally from Missouri, began a church in their home that has since grown to more than 500 members. The ministry now includes many community outreaches, including a learning center, a medical clinic, and a community care center with a wide variety of humanitarian and development programs, including a food program for children and senior citizens.

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David & Linda | MIDDLE EAST

David and Linda were the first ministry workers sent by The Brooklyn Tabernacle overseas. They serve the Persecuted Church in a “restricted nation” region that is hostile and suspicious of followers of Jesus. They have led many to Christ, and this has led to persecution against the believers and against their own family. Their vision is to see people from all nations and all walks of life, regardless of social status, whether rich or poor, male or female, all walking under the banner of Jesus Christ.

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Anna | MIDDLE EAST

Anna is a second-generation missionary. The joyful sacrifice that her parents made to serve the nations stirred her heart, and at a young age she offered her life to go wherever her Lord would call her. After she had served a few seasons in Latin America, the Lord placed on her heart a burden for the Arab world. In 2018, she felt led to serve the Arab community in Brooklyn, where she also joined her beloved Brooklyn Tabernacle family! She went on to serve in the BT Choir and Singers and as a Global Missions leader. Anna then answered the Lord’s call to share Christ in the Middle East.

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Jamie & Sandra | MIDDLE EAST

Jamie and Sandra served in The Brooklyn Tabernacle Missions Ministry for several years. In 2019, Jamie and Sandra moved their young family to the Middle East to serve the Syrian and Iraqi refugee communities alongside a vibrant local church. Sandra is a registered nurse serving in a medical clinic, and Jamie is a licensed social worker and fitness coach developing programs to meet the needs of teens and their families and connecting them with appropriate support.

The Brooklyn Tabernacle Missionary - Mark and Gail McKeller

Mark & Gail McKeller | NAVAJO NATION

Mark and Gail McKeller were longtime members of The Brooklyn Tabernacle serving in the youth and children’s ministries. Over several years, the Lord began to give them a heart for Native American ministry. In 2004, they went to Arizona to work with children and young adults at a predominantly Native American church in Phoenix. In 2006, they left to serve as youth pastors at Broken Arrow Chapel on the Navajo Reservation. Many of the young people to whom they minister come from troubled homes.

The Brooklyn Tabernacle Missionary Theresa

Theresa Fewell | NAVAJO NATION

In 2007, Theresa Fewell gave her heart to Jesus at a Brooklyn Tabernacle Christmas program attended by her and others from the drug treatment center where she was staying. She soon began serving in ministry at the church. During a mission trip, she felt a call to serve the Navajo Native Americans in Arizona under Mark and Gail McKeller. Although Theresa’s move was at first hindered by the coronavirus outbreak, she has since joined the McKellers at Broken Arrow Chapel in the Navajo Reservation.

The Brooklyn Tabernacle Pastor Alland and Marilyn ILdefonso

Alland & Marilyn Ildefonso | PHILIPPINES

Longtime Brooklyn Tabernacle members and deacons Alland and Marilyn Ildefonso returned to Marilyn’s hometown in Pila, Philippines, to do evangelistic and humanitarian outreaches; and this resulted in a church plant that is now the Agape Tabernacle. The ministry has a food program and a prison ministry, provides disaster relief in communities affected by annual typhoons, and provides other humanitarian relief for children and the elderly.

The Brooklyn Tabernacle - Linda Smith

Linda Smith | RWANDA

A photojournalist by trade, Linda Smith founded a ministry in Rwanda called “Through the Eyes of Hope,” which provides cameras and photography classes to orphans and young people as a way for them to earn money for school fees and food. Photography also enables the children to document their lives and provides a platform for sharing the love of Jesus. The photography classes are integrated with Bible studies and have expanded to schools, hospitals, and community centers throughout Rwanda.