Galatians 6:9. “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
A NEW HARVEST
In 1975 after serving his country for six years in the United States Army, Ed Thomas become a pillar in his Oklahoma community and founded an international mission, World Mission Builders. His passion for service and devotion to helping others knew no bounds. In the spring of this year after a hard-fought battle against cancer Ed went home to be with the Lord. He dedicated his life to spreading the word of God and God’s love through his mission work. He was a devoted family man, he and his wife Pat raised three children, Beck, Susan, and Thomas. The family will not continue to administer World Mission Builders and have agreed for World Mission Builders (WMB) to come under the umbrella of Hope In The Harvest Missions International (HITHMI).
Founder of World Mission Builders, Ed Thomas, and Spiderman worked together on many building projects around the world.
How did HITHMI and WMB ever get connected?
Travis Sheets is a visionary with a passion for missions and agriculture. Ed Thomas changed Travis's life when Travis joined a good friend, Steve Wand, on a WMB trip to Zimbabwe. Travis' passion for mission outreach developed on that trip. Travis spent 7 years working full time with WMB. Ed relied on Travis to travel ahead of mission teams to coordinate getting the building materials on site. As you know, in 2012 HITHMI was launched and Travis left WMB to focus on the work of HITHMI but Travis and Ed stayed connected over the years.
What does this union look like?
The board of HITHMI is growing with the addition of Pastor Steve Hayes. Ed Thomas also inspired the life Steve in the WMB ministry with building trips to the Dominican Republic and many trips to the Philippines. Steve is retired Christian Church minister of 30 years with a master’s degree from Kentucky Christian. He currently is serving as a Senior Adults Minister at Woodland Heights Christian Church in Crawfordville Indiana and is the Chaplin of the Wabash College Football Team. He is sought out speaker and fills pulpits when requested. As a HITHMI board member Steve will be preaching and presenting our mission to the churches and individuals.
Just this month 5 board members (President Gary Adams, Justin Trent, Matt Crawford, Steve Hayes, and Travis Sheets) traveled to the Philippines to four different islands and met with over 23 Pastors from several different islands. One exciting visit was with the Administration from the Cebu Seminary and Bible College. It is as this location where HITHMI hopes to have trained Farming God’s Way facilitator who will teach the program to all students at the College and go out to locations and teach when WMB is building facilities.
What does it look on the ground?
Both HITHMI and WMB are committed to putting “permanence” in missions. WMB does this by recruiting believers in foreign countries who have a desire to serve in the ministry. To accomplish this, WMB pays to send them to Bible College in their own country. Four years of room & board, books, and tuition are provided. It is the goal of HITHMI to see the Farming God’s Way curriculum used at the collegiate level be a part of the seminary training .
Upon graduation, the individual must sign a two-year commitment contract with WMB to start a new church, understanding that the church must be self-supporting at the end of the two years, as financial support from WMB ends at that time.
WMB then constructs a church building and gives it to the congregation “free and clear” with the only request being that they take good care to maintain it. These congregations are then asked to help others and the cycle becomes self-perpetuating. At this point with a Church building and congregation in place, HITHMI will extend agriculture development and education training for the community.
WORLD MISSION BUILDERS TRACK RECORD
• 367 Church buildings constructed in over 50 countries and 92 in USA (with our Domestic unit)
• Witnessed over 307,000 baptisms in 49 years of ministry
• Taken over 6,000 volunteers for short-term mission trips
• Supported over 1,500 Native Evangelists over the years
• Started and built 2 new Bible Colleges in the Philippines
• Started and built 3 new Church Camps on Bohol, Leyte and Bataan, Philippines
SIX WEEKS IN LIBERIA
"Small Samual" an electrician and his helper Joskin are repairing a microscope.
Travis spent six weeks in Liberia working on several renovation and updating projects at the ARC. From fresh new paint just about every where, to replacing solar lights, adding new signs and visuals, to renovating the zoo, everyone stayed busy.
This was the mission’s opportunity to work alongside some of the new team members, like Madison Wonyen. Madison is a graduate of LICC and he worked for several years in security with the college. When Peter Tozay came back to work leading the Dr. James Milstead Lab, Peter agreed to train someone and Peter picked Madison. We are excited to see generational knowledge and experience being passed on to new people.
Madison is excited to be working in a new position with the ARC
Here are some projects that Mark and his team in Liberia have been doing.
Improved spot for selling the nursery and landscape plants
Cocoa plants were transplanted
The Tilapia ponds were repaired
And Tilapia was harvested
THANK YOU "FORE" YOUR PARTICIPATION
Thanks to all the volunteers, especially Justin Trent and his family, and the many participants, and owners of Cool Lake Golf Course whose hard work made our very first Golf Outing a success. We look forward to "golfing around" next year and hope to see you there!
JOIN US IN PRAYER
Would you join us in prayer as we pray for the team at the ARC.
Here are a few of the team members from left to right;
Richey, Thomas, Ma Yeaney, Albert, William, Mark, and Peter.
Every day these members work hard imparting the love of Christ and their knowledge gained at the ARC to work in their homes and in their communities. We pray their own encouragement and relationship in Christ grows deeper and closer each day.
Thank you for your support of Hope In The Harvest Missions International and World Mission Builders
We appreciate your time by going on trips and praying for the work. We appreciate your financial gifts and if you would like to continue to or begin to support the mission there are two ways to support us. One, you can mail a check to HITHMI, 352 West Clinton Street, Frankfort IN 46041. If giving specifically to World Mission Builders note that in the memo line. If donating by credit card (which is through the Paypal platform) please follow the link below which will take you to the front page of our website, scroll down and from here you may give specifically to the work of HITHMI in general or to World Mission Builders.
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