CEPHAS' STORY

When Cephas Esuron was tapped by CMF team members Joel and Rachel Williams as their language coach in Turkana, Kenya, it was just a temporary job.

"But it seemed God had bigger plans,” said Joel.

Cephas was a young shepherd boy watching his family’s goats and sheep when he was discipled, baptized and sponsored by the CMF team. Over the past 21 years, he served CMF and their Community Christian Church partners in multiple capacities. He was trained in Community Health Evangelism (CHE) and began to develop a passion to develop his Turkana community.

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As Cephas traveled with Joel and Rachel as a translator for their disciple-making, youth ministry and CHE initiatives, they were impressed by his spiritual maturity.

“He seemed to have a fire burning within him to reach, love and disciple the lost,” said Joel. “He was a natural leader.”

Joel began to mentor Cephas to become the ministry’s first disciple-making trainer.

“He just took off,” said Joel. “One disciple became four, one group became five, until he was coaching several generations of disciples. After about a year of shadowing me, he could teach the levels one and two training better than me! And when we left for furlough, he took over the ministry.”

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Since 2017, Cephas has discipled more than 30 people, started 20 Discovery Bible Studies (DBS) and baptized hundreds.

“He currently oversees a ministry that has reached more than 12,000 people with the gospel, baptized more than 6,000, planted 36 churches and started 7,000 DBS,” said Joel.

Joel and a local business owner are currently helping Cephas open a wholesale store to help his growing community and fund his ministry.

“Cephas is an amazing example of CMF’s impact on one life, from lost to found, learner to teacher, disciple to disciple-maker,” said Joel.

SHARVIL & LINDA'S STORY

Their ministry to the poor in a South Asian country gave CMF team members Sharvil* and Linda* the opportunity to share the gospel through food relief in 2020.

“We reached 102 hungry, desperate families with about 14,916 pounds of food,” said Linda.  

Several of their experiences stood out to Sharvil, who grew up in this country, and Linda, his American wife.

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“One leader we work with in our ministry asked for help for a group of 10 families in a rural village a couple of hours up into the mountains in a strong Buddhist area,” said Linda. “We took food and then met in a home to share the gospel. The entire village came! We have since started a house church and a Discovery Bible Study (DBS) there and will visit regularly when the pandemic dies down.”

Another local church also gained new believers from the food pack project. The couple has started a DBS and an income generator project with them.

“We invested in coops and chickens for five families,” said Linda. “As their chickens reproduce, they will replace the ones they received and the pastor will select a new family to invest in.”

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The fact that Sharvil is a national of this country has made a monumental difference in their ministry.

“He had the coveted opportunity to live a successful and comfortable life in America but chose not to,” said Linda. “This shows Sharvil’s deep desire to help his nation and people and challenges and inspires his countrymen,” said Linda. “He can speak the language, understand cultural nuances and etiquette, and do things like giving food to the poor without it being misunderstood as a foreign project.

“People trust that he understands them on a deeper level than a foreigner from a wealthy nation ever could,” added Linda.

*Names changed for security protection.

NORA'S STORY

Nora Lahmann-Vogt didn’t want to be involved with anything Christian before she connected with the Globalscope campus ministry in Tübingen, Germany. Now, the young German woman is a staff member at a sister ministry in Freiburg and credits Unterwegs with her life transformation.

Nora decided as a teenager that church “was not for me,” but things changed when she met the campus ministers at Unterwegs while a student at the University of Tubingen.

“I started attending Café English and they treated me with such warmth and kindness,” she said. “I asked for the recipe for their cookies, but instead, (former campus minister) Emily Bartenbach invited me to her home to bake them with her. I was taken aback at her willingness to open her home to a stranger! I think this openness is what made me come back.”

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Soon after this, Nora spent a year studying in California but stayed in touch with campus minister Erin Harper, who was on furlough at Flatirons Community Church in Colorado. She joined Erin on a church retreat, which opened the door for many conversations about faith.

“I got along really well with the people on that trip, and that was further proof to me that there are decent Christians out there,” she said.

When she returned to Germany, Nora arrived at a tipping point in her journey to faith during a time of intense Bible reading and study with campus minister Tony Cole.

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“Reading the Bible with Tony just changed something in me,” said Nora. “I can only explain it through the power of the Bible.  Tony helped me see things differently that I had previously struggled with.”

Eventually, Nora asked Tony to baptize her, and the people who had the biggest impact on her journey had a small part in the service.

“It was so much fun and felt so special,” she said. “It is one of my favorite memories.

“I hope that my experience as a student at Unterwegs can help me meet other students where they are and be a helpful companion on their own journey with faith,” she added.

Read more about Nora’s amazing story here!

MARIANA'S STORY

Mariana Luna is passionate about community development, starting businesses and training new entrepreneurs. These combined interests have made her a great fit for her new role as a Marketplace Minister with the CMF team starting a business academy in Mexico City.

Mariana became a Christian as a young girl. Years later, she and her husband Hugo Fortis connected with CMF through the La Zona church and community center, a CMF ministry partner in the Fuego Nuevo neighborhood of Mexico City.

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“We had Community Health Evangelism (CHE) training at the church,” she said. “Hugo and I really identified with the CHE mission and began to work with it immediately. We helped start a soccer league for the youth and children of the community.”

When she lost her job in the economic crisis of 2008, Mariana started a successful business. Hugo also started a business so that the couple would have flexibility to dedicate time to CHE. Mariana also committed substantial time to CMF as a member of the board.

When she learned about CMF’s initiative to start a business academy that will teach entrepreneurs to integrate faith and the workplace, she turned her business over to her dad and signed on as a CMF recruit.

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“I believe there are more ways to serve God than just in church,” Mariana said. “I felt called by God to use all the experience, training and gifts He has given me so help bring transformation to my country. Due to the pandemic, I knew there would be a great need for people to learn how to start and run a business God’s way.

“We want to share practical ways to take the biblical world view into every area of life, especially business,” she said. “In order to end poverty, we need to show people how to create wealth and help them discover their God-given talents.”