At the end of 2023, we will be saying goodbye to two amazing NAB missionary families: Paul and Melissa Ewing, and Ron and Jeannie Seck. We are sad to see them go, but we are so thankful for all they brought to NAB International Missions during their years of service.
Paul and Melissa, along with their boys, served in Japan since April 2001. Paul and Melissa planted Komyo Christian Church in Osaka, which was handed over to national leadership in 2022. In addition to church planting work, Paul served as the NAB field director in Japan and worked closely with our partners, the Japan Baptist Conference. However, Paul and Melissa’s influence on NAB missions was not limited to their ministry in Japan. Paul served for years on the NAB Mission Advisory Team and served alongside North American regional ministers to help bring continuity between what the NAB is doing missionally in North America and around the world. For the last year, Melissa has also served on a task force with Dr. Harry Kelm and others reviewing clergy accountability. Their influence in NAB International Missions and the broader NAB missional movement will be missed. We wish them the best in their next endeavors.
For those of you who have faithfully supported the Ewings, thank you! Your support of them is greatly appreciated. We would encourage you to consider transitioning your support to our Global Missionary Partners in the Philippines, Claire and Tim Marker (you can click here to read their latest update); they are in urgent need of financial partners. If we do not hear from you to let us know you would prefer your funds go elsewhere, all future donations designated for the Ewings will be forwarded to support the Markers.
Ron and Jeannie came to NAB missions after pastoring an NAB church in Michigan for thirty-six years. Their service with NAB missions began in 2012. Their hearts for holistic evangelism and community development among the Roma and other impoverished people in Hungary, Central Europe, and the Balkans have been an inspiration. In addition, their passion to engage and help support local national leaders was a significant spark to begin NAB’s Global Missionary Partners (formerly NAB National Missionaries). While Ron and Jeannie are hands-on with the ministry, raising up and forming these national leaders is quite possibly the greatest part of their legacy to NAB missions. In Serbia, they identified and further trained Marijana Cizmanski, and in Hungary, Laszlo and Eszter Daróczi-Csuhai. The significance of the Secks’s ministry and their leadership to begin the Global Missionary Partner program for the NAB will be felt for years to come.
For those of you who have faithfully supported the Secks, thank you! Your support of them is greatly appreciated. We would encourage you to consider transitioning your financial partnership to Randy Schmor, who is stepping in as the interim field director for Central Europe. He will be doing this based out of North America. If we do not hear from you, all future donations designated for the Secks will be forwarded to support Randy. However, if you would prefer your support to be for either the Daróczi-Csuhais or Marijana, that would also be greatly appreciated.
Though it is the end of a season for these two couples as they complete their time as missionaries, this truly is a continuation of the vision of NAB International Missions, which is to be in partnership with and alongside nationals, who are ultimately given ownership of the ministry in their own country. We are even now looking for the next wave of missionaries who have a heart to see God’s mission expand beyond their current city and be a part of that plan to serve overseas, and to be a part of the NAB lineage and legacy of serving abroad. (To learn more about serving with NAB International Missions, contact us at serve@nabconf.org.) Join us in celebrating how God has worked through NAB missions over the years, and keep watch, as we will be sharing more about the future of NAB missions in the year ahead.
Thank you so much for your continued support of NAB missions and what God is doing around the world. If you have any questions or wish to talk about transitioning your financial support, please reach out to Kerry L. Bender, VP of International Missions, at kbender@nabconf.org or Caryn Young, director of Administration for International Missions, at cyoung@nabconf.org. Thank you, and God bless!