Friday, October 31, 2008

Missionary Spotlight:

Clay and Darlene Quarterman - Ukraine


Dr. Clay Quarterman (PhD, Univ. of Wales) is a church planter with MTW in Odessa, Ukraine, and is President of the Evangelical Reformed Seminary of Ukraine.

He has lived in Odessa for 14 years, but he has been with MTW for 31 years.
Clay was raised in First Pres Jackson. His father Palmer and his grandfather "Pop" Quarterman were elders in FPC. Their ancestors were Puritans who moved to Boston in 1630 to avoid religious persecution in England, then to Midway Georgia, where his Great-Great-Grandfather was a Presbyterian pastor.
Clay met his wife Darlene at Belhaven, and their first date was to the First Pres Missions Conference! They were married at First Pres in 1973. Darlene is also from the West Hopewell PCA church in Virginia.
Clay attended every school near FPC: Power, Spann, and Casey Elementary, Bailey, Murrah (1970), Belhaven (1974), took music at Millsaps, and worked at UMC and Baptist Hospital. He went to kindergarten at Trinity Pres. and received his MDiv and Doctor of Ministries degrees from RTS-Jackson. He is a member of the MS Valley Presbytery since 1978, when he was ordained as an Evangelist. He received his PhD in Theology from Univ. of Wales in 2005.
Clay is especially thankful for FPC, where he grew under the ministries of John Reed Miller, Jimmy Turner, and Don Patterson. But it was Brister Ware that God used to lead him into a personal relationship with Christ in 1963, and he has enjoyed the friendship and ministries of Jim Baird and Ligon Duncan.
The missionary call came early to Clay, and his counselor at Bailey Jr Hi thought he was out of his mind for it. Clay started preaching in the Gateway Rescue Mission on Gallatin.
The FPC mission conferences were a highlight of every year, where Clay especially remembers Paul B. Smith and the missionary families. Because of the FPC Mission House on Gillespie St., he developed friendships with children of missionary families such as the Kyles, Lintons, and Longs. Clay, Paul Long, and Glenn Camenisch developed a missionary vision, becoming the Portugal Team of MTW in 1979, after gaining pastoral experience in Matherville, MS, Prattville, AL, and Savannah, GA.
Clay worked in Lisbon for 14 years, planting a Presbyterian denomination and teaching in the Portuguese Bible Institute. He is fluent in Portuguese and Russian.
In 1994, God called them to Odessa, Ukraine, where they were the first resident couple of the MTW church-planting team. They have now seen the start of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Ukraine with 11 churches, and they founded the seminary where they now serve. Clay was head of MTW's largest-ever capital campaign, raising $1.1 Million to restore the historic church building in Odessa—in which FPC took part.
Clay and Darlene have been married 35 years and have a granddaughter Kendra who lives in Jackson. They have 4 grown sons, all born in Lisbon: Matt (& Erin in Seattle), Nate (& Malaika in Jackson), Ty (& Irina in Odessa), and Alex (Belhaven). Clay enjoys photography, scuba diving, playing clarinet, archery, sailing, and choral singing.

web: www.clayq.com email: clay@paco.net October 30, 2008

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Thursday, October 23, 2008

Missionary Spotlight:

Derek & Shannon Ebbers - Romania


In Romania, with the Ebbers Family.

“Then in fellowship sweet,
We will sit at his feet,
Or we’ll walk by his side in the way,
What He says we will do,
Where He sends we will go,
Never fear, only trust and obey.”

We are the Derek & Shannon Ebbers family. We have 5 children. Jessalyn 11, Aaron 9, Isaac 6, Elijah 4, and Hannah 2. In Isaiah 41:10, the Lord has promised to go with us and uphold us with His righteous right hand. So here we are in Romania, trusting Him to do what He has said He will do. We arrived on July 13, 2007 and we plan to make Romania our home as long as the Lord will have us here. Our initial year has been spent immersing ourselves in the language and culture. As we have now completed our first year, Derek has begun teaching 2 English as a second language classes, three days a week, as a means to build relationships, identify & train leaders, and ultimately facilitate church planting. . Our goal is not only to start and ESL program in our community, but also to train others to teach English in various locations around the country and be a support to them. Derek has already been assisting a church plant with their ESL program in another city. Shannon’s primary role is helpmeet to Derek. She is also building relationships with other young moms in the community. We have found there to be many right in our own neighborhood! As a family, we want to be available to other young families who may be, along with us, struggling yet striving to honor God through our marriages and the way we raise our children. We consider it a privilege to serve our Lord in Romania.

Derek (08/21), Shannon (02/05), Jessalyn (02/08), Aaron (12/22), Isaac (01/09), Elijah (03/05),
Hannah (02/07)

Visit our team website at www.mtwro.org
Family Blog www.dandsfamily7.blogspot.com
Derek & Shannon Ebbers
Str. Iosif Comanescu, 13
Codlea, 505100
Brasov, Romania

Thank you so much for your prayers and support!! We would not be here without you!

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Friday, October 10, 2008

Missionary Spotlight: Craig and Lisa Sheppard - Bulgaria


Craig and Lisa Sheppard have been serving the Lord with Mission to the World in Sofia, Bulgaria since 1996, where he serves as a church planter, seminary instructor, publisher, and founding board member for the Sofia Christian Academy. As the MTW Regional Director for Eastern Europe, Craig is also tasked with overseeing the ministries of more than 65 missionaries in five countries (Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, and Ukraine), as well as developing new church planting works in other Eastern Europe countries (such as Russia, Greece, Latvia, Croatia, and Belarus).

Craig is from Wichita, Kansas and Lisa is from St. Louis, Missouri. They served together in university ministry for four years before Craig attended Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi. There he earned a Master of Divinity degree in Missions, and a Master of Theology degree in Theology. While in seminary, Craig served on the staff of the First Presbyterian Church as the Director of College Ministry. He is ordained in the Heartland Presbytery of the PCA. They have four sons and a daughter (Jared, 16; Nathan, 14; Luke, 11; Andrew, 8; and Abigail, 6).
They are still missing four bags from their trip back to Bulgaria. Please be in prayer that their luggage is found soon and that the bags would arrive and arrive in good condition.

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