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Essential Personnel--Behind the Scenes
If you have ever taken a trip via commercial airline, you have no doubt observed that there is a great deal of essential "behind the scenes" work that takes place on your behalf. It's always nice to settle into your seat and to have competent pilots at the controls, but that's still not enough for a successful flight.
From the time you book your flight to your arrival at the airport to arriving at your intended destination, multiple people are engaged in services on your behalf, all working together to get you and your belongings to your point of arrival. Someone needs to handle the baggage, screen the passengers, fuel the plane, inspect the aircraft, and much, much more.
This is no less true in missions. The work of service "behind the scenes" is essential to facilitating the missionary who is taking the message of the Gospel to people. UIM International is blessed to have a dedicated team of faithful servants, all working together to support the process of getting the Gospel to the indigenous people groups of North America.
Even in the course of Jesus' ministry and that of the apostle Paul, many are identified as "supporters and helpers" as they went about fulfilling their ministries (Mark 15:40-41; Acts 16:5b; Romans 16:1-27).
As you connect with UIM International in this issue, thank the Lord for all those willing to serve and exercise their gifts and talents to help us accomplish our purpose for reaching the indigenous people groups of North America, planting churches that are established upon the Scriptures.
I am grateful for each and every one of our faithful servant-missionaries in UIM International!
One of many servants . . . in Christ Jesus,
Dan Fredericks, Executive Director
UIM International
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Indispensable Personnel
In order to allow our UIM missionaries to minister in their respective fields, UIM has administrators in place to take care of daily financial and promotional needs. Many of the needs seamlessly happen due to the faithfulness of those at the Missionary Services Center in Glendale, Arizona.
Jim Pieters, our Certified Financial Officer and Business Development Director, heads the office. He originally came with UIM in 1979 as the Administrative Assistant in Flagstaff and his wife, Carla, maintained the hospitality house. After twenty-four years of service, he resigned in the spring of 2002 but returned in August of 2010. Because of his expertise UIM weathered the recession storm of 2008.
Lynn David has been with UIM since 2005. Her job includes automatic electronic giving, handling credit cards, overseeing receipting and payroll, paying bills, and answering the many questions from missionaries and donors. Lynn has decided to retire permanently the end of February. Lynn has done an excellent job for UIM and will be greatly missed.
Laura Smedley opens all the mail and diligently enters the donations that come in for the missionaries. She verifies the credit card receipts and kindly reminds people of those missing. She also helps with payroll and anything else Lynn might need her to do.
Cecelia Light cheerfully answers each over-the-phone inquiry and provides support to our accounting, mailing and printing departments. She is the creative-design person behind our monthly and quarterly publications, the Faithnews and the UIM Family Focus.
Phil and Jeanette Heinicke, along with their family, moved to the Glendale property last year and have done a tremendous job managing the property and serving as hostess. Phil works with Rod Beem in the auto shop and also maintains the property. Making sure the fruit is picked up and distributed during the fruit-bearing season can be a daunting job! Both Phil and Jeanette have recently been blessed by many helpful volunteers from Sowers and from the Phoenix area. Jeanette looks for opportunities to fill the Missionary Resource Room and also keeps up with the UIM guest house. Their son Samuel is a great help with technical items.
Dave and Nancy Stiller meet a vital need by printing the various monthly prayer letters and UIM brochures. They started with UIM in 1985 after feeling led to leave Dave's uncle's printing company. Around Thanksgiving and Christmas they send out over 11,000 newsletters.
For 29 years Rod Beem has responded to requests from UIM staff, Native leaders, and others in full-time ministry regarding vehicle repairs. The one being served pays only for parts (at cost) and a small fee for operating expenses-electricity, water, etc. Everyone receives honest service without pressure to have unnecessary repairs. Money saved can be used in other ways to spread the Gospel of Christ to a lost world.
As you can tell, "many hands make light(er) work." All of those mentioned love the Lord and desire to serve Him by serving the missionaries. We are thankful for each one and their important role within UIM.
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Tom and Rosalee Wilson
Twenty years ago Tom and Rosalee Wilson became full-time missionaries with UIM. They have served in various locations and roles--administration, office staff, church-planting team, and technical support (critical for missions in the modern era).
God-provided resources have allowed them to supply videos, graphic arts, technical hardware, software, and computer services to Christian Native leaders, churches, schools and organizations. An early proponent of missions using the Internet for mission promotion, Tom developed UIM's first website (http://old.uim.org/1994), possibly the first mission HTML website in the world. He recently built and installed a network-attached storage, a new server, and two new desktop computers for UIM's business office. He works on websites and has refurbished laptops, computers, and printers for UIM missionaries and for Indian Bible College in Flagstaff, Arizona. Tom's dedicated technical assistance is a great blessing to Native ministries and leaders. Currently residing in Oregon, they hold CEF (Child Evangelism Fellowship) Good News Clubs for 50 elementary boys on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. God has accomplished much; to Him be the glory!
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