CROSS CULTURAL WORKERS

Key Global Partnerships

BRUCE & LISA TRIPLEHORN 

Brazil/Chad – Encompass

Bruce and Lisa Triplehorn have been married for 38 years and have four grown children: Josiah, Daniel, Maria and Jonathan who all live in Columbus, Ohio. They have been serving with Encompass World Partners for almost 30 years, spending the majority of their time in Brazil and the last two years splitting their time between Chad, Africa and Brazil. 

Both in Brazil and Africa, their focus is church-planting and leadership training. They work through the nationals, having spent years building relationships and gaining experience. Now they try to pass on as much as they can to others. Lisa and Bruce work as a team, which is very much needed in Africa.

WINCHEL DEMOSTHENE (CHELO)

Bercy, Haiti
Chelo is the pastor of Eglise de la Grace (Grace Church) in Bercy, Haiti. We have enjoyed a partnership with Eglise de la Grace partners for 7 1/2 years seeing many people come to Christ, leaders raised up, a school established and ongoing life change in the community and in our short-term teams.

We continue to build relationships and get much of our guidance from him as to what is needed and wanted in his community when our teams are in Haiti. We also work in partnership with Significance of One to sponsor children, support schools, and advance projects in Bercy.

Ben and Tonya Falkenberg

Mazatlan

Ben and Tonya, along with their three daughters, are in Mazatlan, Mexico, working with Shoulder to Shoulder. They work alongside churches and pastors to encourage, support and equip them to continue in ministry to their communities.

Ben and Tonya also play a huge role in planning for and executing the work that each short term team does while they are in Mazatlan. 

You can listen to the podcasts that detail their journey to this point right here. 

John and Rachel Reaser

Mazatlan, Mexico                                                

John and Rachel Reaser are the founders and directors of Shoulder to Shoulder Mexico. Their passion is to bring every possible resource to empower the local church, bringing hope and light to the world.

The church is God’s simple yet amazing plan to be His hands and His feet in every corner of the world.  When we work with the local church bringing food and shelter to the homeless or building a house for a widow or when we give a Bible to every home in the community, provide medical and dental care and rebuild roofs after a hurricane, we multiply our work through the efforts of many and shine the Light that will never go out.   The church continues to point people to the true hope that is Jesus Christ.  When STS can help the local church expand its impact in the community, God brings a transformation in lives that lasts for all eternity.

The Reasers have been missionaries in Mexico for 20 years.  Their extensive experience in church planting and development is what inspired them to establish a ministry that serves, supports and trains the church in creative and tangible ways.    As directors of STS they lead a team of missionaries who are passionate about serving the local church.  A church that is thriving, impacting the community and reproducing.  A church that is showing up to make God’s presence felt.

The S Family

Central Asia                                              

I grew up attending Grace Church. I was involved in the youth group and went on two short-term trips to Haiti, where God helped me to understand His heart for the nations. In college I met my husband, who like me had grown up in church and through short-term missions had come to understand God’s heart for the nations. A couple years into our professional careers in nursing and engineering we realized that God was gently guiding us to go and minister among the unreached. We are just an ordinary family, with Akron roots, who are seeking to live in obedience to God’s Word.

We now live and work in a creative-access nation in Central Asia where 99.9% of the population are Muslim. Not only are we called to boldly proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ and make disciples, but we are also leading a team which exists to pray for, mobilize, welcome, coach, and nurture the health of people during the time of initial culture & language acquisition (CLA). This is so that we can send out more teams to regions of Central Asia that are still unreached and unengaged.

“Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; make straight and smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised, and every mountain and hill be made low; and let the rough ground become a plain, and the rugged places a broad valley. And the glory and majesty of the LORD will be revealed, and all humanity shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.”  Isaiah 40:3-5

CRAIG AND JACKIE PALMER

Africa/United States

Jackie and Craig served for 4 years in Chad, Africa as full-time missionaries. They have returned to the states but will keep many of their responsibilities while they are state-side. Craig will make several trips a year to Chad to facilitate short-term teams on the ground, buildings are kept up to date and to continue relationships that they began during their ministry.

Dave and Sue Guiles

United States

Dave and Sue Guiles have been in ministry and global missions since 1987 serving in Argentina for 13 years and then as the Executive Director of Encompass World Partners for 23 years. 

Dave has transitioned to serving with the Charis Alliance through church planting, training leaders, and blessing communities. He also serves Encompass as Director of Missional Partnerships. Sue is developing a ministry of intercessory prayer and encouragement for the spouses of global leaders and women in key leadership roles.

The M Family

N. Africa                                              

Hello! We are the M Family. After 9 years serving in SE Asia (Thailand and Myanmar), God opened the doors for us to live in and serve the Arab world in N. Africa in April 2024. Here, one of us will teach children English at a local school and the other will take some time to discover where God is calling her to serve in this new season, after 12 years of being home full-time with the kids and homeschooling them.

We all will learn our third language (and third alphabet!), as we value speaking the heart language of the local people. Our hearts beat to see Jesus made known wherever we are, in word and in deed, through friendship, interdependence, taking a posture of learning, and in demonstrating hospitality. We are passionate about holistic life transformation and opening our hearts and home as we build into our local community and the local church, for our collective good and for God’s glory. Matthew 5:16

Reginald and Lovely

Croix de Bouquet, Haiti                                          

Reginald and Lovely live in Croix de Bouquet and serve in and around that community. They are committed to sharing the love of Jesus with women and children. They do this through outreaches at maternity hospitals, women’s jails, and local churches focusing on meeting physical needs as well as spiritual and emotional needs. 

Steve LaVoie

Atlanta, Georgia                                                

Steve currently lives and serves among the Japanese Diaspora located in Atlanta, Georgia which includes both students studying abroad and Japanese families living in the states for a few years. Steve serves with Second Level Ministry, a discipleship ministry helping new Japanese Christians grow in their faith. Part of Second Level’s ministry is yearly mission trips to Japan to host mentorship conferences encouraging the Japanese churches in the discipleship of their churches and increased unity among the local churches. 

The team reaches out to Japanese students and families and work to establish friendships, finding ways to share who God is and the Gospel through the form of English Cafes. In traditional Japanese folk religion, there are over a million gods (kami 神) so the challenge in sharing Christ within the Japanese culture is helping them to understand the idea of a creator God who loves them and sent his son to take on their shame and restore back their honor. 

ANDY SHANK
SEEDnet

Andy Shank has been planting churches with SEEDnet since 2008. Before his days planting churches among the “least of these,” Andy lived in the apartment complex in Ashland, Ohio, where Pastor Nathan planted his first church. Andy surrendered his life to Christ on April 15th, 2007, and God immediately called him to ministry. Since then, Andy has been planting churches with SEEDnet, specifically with the “street” people. He targets S.E.E.D. (Spiritually, Emotionally, Economically, & Developmentally) areas that are in the city, and these areas are usually apartment complexes, or “projects.”

Andy is currently planting, supporting, or coaching, multiple church plants from Ashland, Ohio to Oakland, California. Andy lives with his beautiful wife Kim, and his two children, in Ashland, Ohio.

Alejandro and Christa Robles

Columbia                                            

God has moved in great ways over the past decade in Colombia. This exciting growth of the gospel among Colombians has led to a gap in trained pastors and leaders. Alejandro & Christa are focused on training future leaders through seminary classes, mentoring church planters, and one on one discipleship.