Cloverdale Church of Christ

Paul Crites ...........San Francisco, CA

Paul Crites is the Cloverdale-sponsored domestic missionary to San Francisco, California. After several years of international work and travel as a military linguist, Paul is putting his intercultural communications training into practice in the United States' most culturally diverse mission field. There are fewer than 400 members of the Churches of Christ within the city limits of San Francisco, which has a population of over 850,000. Paul is currently serving as part of a church restart team located at the Lake Merced Church of Christ. This work has approximately 50 members and is currently housing Bridgemont Academy, a private nondenominational Christian high school, where Paul is becoming integrated as a volunteer chaplain by teaching Bible classes, conducting chapel, and evangelizing to their teenagers. Paul has also become involved with various outreaches in the city, including the foundation of a campus ministry at San Francisco State University just blocks away from the church building and a Hispanic outreach ministry. Paul likes to spend his free time riding motorcycles, studying foreign language, and doing carpentry. Paul has completed his master’s degree in Spiritual Leadership.

Paul Crites

Brent & Sandy Rogers........Kojima, Japan

Brent and Sandy graduated from Harding in 1980. They were missionaries in India for three years. Then, in California, Sandy was a teacher and Brent taught ESL, preached, and completed an M.A. in Teaching ESL/EFL. In 1991 they went to Japan, where Brent initially taught in a branch of an Oregon community college. Along with having two kids in elementary school, Brent and Sandy began teaching private English classes and studying Japanese. The first term in Japan lasted six years and saw the establishment of an English school that would become LOGOS, where Brent and two other teachers work now. In 1998 they returned to the States for Rachel to go to high school. Tim was already in Harding Academy. In Searcy, Brent taught the first graduate classes in the Teaching ESL core at Harding and taught three years at Augusta High School. Sandy taught special education at Jacksonville Junior High and two years at Augusta Elementary School. In 2001 Brent, Sandy, and Rachel returned to Japan. Rachel stayed one year before moving back to Searcy. In 2002 the first LST - Let's Start Talking (www.lst.org) - team came and helped the Rogers and Ellis families to begin serious and intensive evangelism efforts. Brent, Sandy and one other teacher are teaching LOGOS English to over 200 students learning conversational English, and there are about 20 students coming to Bible class every week.

Brent & Sandy Rogers

Newsletter - August 2007

Michael & Lisa Shuttlesworth...Szolnok,Hungary

Michael grew up in Jacksonville, Texas. After finishing high school, he attended Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, for two years before transferring to Oklahoma Christian University to complete his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. There he met and married Lisa, who was from Denton, Texas. Lisa received her bachelor’s degree in art at Oklahoma Christian. They married in 1995. In 1997 they returned to Harding so that Michael could attend the School of Biblical Studies.He graduated from Harding in 1999 with a degree in theology. Ministry and missions had been of great interest to Michael and Lisa for many years. During their time at Harding, they decided to commit their lives to mission work and began looking for a place in which to serve. In October 1999 they moved to Szolnok, Hungary.

During the summer of 1998, Michael and Lisa spent a month in Szolnok, Hungary. While in Szolnok, they assisted the missionaries by teaching English using the Bible. Their time there made them aware of the great need Hungarians have for

the Gospel. The people of Hungary are searching for the Truth that they were deprived of under years of communist rule. While the communists were in power, people were persecuted for believing in God Now they seek to find completeness and spiritual peace in their lives. While they were in Hungary that summer, Michael and Lisa had the opportunity to visit several congregations of the Lord’s people. There was a desperate need for Hungarian male leadership and family involvement in all the congregations. That need has not changed, but the church has been gaining strength slowly. It is their goal to help the Hungarians build on the foundation of Christ and to encourage them in their faith. With God’s help and guidance, they believe that much can be accomplished for the Lord’s kingdom in Hungary.

Newsletter - December 2007

Michael & Lisa Shuttlesworth, Caleb and Sean

Mark & Flora Swartz.......................South Africa

Mark & Flora Swartz

The Call of Capetown - April, 2008

Carl & Alicia Williamson...............New Brunswick, NJ

www.njmissions.com

Carl and Alicia are currently working as domestic missionaries in New Brunswick, N.J. They have lived in N.J. since July of 2004. They met at Harding University in the fall of 2000. Ten months later Carl proposed, and Alicia accepted. They were married June 1, 2002, in Nashville, Tennessee. On August 28, 2006, they were blessed with new life in their family as their only child, Zoe, was born. She has been a great blessing to their lives.

Carl was a Bible and Religion major at Harding University. During his four years he ran for the school’s cross country and track teams, earning the respect of his teammates for his love of and commitment to the sport of running. Carl graduated from Harding University with honors and is almost done working on his master's degree at the Harding Graduate School of Religion in Memphis, Tennessee. Carl is not unfamiliar with the school’s campus; he spent a couple of years of his young life there while his father, Floyd, attended the school. Carl’s parents, Floyd and Isabelle Williamson, were missionaries in Sweden during six of Carl’s first eight years of life. Carl is now following in their footsteps with Alicia as they plant a new church in New Brunswick.

Alicia grew up in Nashville, Tennessee; her parents continue to live in Brentwood, Tennessee (Nashville suburb). Her brother, Jefferson, is currently on a football scholarship at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. Jeff and Dawn Adcock are members of the Smith Springs Church of Christ in Nashville and have worked hard to bring their children up as good Christians — so when it was time for Alicia to choose a college, she chose to attend Harding University.
Alicia graduated Harding with her Exercise Science & Vocational Ministry degrees. They have both been useful, as Alicia worked for a short time at several fitness centers in N.J. and currently spends most of her time working alongside Carl in the Lord's work. In her time at Harding, Alicia was an active member of Delta Gamma Rho social club. She is also an avid runner and weightlifter.
Carl and Alicia are both determined to serve the Lord wherever they may be, and they have chosen to move with three other couples to work for the Lord in America.