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Zully Ruano
Zully Ruano was exposed to missions from a very young age and at the age of 16, the Lord inscribed on her heart 2 Corinthians 5:15. She worked on staff at CC Downey where she served as the Missions Coordinator for almost 10 years. In God’s perfect timing, Zully received a special missionary call to help begin a Christian international school in Mallorca, Spain. The school’s purpose is not only to prepare children academically but to reach children and their families with the gospel of Jesus Christ. In addition to establishing a Christian school, Zully’s long term goal is to strategically use Spain’s geographical location to prepare and send missionaries to its neighboring countries in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.
Vincent aniku
God has called Pastor Vincent Aniku (a national) as Senior Pastor and his wife Melissa Aniku (a missionary from America) to serve Him in Midigo for His glory, growing daily in His love for His people!
BRIAN VERSOZA
In April of 2014 Brian Versoza was ordained as a Pastor and took over the ministry that Pastor Tom Maxwell planted in Cebu, Philippines (Shepherd’s Heart Calvary Chapel). In 2009 Pastor Brian graduated from U-Turn for Christ School of Ministry in Samar, and then became an intern at Shepherd’s Heart Calvary Chapel (SHCC) in Cebu City serving alongside Pastor Tom Maxwell. As he extended his internship, the Lord opened the doors for Pastor Brian to become SHCC’s senior pastor when Pastor Tom returned to the US. SHCC reaches out primarily to squatter areas, ministering to over 100 adults and an average of 400 kids as the school year starts. The church has a full range of ministries for children of all ages and adults.
PASHA BARANOV
Pasha received the Lord in May of 1992 at one of the first outreaches by Calvary Chapel of Downey. In November of 2004, Pasha became the pastor of Calvary Chapel of Vladimir, Russia, and overseer of all the missions in the Vladimir region. There are currently 7 Calvary Chapels in the Vladimir region. CC Vladimir has also established a Bible College.
Sammy MEDINA
calvaryprepa@gmail.com
Sammy Medina grew up in the missions field. At the age of 9, his parents moved from California and decided to become full time missionaries in Mérida, Yucatan, Mexico. Since then, he fell in love with the people and the culture, started to learn the language, attended school and helped his dad in the ministry. After graduating college at the age of 23, Sammy and Aly got married in Merida. Today they have three sons and one daughter. Sammy became a member of the pastoral team serving alongside his father sharing the pulpit. After working for several years with the youth and serving on the pastoral team, his dad passed the baton to his son on October 27, 2019. Since then he is serving as the senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Merida.
FERNANDO RODRIGUEZ
Fernando Rodriguez began serving as pastor of Iglesia Buenas Nuevas in Cuba for the last 17 years and has been involved with Calvary Chapel for the same amount of years. The church he serves at has established 8 church plants, as well as a Bible college. Fernando serves as our main contact for our annual Cuban Pastor’s Conference which has taken place for the last 7 years.
DANIEL & ELIZABETH
FOLLOW DANIEL & ELIZABETH ON INSTAGRAM
Daniel and Elizabeth, along with their 3 children Abbagail, Liam, and Peter are serving in Southern Asia since 2015. Through God’s grace, they have been able to translate the Gospel into the local dialect, share the Gospel with university students, and organize outreach to children. In 2017, Daniel began a weekly Sunday night service with the locals. Along with worship, prayer, and fellowship, they are making their way through the Word in an expository fashion.
JESSE COLON
iglesiabiblicajerez@gmail.com
For over 4 years Jesse prayed to serve as a long-term missionary in his parent’s hometown of Jerez, Zacatecas. In October of 2016, Jesse and Kim took the step of obedience and faith to heed God’s call for full time missions in Jerez. The vision the Lord has given them is to start CC Mission Jerez. The Lord has provided them with a place to live in the city as well as farmland nearby to work on in order to provide resources to much in need. They are also praying to see the land used to start a Bible college, and through it raise up leaders and missionaries to minister wherever the Lord would send them.
Watson Charles
Pastor Watson Charles was born in Haiti, raised in a Christian home, and in 2019 married his beloved wife, Jane. In Port Au Prince and under the leadership of founder and Pastor, Brian McDaniel, Watson serves as the Administrator for the ten plus Cross to Light churches and Pastor over the students and staff at the CTL Bible Training Center.
Haiti is our neighbor, and with the crippling effects of voodoo and wickedness all over the country, suffering is a common thread. The church of God is hard pressed on every side. There’s a great spiritual battle in Haiti and Cross to Lights vision has always been to move the Gospel forward. Our Haitian brethren pray consistently, seeking the will of the Lord for them and for their people.
Pastor Watson, along with the CTL students, the ten plus Cross to Light churches, and every bible teaching Pastor and leader in Haiti covet our prayers and support.
Cyril Gordon
Cyril Gordon, a French-Israeli citizen, was a missionary with “Jews for Jesus” for 19 years. He trained and managed an average of 20 volunteers/year (2000 to 2019). Cyril’s vision is threefold:
Reaching out to the forgotten Jews in nursing homes. These Jews are mostly bedridden and rarely get any visitors.
Expanding his unique and fruitful outreach to Jews in local synagogues. Coming from the synagogues Cyril is fully equipped to mingle among the Jews that attend these synagogues and find the ones who want to know more about Jesus. The potential for this form of Jewish evangelism is huge as there are hundreds of synagogues to visit throughout Southern California.
Continuing the open-air evangelism in Venice Beach.
Dany Garcia
Calvary Chapel Xalapa is a church located in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico. This is a small but beautiful city surrounded by mountains and beautiful lakes. The church was started in 2015 by Calvary Chapel Downey´s missionary Danny Gamez. When he moved back to California, a young couple from Yucatán, México, moved to Xalapa to take over the church: Dany and Lety Garcia. They have been serving in Xalapa for almost 2 years. Right now the church has about 80 people attending on Sundays.
Recently God has brought many broken marriages to be restored. The Lord has been opening doors at the government place to share Jesus and to impart conferences about "peace in the society" from a biblical perspective.
Beto Interian
Beto moved to Acatlán, Veracruz in 2017 to assume the role of Senior Pastor of Calvary Chapel Acatlán as our missionaries, the Gamez family, returned to California. Beto took a step of faith leaving behind his family in Merida and has been faithfully serving since then.
Please pray for the men to grow and be strong in the Lord, for the struggling families and children that come to Sunday Services; pray for the construction of the church, and especially pray for the youth.
Felicia Knoth
Felicia Knoth is currently serving the Lord with “Youth With a Mission Gleanings For The Hungry” . She has a heart to help the poor, needy, and hungry.
Deuteronomy 15:11 “ For the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.
jay bentley
The Bentley family moved to Durango Mexico in October of 2009, Jay an Carmen have 5 beautiful children 3 girls and 2 boys Rebecca, Jay, Abigail, Vivianna and Christian. Over the years God has blessed in many different ways the ministry in Durango. In August of 2021 CC Durango opened up a Christian School called Calvary Life currently we have over 30 children enrolled at the School. Calvary Chapel Durango is home to around 200 people. Thank you so much for your prayers and support CC Downey.
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RETURNED MISSIONARIES
CHAD NAAKTGEBOREN
Chad Naaktgeboren and his family (Heather (wife), Luke, Hannah, Christian and Leah) moved to Johannesburg in January 2007 as they headed the call to plant a church there. The Naaktgeboren’s have planted Calvary Chapel Johannesburg, established a school of ministry, and have various ministries directed at helping those in poverty and with various needs.
The family has returned home by the call of the Lord since July 2017. Chad is on staff as the mission’s pastor here at Calvary Chapel Downey as well as our school admin.
The flourishing church in Johannesburg was left in great hands to a national pastor in South Africa. Continue to pray for what God is doing in Africa and what God will do through Chad and the Naaktgeboren family here in Southern California.
DANIEL GAMEZ
Danny and Sylvia served in Mexico beginning in 2012 with their children Matthew, Victoria, Luke, and Benjamin. While in Merida, Yucatan the call to plant a church was heard and in January 2015, they moved to Acatlán, Mexico (State of Veracruz) to plant Calvary Chapel Acatlán. In 2016 they also began a church plant in Xalapa, where the ministry is currently flourishing. In December of 2017, Daniel Gamez heard God's call to come back to Downey and come on staff as the Spanish pastor to our Spanish Ministry.
The work in Acatlan and Xalapa was left in great hands with 2 pastors from CC Merida who continue to hold Bible studies and provide leadership, discipleship, and children ministries in both church plants. Please continue to pray for the two churches in Veracruz and for the Gamez family.