The 2023 Cherrydale Global Missions Conference

October 15-22, 2023

“…for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.” 1 Cor. 16:9

Cherrydale’s Global Missions Conference is an interactive week of events to educate, equip, and encourage our church family in joining God in His kingdom work around the world, particularly among “unreached people groups.” The conference events are led by Cherrydale overseas partners who share about their experience and how we can pray and support them!

Our 2023 Global Missions Conference theme is “Great Doors of Opportunity” (1 Cor. 16:9). Our prayer is that throughout the week’s events, God will show each of us the open doors He has provided and give us confidence in Christ to boldly step out in faith to share the gospel.

Conference Schedule

DATE

EVENT
Sunday,
Oct. 15

Kickoff Sermon at Worship Service
Sunday,
Oct. 15-20

Overseas Partners Share with Life Groups
Wednesday, Oct. 18

“Prayer with Amit”
Wednesday, Oct. 18

Children’s Program: “Around the World”
Saturday,
Oct. 21

Women’s Brunch with Missionary Panel
Sunday,
Oct. 22

Global Missions Sunday Worship Service
Sunday,
Oct. 22

Sunday Classes

Conference Participants

Please incorporate their prayer requests into your family prayer time.

Chuck & Sharon | Southeast Asia

Sharon grew up at Cherrydale and met Chuck during her last year of college. They married and headed off to Southeast Asia in 1990 where they raised their children and participated on church-planting teams among Muslim people groups. They have also been involved in prayer and youth ministries, literature development, mentoring, and member care for both expat and national workers.

Prayer Request: Pray for Chuck as he helps workers from various countries learn how to work together as a team. Pray for Sharon as she “prayer walks” with friends in areas where people do not yet know Jesus.

Daniel & Janine | Middle East

Daniel and Janine are a young family of four from Pennsylvania, serving in the Middle East. They are excited to be a part of God’s global purpose to make disciples among unreached people groups. They recently finished their first two years in the field learning Arabic and plan to move to a new city with no established local church. They hope to use their interests and backgrounds in technology and health to make natural connections with locals in order to share the good news of Jesus!

Prayer Request: Please pray for their daughter, Leila (2.5 yrs), that she would make good friends when they move to their new city and their newborn son, Levi, that he would grow to be a healthy boy. Please pray for their friends in the Middle East, that they would accept Jesus as their Savior.

Danjuma & Abigail | Sub Saharan Africa

Danjuma is Nigerian born and he received Christ as his Savior and Lord in December of 1974. He married Veronica Lami Gambo in 1977 and joined the Nigeria Bible translation Trust in 1978. He has been working in Bible translation since that time. The Lord called Veronica to glory in 2020, and Danjuma married Abigail in February of 2022. He continues to work with teams to translate the gospel into the local language.

Prayer Request: For good health and for Danjuma to finish strong. Pray also for our translators and their families. Some of the families live in villages recently targeted by those who oppose the gospel.

Emily | Middle East  

Emily serves with Crisis Care Training International (CCTI) which trains caregivers, practitioners and church leaders. They train non-clinical personnel, educators, government workers, and members of aid organizations. CCTI provides accessible, entry-level trauma care training for those who have ongoing contact with children at risk and children in crisis. All of their curriculum is centered on Christ. Emily oversees the translation of curriculum into different languages and travels overseas to offer trainings.

Prayer Request: May God give her son Elias continued love for Jesus. May she and Elias continue to follow Jesus as they make Him know among the unreached.

Jessica | Middle East  

Jessica serves in the Middle East region. She has been studying Arabic for the past two years and in January will transition to a new country where she will be working with refugees. There will be four people on her team, two of whom are local believers. They will help with running two refugee schools and are praying about opening a center focused on supporting women through business, Bible studies, therapy, and trauma-informed classes.

Prayer Request: Please pray that God would be working in the hearts of the children in the refugee camps. They often start working outside the home around age 12 so sometimes they do not get to finish school. Pray these children have the opportunity to continue going to school and learning about Him.
John | East Asia  

John is a missionary to Japan sent from Reston Bible Church. He has served in Japan for almost six years. He has taught English conversation classes to share the gospel with people in Takamatsu Kagawa, Japan. Recently, he has been working with churches in Tokyo to help play in the worship band on Sundays, as well as helping with English conversation outreaches to Waseda College students.

Prayer Request: Please pray for me to better learn Japanese. Please pray that the people we meet and share Jesus with will come to faith and follow Him with their whole hearts.
Lulu | Central Asia

Lulu has lived in Central Asia for 13 years, by God’s grace. The calling God has placed in her life is to reflect Christ through her life as she builds relationship with the women and their families. As the relationship deepens and with the Holy Spirit’s prompting, the Word of God is shared mostly through story telling considering this is an oral culture. She is currently involved in a small church. The people there are wealthy and their hearts are closed to knowing about Jesus Christ; however, God has given Lulu strategies to reach out to them, which includes providing encouragement and asking good questions that would penetrate their hearts as Jesus did.

Prayer Request: Pray for sensitivity to what the Father is doing; to hear His voice during this home assignment regarding His plans for her in the future.
T&S | Central Asia

T & S have served with Cru since 2015 and have been Cherrydale members since 2018. They did international student ministry in the DMV until 2019 when the Lord opened the door for them to move to the Middle East to minister to a people group with nearly no known Christians. They welcomed their first child in 2022 and have embraced a new season of life and ministry to families in their city. S ministers to women and mothers in her community, and T helps produce discipleship media in the local language for secret believers in their city.

Prayer Request: Please pray that S can sleep well at night as she has had difficulty sleeping. Pray for good connections in her ministry with women. Please pray for T as he helps a pastor create videos in the local language to teach people about Jesus; these people have to gather secretly because it is against the law for them to follow Jesus.

Conference Event Details

Sunday, Oct. 15

Kickoff Sermon at Worship Service

10:30 AM | worship center

Pastor Tom Oostdyk will kickoff our 2023 Global Missions Conference with a sermon on 1 Cor. 16:5-11 to cast the vision for the conference theme and week’s events.

Sunday, Oct. 15 – Friday, Oct. 20

Overseas Partners Share with Life Groups

Our overseas partners will be sharing and praying with Cherrydale Life Groups throughout the week. Church family, check with your Life Group leaders for more information!

Wednesday, Oct. 18

“Prayer with Amit”

6:30–8:00 pm | ROOM 230 A/B

Please join us to hear from Pastor Amit, who comes from a Hindu family and was saved at 19 years old when he heard the gospel at a youth camp. He was called to ministry and God gave him a burden to plant a church. In 2022, Pastor Amit, with his wife and two young kids, and three other families, moved to a part of India which is one of the most hostile to the gospel, and hard to penetrate with the gospel. They moved there to plant “Anugrah Bible Church”. There is widespread persecution of Christians there, but in the midst of these trials, Anugrah Bible Church remains faithful to Jesus and the Word. In one recent month, the church has witnessed four baptisms and two more joining as members. Come hear about what God is doing!

Children’s Program: “Around the World”

6:30–8:00 pm | third floor

Friends from around the world will be sharing about life in the country where they live overseas. We will have friends from Nigeria, Turkey, Indonesia, Lebanon and Japan. Children ages Pre-K through Grade 5 will experience what life is like for these friends and will experience music, games, food and more.

Saturday, Oct. 21

Women’s Brunch with Missionary Panel

9:30-11:30 am | the well | registrATION REQUIRED

Women of Cherrydale and friends are invited to come learn from three of Cherrydale’s female overseas partners — Sharon, Lulu, and Emily — on our conference theme “Great Doors of Opportunity” (1 Cor. 16:9). Enjoy brunch, a panel interview, and discussion and prayer around tables. We pray you will leave with an encouraged heart to draw near to God through prayer and to step through the great doors of opportunity we each have to advance the gospel!

Artisan Tree Ornaments

As part of the brunch, women will have an opportunity to support “Teze Handcrafts” which our partner Rachel (Central Asia) began several years ago. The name “Teze” means “new” in the local language and the company employs local women as they learn a new skill, make new creations, and offer new life in otherwise difficult circumstances. At our brunch we will host an “Artisan Tree” with $5.00 Christmas ornaments made by the women at Teze. We will accept cash or check (payable to Yvonne Reed) at the brunch.

Registration closed Oct. 18. 

Sunday, Oct. 22

Sunday Worship Services

10:30 am | Worship Center

Global Missions Conference Sunday
Speaker: Dave Young, Missions Pastor
Worship will include special music with Cherrydale’s adult choir.

In celebration of the cultural diversity that God has created among the various people groups of the world, we invite all attendees to come dressed in the national clothing of your country of origin, a country you have lived in, or a country you have visited (or would like to visit).

Sunday Classes

9:00–10:00 am
  • Adult Classes — All classes will meet and will have the opportunity to hear first-hand from one of our overseas partners, with a time of Q&A and prayer.
  • Children’s Classes (K–5th Grade) — Children will have a special missions-oriented project to work on together led by Beth Main and Joy.
  • Youth Classes — John will be sharing with our youth (6th-12th grades) about his ministry in Japan in the Gym.

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