{"id":24343,"date":"2017-05-16T09:30:59","date_gmt":"2017-05-16T13:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cccc.org\/news_blogs\/?p=24343"},"modified":"2020-06-18T14:27:04","modified_gmt":"2020-06-18T18:27:04","slug":"a-lifetime-of-mission-ministry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cccc.org\/news_blogs\/storiesoffaith\/2017\/05\/16\/a-lifetime-of-mission-ministry\/","title":{"rendered":"A Lifetime of Mission Ministry – Avant Ministries"},"content":{"rendered":"

Authored by John Harder, Former Director, Avant Ministries<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

We live in a different era than the one sixty years ago, when my wife Audrey and I began missionary ministry with Avant.\u00a0 However, while technically retired for nearly twenty years, our hearts are still involved.\u00a0 Following are three life stories from Argentina, one of which also ties into Cuba.<\/p>\n

Francisco<\/p><\/div>\n

Francisco was addicted to alcohol.\u00a0 His Friday pay cheque took him through the weekend, but by Monday there was little left for food.\u00a0 The house that he shared with his wife was old, decrepit, and very poorly furnished.\u00a0 He worked a
\ns a carpenter in the local railway shop.\u00a0 They met an Avant missionary family, who invited them to a gospel service recently begun in their home.<\/p>\n

They went some blocks on foot, but Francisco needed the support of a bottle of wine, which he had tucked into his overcoat.\u00a0 Before entering the house where the meeting was being held he took a drink, and another one for the road after the service concluded.\u00a0 He was enslaved.\u00a0 The Bible message, however, did penetrate his mind and reached his heart.\u00a0 Not long after he made a conscious decision to give himself to God, seeking deliverance from his addiction \u2013 which he found!<\/p>\n

At this point we arrived in southern Argentina, taking over the leadership of that small but growing congregation.\u00a0 Our lives became intertwined and Francisco\u2019s home changed.\u00a0 The money previously poured into drink was used to purchase a refrigerator and other helpful items for their house.\u00a0 And at work he was promoted to foreman.<\/p>\n

After we returned to Canada for a leadership role with Avant, I was able to get back several times to visit Argentina \u2013 and of course wanted to see Francisco.\u00a0 What a warm welcome he gave me!\u00a0 He was now a leader in the church, helping many others, and owned a motor scooter so he could get around better.\u00a0 On a still later visit, he proudly showed me his car, by no means new but well kept.\u00a0 But above all, he evidenced a permanently transformed life.<\/p>\n

Elida was a pedicurist and a believer, who recently moved to our town.\u00a0 She sought out the evangelical church that we were establishing.<\/p>\n

Elida<\/p><\/div>\n

We immediately felt a kinship with her, and she was a faithful attender.\u00a0 One day she told us that her fianc\u00e9 was coming, and asked us to pray for his salvation.\u00a0 He, like she, was a professional, an accountant and bank auditor.\u00a0 We warmly welcomed him, and he began to attend our two Sunday services.\u00a0 Hugo grew in spiritual understanding, and before long he made a commitment to the Lord.\u00a0 Then they were ready for marriage, which I performed.<\/p>\n

Hugo<\/p><\/div>\n

Sometime later they left town to establish themselves on the island of Tierra del Fuego off the southern tip of Argentina, where he was offered a position at the Ford dealership in Rio Grande.\u00a0Seeing a void spiritually there, they began an evangelical church and also a Christian bookstore.\u00a0 The church grew, and it was my privilege to visit them a couple of times and speak.\u00a0 Eventually they moved into their own church building, which was quite adequate for a full fledged church.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On my 2006 visit they dropped me off for an hour at the home of a family that had stopped going to church.\u00a0 The husband was an alcoholic.\u00a0 I tried to converse with him, but he was very timid and had nothing to say \u2013 until the time when I would be picked up.<\/p>\n

Jose & Ines and family<\/p><\/div>\n

Then he opened up!\u00a0 Apologetically I had to leave, but invited them to the church where I would be speaking that evening.\u00a0 I doubted that they would come.\u00a0 But they did!\u00a0 During a refreshment time after, Jose wanted to sit beside me, and we talked.\u00a0 When was I coming back?\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t sure, but he wanted it to be soon.\u00a0 I did return a couple years later, and Jose and Ines invited me to their humble home for a delicious barbecue of beef, chicken and sausage.\u00a0 That night two years previous when they returned to the church marked a turning point in their lives, and he was totally delivered from his addiction.\u00a0 They are serving in the church and have a godly home.\u00a0 Hugo and Elida continue to give strong leadership although very elderly.\u00a0 This is some of the fruit of missionary work through Avant.<\/p>\n

Then there is Patricia, a university history professor, married to Ruben, an American oil company employee.\u00a0 I met them first in 2002, when invited to their place for lunch, a very interesting visit.<\/p>\n

Patricia & Ruben and family<\/p><\/div>\n

The next year, again invited for lunch, they showed an ex
\ntraordinary interest in Cuba, where I had begun to go frequently on humanitarian trips.\u00a0 This had become my retirement ministry, usually taking seven or eight others with me.\u00a0 We took along practical help in the form of clothing, medicines and money to help the evangelical churches.<\/p>\n

Each time I visited Patricia and Ruben they wanted to talk about Cuba.\u00a0 Eventually they helped significantly with finances.\u00a0 And just this year, following Hurricane Matthew\u2019s disastrous hit to eastern Cuba, they again helped.\u00a0 Ruben is now retired, Patricia still teaches, and inflation is bad \u2013 but their hearts go out to others in greater need.<\/p>\n

As I reflect on a lifetime of mission ministry\u00a0under Avant, it has been very gratifying.\u00a0 The five years in Argentina, 33 years in a home office leadership role, and the 19 years of retirement ministry related to Cuba.\u00a0 And all with an organization that has a track record and reputation for integrity, and care and consideration for its workers.\u00a0 God has granted us a good run!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"This charity has been certified by the Canadian Council of Christian Charities. Charities that display our Seal of Accountability demonstrate ongoing compliance with high standards of financial and organizational integrity. To find out more about this charity or other Certified charities, visit <\/strong>giveconfidently.ca<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Authored by John Harder, Former Director, Avant Ministries We live in a different era than the one sixty years ago, when my wife Audrey and I began missionary ministry with Avant.\u00a0 However, while technically retired for nearly twenty years, our hearts are still involved.\u00a0 Following are three life stories from… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":24345,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ts_fic_featured_image_caption":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[137],"tags":[240,11,148],"series":[],"class_list":["post-24343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-charities","tag-church","tag-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24343"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccc.org\/news_blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=24343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}