Ministries
Kenya
Haiti
Bulgaria
Philippines
Migori
In 2001 a prime piece of property on the main tarmac road leading into Migori, Kenya was purchased for the training center. The foundation was laid for what would be an attractive two-story facility housing and equipping as many as 130 ministers at a time. The Migori School of Ministry International or MSOMI, as it has been named, will provide Bible college courses in a three-year program at a minimal cost. Appropriately, MSOMI means “learned one” in Swahili.
Like so many other Christian denominations in Kenya, the PEFA organization (Pentecostal Evangelistic Fellowship of Africa) of 4000+ churches has about 80% of their pastors lacking any formal Bible training.
PEFA, of whom we have worked alongside of, has implored us to “Please, finish this work of vision for the ultimate good of the whole Church”. The training center has gained widespread knowledge throughout the entire Nyanza region of Kenya and has even been publicized nationally on KBN (Kenya Broadcasting Network). It is clear that we did not just happen upon some general need, but we’ve been led into a specific “gap in the hedge” that God has directed to be filled.
While on the ground during two nine-month tours, we have seen multitudes enter the kingdom of God through evangelistic crusades in Migori and various other communities of western Kenya. Reverend John Okinda’s church, The Migori Worship Center, increased from 150 to over 500 members in the first 9 months of the work. The Worship Center had to double their building size to accommodate the influx of souls coming in from the area.
All of this is but a brief synopsis of far more that is taking place in that neck of the world and with Cross Over Global Outreach. This massive project was the first of a future of vision-reaching fulfillments to the nations for us.
We are proud to say that in July 2008 the final funding was sent to complete the MSOMI building construction! This has been a major accomplishment ending seven years of hard work. Many individuals, churches, and businessmen contributed to what has been done. The Africans themselves sacrificed greatly. “This was the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes!”
• April 2010 while at a missionary convention in Mombasa, Kenya, David met Bro. Ron DeVore the founder and president of World Outreach Ministry Foundation (WOMF). A divine connection and invitation was made…
• August 2011 Dave and Elese traveled to Uganda to speak at WOMF’s yearly pastor conference. There they met a young Kenyan, Pastor Jackson Kenanda, a graduate of Papa Ron’s Seguku Bible College, who is planting a new church in the Maasai region of Kenya. Plans were made to accompany the DeVores to Narok, Kenya in May 2012 for a week-long crusade and ministry.
• March 2012 COGO sent funding to purchase land for the construction of the Ewaso Ngiro Worship Centre near Narok, Kenya. The building will also serve as a Bible school and the base for Kenya Christian Outreach Ministries (KCOM) throughout Kenya.
• May 2012 the previous year’s plans were carried out. A COGO team of ten joined with the WOMF’s Ugandan team for crusades and extensive ministry in Pastor Jackson’s village of Ewaso Ngiro. Many salvations and healings occurred. Pastor Jackson was also married!
• Christmas Day 2012 a seven-member team left again for Kenya; a month-long trip to set up housing for future teams coming into Ewaso Ngiro.
• Jan 2013 the COGO team continued their month-long trip in Kenya. Apart from getting the lay of the land to live in Ewaso Ngiro, there was much ministry in the local neighborhoods, 3 different churches, a medical center, and primary school. Also, researched building details for KCOM.
• Feb 2013 COGO provided funding for Pastor Jackson to build a larger temporary structure for the Ewaso Ngiro Worship Centre next to the original.
• Oct 2013 fees were paid to finalize discrepancies on the land bought for KCOM.
• May 2004 David and two comrades took a short-term trip into Silistra, Bulgaria to see and hear firsthand the communication vision of long-time friends Niki and Rossi Markov.• In 2005 COGO concentrated on fundraising for a larger printing press for the Eagle Publishing House.
• April 2006 David, Elese, and their son, Japheth, took a team of eight into Bulgaria. The larger printing press was purchased and moved into the publishing house, a village church was planted, and local meetings were held in the Silistra church.
• July 2008, a large gift was sent to Niki towards the upward additions of the Eagle Publishing House.
• In 2010 David and Elese hosted Pastor Niki here in the U.S. for a week of ministry.
• April 2011 Niki Markov and Pastor Emil Nedelchev visited the US. Plans were made for another COGO mission trip into Bulgaria. The project: to pour a concrete pad in front of the New Generation Church for a recreational area and café as an outreach to the community of Silistra.
• July 2011 six-person COGO trip and project went off beautifully with much spiritual ministry in several cities. David and Elese also met Blago Genchev, a young Bulgarian with a divine call to the Philippines.
• Oct 2011 COGO raised airfare for Blago to be able to accompany Niki and Don Capwell to the Philippines for a short-term trip.
• Jan 2012 COGO helped launch Blago Genchev into the Philippines for a full year to work at IFL (Institute for Foundational Learning) with Pat Capwell.
• July 2013 Niki Markov and his family visited the USA from Bulgaria.
1982 was the beginning of mission ministry for me with accompanying a team of five others to the nation of Haiti. The purposeful intent of our trip was to build a church in the mountainous region of a French colony called Meyer. Meyer was approximately two hours from Port-Au-Prince and was located at an elevation of 6500’ where step or terrace farming on its steep slopes was the only form of agriculture found. Meyer was also a fairly unreached area concerning the spread of the gospel and was therefore targeted for evangelism and the establishment of a work there. Our friend and fellow pastor, Eddy Francois, from Carrefour, Haiti, carried the vision for this work and our small group of six representing a coalition of three sister-churches in upstate New York came in as a newly formed mission outreach called “Harvest Ministries.” Our assisting the construction of this project also included the oversight of seventeen teenagers from T.W.O. (Teen World Outreach) to help with the task at hand. Ten days of back-breaking work under sunstroke-type temperatures using primitive means for moving rock, pouring and mixing concrete, etc. was finally culminated at noon on the tenth day. Before us stood a 70’x 35’ structure with metal roof on timber arches, a poured concrete floor, and benches built from the leftover boards used for framing our concrete pour. I’d be remiss here if I didn’t mention that forty to fifty Haitians also joined our labor through the ten days once they found out what we were building. All in all, much was done in short order and with great joy, but the best part was yet to come. That afternoon when the work was completed, a lone vehicle manned by Pastor Eddy with a loud-speaker, forged its way through the mountains blaring an announcement that a church had just been built and would have its opening meeting that night. To our amazement, about 250 Haitians came out, some walking as far as eight miles through the mountains. The expectation of God to move was met with many people being saved and filled with the Holy Spirit; others received various physical healings with believing the powerful Word preached. Before leaving, a new pastor was set in to care for the fledgling work and that work remains to this day.
Our return to Pastor Eddy’s home church in Carrefour was with great excitement to share the testimony of all the Lord had done. This church has since 1982 become the mother of over twelve other sizable churches and is now over two thousand in membership itself. The imprint of this first mission trip set a precedent in my heart for a future of outreach to the nations. “Harvest Ministries” ceased to exist in time, but not its vision. In 2000, its vision of networking the Body of Christ for the Lord’s work among the nations was resurrected in us to be called, “Cross Over Global Outreach” (COGO). We returned again in 1999 and continue to have an open door of ministry in Haiti where crusades of over 40,000 people have been held by Pastor Eddy Francois. My dear brother and friend, Lloyd Smoker, who was one of our original team of six, returned to Haiti in 1986 to remain there with his family to this day (Click here to read: Haitifamily). We have been supportive of their labor and encourage others to the same with knowing the integrity of these brethren, the genuineness of their call, and the heart they have for the Haitian people.
David took a short-term trip into the Philippines with many profound occurrences from beginning to end (see story below):
Currently, the Philippines remain a place of further outreach. A comrade-in-arms, Don Capwell, began his own surge into the Philippines through his aunt, Rev. Patricia Capwell. "Tita Pat," as she is affectionately called, is the founder of a twenty-five year mission organization, The Institute for Foundational Learning (IFL), dedicated to bringing souls to Christ through Agricultural Technology, Educational Training, and various outreach programs.
At the same time, through divine events, David and Elese met Blago Genchev while ministering in Bulgaria in 2011. This precious brother had five recurring dreams regarding being a missionary in the Philippines. At the prompting of the Lord, COGO was able to send Blago with Don Capwell and our brother, Niki Markov (see Bulgaria Project), who just happened to have a trip planned to the Philippines that fall! While there, Pat Capwell bore witness to Blago’s heart and call to the Philippines and invited him to return for a year in 2012. COGO jointly raised funds with the Church at-large in Bulgaria and sent Blago back in January for a long-term stay on the field! This is a historical event, more than just putting a missionary on the field. It’s about Bulgaria reaching out for the first time to send a missionary themselves, rather than being a country which only receives missionaries.
David relates some of the highlights of his trip into the Philippines:In 1995 I went to the Philippines at the request of Bro. Wade Taylor, the president of Pinecrest Bible Training Center in Salisbury Center, NY. Though greatly honored by his invitation, I felt rather apprehensive to be his stand-in. However, in a matter of days the Lord miraculously confirmed my sending. Our team of six from various stateside churches arrived in Manila and was taken to San Fernando, La Union, where we were dispatched separately to churches in the area to teach. We were later transported to the mountainous region of Baguio City where we ministered again in separate churches. I was assigned the New Loakan Christian Fellowship under Pastor Solomon who with his family was living in the dug-out dirt basement of the facility. During Sunday’s ministry time, I prayed for a woman who was wonderfully healed. She had been forced to quit her job due to extreme gallstone pains. Her Christian doctor who gave the unfavorable prognosis was unable to provide her with any relief, but told her he sincerely felt somehow she was going to be healed by God. As I prayed for her at the church, she literally felt the gallstones leave and began to praise God testifying to the congregation! A follow-up with the doctor brought a clean bill of health with no gallstones to be found. The woman returned to her job - the only source of income for her household.
Returning to San Fernando, La Union, our team was taken to a Bible school campus that was hosting a summer youth camp. This camp housed three factions of people: teenagers, college students, and local pastors. The three pastors on our team were each given one group to teach three times a day followed by a joint evening service. Four days of this made for a very full, rich time together. At lunch on our last day, I was left with a challenging revelation concerning the teen group that I was given. While eating with the campus administrator, Dave Parkman, a veteran Philippines missionary of fourteen years, I asked about the kids I had been ministering to. My question was, “So, are these kids here to get away, have fun with friends, and enjoy some good Bible teaching like our American kids at church camp?” Dave, visibly astonished by my question, began to give me the serious facts. His answer, “These kids couldn’t afford to come here for a week without a huge sacrifice on the part of their parents. It cost them basically a week’s pay. These teens are here because they have already heard the Lord’s call upon their lives for ministry. Most of them are preparing to minister in China where they’re willing to sacrifice their lives for Jesus and the gospel!” How taken off guard was I with hearing this and how unknowingly privileged was I to minister to this company - “the least of these, my brethren.”
This trip closed out with a wonderful crusade of 3-400 Filipinos gathered on a basketball court in the evening. Many were healed and saved. One man who had a leg several inches shorter than the other as a result of a car accident was incredibly touched by God as his leg grew out before our eyes. His leaping and shouting reflected nothing short of God walking among us - Emmanuel! O the faithfulness of God to answer our faith with that which can only be described as Jesus said, “These things are marvelous in our eyes.”