Meet Our Missions Pastor

Monte Vista Chapel is Gary S.'s home church. Gary has the heart of an evangelist and has developed our Sending Team program which is an innovative approach to supporting missionaries. Gary came on staff in 1993. He is married to Doreen and they have five children. Gary also serves as the Administrator.

Monte Vista Chapel has placed a large emphasis in there Missionary Vision in reaching the unreached. We believe so strongly in doing our part to reach the unreached that we have adopted a people group that we have decided to call the B-people. Through our adoption we hope to see a church-planting movement begin among these people. Please join us in seeing these precious people reached for Christ.

E-Mail Gary S.

Meet Our Missionaries

Lee & Pam Beldon

Lee and Pam are the Area Missionaries for American Missionary Fellowship.  American Missionary Fellowship is committed to reaching the 221 million unchurched people in America.  American Missionary Fellowship started in 1791 and is still bringing people to the knowledge of Jesus Christ.  Lee is assigned to cover six counties between Sacramento and Redding.  They work with local churches and assist them with ministries such as VBS, teen weekly events, and Bible studies.  Their main purpose is to reach the unchurched peoples in their area.  Mt. Hope Bible Camp is also a part of their ministry.  Lee is the pastor of Rackerby Community Church.

Carl & Allene Bock

Carl & Allene Bock serve the Lord under the umbrella of Healthcare Chaplains Ministry Association.  Carl is a Board Certified Chaplain (BCC), and Allene is his associate.  Their local ministry is in Madera at the Country Villa Madera Rehabilitation and Nursing Center where they provide pastoral care for adults who require physical therapy and nursing care until released for home care by their personal physician.  After graduation from Multnomah Bible College (1952) and Dallas Theological Seminary (1957) Carl served as Senior Pastor of churches in California and Oregon before entering the Hospital Chaplaincy (1976).  Allene has faithfully served as Associate with Carl at Kaiser Permanente Hospital, Fontana, CA, Madera Community Hospital, and currently at Country Villa.   

Tim & Brigitte

Tim is the prayer coordinator for a Christian agency (Charity) that seeks to serve Muslims throughout the world in many different ways, where they are seeing many Muslims becoming followers of Jesus. Tim travels to many Muslim countries, giving coaching and training to many national and expatriate workers.  Tim also trains and leads prayer teams that travel to different Muslim countries. Tim and Brigitte lead a team of workers locally where another Pakistani believer is partnering with them in bringing the Gospel to Pakistani Muslims. Brigitte ministers mainly in Britain, helping Pakistani Muslim ladies with English and others forms of service.  Tim and Brigitte have four children:  Daniel, Davida, Hosea, and John-Mark.

Mike & Bonnie Burnam

Mike and Bonnie have been serving as missionaries since 1995 with World Evangelization for Christ (WEC).  They have recently moved from Cuernavaca, Mexico to WEC Headquarters in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. Their ministry to the Mexican Church has included discipleship, training, mentoring pastors and leaders, and church assessment. Mike and Bonnie are now officially the Deputy Sending Base leaders and Candidate Directors for WEC Mexico. Mike will be traveling three times a year back to Mexico and continue networking from their new home, while Bonnie will be the kitchen director feeding an average of 80 people Monday thru Friday. Mike and Bonnie have two children: Daniel, and Rachel.

Pruett & Linda Burnam

Pruett and Linda are serving with World Evangelism for Christ International (WEC) in Cuernavaca, Mexico. WEC's objective is to glorify God by seeing viable churches formed among unreached people and to disciple, train, and equip believers for evangelism, church planting, and involvement in the worldwide mission of the church. Their goal in Mexico is to encourage evangelical church growth through church planting and development, to increase mission's awareness, and to help the church in Mexico send out Missionaries. Development of a Missionary Training Center (MTC) has been a major focus of the Burnams in recent years.  The first class of students graduated from MTC in August 2007, and development of a permanent home for the MTC at El Monte is moving forward.

Rick & Joan Burnam

Rick and Joan Burnam serve the Lord with Central American Mission (CAM). Currently the Burnams are living in Turlock, Ca. They will continue their ministry with CAM International ministering to the Hispanic population in the San Joaquin Valley. Rick is the Associate Pastor of the Spanish church that meets at Monte Vista Chapel on Sundays. Joan is teaching full time at Turlock Christian School.  Rick and Joan have four children:  Jania, Jordan, Ashlee, and Alina.

Tom & Marti Chance

Awana helps churches and parents worldwide raise children and youth to know, love and serve Christ.  Tom and Marti Chance have served with Awana over 15 years helping the leadership bring the gospel to young people with clarity and urgency here in North Central California.  They conduct presentations and trainings for newly registered churches as well as those that have carried out the ministry to children and youth for many years.  Tom and Marti bring encouragement through relationships that connect at club visits, training sessions, phone calls, emails and other points of contact.  Much of the time is spent in developing volunteer ministry teams that duplicate the ministry further into the area.  Tom is also in the role of Lead Missionary serving the California, Nevada and Hawaii Awana Missionaries.  Tom and Marti live in Denair, CA and are the parents of five daughters: Amy, Karen, Melinda, Renae and Hannah.

Keith & Barbara Clukey

Keith and Barbara Clukey minister at the International Headquarters of HCJB Global in Colorado Springs, Co. Keith is currently in the Information Technology department.  HCJB Global is able to broadcast 900 hours of Christian programs every week to 80% of the world! Their purpose is "to communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ to all nations so that people are transformed and become active, vital parts of the body of Christ." Keith provides technical support, hardware maintenance and upgrades, and projects on an as-needed basis. Barbara continues to be a prayer partner, encourager, and servant with many opportunities to serve at the IHQ offices and among its mission families and the community.

Daphne Coppock

Congratulations to Daphne who recently got married to Caleb Coppock on May 31.  Daphne serves the Lord with Word Made Flesh (WMF), a mission organization that serves among the most vulnerable of the world's poor. Daphne is the International Associate Director of Advocacy and Editor of WMF's advocacy journal, The Cry. This involves traveling all over the world, as she and her team ministers among the poor and writes about the wonderful testimonies of Jesus working in their lives.

Joe & JoLynn DiGrazia

Joe and JoLynn DiGrazia are the directors of Westside Ministries here in Turlock. The DiGrazia's, along with a handful of staff members, specifically minister to children living amid poverty, drugs and gangs. Westside Ministries counteracts this with the love of Jesus and various programs, such as:  Bible clubs, youth camps, teaching the arts, tutoring programs, college scholarships, after school programs and emergency assistance. "Westside Ministries is a result of Joe and JoLynn DiGrazia's love for God and people. Because they believe God's love is the fundamental need of every heart, they have loved Westside kids and parents. The result has been transformed lives."

John & Marielle Dupree

Rev. John and Marielle Dupree serve with The Harvest Group.  The Harvest Group organizes the Perspectives courses, Encountering Islam and Pathways courses in Northern California and Nevada.  In his role as Church Mobilization Minister, John organizes the 'Harvest Gathering' conferences and Local Missions Leaders Networks, plus travels extensively speaking at many different churches, conferences, seminars, and Seminaries.  Marielle is a Children's Missions mobilizer.  The goal is to help churches expand their global worldview and participation with the Lord redeeming all humanity to Himself.

Tom & Susan Fincher

Starting July 15 Tom will begin his position as Project Reporting Manager for the Seed Company in Arlington, Texas.  He will be working in the Communications Department that is responsible for gathering, writing, printing and distributing the quarterly reports on the work of the 225 missionaries that the Seed Company has sent out throughout the world to translate God's Word.  Because each missionary has his or her own report and list of donors, this will keep the team busy.  This will involve gathering information from the field that is current, writing the material, and then sending some of it out on the Internet, as well as in printed form.  Susan will not be formally employed at the Seed Company, but plans to volunteer as needed and continue substitute teaching.

Dorsina Foedikoa

Dorsina lives and ministers in Indonesia, the fourth most populous and largest Muslim country in the world.  She works with Faith Foundation Indonesia (FFI), the umbrella foundation of Evangelical Theological Seminary Indonesia (ETSI) and Immanuel University (UKRIM).  In the sponsorship departments she collects and distributes all prayers letters.  She also takes care of national sponsor correspondence in Indonesia with alumni, churches, businessman and institutions for student prayer letters and scholarships. In addition to Dorsina's duties at the seminary, she hosts a Bible study at her home which is led by her pastor. She also serves as one of the deacons in her church.  Dorsina is a widow and has three daughters: Ina-Oba, Sara, and Rosemary.

James & Diane Gleaves

James and Diane Gleaves have served the Lord with New Tribes Mission (NTM) for 25 years, first in Colombia, South America and now as the Regional Representative in the Central USA . Their mission is to educate and encourage Christians in churches, schools, youth camps, religious clubs, and colleges to be more involved in world evangelism - especially tribal missions. They rejoice that this past year has been their busiest year of ministry in the Midwest, with many opportunities to challenge individuals and groups to be involved in missions.  James and Diane have four children: Luke, Tyler, Amy, and Shane.

Mike & Nadine Gleaves

Mike and Nadine Gleaves have been serving as missionaries with New Tribes Mission for over 30 years, including many years of service with New Tribes Mission in Colombia, South America in various capacities. More recently, Mike and Nadine have been representing New Tribes Mission here on the west coast. Their passion is to challenge churches and university and Bible school students to be more involved in world missions, especially to tribal communities. Summer camps are a highlight for the Gleaves because it draws eager, young people and gives them a chance to impact them in a close and personal way.

Ron & Char Holcomb

Ron and Char Holcomb are missionaries with Africa Inland Mission, Int. (AIM).  They have served in Sudan and Kenya since 1983.  In 2001, they began working with African immigrants and refugees in the NW of the United States.  They continue to travel to Southern Sudan for a month each year to teach pastors and wives.

Ben & Mary Jean Jennings

Ben and Mary Jean Jennings are serving the Lord with Campus Crusade for Christ International.  They direct world wide prayer leadership training and prayer motivational services for the Global Great Commission Prayer Movement, the prayer arm of Campus Crusade for Christ.  Their goal is to help missionaries increase their use of strategic, saturation prayer for fulfillment of the Great Commission of Christ.  The Jennings have prepared a four-level prayer leadership curriculum for all 192 nations that are served by Campus Crusade for Christ.  It is available on the Internet in printed copy and power point.  The Jennings lead a global network of prayer leadership instructors, and a team that manages a current stock of resource materials.

Ted & Kris Jones

Ted and Kris Jones serve with the Mexico Branch of Wycliffe Bible Translators and Summer Institute of Linguistics headquartered in Tucson, AZ. They are aiding the translation of the New Testament into some of the language variants of the Zapotec people of Mexico. There are 40 different variants among the Zapotecs. Besides their initial assignment to the Guelavía Zapotec project, Ted also supervises indigenous translators working independently in Mexico and serves as a Translation Consultant for other languages. Kris works as Manuscript Editor and bibliographer for the Mexico Branch.

David & Angie Kern

David and Angie Kern serve with New Tribes Mission in Brazil. Since 1997, they have ministered at the NTM School - Puraquequara (PQQ), located about 1,000 miles up the Amazon River. Both David and Angie teach at the school for missionary children - Angie also serves as the camp hostess and David as principal. They also teach the Bible weekly at a community upriver from the school. David further explains: "We've been blessed to see several come to know Jesus as Savior at the Mainã community, and we are eager to see them grow in their faith. Please pray for the salvation of others."  The Kerns have four children: Aaron, Aleah, Dayton, and Derek.

Manfred & Barbara Kern

Manfred and Barbara Kern have lived and served with New Tribes Mission in Brazil for over 35 years. Their ministry has been to increase the spiritual growth of the Pacaas Novos Indians. This includes medical treatment, education, agriculture, church planting, Bible translation, and the distribution of many Bible study lessons to the villagers. Two years ago, Barbara was diagnosed with breast cancer and kidney failure. As a result, the Kern's moved to Germany so Barbara could receive adequate treatment. Even though Barbara is undergoing dialysis and recovering from cancer, the Kern's are still able to do the Lord's work in Germany. They are currently in the process of translating and putting together a rough draft of Mark specifically designed for the Pacaas Novos Indians.

Irv & Nan Klaschus

The JESUS film debuted in 1979. Since then, the Jesus Film Project has translated it into over 1000 languages. In 2007 " Magdalena : Released From Shame" debuted in 22 countries with more than 300 showings. Film ministry workers hope that the continuous development of new translations of the film will bring the message of Jesus to even more women in their heart language. They are currently working on developing an animé version of the JESUS film to reach the 15-30 year old audience worldwide. Irv & Nan Klaschus live in Orlando, Florida with their two children Alex & Aimeé.  They will continue to translate the Jesus film into another 530 major languages plus make special adaptations. 

Wilson & Mary Koppula

Wilson and Mary Koppula serve with Missionary Gospel Fellowship as leaders of India Community Ministries. Their goal is to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to people who are of East Indian descent. This includes Sikhs, Hindus and some Muslims. Between Stockton and Livingston, there are over 15,000 people from India, as well as six Sikh temples and one Hindu temple. What an opportunity to reach out to so many people groups from the 10/40 Window, right at our doorstep! The Koppulas take advantage of this wonderful opportunity by having weekly meetings, regular Bible studies in their home, and by providing them with a culturally familiar environment. At the India Friendship Center, Indians, Pakistanis, and Fijians can hear the Gospel through books, testimony booklets, and JESUS videos in their very own language. They also teach English as a Second Language, help with USA citizenship test preparation, and pray for the sick.  This outreach helps build relationships and provides a way to share the Gospel of Jesus.  Wilson and Mary have three daughters: Karuna, Vandana, and Melanie.

Brad & Susan

Brad and Susan are serving the Lord in Papua, Indonesia with their three children, Kelsey, Amber, and Taylor. Brad has several years of flying experience and is also an airplane mechanic, which is essential to meet the villagers' needs. Using his flying skills, Brad is able to traverse mountainous jungles devoid of roads to transport vital medical supplies, produce, and translators to the isolated villages in Papua. Susan, a registered dietician, teaches a class on food sanitation, nutritional values, and how to calculate food costs. She works as the hospitality coordinator as SIL. This involves making sure new SIL members and visitors are welcomed and cared for while in Papua.

Ken & Jane Meuers

Ken & Jane Meuers founded Prodigal Sons & Daughters in 1997, right here in Turlock. Prodigal Sons & Daughters, Inc. is a registered non-profit Christian Ministry for young men and women seeking relief from alcohol and drugs. It is a program designed for "all children, all churches, and all walks of life." They provide a safe place to learn drug-resistant skills though interactive methods, peer groups, discussion groups, group problem-solving and decision-making techniques

David & Virginia Morris

David and Virginia (Ginny) Morris are missionaries in Durban, South Africa with the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism (ABWE). They have been serving the Lord in South Africa for over 21 years. David's ministry as pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Amanzimtoti has concluded as the planting of the church is finished. He will continue as team treasurer and an instructor at Baptist Bible College of KwaZulu Natal. David's major ministry now is working with ABWE's International Theological Education department. David's desire is to train and mentor future national pastors. The Morris' have four married children: Carolyn, Tom, William, and Amanda.

Bill & Veronica Poortvliet

Bill and Veronica Poortvliet are missionaries with New Tribes Mission Homes in Sanford, Florida. New Tribes Mission Homes exists to assist retired missionaries - serving those who have given their lives to serve. Bill works with a construction team that builds homes and maintains existing housing for the retired missionaries. He also coordinates volunteers to come to New Tribes and help work on projects, while Veronica assists the residents with medical care and personal needs. She also home schools their three children: Aaron, Jillian and Claire.

Bob & Lyn Rasmussen

Bob is the U.S. Field Director for O.C., and they are busy assembling a team of co-workers to assist in a ministry of mobilizing the U.S. church for outreach and cross-cultural ministry. Along with their daughter Heather, Bob and Lyn are living in Federal Way, WA.  They rejoice in the marriage of their daughter Lauren to Peter Virtue earlier this spring.

Anna Lee

Anna Lee serves the Lord in Brussels, Belgium with Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).  She serves as their representative at the European Union to reveal the truth about countries where persecution of Christians occurs.  It is hoped that the European leaders will bring enough pressure upon the offending nations to stop the mistreatment and protect religious liberty.  In order to accomplish this job more effectively, Anna Lee travels to many countries to investigate reports of persecution and encourage those experiencing persecution.

Manuel & Sandra Zarate

Originally born in South America, Manuel and Sandra Zarate now serve the Lord in Birmingham, Alabama. At age 17, Manuel began to pursue the Lord and immediately traveled to the U.S. to gain theological training. Since 1990, he has been serving the Lord worldwide as an apologist, evangelist and conference speaker. Manuel's preaching focuses on helping believers to discern the culture and people around them, aids them with the challenges of today's world, and helps them experience the Gospel to effectively present it to unbelievers in a compelling way. Manuel and Sandra have three sons: Nicholas, Mateo and Felipe.

THE B PEOPLE
Monte Vista Chapel places an emphasis on reaching the unreached through our world outreach ministry. We believe so strongly in doing our part to reach the unreachable that we have "adopted" a people group in South Asia that we call the B People. The B People number several million in size, with a distinct language and culture, but with very few believers among them. Through our adoption, we hope to see a church planting movement begin among these people. Please join us in praying that these people will come to know and experience the love of Christ.

B PEOPLE PRAYER NEEDS:
Thank you for praying for the B People. Your prayers play an important role in the advance of God's kingdom among them. God has opened many doors of opportunity for ministry among these people. Please pray for God to give wisdom to all involved in this work so they would know which opportunities to pursue. In addition, your prayers for the following are greatly appreciated:

1. Earlier this month, Bruce spent time with believers and tribal leaders in an area that experienced widespread devastation during last summer's cyclone. Those of you who have seen recent pictures of New Orleans know that it can take years to recover from natural disasters of this magnitude, and that is certainly the case here. Many people remain homeless, and lack access to reliable food and water supplies. Pray that Bruce and his team would have wisdom in knowing how to help these people. Pray for funding for development efforts, such as rehabilitation of flood-damaged fields and digging of wells, which would help improve the situation these people are facing. Pray that God would lead us to other individuals or groups that would be interested in helping with this work.

2. During the visit mentioned above, Bruce met with 32 leaders from house churches in the area. Pray for these men as they lead in the midst of difficult circumstances, that they would remain strong in their faith, and would lead well. Pray for wisdom for Bruce in how to continue to train leaders for churches in this region.

3. Recent updates have mentioned the development of curriculum for the rural B people schools. With the completion of this curriculum, important decisions are faced regarding the opening of schools. Pray that a way may be identified to provide local funding for a significant part of the cost to run each school. This would facilitate opening many more schools than could be opened if the schools relied on outside funding.

4. An expatriate worker serving in a large, urban setting recently wrote to say their work is "really going well and the community has now asked us to consider opening a center for ladies" which would provide some job training and literacy classes. As they have built relationships in this community, this is one of many opportunities that have come their way, many of which require additional staff. Pray that God would raise up people with the skills to serve as English teachers; water engineers; in sports ministry (especially soccer); and in community development.

Thank you for your prayers,

Gary