John and Betsy Casto

John Casto began ministering in prisons as a volunteer in 1999. Since then, he has completed a Masters in Christian Counseling, qualified and served as a Good News Jail & Prison Ministry chaplain, and established Full Pardon Ministries in 2006.  He has been volunteering as a full-time chaplain at the Craggy Correctional Center in Asheville, NC, since August 1, 2007.

New inmates come to the prison every Tuesday and Thursday. God provides John the opportunity to interview them, show them the love of God, and offer them a different way of life by experiencing God’s grace and love.   For these new inmates, John conducts a Chaplain’s Orientation Class every Saturday.  This class informs the inmates of all Bible studies, preaching services, and John’s services as a one on one counselor. 

Inmates experience emergency situations such as the death and/or hospitalization of family members.  They experience the same crises we experience, but on the inside, they are helpless to assist and come along side of family.  John’s counseling, especially during these times, helps relieve the negativity and helplessness they experience.  Experiencing the work of the Holy Spirit during these counseling sessions is an awesome experience.

John never knows what God is going to do when he reaches out to these men with God’s love and redeeming grace; and he is always awed by the work of the Holy Spirit in bringing so many to repentance and life-changing transformation.

Amy Crandall

She continues to minister with Campus Outreach in Charleston, SC. She is the Women’s Regional Coordinator which involves overseeing the women’s ministries on each campus in the Charleston region including the College of Charleston, The Citadel, Charleston Southern, and Coastal Carolina. One of her primary responsibilities is to disciple the staff girls on each of the campuses. Throughout the week she travels to the different campuses and meets with the staff girls to help them think through how they can best be used by God to minister to the women on their campus. She also meets with some of the seniors on each of the campuses who are planning to go on staff with the ministry after they graduate to help prepare them for the upcoming transition. It is exciting for Amy to think about the impact that God can have on each of the campuses through these women. Please pray that the Lord would give her wisdom and discernment as she determines how best to use her time. Also, pray that God would raise up men and women on each college campus who desire to know God more than anything else and have a passion to share the Gospel.

Jimmy and Erin
(last name withheld for security reasons)

In June 2010, after waiting for a year, Jimmy and Erin finally received their visas and moved to their new home country in South Asia. Since they arrived, Jimmy and Erin have been full-time language students. It’s very important for them to be able to communicate well in the trade language so they are working hard at their studies! They employ two language tutors, and during class time they make recordings that they listen to on their mp3 players. They have also been able to make friends and share the Gospel with many of their neighbors.
Their team’s primary role is to help disciple and mentor the leaders of a small emerging group of local believers, and also to help them create evangelistic and discipleship resources. This country is large and virtually unreached, but we know the Lord is calling out his people and Jimmy and Erin are excited to be involved in a small way.

Please pray that the group of local believers will grow in their love for God and in obedience to his word. Pray that their neighbors will come to experience God and that his kingdom will enter their hearts, homes, and communities. Pray that the Holy Spirit will guide Jimmy and Erin to people in whom He has already begun stirring a desire to know God.

Jimmy and Erin have a daughter Sienna Kate (10/14/2011)

Jonathan and Maggie
(last name withheld for security reasons)

The son of missionaries, Jonathan was led to overseas missions following his senior year of college. Maggie has felt the Lord drawing her to cross-cultural ministry all her life. After completing his undergraduate studies, Jonathan served with MTW in North Africa and Sri Lanka. Jonathan and Maggie were married in June 2006 and moved to Orlando where Jonathan began seminary at RTS with the intention of church planting overseas. After graduating RTS, God faithfully led this couple to partner with MTW in a new missions venture. They left for the field on December 1, 2010, with their daughters, Annie and Lily, and are part of a team that focuses on training indigenous pastors in theological studies and church planting. They also hope to use their gifts in ministries of mercy and education where the opportunities arise.

In the months since their arrival, they have found an apartment, added a third daughter (Ada) to their clan, and are settling in well. Their neighborhood is lively and colorful and the people are wonderful. Although there are a number of wild dogs, occasional foul smells, power outages, and loud noises they are thoroughly enjoying their new home and anticipating with great excitement all that the Lord has in store for them.

Jonathan and Maggie have three daughters: Annie (12/9/07); Lily (6/27/09); Ada (09/07/2011)

 

 

Dan and Tawnny Kramer

Dan and Tawnny Kramer are members of St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church and are missionaries with The JESUS Film Project—a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. The JESUS Film is used by more than 1500 missions organizations and denominations around the world to communicate the Gospel to people in their own language, disciple new believers, help plant churches, and train and equip pastors. Dan manages the Information Technology Department for The JESUS Film Project. Tawnny manages and coordinates new language translations of The JESUS Film, Magdalena: Released from Shame, and other related products into languages spoken in North Africa and the Middle East. Dan and Tawnny were married in November 2008.

The Kramers have two children: Lola Grace (4/21/10), Elliott (8/7/11)   

 

Dan and Shirley Matsche

In 2011, the Matsches began forming an Aftercare Program for inmates who are being released. This desperately needed program helps with resources such as jobs, housing, a church home, and many other needs for those getting out of prison without anything. They are also planning to offer mentoring and accountability classes which will help ex-offenders walk with the Lord Jesus Christ and be accountable with their lives. The man who is helping to coordinate this program is an ex-inmate whom Dan mentored for many years while he was in prison. He is a Godly man who spent 20 years behind the walls. God SO radically changed him that Good News Jail & Prison Ministry has brought him on staff to help Dan lead this monumental challenge. He is truly a product of the ministry! Dan also continues his Life-Dominating Problems Bible course. It is going strong and is well attended. Ministry to the prison staff is also going well as Dan seeks to build relationships with staff and help them deal with working behind the walls. He has also expanded the 7 Habits On The Inside program and it is now being taught in eleven prisons in Colorado. Dan is currently ministering as senior chaplain at the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility and also teaches a class each Wednesday at Fremont Correctional Facility, both in Canon City, Colorado. It is a very busy schedule but the Lord is using his Word in remarkable ways to radically change men’s lives behind prison walls! Dan and Shirley are very grateful to be a part of the missions team sent out by St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church. They love St. Paul’s and are honored to report back to them on all that our Lord is doing. (updated 8/3/2011)

 

Sasan and Kenna Tavassoli

Dr. Sasan Tavassoli is a former Shi’ite Muslim from Iran. In 1985, while living in Portugal, a group of American missionaries ministered to Sasan. God used this ministry to bring him into a saving relationship. Sasan has been involved in Iranian Christian communities as a teacher and later as a pastor for the last 20 years. Currently the main focus of Sasan’s ministry is producing teaching resources in the Farsi language for satellite TV broadcast into Iran, Afghanistan, and the rest of the Middle East and Europe. He also provides theological education through leadership conferences for believers in the Presbyterian and the underground house churches of Iran. Sasan travels extensively within the US, Europe, and the Middle East to preach among Iranian Christians and train leaders for the next generation of the Church in Iran. Recently, Sasan has begun focusing on helping to launch an Iranian seminary in partnership with a number of other ministries and key Iranian teachers and church leaders. The Tavassolis live in Atlanta, GA. Sasan is a graduate of RTS (MA, 1994) and has received his PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Birmingham (UK).

The Tavassolis have two children: Karisa (2/17/94) and Kalen (5/5/98).

 

Andy and Kelly West

Andy and Kelly West are members of St. Paul’s and have served with Student Venture, the teen outreach of Campus Crusade for Christ, since 1984, and currently serve here in Orlando. Like many believers, their lives were significantly impacted by the Lord during their teen years. Student Venture’s mission is to serve the body of Christ by taking the Gospel to middle and high school campuses. In the last decade Student Venture has taken the Gospel to 2 million teenagers.

Christian teenagers have proven to be the best missionaries to their campus. Please pray for the Lord to raise up student-led, spiritual movements on every middle and high school campus across our nation. Also pray for the Lord to raise up hundreds of additional adult missionaries so that we may go to many new campuses that currently have no visible Christian outreach.

Andy and Kelly have five children: Drew (12/2/89), Tali (10/28/91), Macy (11/20/93), Tori (5/18/96), and Caroline (7/30/99).

 

Bobby and Helen

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