Roy and Norma Bennett

Roy and Norma Bennett are completing their tenth year with Christ Church in Ventura County, California. The church was initially planted in Ojai in 2001. A second worship site was added in Ventura in 2006. In 2008, the two merged to form a single congregation. The gospel ministry at Christ Church is built around biblical preaching, sacramental observance, and historical liturgy. They are seeking to restore some of the lost beauty of corporate worship, to keep the Gospel and its doctrine primary and plain, and to engage the self-consumed culture of southern California with hope and meaning through Christ alone. The local congregation is an eclectic collage of people from diverse backgrounds, vocations, and ages, who love to sing and sup together and are equally as hospitable to newcomers. Christ Church Ventura is a friendly, safe, and sane community where people laugh and yet take each other seriously. Over the past few years they have developed some partnerships in global missions and a local mercy ministry. Since most of the youth in the church have left the nest for colleges, the new focus is upon the batch of very young children and young families attending Christ Church. Pray for the opportunity to meet in the mornings rather than afternoons. Pray also for humility, wisdom, and grace to be faithful to the task and thankful for all things.

The Bennetts still live with their two daughters in the enchanted mountain village of Ojai, where bears and oak trees are said to have souls and where the wine is cheaper than the water. Roy and Norma are enjoying their 28th year of marriage and love to hike and bike together. Roy continues to garden, surf, and play tennis, and Norma is as active as ever and currently works three part-time jobs, which she thoroughly enjoys. Megan is 23 and a third year business student at California State University at Channel Islands. Bronwyn is 20 and a second year Psychology/English student at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia.

 

Mike and Tanya Hsu

Mike and Tanya Hsu have lived in Lincoln, NE (population 225,000), for 13 years after having spent their seminary years at St. Paul’s (1995–1998). After spending two years interning at Zion Church (PCA) in Lincoln, the Hsus set out to plant Zion’s first daughter church in 2000. This last October (2011), Grace Chapel passed its eleventh-year anniversary! They thank St. Paul’s for its prayerful and financial investment over the years and are very encouraged as they reflect on eleven years of God’s faithfulness to them as a congregation. Their Associate Pastor Ben Loos came to know the Lord as a college student at Grace Chapel back in 2002 and attended RTS in Orlando from 2005–2008. They have three Sunday morning services (8am, 9:30am, 11am) and continue to be comprised of almost 50% university students. Every year they send young people to serve the Lord faithfully all around the globe.

Most recently, Grace Chapel, along with Zion, “particularized” Redeemer PCA with Pastor Tobey Brockman. Redeemer is now the third PCA church in Lincoln. Also, Grace Chapel is the mother church of a PCA church-plant in Fremont, NE called Grace Presbyterian Church with Pastor Kyle McClellan. Pastor McClellan was mentored by John Sartelle of Tate’s Presbyterian Church in Lexington, KY and has “come home” to Fremont, Nebraska recently. Grace Chapel’s ministry partnership with Haitian ministries continues to grow and develop.

Grace Chapel members have been travelling to Haiti since 2004 and in 2010 partnered with Great Commission Alliance (www.gcanet.org) to build a medical clinic in Mirebalais. They continue to be in awe of the mercy of God, and they rejoice as he builds his Church for the sake of his Glorious Son and for the enjoyment of his beloved people. The people of St. Paul’s should be pleased to see the mighty work the Lord has been doing in and through the PCA since SP’s initial investment in the Hsus in 1998. Please follow Mike’s blog if you would like to hear more about his ministry: www.hsumike.blogspot.com .

The Hsus have three children: Mia (12/8/01), Isaac (2/29/04), and Calvin (5/17/05), and a foster son Darius Geiser (09/29/97).

 

 

Andy and Kelly Johnson

Ande and Kelly serve on the campus of the University of Central Florida with Reformed University Fellowship (RUF). Ande grew up in Naples, Florida, and went to UCF to play baseball. He graduated with a degree in Business Administration. While at UCF, Ande met his wife Kelly who was studying Communicative Disorders also at UCF. After graduation he went to Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando graduating with a Masters in Divinity while Kelly stayed at UCF to get her masters. Ande and Kelly attend University Presbyterian Church and are committed to serving as long-term staff with RUF.

As a ministry of the Presbyterian Church in America, RUF brings to the campus a heart for God, a love for the campus, and convictions that are well formed and deeply held, allowing them to bring a full-orbed ministry to students.

Pray for Ande and Kelly as they strive to equip students to go out from UCF to wherever God calls them with the mission of Christ: not just redeeming people but the entire creation.

Ande and Kelly have two sons: Owen (4/23/08) and Knox (8/18/10)

 

 

 

Russ and Diane Kapusinski

Russ and Diane Kapusinski celebrated eight years in Chula Vista, California, in the fall of 2011 after a much needed three-month sabbatical. Harbor Presbyterian Church in Chula Vista (part of a larger network of Harbor Presbyterian Churches across the San Diego area that began in 1999) was launched in 2004. The church has seen several conversions of unchurched and dechurched people and has grown to a congregation of 185. Late in the fall of 2010, a core group of about 30 adults and children from an Acts 29 church in the western region of Chula Vista began a conversation that resulted in these families joining Harbor Chula Vista. This core group of people, along with existing members of Harbor Chula Vista, is beginning to meet monthly as a Launch Team for Harbor Chula Vista’s West Campus. The San Diego Union Tribune has called Interstate 805 that divides east and west Chula Vista the Mason-Dixon line of this great city. Please pray for the Lord’s guidance as they are on a trajectory to begin public worship services in October 2012..

Christian and Liz Castro, formerly church planters with Redeemer in New York, joined the Harbor Chula Vista team in November of 2010 along with their three children: Joshua, Caleb, and Isaac. Both Christian and Liz are fluent in Spanish and English and are already making a great impact for the advancement of God’s Kingdom in San Diego’s South Bay.

Harbor Presbyterian Church continues to be a pace-setter within the Christian community in the fight against human trafficking and poverty on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border. Diane serves on the Board of Generate Hope and Baja Bound Ministries. Baja Bound Ministries builds homes for the working poor in Ensenada just south of Tijuana, Mexico. Generate Hope actively seeks to restore lives shattered by human trafficking. Diane’s leadership in these ministries has led the congregation to serve proactively in these areas The congregation continues to mature in the Gospel and in being a missional community in San Diego’s South Bay.

The Kapusinskis have three children: Joshua (6/26/00), Caleb (2/05/02), and Katherine (3/31/08).

 

 

 

John and Betsy Musgrave

The Musgraves continue to minister in Clayton, NC, outside Raleigh, where John serves as the solo pastor of Clayton Community Church, PCA. Planted in September 1999, and particularized two years later, the church met in two schools and a bowling alley during its first nine years. Clayton Community Church built and moved into its own building in September of 2008 (and greatly rejoiced!). The Lord has done much there, bringing lost people to believe the gospel, both before moving into the building, but even more so since. He has also been drawing Christians into the church who hunger for the preached word of God.

Their oldest three children, Larissa, Alison, and Monica, were baptized at St. Paul’s.  Larissa (21) is now a junior at Duke studying to become a nurse practitioner, Alison (18) has just begun a new, full-time job, and Monica (15) is a sophomore in high school. The Musgraves’ youngest two, Tessa (12) and Mallory (9), born in Raleigh, are in the sixth and fourth grades. The Musgrave children have all become communicant members in the church here. Praise be to God for giving them faith.

The Musgraves thank St. Paul’s for their support and encouragement through the years. Please pray for the evangelistic impact of Clayton Community Church to extend greatly this year, and for God’s financial provision for the church (with the new building, the church’s finances have been very tight for the last three years).

The Musgraves have five children: Larissa (2/23/91), Alison (6/19/93), Monica (5/27/96), Tessa (2/27/00), and Mallory (8/6/02).

 

 

Doug and Kristen Warren

Doug and Kristen both graduated from RTS, Orlando, and their oldest child was baptized at St. Paul’s during their time here. With St. Paul’s support the Warren’s planted the first PCA church in the state of Maine (Christ the Redeemer Presbyterian Church) and by God’s grace have helped to mentor and support its second—Free Grace Presbyterian Church in Lewiston. Free Grace started weekly worship services in May 2010.

Their vision is to serve in planting gospel centered churches throughout the northern New England region. They are continuing to look for additional church planters for the many communities in Maine in desperate need of the Gospel. Pray for candidates who would come and work in Portland and/or Lewiston for a while and then plant other churches in the surrounding towns.

This year has been both rewarding and challenging for the Warrens as they have begun to home school two of their four children, Donnelly (14) and Libby (11), while Karis (12) and Colby (7) continue in public school. Please pray for them as they seek to provide the best educational opportunities for each of their children and for the family as a whole to grow in grace. Kristen also continues as a reading specialist tutoring children two days a week.

The Warrens have four children: Donnelly (9/6/96), Karis (3/31/98), Libby (12/8/99), and Colby (2/1/03).

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