Beginning with Reaching and Teaching International Ministries

As many of you already know, things have changed with the Steele mission. Beverly and I were missionaries with Global Outreach International for four years, in language school for one year and on the field for nearly three years. Our time with Global Outreach was rich and blessed and we are grateful for the experience of serving with this “great missions family.”

Because of Beverly’s health, it became necessary to seek another way to do missions based in the United States as well as Mexico. Beverly has moved back to our home in Kentucky and Tony will be in Mexico for the next few months wrapping up some commitments and preparing for some new projects before coming back to the states. After that, Tony will be traveling from our home in the U.S.A. to Mexico and other parts of the world to serve through Reaching and Teaching International Ministries.

How are things changing?

Tony is now serving as missionary/staff with Reaching and Teaching International Ministries. Reaching and Teaching was begun from a vision by Dr. David Sills, president of RTIM and A. P. and Faye Stone Professor of Christian Missions and Cultural Anthropology and Director of Global Strategic Initiatives and Intercultural Programs in the Billy Graham School at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr. Sills sees the greatest need in missions today to be the training of indigenous pastors, church planters, and leaders throughout the world to equip them to reach their own people with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This burden has also been in my heart since beginning to work in Mexico. The need is obvious. The lack of solid biblical training is negatively impacting the spread of the gospel and the establishing of solid New Testament churches. Because of this, Tony has been led to begin serving through Reaching and Teaching.

How will Tony be serving now?

Tony will now be developing new training projects throughout Mexico as well as connecting churches, associations, teams with those projects in order to accomplish the training. We have served together in the state of Zacatecas over the past few years, but now the entire nation of Mexico is the mission field. Projects are being developed among Zapotec pastors in Oaxaca state and Huichol pastors in Jalisco and Nayarit states as this is being written.

Besides these projects in Mexico, Tony will also be assisting with other training projects in the other parts of the world as needed. Upcoming trips include a week long training in Panama in January, project preparation and research for several weeks in Oaxaca in January and February, a week long training trip to the eastern end of a Caribbean island nation about 90 miles south of Miami (if you catch my drift) in March, and a weekend pastor training in Jerez, Zacatecas, Mexico, also in March. As you can see, the next few months are very busy.

When in the States, Tony will be working in a supportive role with Reaching and Teaching, making contacts with churches, training teams, working on curriculum, perhaps doing translation work, and developing new training projects.

 

What are the needs now?

Always, the greatest need is for prayer: prayer for Beverly’s health, prayer for Tony’s stamina and safety in travel and the work, prayers for God’s guidance and blessings in the work that is opening up, and prayers for necessary support.

Obviously, financial needs are increasing due to increased travel requirements among other changes. We need the faithful support of those of you who have been giving as well as others who now feel led to support the work that God is doing through this mission. We humbly and gratefully ask that you pray about your part in increasing the harvest of the gospel through this mission. We thank you for considering and praying about your part.

You can support this mission by sending your tax decuctible gift to:

Reaching and Teaching International Ministries

P.O. Box 122

Wheaton IL 60187

You can put “Steele” or Acct. # 4122170 on the memo line of your check.

Or you can make one-time or recurring gifts online at http://www.reachingandteaching.org/give/. Click on “Give Online” and fill in the form with your name and banking information.

Thank you for reading this first post as a missionary with Reaching and Teaching.

Tony Steele