Our missionary family
This page gives a brief overview of each missionary we support, and the organisations they work for. Hopefully the information and photographs will aid you as you pray for our missionary family.
Perhaps you would consider praying for a different person each day?
Tom and Lucimar Geddis
Tom and Lucimar are retired and living in Lurgan. However, thanks to modern technology they are still able to participate in the school work in Rio Branco and with works in some very remote areas of Acre and Amazonas by organising suitable literature and Scripture supplied by post from São Paulo.
Acre Gospel Mission
In 1937, William and Margaret McComb returned to Brazil, sensing God's call to go to the Acre Territory. They were accompanied by Miss Mollie Harvey who shared their call to this area which is larger than Ireland and some 1,500 miles from the mouth of the Amazon.
Acre is an inter-denominational faith mission now working in the Acre and north-east of Brazil, planting and helping local churches who have their own national Pastor until they can be entirely self-supporting. There are also some national evangelists working in government schools and public markets in Manaus.
In 1978 a door opened to support work in Portugal, and in 1983 the Canary Islands. These works still continue and are growing.
Marina & Andrew Burns, BEM
Andy and Marina live in Northern Ireland after many years serving in Scotland. Marina is a staff nurse and Andy supports the newly established ROCK Street Chaplain teams in Lurgan and Newcastle, as well as overseeing the more established teams on the east coast of Scotland.
Andy has been the club chaplain for Dundee United FC since 2012 and Warrenpoint Town FC since 2017. In 2019, Andy was awarded a BEM (British Empire Medal) by the Queen for services to the community in Dundee.
Andy and Marina have been married for 30 years. They have a son Calvin who went to Bible College in 2020 and a daughter Abigail who is pursuring a career in Dundee.
ROCK Street Chaplains
ROCK Street Chaplains was created in 2000 because of an immense need to reach a generation of young people that no longer gathered in pews and churches, but on dance floors and in clubs.
The desire is to encourage and enable Christians from local churches, motivated by a love for Christ and a desire to share His love and message to others, to reach out to these young people.
ROCK (Reaching Out to Make Christ Known) is comprised of Street Chaplains, Club Chaplains, and Festival Chaplains based in Scotland and Northern Ireland, under the charity Urban Impact Christian Ministries.
The work is primarily street based, working in partnership with key agencies to ensure the safety of those who socialise and work in the night-time economy, and to ultimately share God's love! The main aim is to CARE (Chat, Assist, Reassure, Encourage).
World Gospel Mission
World Gospel Mission was founded in 1910. Rev. and Mrs. Cecil and Ellen Troxel and Rev. and Mrs. Woodford and Harriet Taylor became World Gospel Mission's first missionaries.
They ministered alongside two national Christians in China. Today WGM has ongoing ministry in 23 countries of the world. WGM is a holistic mission, believing in feeding the hungry, clothing the naked but most of all sharing the good news of the gospel of saving grace through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Tommy & LaVern Anderson
Tommy and LaVern are both involved in the running of the WGM UK office. Their work includes deputation meetings where they get the opportunity to share about WGM, but also about their children's ministry in Kenya.
Tommy has the privilege of speaking in many churches and fellowships on Sundays, affording him the opportunity to share God's Word. LaVern enjoys speaking at ladies' meetings, also sharing about her ministry with WGM.
They are both involved in loving and caring for abandoned babies at the Baby Centre in Nakuru, Kenya. They have seen many babies rescued and adopted. The work in Kenya has expanded with the children's ministry (Holiday Bible Clubs), and they are delighted to lead various teams to help with this work.
Opportunities are available if people from the church are interested in joining them on one of these ministry teams.
Child Evangelism Fellowship
Child Evangelism Fellowship® was founded in 1937 by Pastor J. Irvin Overholtzer. He was challenged by the words of C.H. Spurgeon: “A child of five if properly instructed, can as truly believe and be regenerated as an adult.”
He realised that one of the world’s largest mission fields was being overlooked and so he began to share the gospel with children. Children started coming to Christ, and the work of CEF® quickly expanded across the world.
Today, CEF work is established in almost every nation of the world, reaching over 25 million children each year.
CEF of Ireland began in 1950, under the leadership of Sam and Sadie Doherty. Today there are over 50 workers in Ireland, seeking to share the gospel with children and assist churches to do likewise.
CEF long to see children trust Jesus Christ as Saviour, be discipled, and added to the church.
Gareth & Lindsay Gwynne
Gareth and Lindsay are Local Area Workers for CEF in County Armagh. There are many aspects to the role as they participate in a wide variety of ministries. Throughout the autumn and winter months they are involved in running local Good News Clubs, Junior Youth Challenge, school assemblies and monthly teacher training classes.
In spring and summer the main ministries include 5-Day Clubs®, Holiday Bible Clubs and camp. Gareth and Lindsay have also developed a specialised schools project called Crossfire: Not Ashamed. This was developed for the P7 classes and covers anti-bullying, gaming awareness and the gospel.
They are also involved in children’s days, promotional meetings and training programmes. Throughout everything they do they also rely on many volunteers, and the common aim is to reach children in the local community with the wonderful news of the gospel and to encourage and disciple Christian children.
Read Gareth & Lindsay's bio
We serve full time with Child Evangelism Fellowship and are currently serving God in the County Armagh area. We commenced our role as Local Workers in Armagh on 1 st September 2007.
Prior to coming into full-time ministry Gareth was a building surveyor and Lindsay a nursery nurse but we both volunteered with C.E.F in East Belfast where we are originally from and have always had the desire to teach children the wonderful news of the Gospel.
We firmly believe that children of all ages can understand and put their trust in the Lord Jesus and as a family, we know that to be true first hand as Gareth became a Christian at the age of 11yrs, Lindsay at 7yrs and James at 3yrs.
Within the ministry, there is a wide variety of responsibilities we are involved in, some of which are: teacher training classes, Good News Clubs, Holiday Bible Clubs, 5 Day Clubs, School Assemblies, Crossfire: Not Ashamed, Camps, administrative duties and much more.
We count it a joy and privilege to be able to serve alongside the local churches and many volunteers to see more children reached with the Gospel message.
Matthew Ch18 Vs14 “Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in
heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.”
Andrew McNabb
Andrew is the Office Manager for the CEF National Office in Belfast. He has responsibility for nine of the members of staff who work there in a variety of roles (finance, sales, logistics, administration, graphics and illustration).
Andrew works to ensure staff contracts, handbooks and policies are up to date, IT and printing systems are working, the building is in good condition, relationships with contractors and suppliers are maintained, and that workers on the field are fully resourced by the National Office.
He also spends some time serving in Ministry Development, which involves overseeing interns and placement students, maintaining the CEF of Ireland website and social media, and promoting the work at conferences and events.
Sign up to receive Andrew’s prayer email at www.cefireland.com/mcnabbprayeremail
Colin & Victoria Hylands
Victoria is the Good News Club Curriculum Co-ordinator, working with others in CEF Europe to produce materials for all the Good News Clubs. This involves writing lessons, producing resource packs and ensuring that materials are provided in time for teachers.
She is also responsible for producing seasonal lessons and camp materials for CEF workers.
Colin is responsible for CEF Youth Challenge ministry. This involves providing materials for Junior Youth Challenge (JYC) and Senior Youth Challenge (SYC) groups. He organises a number of national events throughout the year and produces all of the resources necessary for these.
He is also responsible for organising opportunities for young people to serve locally and overseas, and is involved in producing materials and conducting training for CEF workers in other countries.
Iulian & Anca Mangalagiu
Iulian and Anca, together with their 3 children (Yasmina, Eduard and Eric) live and serve the Lord in Iasi, Romania. They were the leaders of CEF of Romania until December 2019 and were involved in many projects that enabled children in Romania to hear the gospel through the team of 60 full-time workers serving within the country.
From 1 January 2020, they have been used of God in ministering at a European level. Iulian is assistant to the European Director and together they are involved in teacher training, direct ministries and working with other national leaders.
They are also very involved in innovative projects such as websites, apps and online radio projects for reaching children with the gospel.
They have been blessed by the support from the Lurgan Baptist family over the years and praise God for His provision as they serve.
Cosmin & Tatiana Brezoaie
Cosmin and Tatiana, together with their 3 children (Robert, Rebeca and Naomi) live and serve the Lord in Buzau county, Romania. They joined CEF in 1998 and have been serving the Lord in this difficult part of the country since then. They have the joy of reaching over 4,000 children with the gospel each year. Many of those children are reached through weekly Good News Clubs.
Cosmin & Tatiana are involved in teacher training, Good News Clubs, camps and many other activities.
Considering the few believers or churches in this area, it has been remarkable what God has done through them.
The support from Lurgan Baptist has been a great encouragement to them as it is so challenging to raise support in their own area.
Tibi & Angela Virág
Tibi and Angela, together with their 3 children (Abigail, Anita and Annabella) live and serve the Lord with CEF near Szeged, Hungary. Until 2019, they were serving the Hungarian speaking community from Romania. However, in 2020 they moved to live and serve in Hungary. They are doing the same ministry but from a different location.
Tibi & Angela are very involved in producing materials for teachers and children in the Hungarian language. They have their own Good News Clubs in the area and help co-ordinate the literature ministry for CEF in Central Europe.
On behalf of CEF of Romania, we want to thank the church in Lurgan for their generosity and partnership in the gospel.
"And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."
Matthew 28:18-20
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