Missionaries

services

SUNDAY SMALL GROUPS 9 a.m. ; SUNDAY WORSHIP 10:15 A.M. ; wednesday NIGHT 6:30 p.m.

CASEY & AUTUMN CROY - MISSIONARIES TO BRAZIL

Local Partners
Hi everyone!
It has been a few months since I’ve mentioned the people we will be working with in Natal. We want you to know some of the people we will be working with so you can be praying for them as well as us. I hope it will also be encouraging to know we will be working with a solid team who will help us adjust to life in Brazil and support us. This month, I want to introduce you to Marconi Silva. Marconi serves as an English-Portuguese interpreter for the School of Christian Pastors. When Training Leaders International sends short-term teams to the school, they rely on Marconi to interpret their teaching for the students. Marconi also interpreted for me when I met the leaders of the school on Zoom. He was supposed to translate for me when I taught at the school last year, but he came down with covid the week before. I didn’t get to hang out with him as much as I wanted on that trip, but we did get to meet on my last day.

Two cool things about Marconi: First, he is enthusiastic about the School of Christian Pastors and delighted to be involved with the team. While I was there, he told me he sees God’s hand at work at the school. Everything, including the leadership, the connection with TLI, the library that was donated, and my family’s decision to come, seems to be falling into place at the school. Second, Marconi serves as a missionary to the areas surrounding Natal. He and his wife travel to black Brazilian communities in a Volkswagen van (yes, like the ones from the sixties) they have converted into a mobile missions station. He shares the gospel and starts churches in these communities. Marconi is a wonderful brother in Christ and someone we will rely on a lot as we adapt to life in Natal.


Pray for Wisdom
I want to ask that you pray God would grant Autumn and me wisdom over the next few months. One of the challenges of raising our support is I am still working full time and Autumn working around the clock taking care of our kids and home. Our best days usually only provide about an hour to work on support. That is not much time to make contacts, research potential partners, write emails, follow up with previous contacts, and pray. Please pray God would give us the wisdom needed to make the most of the limited time we have right now. If we ask God for wisdom in faith, he is eager to provide it (James 1:5–8). We feel compelled to ask you to pray for us in this way this month.

By the way, if any of you are wondering, we found out baby Croy #4 is a girl. We are so excited to add her to our family. She should be here sometime in June.

You can connect with us at casey.croy@trainingleadersinternational.org. Please pray about if God is leading you to give to us. Our personal giving link is https://trainingleadersinternational.org/give?tbl=partners&id=23. You can also click on the "Give Here" button below. Make sure "Global Partner" is selected from the Gift Preference menu and Casey Croy is in the Enter a Global Partner Name field.

Thank you again for your prayers and support.

Casey, Autumn, Atticus, Elise, Aiden, and Baby Croy




ROY & DENISE THAGARD - MISSIONARIES TO AFRICA


Denise was introduced to Christian Veterinary Mission (CVM) as a veterinary student at Iowa State, amazed that God could use her vet skills to serve Christ in missions. Denise served with CVM in Ethiopia for 7 years and in the USA for 6 years. Roy was impacted during his undergrad time at NC State, recognizing God could use any gifting for His Kingdom in missions. He pursued serving as an agricultural missionary, and after finishing his MDiv, served 2 years as a missionary in West Africa. Missions brought them together, and after marriage they prayed that if God could use them, they would be willing to serve Him. Denise and Roy have answered God’s call to serve as a family overseas in West Africa.

The People we will Serve

Denise and Roy have a passion to use their skills in vet medicine and agriculture to better equip herders and farmers to care for their families.  They desire that these relationships will open doors to share the gospel. Their primary ministry focus will be a specific unreached people group that spreads across the Sahel, or southern border of the desert, of West Africa. They are the largest unreached people group in Africa.  To be unreached means fewer than 2% within the group's population are known to be Christian. This group of people are Muslim, and desperately need to see God’s love demonstrated to them in practical ways. The group have a special reliance and love for their cattle and the current missionaries have asked for years for a vet to serve them. The group is also dependent on crops for a living.  Denise and Roy will learn to speak the group's language in order to communicate the gospel most effectively to them.  

Our Ministry
Denise and Roy are currently learning language as a large portion of their time in ministry.  When language classes are complete, they hope to begin teaching in a discipleship training center, helping to train native believers to share their faith to their own families and neighbors. The training center has a goal to send out self-sufficient evangelists, much like the tent making model of Paul in the book of Acts. In addition to teaching evangelism principles, Denise will teach animal care through the training center and Roy will teach best practices in agriculture.  Denise and Roy also hope to share the gospel to their neighbors and also through adopting villages near their home.

Our Partner

Denise and Roy are sent out by CVM and partner with SIM, a mission organization that has the vision to reach the lost for Christ.

For questions about their ministry, please feel free to reach them directly. Email is the most reliable method to communicate with them.
Roy- jrthagard@hotmail.com
Denise- theanimalbridge@yahoo.com