Rutherfordton Presbyterian Church - Our Missionaries

  Ben and Emily Okello, Kenya

Ben and Emily Okello serve in their native Kenya and in the neighboring countries. Ben is a school teacher with a BA in business from Messiah College (Daystar Kenya campus) Ben has had extensive experience as an evangelist and church planter and currently oversees about 15 churches that he started. Ben is frequently invited to speak in Tanzania and in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Over the past few months Ben has personally led over 300 people to Christ.

   Carlos & Yolanda Gomez, Spain

Carlos Gomez was born in 1947 in Madrid, Spain. He was converted to faith in Jesus Christ at the age of seventeen through the Christian testimony of his mother. Having sensed a call to the gospel ministry soon after his conversion, Carlos completed a three year course of Biblical studies in Great Britain. For the past thirty five years he has served in Spain as a pastor, evangelist and church planter under the auspices of an evangelical faith USA mission.

Carlos is a very gifted man and has been used greatly by the Lord. Being Spanish, he obviously knows the Spanish mind and culture very well. Being connected with a mission board in the States, married to an American, having studied in England, a good communicator and his love for the Lord and desire that many hear His message qualifies him to minister the gospel in many different cross-cultural situations.

Aside from the many responsibilities Carlos has in ministry, (minister's association of Madrid, President of the Evangelist's Association, a frequent conference speaker, teacher in a Bible School in Madrid, and additional involvement with various ministry projects), he is also very active in church planting in Spain. In the last 27 years, he has started 6 churches in the Madrid area and 1 in Cantabria a Northern region of Spain. Through Carlos' Timothies and his mentoring of them we have seen sixteen new churches be born throughout Spain (not counting the seven mentioned before). Presently, Carlos, along with his wife Yolanda, is working in his seventh church in a city near Madrid called Las Rozas. As he has said many times, "Church planting is where my heart is!" Not only is his heart there, but the majority of his energies are there as well.

Carlos and Yolanda have two precious daughters; Esther married to Fernando Vangioni and mother of four, and Hadassah. Esther and Fernando just returned to Spain after serving a year in Paraguay with an ONG. Hadassah has graduated from CIU.

   Barrie and Tillie Flitcroft,

                                       Founder and Chaplain at Equip International

Rev. Barrie Flitcroft served as President of Equip since its founding and has resigned as President effective October 25, 2013 to take on the new role as Chaplain and Representative-at-Large. He is a Pastor, conference speaker and former missionary to Vietnam, South Korea and the Philippines. Barrie holds both British and Canadian citizenship, and was educated in Scotland studying for the ministry in Edinburgh. He served a pastorate in the Scottish/English borders before going to Vietnam as a missionary in 1969. With over forty years of experience as an evangelist, Pastor and missionary. Barrie lead Equip as it's Director, taught courses on "an evangelical response to the poor," at the Equip training center in North Carolina. Tillie Flitcroft is a native of Northern Ireland and a citizen of Canada. Tillie is a British trained nurse, midwife and public health nurse having studied at Cambridge, Newcastle and Edingurgh. After extensive service with her husband in Vietnam, South Korea and the Philippines, Tillie now serves as an instructor in ATI, and teaches midwifery in the MMI program.

Dr. Barbara, Melia, Happiness, and Anna Nagy, Malawi

Dr. Barbara Nagy is a member of FPC, Morganton, and a family physician. She served as a medical missionary in Zaire at one time. After she was evacuated for the second time due to civil unrest, she stayed in the States and went into practice here in WNC. However, she always knew that she would return to the mission field.

She adopted two daughters from China and as they got older, she sensed God's calling her back to mission service. She was appointed in January 2004 to serve in Malawi, Africa, where she is a physician at Nkhoma Hospital. She has recently adopted her third child, a daughter from Malawi.

We (Presbytery of Western NC) are responsible for raising 80% of the funding for this PC(USA) mission co-worker family and with help from folks like you and churches like yours, we're doing it.

George Courtney

George Courtney, Vice President of Partner Engagement

For twenty-five years, George has been helping Christian ministries effectively share the love and gospel of Christ at home and around the world. Prior to joining MBF, George served as the Director of Advancement with Charlotte Christian School, Christian Medical & Dental Associations and King’s College. He has enjoyed being actively engaged with global mission through each of these organizations. George lives in Charlotte, NC with his wife Rose and son Noah.