Active missionaries

The following missionaries are supported and prayed for by First Presbyterian Church.
Please note that we also support and pray for several missionary families whose names cannot be listed online for safety reasons.

Trish and Ben Alexander

Ben and Trish are World Witness missionaries serving in Chelmsford, England. Ben serves as the associate minister at Chelmsford Presbyterian Church. They seek to engage the community through outreach events in the church, in their home, and at local schools.

Suzanne and Jeff Allers

The Allers (First Presbyterian Church members) are World Witness missionaries serving in Germany as part of the Bridge Europe team. Their mission is to reach the growing immigrant and refugee populations in Germany with the gospel, to provide a “bridge” between them and Christ.

Michael and Laura Cochran

Michael and Laura are World Witness missionaries who are church planting in the United Kingdom. In 2020 they planted Gloucester Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Gloucester, England.  Michael serves as pastor to a growing congregation as they seek to establish a foothold for the gospel there.

Scott and Victoria Andes 

Scott and Victoria (First Presbyterian Church members) serve with RUF International on the campus of the University of South Carolina. They are reaching international students by welcoming them, exploring the Gospel with them, and equipping believers to become Kingdom ambassadors to their home countries.

Justin and Gillian Brickey

Justin and Gillian (First Presbyterian Church Members) are based in Columbia, SC, and serve with World Witness’ SEED ministry. Justin travels to provide training to church leaders in other countries. Gillian coordinates member care events for the children of families serving with World Witness.

Dennis and Rhonda Conroy

Dennis and Rhonda (associate members of First Presbyterian Church) serve with Wycliffe Bible Translators. Dennis, a typesetter of Scripture, assists translators in preparing Bible manuscripts for publication in a variety of digital formats.  Dennis is also part-time with Seed Company.

David and Annelies Galletta

David and Annalies serve with World Witness’ SEED Ministry.  David continues to train pastors and church leaders in their own countries and cultures. He currently teaches in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, South Africa, Burundi, Ethiopia, and Pakistan.

Drew and Lauren Goodman

Drew and Lauren serve with World Witness’ SEED Ministry in Uganda. Drew teaches at African Bible University in Kampala, Uganda. He also teaches at Africa Reformation Theological Seminary (ARTS) and other locations. They seek to educate and encourage leaders and churches in developing contexts.

Ed and Maxine Gross

Ed and Maxine (First Presbyterian Church members) serve with Global Training Network.  Ed trains pastors in Evangelism, Discipleship, Ministry Equipping, Leadership Development, Church-Planting, Preaching and Theology. Their fields include China, South Asia, Cameroon, Congo, Uganda, Burundi, Tanzania, and Rwanda.

Abigail Conroy

Abigail is a missionary with Mission to the World planning to serve in El Salvador. She will be assisting the church planting effort by ministering to women and children. Initially, the focus will be on building connections to start Bible studies and community groups.

Miriam Jerome

Miriam (an Associate member of First Presbyterian Church) currently serves with AZMERA, a ministry to women serving in a variety of nations. Her goal is to help women (and sometimes couples) reach the highest level possible emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

Peter and Rebecca Jones

Peter and Rebecca direct truthXchange (tXc) in Escondido, California. truthXchange equips churches to communicate the gospel to a culture that has lost the distinction between worshiping creation and worshiping the Creator. They seek to honor, glorify, and pronounce the name of the Trinitarian God.

Jeff and Lisa King

Jeff and Lisa (First Presbyterian Church members) serve as World Witness missionaries at Evangelical Christian Academy (ECA), a 1st-12th grade school in Madrid, Spain. ECA exists to provide quality Christian education.  Jeff is the assistant director, and he and Lisa also teach English.

Doug Kracht

Doug (First Presbyterian Church member) currently serves with World Team. He has worked with his ministry partner, Paul Thompson, since 1984. Paul was born in Cuba and has ministered there since the 1980s. Doug is a videographer who produces Paul’s lesson series into teaching videos.

Andrea and Chuck Lynde

Noel Coppedge

Chuck and Andrea serve with Wycliffe Bible Translators. They support the work of Wycliffe by mobilizing the local church and recruiting new missionaries. They mobilize by raising awareness of the needs and opportunities to be a part of God's work in Bible translation.
Noel is an intern with RUF International at USC. RUF International seeks to welcome international students and their families from all nations, explore the Bible with them and equip believers to be servant-leaders for His kingdom wherever they go.

Ali and Tara Mitchell

Ali and Tara serve as World Witness missionaries with Ethnē Outfitters. Ethnē Outfitters exists to guide and equip Christians in building the church by making disciples of Muslim peoples and enfolding them into groups that minister to one another as the body of Christ.

Alex and Irina Ponomarev

Alex and Irina (First Presbyterian Church members) are originally from St. Petersburg, Russia. Their ministry is MOST (a Russian word for bridge) – “Ministry of Outreach to Slavic Tribes” – which seeks to bring Slavic (Russian-speaking) peoples to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Paul and Brenda Pepin

Paul is serving as a faculty instructor with Equipping Leaders International. He travels internationally with teams to train and educate pastors and leaders in places where resources are lacking. His current ministry is focused on Cuba.

Missy and Paul Robelot

Paul and Missy Robelot (First Presbyterian Church members) are U.S.-based missionaries with World Witness’ Ethne Outfitters. They serve to be an example, encouragers, and equippers for the local Church to actively engage their Muslim neighbors with the gospel.

Katie Schooler

Katie is a member of Grace Presbyterian Church in northeast Columbia and is a World Witness cooperative missionary with Serge.  She serves as principal of a small international Christian school in Japan. They strive to maintain low tuition to make English-based education accessible.

Joni and Lee Shelnutt

Lee and Joni serve with World Witness’ SEED Ministry.  Lee is overseeing the Global South Initiative. He also provides encouragement and care for World Witness missionaries in Europe, and serves as the Interim Field Director for the ARP Mission, Pakistan.

Vonia and Josh Thomas

Josh and Vonia are World Witness missionaries serving with Bridge Europe. They are planting an international church with a special interest in the Muslims and Muslim nations represented in their community. There are 113 nations represented in their community, largely unreached by the gospel.

Andy and Dorciane Toth

Andy and Dorciane (First Presbyterian Church members) serve with World Indigenous Missions. They evangelize, organize missions and churches, train and install leadership, start seminary programs, and send out missionaries in Mexico and abroad. They are also members of the Board of Beth Shalom Ministries.

Mark and Natalie Witte

Mark and Natalie (First Presbyterian Church members) serve with World Witness in Toledo, Spain. They are preaching the Gospel and making disciples through the planting and pastoring of a Spanish reformed presbyterian church. They also reach out through conversational English and refugee relief to Ukrainians.

Paul and Lizzie Sanduleac

Paul and Lizzie serve as missionaries with IXO Global in Moldova. They are planting the first confessional Presbyterian church in Moldova, in the capital city of Chișinău. They also seek to strengthen existing gospel-centered churches in Moldova and the wider region (Romania, Belarus).

Filip Sylwestrowicz

Filip serves as an International Missionary Associate (IMA) with World Witness at Redeemer Evangelical Presbyterian Church, a church plant in Warsaw, Poland. Along with three other churches, they seek to establish a new presbyterian denomination in Poland. He is also finishing a DPhil at Oxford.

Anni Kenyon

Anni serves with Reach Global in Austria, mobilizing people for Jesus through youth ministry. Through relational ministry and discipleship in the local churches, they desire to see youth growing in their faith and becoming leaders in the church and communities.

The Oliveria Family

The Oliveria Family serves as missionaries with PMI in Jordan. For almost 20 years, they have invested their lives in reaching Muslims. As Christ's ambassadors, they work as English teachers in a community center where they witness to refugees, mostly from Sudan, Yemen, and Somalia.