September 2011
Heart of Missi ns
by Karen Unternahrer
Phone: 260-463-4901 • Fax 888-439-6528 • The Hometown Treasure
By the time this issue reaches your mailbox my husband
Mike, myself, and our three youngest children Nina (15),
Janae(12), and Marcy (almost 9) will be adjusting to life in
San Jose, Costa Rica. Attending one semester of Spanish
language school will give us the foundational skills for
language acquisition prior to a three-year service assignment
with Students International in Jarabacoa, the Dominican
Republic. www.unternahrers.blogspot.com
What do you want to be when you
grow up? Typically, young children
respond to this question of a dream
job with occupations such as ballerina,
teacher, firefighter, doctor, lawyer, and
police officer. Of course many factors
are at work over the course of one’s
formative years bringing each person
to a specific career path in adulthood.
Unlike former generations, it is more
common than ever that a person, for
one reason or another, experience a
career change which moves them into
an entirely different field of work. Such
is the case for the Morgan family.
Steve and Laura never dreamed
they might one day be missionaries.
But in mid-2007, a retired Presbyterian
pastor challenged Steve (an associate
pastor) and Laura (a homeschooling
mother) to lay down their lives and
relinquish all restrictions on their life
Our paths crossed with the Morgan family’s while
attending Mission Training International near Colorado
Springs, Colorado, in April 2011; see www.mti.org . Together
with forty-two adults and twenty-seven children we spent three
weeks living on campus in preparation for cross-cultural
mission assignments in fourteen different countries around
the world. The following is a little more about this family.
of ministry – to go anywhere, at any
time, at any cost for the sake of the
Gospel. A history with Sonship and
a series of providential encounters
rocked their world and brought them
to World Harvest Mission, where the
mission, vision, and core values deeply
align with their life experiences and
philosophy of ministry. After spending
their entire lifetimes in the Birmingham
(Alabama) area, they have just recently
joined World Harvest Mission’s Church
Resources Team in Dublin, Ireland,
where they will provide encouragement
and support to Irish church planters,
their spouses and their congregations.
Steve and Laura met 26 years
ago, when they were both 15. They’ve
been married for 20 years and are the
parents of four great kids – Emma, Eli,
Aden, and Isabella. Steve, who enjoys
helping believers knead the Gospel
into their everyday lives, is convinced
church planting is the most effective
way to grow the Kingdom. He believes
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