Meet Barb Ehlers, Church Relationship Catalyst

We are thrilled to announce Barb Ehlers’ new role as a Church Relationship Catalyst for the US Engagement team with Converge International Ministries.

Barb Ehlers lives in the Chicagoland area and is married to Pat Ehlers. They have three boys: David, 32 (married to Franchesca with two girls, Leah and Audra), Jordan, 25, and Jonathan,19. She and her husband met at their church where she has been leading, coaching and mentoring in the Jr. High and High School Ministry for 25 years.

After serving as the Relationship Specialist with the Converge Cornerstone Fund for the past eight years, Barb has met hundreds of pastors and has come to deeply understand the unique challenges they face. Over the past two years, she has felt God moving in her heart and calling her to serve Him in a new direction. She is so excited to join the U.S. Engagement Team! She will help build strategic connections and greater awareness between Converge churches and their International Ministry Initiatives. She desires to walk alongside Converge missionaries and advocate for them with our churches and districts so they can confidently face the mission field using the gifts and passions God has blessed them with while helping others know and follow Jesus.

The U.S. Engagement team’s goal is to connect churches with global missionaries and their projects. They do this by helping coach churches on how to increase the impact of their mission through their free 2:10 FOCUS coaching process that is offered to any church interested. Missions is an extension of the local church, and the team desires to empower the local church to engage with global missions so that they can reach the lost for Christ here, near, and FAR just as Christ has asked us to do in the Greatest Commandment and the Great Commission. By helping more churches engage in global missions, they will fully staff and fully fund 20 worldwide regional Initiatives with more than 400 missionaries by 2026.

If you would like to get in touch with Barb, she is still in her ministry partner development role and is praying that God will provide individuals and churches that feel led to be ministry partners with her financially and through prayer so that she can begin the work that she feels like the Lord has called her to. If your church wants to know more about the global work of Converge IM or how to become a ministry partner, please get in touch with her at barbe@converge.org or check out her ministry page at https://converge.org/missionary/barb-ehlers

A Heart for Missions: Willing Servants and a Creative Community

Temple Hill Baptist Church in Cadillac, Michigan has been doing a Missions Garage Sale at the end of August for several years. The purpose of the annual garage sale is twofold: provide affordable items for those in their community, and raise Christmas funds to encourage the missionary families they support.

At the beginning of 2021, a few members of Temple Hill recognized that 2020 had been a really challenging year for most missionaries. Deciding they wanted to go above and beyond to bless the missionaries in Temple Hill’s care, they thought of a creative solution to provide more encouragement and funding for these missionaries who had sacrificed so much for the gospel in the previous year—a Missions Auction!

The Missions Auction would be different from the garage sale in that it would raise even more money by auctioning off newer and bigger-ticket items. Asking the Lord to bless their efforts, they began planning and asking church and community members to donate to the auction. Their goal was to raise $12,000, which would provide each of the 12 missionary families $1,000.

Although items didn’t come in as quickly as they had hoped, by the time of the auction the church and community had donated over 250 items for auction, twice as many as they had hoped for! The planners of the Missions Auction weren’t the only ones thinking creatively. Items for auction ranged from “a pie a month for a year,” to gift baskets, vacation rentals, and firewood. It was clear the church and community had used their resources and talents to contribute to the cause!

The Missions Auction was held online first, and then in-person. Less than 24 hours into the online portion of the auction, the church had already almost met their $12,000 goal! When all was said and done, they had raised over $28,000 for their missionaries—enough to provide each of their missionaries with $2,600-$2,800!

What an example of what God can do through a few willing servants and a creative and generous community of believers! How might you and your community use your resources and creativity to support missions this year?

2021 Year in Review

Before we hit the ground running in 2022, let’s take a look back at all that God has done in 2021 through Converge MidAmerica | Southeast | Caribbean! We are beyond thankful for the miraculous ways He has worked in the hearts of His people the past year, even in the midst of navigating all the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic.

Here are just a few of the highlights:

At Next Steps Orlando and Chicago, many pastors, church planters, and leaders came together to learn about outreach, missions, church systems, leadership development, and more. The relationships and meaningful conversations that came out of these events will last far past 2021.
At Connect 2021, hundreds gathered in three locations around the globe in Geneva, IL; Orlando, FL; and Haiti for our tri-annual meeting. We experienced what God can do when we show up, advance on our knees, strive towards unity, grow in generosity, and realize that we are better together.
In July 2021, our African American pastors and their wives gathered in Detroit for a time of fellowship and teaching. Pastors came away refreshed, supported, and encouraged from their time together. We hope to have more of these gatherings in 2022!
Our monthly virtual prayer gatherings were a powerful time of fellowship with our Father and each other. Converge MidAmerica | Southeast | Caribbean is nothing without the foundation of prayer.
Converge churches came together to provide hurricane relief in the Caribbean and tornado relief in Kentucky. In the Caribbean, churches established a hurricane relief fund that supplied food, shelter, and medical help, and they rebuilt houses and churches. A similar fund was also used for food, shelter, medical help, and other needs due to the recent devastating tornado in Kentucky. This most recent fund exceeded our giving expectations and raised $27,719! Wow! It was encouraging to see so many churches step in and be the hands and feet of Jesus in so many ways this past year.
Finally, our year-end giving campaign for the Minister’s Assistance Program went above and beyond what we ever imagined—you all gave $22,105 towards pastors and their families’ healing through counseling in 2022. A generous donor matched $20,000 of that total as well! Thank you for your generosity! God did more than we could have ever asked or imagined, and He did it through you.

We are trusting and believing that God will continue to do beyond all that we can ask, think, or imagine in 2022. We can’t wait to see how He will accomplish His purpose, and we pray that He will use all of us to share His hope and love in our churches and beyond!