Immanuel Lutheran Church believes in acting on our Mission Statement “To Know Christ is to Share His Love”. One of the very important ways that we do this is to be involved in and to support various mission endeavors locally and around the world. Following is information, with website links where available, on the organizations that are supported regularly by Immanuel.

P.O.B.L.O. (People of the Book Lutheran Outreach)
POBLO’s International headquarters are located right here in metro-Detroit, in the city of Dearborn Heights. POBLO missionaries in Michigan reach out with the Gospel to the large concentration of Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus and others who live in the Detroit metro-area, Troy, Rochester, Lansing and Grand Rapids. Besides the Michigan sites, POBLO North America has ministry sites in Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Minneapolis, New York City, Toledo, Cleveland, St. Louis, and Toronto, with sites soon to open in Denver and Washington D.C.

POBLO International has been growing quickly with ministry in Pakistan, North India and Afghanistan. Plans are underway to begin ministry soon in Bangladesh also! For more information, go to the POBLO website at www.poblo.org.

The Brazil Mission Society
Headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, the Brazil Mission Society was founded in 1987 by Rev. Bill Thompson, and is a recognized mission society of the LCMS, partnering with LCMS World Mission and the Board for Mission Services. The Brazil Mission Society exists to provide support to the Lutheran Church in Brazil through sponsorship programs for pastors and vicars, educational sponsorship programs, teacher Bible training, special projects, and support for two schools for the deaf and two children’s orphanages.

Pastor Alcamar Prando in Charqueadas with his wife and 8 year old son

Immanuel Lutheran Church sponsors Pastor Alcamar Prando, pictured here with his wife Ariana and son Lucas. The Prandos are Brazilian, and serve Bom Pastor Iglesia Luterana (Good Shepherd Lutheran Church) in the city of Charqueadas, about one hour west of Porto Alegre in the state of Rio do Sul (in southern Brazil). Charqueadas is a city of about 35,000 residents, with less than 1% of the people attending any one of the three small churches in the city! Pastor Prando is very outreach motivated, and he has a vision for planting a second Lutheran Church in the city in order to better serve the residents.

On a short-term mission trip in March, 2004, a new project was born called “The Lydia Project”. So many of the families in Brazil live in “favelas” (slums) and cannot afford to buy food or simple necessities for their children. This project will connect our church and others to help these moms or dads begin a small craft business to support their families. Seed money of only $40.00 per family will help purchase the materials needed to begin, and on-field training and coaching is already in place!

Todd and Kim Roeske (The Philippines)
Immanuel’s support for the Roeske family is through LCMS World Mission. Todd and Kim have served in the southern island of Mindanao, The Philippines since 1995, working to train national leaders and helping to start the Tagakaulo Lutheran Church. They have now moved from working among the Tagakaulo people group to living in the city of Davao, about a two-hour drive from the village, and they are transferring more of the leadership responsibilities to the national workers. In less than ten years, God has accomplished the vision for ministry through the Roeske’s and other team members! There are over 20 worshipping congregations, three more currently in formation, and a pastoral training program in which nine men hope to graduate in March, 2005! For more information on LCMS World Mission, go to their website: www.lcms.org.

Kingdom Building Ministries
John Vermilya is a missionary with Kingdom Building Ministries, headquartered in Aurora, Colorado. John, his wife Darcey, and their three girls live in Buckley, Michigan, having joined the organization in January, 2004 after serving many years with Missionary Athletes, International in sports evangelism ministry. John is a gifted evangelist and speaker, and he travels around the world to encourage and motivate youth and adults in the area of discipleship training, evangelism and missions.

Globalink
Globalink seeks to link with and assist local churches in their efforts to become mission- focused and mission-active congregations. Rev. Roger Wright serves as trainer and coach for pastors, church staff and/or mission committees as they seek to become more mission centered in their approach to outreach. Rev. Wright also coordinates short-term mission trips for congregations and individuals, and leads training seminars in various locations around the world to encourage national church workers. Headquartered in Upland, Indiana, Globalink was established in 2002.

If you are interested in participating in a short-term mission adventure, please contact Nancy Kruger, Minister of Outreach and Missions at Immanuel, (586) 286-4231.