Merry Christmas to our supporters and friends in ministry. 

We were able to reach to many of you to wish you a very happy holiday season, but just in case we missed someone, MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

At the start of this year 2023, we both thought that this would be a year when we would not travel as much and focus on the work around WGM and support our team members as they travel out to our many mission fields. Boy, were we mistaken. I think we traveled as much, if not more in 2023.

We found ourselves with ministry opportunities in England, Albania, Czech Republic, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Scotland as well as a few trips out west to some of our US based mission ministry locations. Pictured here is a visit to a wonderful family we love so much, Billy and Joanna Coppedge and their kiddos. We sure loved our visit with them as well as all the missionaries we connected with throughout this year. 

We had no idea we would respond to a crisis as a result of tribal warfare, or to war being declared in the Middle East. It sure kept us on our toes as mental health counselors, pastors and support folks. We have often said, we are honored to walk alongside of these giants of the faith that are on the front lines serving Jesus and serving others in remarkable ways. 

Which brings us to you. We could not do this work with out you. We know for sure that your prayers and your financial support has made our ministry happen. We praise Jesus for YOU! 

Thank you so much for standing with us in prayerful support. You are helping us make THE difference in the world for good, for the Gospel and most of all in partnership with this ministry. 

May the Christ of Christmas fill your hearts to capacity. We will stay tuned to what Jesus has for us in 2024. I am sure it will be exciting to see how He leads. Will join with us and follow Him in 2024.

To Support Ned and Marlene

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Ned and Marlene McGrady 

Missionaries with World Gospel Mission Box 948, Marion, IN 46952

What does Papua New Guinea and Edinburg Scotland have in common?

 

We were called to respond to a Crisis Incident Stress Debriefing to Papua New Guinea on September 13 after our missionary team and a work team were caught in an ambush between two tribes fighting. Tribal warfare is fairly common but is generally confined to remote places. However, this time the tribal warfare had reached a main road leading down the mountainside. Our missionaries and their visitors were coming down a mountain from a dinner out when they were ambushed. There were several 

miracles that took

place that were gifts and graces from our Heavenly Father. We praise God that no one was physically harmed and all were able to safely return to their homes. 

Many of you prayed for us as we responded to debrief this team and offer spiritual and emotional support and care to our missionaries. We were able to secure our visas and get to PNG in record time, arriving on the ground in 56 hours.. Everything fell into place and we praise God that we were able to get there, support and debrief as we ministered and cared for these folks. Thank you for praying for us. 

We returned back to Indiana on September 24th, thankful to God for each of you that prayed for us. 

The question is posed in the title of this blog, "What does PNG and Edinburg have in common? Well, for us it is time for us to go there for a debriefing. All of us are saddened by the outbreak of War in between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. WGM has a missionary family of seven that had been in Israel for 3 months studying Hebrew. We began following them closely and as war was declared, it was prudent for our family to evacuate. They were able to get out on one of the last commercial flights before the State Department began evacuation of Americans. The family will arrive in Edinburg, Scotland on Saturday where they will safely shelter and we can go to meet with them. 

The war in Israel has created havoc in the lives of so many and the devastation and destruction of war is impacting so many lives. Our missionaries were sheltering in place but had to evacuate. Marlene and I will fly out to Scotland on Wednesday of this week. We will meet with this family of seven as we debrief, support, and pray with them. We ask a special interest in your prayers as we again respond to this crisis. 

We thank each and every person reading this blog. Your prayers are coveted. Your gifts  are worth so much to us, as it enables us to respond to crisis' like these. We are honored to serve of this way and to bring some comfort, hope, and peace to global workers that have been impacted by crisis such as war. 

We will be in Scotland on Thursday of this week, October 19th and will be there for a week as we minister there in this our 35th country to minister in. 

If you would like to help us with a special financial gift, please consider that possibility. We have had some unexpected and emergency airfare to purchase. Your gifts and support, coupled with your prayers, are what make our response possible. 

May God bless you greatly. We sincerely thank you for your love and support. 

Ned and Marlene McGrady

Missionaries with World Gospel Mission

Box 948

Marion, IN 46952

McGradys Headed to PNG

Dear friends,

We have had a very active summer of ministry and pressing in to some big things for the fall. 

We are leaving in just a few hours for a response to Papua New Guinea for a crisis incident stress debriefing. I have placed a link to a video here to help you to pray for us. This sudden event requires our immediate response, so we go in the strength of our Lord, knowing your prayers are with us. 

We will be sharing a summary of a very impactful summer of ministry. 

Papua New Guinea is a 30 + hour journey. So thank you for your prayers as we travel. Also, our team is covering our Renewal with 11 missionaries that have come in from Kenya, Spain, the Texas, Arizona and Ohio. Our capable team of member care givers will be caring this ministry forth as we are on assignment. 

Here is a link to a video that will give you more info. We will be working with a several families and missionary units during this time. 

PLEASE CLICK ON THE VIDEO BELOW "RESPONDING TO PNG" 

Responding to PNG

Thank you so much for holding us in prayer as we go forth in ministry. 

Sincerely,

Ned and Marlene McGrady

WGM Missionaries

Travels to Europe on the horizon....

 

What is on the horizon? When you sit with this picture, from Lake Michigan  you can observe a lot of things. Light, beauty, calm, colors, contrasts, life, hope, glory, to name of few. "The heavens declare the Glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork." Psalm 19:1. 

It is time again for us to venture out on the horizon. This time we are heading to Albania by way of London. We will be traveling over this weekend through June 10th. Our layover in London will give us an opportunity to connect with one of our Global Workers who lives there and has been serving in Guatemala with a Street Kid's Ministry in partnership with WGM. We will connect with him for a visit and spend some time there before we fly on to Tirana, Albania. 

Every other year, WGM has a leadership training event known as IMPACT. It usually is held in Indiana  but this year instead of bringing mission leaders back to the USA for IMPACT, we are going to take the training across the ocean to them. Mission leaders from countries around the world where WGM serves, will be coming to Albania for 10 days of retreat, refreshment and training in leadership and ministry in order to better reach the nations for Christ.  

We are going not only to take part in IMPACT, but to be available to connect with our missionaries. It is always great to attend events like this, where we have a large gathering of our people in one area. We understand that we will be meeting on the Mediterranean Sea and we anticipate that there will be countless opportunities to meet with our global workers in times of pastoral care, support and listening to their hearts for ministry and serving Jesus. 

We have always said that we have the best job in the whole world, we get to be encouragers to those that are working on the frontlines of ministry and partner with them as we listen to their hearts, pray for their concerns and walk with them in their ministries. We will have an opportunity to impact over 20 countries with the Good News of Jesus, as we meet with folks from all walks of ministry. We have often realized that the sun never sets on the work of WGM, the Gospel is always being lived out, preached, taught and shared as persons come to Christ and are discipled in the faith. 

You may wonder if your investment in our ministry is making any impact on the world? The answer is YES! We hear of lives transformed and hope coming to the hurting, each and every day. God has called persons to go, and WGM has facilitated their going out to the nations to impact them with a better way of living. Our roles as pastor/counselor is to help to shepherd, encourage and keep those persons engaged in ministry. 

As you pray for us in these coming days, we ask that you will ask Jesus to give us great times of connection, very big and energized hearts to hear the joys and the concerns of our missionaries, and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit to speak, to listen, to empathize, to care, to pray, to encourage. Our greatest need is to have the impact of the spirit of God on our lives so that we may be ready to minister. We also know that in these travels there are always those unexpected opportunities to be a light in the world. Pray for us that we will be open and available to respond. 

IMPACT 2023 will be held in Albania, and together, you, and us, we can make an IMPACT on the nations at this event. We plan to take you with us in our hearts knowing that your prayers and your support has made this trip possible. 

We will plan to share some highlights and updates with you all in the next blog. 

Impacting the world together,

Ned and Marlene

WGM Missionaries

World Gospel Mission, Box 948 Marion, IN 46952 

To support Ned and Marlene

Easter Greetings and Updates in Ministry

 

...what a tremendous reminder for all of us as we enter this Holy Season. Easter is a wonderful time to remember that Jesus resurrection was wrapped in His love for this world. We need the love of God now more than ever, and if you are reading this blog today, it affirms that you are a part of spreading His love around the world. Thank you for being a part of spreading the Good News of Jesus through the ministry of World Gospel Mission. You are a valuable part of helping to support and establish the Kingdom of God here on Earth. 

We are excited to let you know about many of the things that have been going on in world missions. Just recently we commissioned 8 Global Workers, 6 of which we are mobilizing from countries other than the USA. How exciting it is to see God raising up a generation of leaders to spread the Good News around the world from places around the world.  WGM has dozens of non-US based missionaries that we are equipping and mobilizing to reach  others. We seek to answer God's call on our lives through the Great Commission by being the support and encouragement to each Global Worker. Many are being called and we believe more are on the way to serve! Please join us in praying for the Lord of the Harvest to send forth laborers. 

In the coming week we will spend four full days with eight Global Workers that will be at the WGM Marion campus for Renewal. If you have followed our ministry, you know that our Member Health Team offers this time of debriefing and renewal three times throughout the year. We do this in March, July and Sept/Oct. We have missionaries come from around the world. This week we will have them coming from Mexico, Kenya, Japan, and Honduras. These folks have been out on the front lines ministering and carrying the Gospel for the past few years, and they are coming back to begin ministry to their supporters here in the USA. We are privileged to spend intentional time with them to hear their stories, share in their burdens and rejoice in their joys. We walk them through times of celebrating where God showed up in their work, and how he provided for them even in the tough times. It is an honor to debrief with them and allow them time to refuel and ready their hearts to continue their ministry here at home and as they return. 

We are pleased to offer many resources to our workers through the gifts of member care. Our team consists of care givers with many years of mission experience. As a matter of fact, 301 years of ministry experience with 268 years of cross-cultural ministry is represented in the picture below. We have coaches, pastors, counselors, nurses, physical therapists and even a chef and all with big hearts to love people well. I once heard it said that most people in the world need a good listening to! This is precisely what we do. Also we realize that it is important for us as a team to care for our own souls. Earlier this year, we met for a full week to do our own soul care.

We had Dr. Jeff McCrory and his wife Barb come and provide ministry during a week of retreat. He shared with us using the Psalms and opened our hearts more to listening and receiving from the Lord. We found that we were warmed, encouraged and helped as our own souls were ministered to. It is so important. We are only as good at helping others when we have taken good care of our own souls. Dr. McCrory also pointed out to our team that we are a soul. It is not that we 'have' a soul...we are a soul and we must steward the care of our soul in a way that allows us to serve in the power of Christ to minister to others. We trust you will steward well the care of your soul. 

In looking ahead in our ministry travels and what we are doing, we would love to invite you to continue to pray with us as you think of us. We know that the Holy Spirit is faithful to help and we lean on His direction. We will be celebrating Easter with our family here in Indiana. I see egg hunts, candy and ham dinner in the future as the grandkids and our kids come. Later, we have a wedding to officiate of a family friend and then on to a conference to attend in Austin, TX the end of April and first week of May. We return home only to pack our bags and prepare for a couple weeks of travels. We will be going to Albania with a stop off in London where we will spend a couple of days with a missionary that has been serving with WGM in Guatemala. It is then on to Albania where WGM will hold it's bi-annual IMPACT Leadership Conference. We often hold it stateside, but this year we will invite our WGM g Global Workers from around the world to come to Albania for this important conference. Marlene and I will be available and meeting with workers from around the world during this conference. Please be praying for us as these important days will be upon us. 

We sure appreciate each person that is a part of our ministry team. We could in no way do this ministry with out you as part of our team. The prayers of our people standing with us, the gifts of our people giving to support this work mean the world to us. Thank you from our hearts! If we could sit with each one of you we would personally tell you just how much you mean to us!

May the Lord Bless you, and may you sense His loving presence in a powerful way. 

Sincerely,

Ned and Marlene McGrady

Missionaries with WGM

Marion, IN 

You can contact us by email at ned@straightpaths.org or marlene.mcgrady@wgm.org

To support our ministry go to www.wgm.org/mcgrady