Walking Through a Season of Transition

 

Our Member Health Team at WGM celebrating Marlene's birthday!

Ministry Update – Ned and Marlene McGrady

In this ministry update, we want to share a meaningful season of transition in our lives and where we see God leading us in the future. Certainly Lord has graciously allowed us to serve Him in marvelous ways, with the prayers and support of folks like you.

Walking Through a Season of Transition

Change is outward. It is what happens around us and to us, and it can come quickly.

Transition, by contrast, is inward and is somewhat slower paced as it is the work God does in our minds and hearts as we walk through change. This journey shapes our trust, surrender, and understanding along the way.

Like many of you, we have walked through seasons of significant change. For us, this season means slowly stepping away from leading a department devoted to the care and well-being of global workers—cross-cultural missionaries serving around the world.

 

Over the next nine months, we will begin transferring leadership of the Member Health Department at World Gospel Mission to our colleagues and dear friends, Rev. Greg and Teresa Leeth. Beginning July 1, we will step into a support role as they take on the day-to-day leadership of the department. Marlene and I will continue to serve as through consultation, crisis response, and ministry support as needed. After 16 years of walking closely with missionaries in this work, this transition is deeply significant to us, and we are trusting the Lord to guide each step.

 

What will this transition mean for us? Over the next nine months, we plan to visit churches and ministry partners whose faithful prayers, encouragement, and support have sustained us through the years. We want to thank you in person! Our missionary journey began in 2005 in with the Wesleyan Church and took us first to Costa Rica in 2008 for language school and then on to Ecuador in 2009, where we were blessed to plant a Wesleyan church while providing pastoral care to missionaries serving south of the U.S. border. In 2010, we joined World Gospel Mission and helped build a member care team that has served ministry in 37 countries as the good news of Jesus has gone out around the world.

 

For us, the transition is learning to step away from the day-to-day leadership of the department while remaining available to serve where the Lord gives opportunity.

Change can feel like leaving one bank of a river and crossing to the other side. Everyone who walks through major changes in life or ministry experiences transition along the way. Yet these threshold seasons can become sacred places where God meets us, steadies us, and teaches us to trust Him more deeply.

 

As we trust the Lord in this season, we plan to visit churches and supporters in 14 states between now and March 2027. One of our deepest desires is simply to thank, encourage, and reconnect with those who have prayed for us and walked with us so faithfully over the years. If you are reading this update, please know how much your partnership has meant to us. We would truly love to hear from you and, if possible, see you when we are in your area.

 

Some have asked about our future plans.  We expect to retire from active service with WGM in March 2027, yet we sense the Lord is still leading us into what comes next, and we look forward to sharing more in the months ahead. For now, we would be grateful for your continued prayers as we walk through this transition. If you have supported our ministry over the years, please know how deeply thankful we are. Your prayers, encouragement, and financial partnership have sustained us and made this ministry possible. We also ask that you continue to give faithfully and if the Lord leads you, consider a special gift to support these travels over the next months. You can give through www.wgm.org/mcgrady or by check to WGM Box 948 Marion, IN 46952.

 

As we prepare for this special Home Ministry Assignment with World Gospel Mission, we would be so grateful for the opportunity to reconnect, visit, and share more about what God is doing in this next season of ministry. Thank you for standing with us through the years. Your partnership has been a gift from the Lord to us personally, and we carry deep gratitude in our hearts for each of you.

 

We pray we will see you soon!

 

Sincerely,

 

Ned and Marlene

Missionaries with WGM

Mexico, Jamaica and More

 Thank you to so many of you that helped send us to Jamaica. The aftermath of Hurricane Melissa a category five hurricane that made its way across the Caribbean in late October last year was certainly evident. The destruction left many people feeling devasted and in need of relief.The people of Jamaica are resilient and working together to help each other.

During the week of January 17th - 23rd, we traveled to Jamaica with our co-workers Rev. Greg and Teresa Leeth to meet up with our WGM Missionary Deirdre Graham. She has been on the ground ministering in disaster relief to the people of the Island. Relief supplies such as food stapples and fresh water have been provided and distributed by WGM tthrough the local churches as a result of the generosity of God's people. 

During our time in Jamaica we met with church leaders and were able to tour a few of the churches on the Island that were damaged or destroyed during this disaster. Some places of worship were completely rendered useless while many others were damaged and in need of repair. WGM is working closely with the church to assist with the recovery and restoration of churches across the island. A work team from WGM will be going this month to assist. There are many opportunities for future teams in the planning stages through WGM. You can view this video for more information Short Term Jamaica Teams

Our week of ministry included preaching opportunities to the local congreagation at the Annoto Bay Church, as well as some time to minister to church leaders and view the great needs on the Island. We were able to spend some extended time encouraging and debriefing with Deirdre to provide support and care for her as she has given so sacrificially in service to so many. We spent time in God's word, reflecting on the ministry and the opportunities for the Gospel to be lived out in practical and caring ways. God helped us in amazing ways during this week. 

If you or your church or group would like to be a part of this recovery effort for the Island of Jamaica, WGM offers you that opportuninty. Please view JAMAICA at the wgm.org website for relief and recovery information. 

Just prior to the visit to Jamaica we had a wonderful opportunity to share in a Soul Shepherding Retreat with Baja Christian Ministries (BCM) Team in Tijuana, Mexico. We gathered with missionary leaders Eric and Rebecca Prager (upper right) and their BCM team including over 50 pastors and minsitry leaders serving throughout Mexico. They gathered together for important leadership meetings, and ministry celebrations as they marked significant milestones of outreach and life transformation for people throughout Mexico. 

Many people partnered with us in prayer for this event and God was faithful to help encourage, restore and refresh ministry leaders as they continue to serve in significant discipleship and evangelism ministries. God helped us as we shared tools and practices to help lift up those working on the front lines in ministry. Thank you everyone that prayed with us and helped to stand with us in financial support. God was so fiathful to meet with us and give us great blessings as we shared the Word of God and found food for our souls. 

After returning from these travels, we gathered with our Member Health Team in the Orlando, Florida area for our annual team retreat. We are so thankful that God has given us the best team to do this work of ministry to missionaries. It is an honor for Marlene and I to lead this team. God has blessed us greatly and the work of reaching our world for Christ is met through this team that God has called. 

Dr. David and Angie Smith (retired Indiana Wesleyan University Professor) lead us in wonderful biblical teaching that encouraged our team in the work we do. They helped us look at transitions in life that we all expereince and how to face those in the strength that Christ gives us through the Holy Spirit. We were blessed and encouraged as we looked at several bible characters and how they navigated transition. Needless to say, this is a very popular topic for our work with missionaries who find themselves in transition quite often. 

January was a month of full-on ministry for us and we simply want to STOP! and say "Thank you" - Yes, thank you everyone reading this, you have given to our ministry, you have prayed for us and you have thought about us and we thank you! We are making plans to focus on connecting with you this summer and fall as we make plans to travel in Home Ministry Assignement later this year. WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU!

Blessings, 

Ned and Marlene McGrady

 WGM Missionaries. 

www.wgm.org/mcgrady

Merry Christmas and Lots of Travel in the New Year

 Merry Christmas and Lots of Travel in the New Year

December 2025

We have communicated with many of you by way of a written letter we sent out last week, wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and thanking you all for your continued support and prayers. Our ministry in 2025 accomplished much because of your involvement and partnership. Thank you so much!

In that communication we shared that we will be going to Jamaica January 17 - 24,to meet with our missionary, Deirdre Graham, who has been very involved in relief efforts since Hurricane Melissa hit the Island in October. WGM and many financial partners have made generous relief efforts possible by providing necessary life saving supplies to those in great need during this natural disaster. We will be traveling with our co-workers Rev. Greg and Teresa Leeth and will have opportunity to partner with Deirdre in ministry and provide some respite and renewal. We are thankful for the special financial gifts from many to help make this trip possible. 

Just a day after our Christmas letter dropped in the mail, we received a special invitation from Soul Shepherding, a ministry partner of WGM, inviting us to provide a retreat for over 50 missionaries and pastors serving in Baja California and in the mainland. We will be traveling to Tijuana Jan. 7 - 11 for this retreat.  We have the main reponsibility of presenting for this retreat and will be leading this missionaries and pastors in a time of spiritual renewal. 

We are calling on you reading this email today, to join with us in prayer for this Mexico retreat effort. We are keenly aware that we must have the anointing of God and a fresh move of the Holy Spirit on our hearts to meet this opportunity. The folks that are attending this retreat are involve in church leadership, discipleship, as well as educational ministries. Many of those that will be attending have been very involved in ministry efforts and are in need of rest and renewal for their own souls. 

Pray with us that we will have the heart and mind of God to deliever a message of encouragment that will bring unity, and renewal of hearts. 

Pray with us that we will have good conversations that will encourage and help to keep ministries thriving.

Pray that we will be able to listen with empathy and reflect the heart of God for His servants. 

Pray for our travels to Mexico and Jamaica that we will be responsive and sensitive to the leadership of the Holy Spirit. 

Thanks so much for standing with us in prayer. We know that it makes the difference, always. 

Perhaps you would like to make a special gift to support these ministries that God has placed before us. It is easy to make a safe and secure contribution to our ministry at www. wgm.org/mcgrady  or by mail to WGM, Box 948, Marion, IN 46952 with a note McGrady Ministry. 

Thank you so much! And our wish for you this Christmas is that the Peace of Christ will rule in your life this New Year. 

Blessings,

Ned and Marlene McGrady

Missionaries with World Gospel Mission

Season of Thanks

We are so very thankful as we approach this season of gratitude. With the holiday approaching we are reminded that "Gratitude turns what you have into enough!" We are blessed to have you in our lives and so very grateful for your prayers and support. 

Since we wrote to you this summer we have had ministry opportunities to host missionaries home on ministry assignment to provide a time of Renewal and spiritual refreshment to come alongside of them in care support. In September we had 75 Alumni and Retirees come to WGM Marion for a retreat.  They were honored and blessed, as this group of heros that have served our Lord so faithfully over the years joined us.  Our team prepared and served the meals for this event. (picture in the right corner)  

Marlene was able to get all her continuing education credits this year as we attended the American Association of Christian Counselors event in Nashville in September. Over 7000 servants of God conviened at the Opry Land for this inspirational learning event. Christian artist Chris Tomlin and many other renowed artists and speakers provided a fantastic week of learning.(picture in upper left corner) In October we were blessed to attend the Pastors to Missionaries Conference near Ashville, NC where we gathered with member care providers from all around the world in a time of sharing best practices and encouraging teaching. Most recently we went to Lake Michigan to provide a mini reteat for renewal for Aftica based missionaries. (picture lower left corner) and we are particularily thankful for the beautiful sunset the Lord blessed us with one of the evenings during the retreat. 

We had a chance to give an update to our home supporting church in Jackson, Michigan last Sunday. It was a blessing to share a snapshot of our ministry and connect with the mission committee at Encounter Church as well as visit and fellowship with great friends. We are so thankful for churches like Encounter that stand with us in regular financial support and prayer support. Partnerships such as these are what makes our ministry possible. 

One of the most common questions we are asked is where are you headed next. For nearly 20 years we have been traveling in ministry to 37 countries on 6 continents. In December we will be visiting our Southwest Ministry Center in Pheonix, Arizona. WGM has a rich history and presence amongst the native america population. We look forward to the visit and ministry God has for us there. 

We are all aware of the recent hurrican Melissa that hit Jamaica. While we have received word at this time that our missionary serving there is safe, we are also appealing for gifts that will be used for relief and sharing Christ's love. If you wish to donate to this appeal CLICK HERE. Our missionary Deirdre Graham will be assisting persons in Jamaica. Ineterestingly, we had made plans and purchesed tickets to visit Jamaica back in June. We are scheduled to be there in January just after the holidays. We will be intent on going as travel allows in order provide support and ministry there. Meanwhile, please join us in prayer for Jamaica and the ministry of WGM there. 

Finally, we want to take this chance to say thank you to you and thank you for your care and support. We are so grateful for each donation that comes in to our ministry and it helps us so much to continue to represent Christ to the nations. 

We wish you and your loved ones a very Happy Thanksgiving and many blesssing from above!

With gratitude, 

Ned and Marlene McGrady

Missionaries with World Gospel Mission

To support Ned and Marlene

Summer Ministries

 

This summer has had many opportunties for ministry that you have helped to make possible. In the month of June we joined our Member Health Team (pictured below Greg and Teresa Leeth, Ned and Marlene, Christine and Jeff Stanfield, Rick and Lori Lampen, Mike Banks) for a monumental event in Honduras. Nearly 200 adults and children gathered together for our IMPACT 2025 Rally. Global Workers and Missionaries from over a dozen different countries around the world came together for 10 days of seeking the Lord, through worship, prayer and impactful Biblical teaching. Each day provided time to gather for corporate times of worship and learning as well as small groups and regional meetings to help hear the direction of the Holy Spirit as He led us closer to himself. 

We began our time with a visit to the dump ministry, Brazos de Jesús (Arms of Jesus) which is a school and a meal program on the edge of the main landfill of San Pedro Sula, the second-largest city in Honduras. Founded by Honduran pastor Carlos and his wife, Mirna, in 2015, the school’s goal is to provide education to children of people who live and work in the dump. Nearly 300 children attend the school. 

A graduate of WGM's El Sembrador Bible Institute, Carlos pastors a church located near the dump. The teachers at Brazos de Jesús are all members of that congregation who work a second shift teaching at Brazos de Jesús, in addition to their regular jobs. Their goal is to continue to increase enrollment and provided educaton through high school with the vision to accompany their students until they reach a college degree so these children can change the future of their own families and the generations that will come after them.

This ministry is a vibrant, growing ministry and readily receives work teams, as well as financial support to continue to help change lives of children that would otherwise have no future. Arms of Jesus Ministry

We returned home to Indiana the end of June and had an opportunity to connect with supporters and friends at a camp meeting in Michigan. While pastoring and working in Michigan, we attended the Winding Creek Camp in Hastings, Michigan.

We had not had a chance to visit for a number of years, but we were blessed with the opportunity to go this year. Our granddaughter's went with us, and they had a chance to experience the camp that their mommy attended most of her life growing up in Michigan. Days were filled with swimming, bike riding, playing in the park and meeting lots of new friends. Ama and Papa, as we are known by them, enjoyed connecting with supporters of our ministry, as well as sitting under some encouraging teaching and wonderful worship opportunities during camp. The girls asked if we could plan to come again next year! So, I am pretty sure we will plan to return again next summer. Marlene and her sister, Janette used to teach the kid's program at this camp during the time I was pastoring the Wesleyan Church in Jackson, Michigan.

It was a great week for us as a family and so wonderful to be passing on the experience of camp meeting to our grands. (Marlene, Ned, Elliot and Rowen)

Our ministry with WGM reached a milestone in July of this year as we celebrated 15 years of missionary service with World Gospel Mission. The mission was founded in the camp meeting movement that spread across the USA, and WGM turned 115 years old in June, after sending their first missionaries to China in 1910. So camp meeting still has a primary importance in mission work around the world.

The end of July was the time to host missionaries on their Home Ministry Assignment. Three times a year we offer an event we call Renewal. During this week we assist missionaries by processing and debriefing their term of service in ministry. We give plenty of time to listen to the Holy Spirit, look to the joys and concerns they have encountered, and provide plenty of time to spiritually recharge and renewal their spirits. Processing well the last term helps prepare the way for a successful next term. An interesting fact during this Renewal was that it represented the changing face of missions. We had two Global Workers from Albania that have Argentine passports, a Global Worker from Hungary, one from Bolivia as well as those carrying a USA passport. Truly, the face of foreign missions is changing as more and more people from non-USA origins are being sent out to reach the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. These are truly exciting days we are living! And it is so encouraging to see God sending folks from all over the world to the world! 

The question that we are most often asked is, "Where are you headed next?"  - well, we are not sure yet, but looking at possibilities in Asia and maybe the Carribean. We will see where God leads us next, and we will be sure to keep you informed as we listen to His voice and answer His call to go. Speaking of answering His Call, we thank you for partnering with us. Many of you reading this today, have supported us financially as well as through your prayers and we appreciate that so much! Thanks is hardly enough to convey our deep sense of gratitude to God for you! 

Please continue to pray and if you would like to support our ministry with a special financial gift, it would help so much as we make plans to continue our service in answer to Jesus Call! Thank you for your kindness and care. Support Ned and Marlene

May the Richest of Heaven's Blessings be yours,

Ned and Marlene McGrady, WGM Missionaries 

Kenya update on the way to Honduras

 Good June summer day to you all, our faithful friends and supporters. 

We can not thank you all enough for your prayer support for us as we shared in the Kenya Field Retreat back in April. Many of you reached out to us saying you were praying with us and standing with us in your love and care as we went to minister to our missionaries serving Jesus in Kenya as well as in other parts of Africa. 

Each day we gathered in worship and prayer as we shared encouraging messages from the Word of God to our people. Hearts were challenged to lean in to the goodness of God to meet every need. Missionaries have a unique situation being deployed to a different culture to work amongst a different people all with the goal of unifying one another under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It was an amazing ministry and the prayers of God's people made it so worthwhile. Thank you. 

Whether we were speaking at the conference, fellowshipping with the missionaries, or hanging out with our African friends, God was so present and faithful to give us rich and fullfilling ministry all along the way. 

Our travels allowed us to explore more of Kenya, and the ministries that are flourishing there. 

A prop plane took us from the thriving city of Nairobi to the coast where we held our conference. Traveling along the way we dodged a few cattle, or perhaps a lot of cattle and got stuck in the mud, but we made it. Great times of prayer and sharing were a blessing and we know God's faithfulness shone through. 

Just two weeks after we returned from Kenya, Ned's mom's health began to take a turn. She celebrated her 100th birthday January 9 and we had a party to honor her and celebrate her long life. She enjoyed every minute as nearly 200 people came to celebrate her. She was thrilled to reach that milestone  and did so gracefully. Her mind remained so good, even as her body began to grow weary. 

On April 30, mom went on to her heavenly home. She had always said she just wanted to go to sleep and not wake up. During our time as a family at her bedside in those final hours, we were singing to her some of her favorite hymns. While we were singing, "I'll Fly Away" she mustered strength to raise her arms in praise to Jesus. Just a few short hours later, she drifted off to sleep and on to the arms of Jesus. We were able to celebrate her life well lived for Jesus on May 6 at our family home church in Rockbridge, Ohio. 

As we make this update from Kenya and mom's funeral we are now preparing to head to Honduras. We will travel this week for our World Gospel Mission IMPACT Rally. With the advent of several International Global Workers that are now commissioned by WGM to serve around the world, more than 200 of God's choice servants from all around the world will converge in Honduras for a a week of seeking God, planing for ministry, praying for an anointing and outpouring of the Holy Spirit on our work and the mission of WGM. In addition there will be over 50 kids that our team will be part of ministering to.

Would you continue to pray with us? We have dozens of people flying from everywhere to Honduras and we will have many opportunities to sit with Global Workers from around the world to hear their hearts, hear their stories, and lift them up in prayer. We covet your prayers for health, for safety, for insight to hear, hearts to empathize, and a spirit to connect with Jesus. This will be an amazing time for our people to be encouraged and help to spread their vision to reach their world with the Good New and Love of Christ. 

Your part in our ministry is vital and so appreciated, whether you are praying, giving, or just even pausing right now to lift us to heaven in prayer, we need it and we thank you for it. 

May God Bless you each one. We thank you for standing with us in mission. 

With Grateful Hearts, 

Ned and Marlene  

Giving and Praying Click Here

90 Days of Prayer - "A daily Prayer guide for our April 2025 Kenya Global Worker Retreat

90 Day Prayer Guide  (CLICK on it to print) 

We are well in to the New Year 2025. Happy New Year

As we enter this new year we want to invite you to pray with us for ministry as we prepare to return to Kenya in April. You may recall, we had the honor of joining with our co-workers, Jeff and Christine Stanfield last November 2024 for 10 days of ministry at Tenwek Hospital in Bomet, Kenya. Many of you followed us in prayer and support during that time. As a result of that visit the four of us have been invited to return to Kenya for the Global Workers Field Retreat as their main speakers. 

The Kenya field is one of flagship fields and we have several workers with WGM serving in various medical based and church based ministries. We are humbled and honored to respond to this invitation and we realize how much we need the prayers of God's people. As we approach this opportunity we are asking for your prayer support so that we may have the heart and mind of God as we plan to serve His people. 

Above is a 90 day prayer guide that you have a link to be part of our prayer team. It is possible for you to print this off and join us each day in prayer for this ministry opportunity. God has opened the door and is preparing the way for us to go. You can be a part of helping equip us spiritually for this ministry opportunity. 

We thank you for praying with us. Your support means everything to us!

Best wishes,  

Ned and Marlene

www.wgm.org/mcgrady