Doug and Abby Vinez have been serving churches and parachurch organizations for the last 35 years of their marriage.

Doug first experienced the power of the Gospel when he was seventeen years old. His sense of being chosen by grace has been at the center of his walk with Jesus ever since. He has been a pastor for 27 years, and for the last 15 years he’s served Lake Norman Fellowship in Mooresville, NC, a church he planted. Doug’s passion is the Western Province of Zambia where he has co-founded the Inyambo Mission Center (IMC) with Pastor Percy Muleba. IMC’s mission is to raise, train and equip a mission-minded generation to reach those who do not know Jesus in the Western Province of Zambia and beyond. IMC currently has standing invitations from six of the 12 districts in the western Province to provide training, and has recently been invited to begin discussions with Youth for Christ in Namibia, as well. Doug is a graduate of Wake Forest University (B.A.) and Princeton Theological Seminary (M.Div.), and is ordained in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

Abby was called to full-time ministry while serving a mission in New York City in high school, and God reaffirmed that call at the Urbana ’76 Missions Conference. With a heart for pastoral care, urban ministry, and working with the marginalized, Abby served for many years in youth, preschool, educational and pastoral care ministries in various churches, hospitals and mission organizations, most recently for nine years as the Chaplain of a large Presbyterian children’s home system in North Carolina.  Providing pastoral care and training for staff, children, youth and families in diverse programs there, she has now been invited by indigenous leaders in Zambia to teach at the new College of Chaplaincy, training chaplains for military, police, hospital and educational settings and will also assist Doug and Pastor Percy Muleba with training at IMC. Abby is a graduate of Wake Forest University (B.A.) and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (M.Div.) and is in the process for ordination in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

Doug and Abby have two amazing daughters, Jen and Emily, two wonderful sons-in-law, James and Andrew, and one terrific grandson, Isaac.  Abby and Doug have made their home in Mooresville, NC for 15 years, and plan to keep North Carolina as their home base to be near their children, grandchildren and friends.

Scot & Lydie Fogle have supported missions throughout the world for over 18 years.  Scot as program director has coordinated the evangelizing, church planting, immigrant outreach, and missionary leadership development.  In August 2019 they moved to Beugen, Netherlands.  Scot is now serving as Principle of the Cornerstone Bible College for Missions Training, where he takes on both administrative and teaching responsibilities.  The college trains students spiritually, mentally and morally; and equips them for the expansion and development of the Church of Jesus Christ worldwide.

Scot trained in environmental science and worked in biology / chemistry in the United States before coming to faith in Christ at age twenty-six.  He then went to serve a mission in Haiti where he met and married Lydie.  He completed an M.A. in Intercultural Studies at Western Seminary.  Scot & Lydie joined WEC International in 2001 and went to work in France.  Scot did outreach among immigrants and international students, and he helped plant a church.  He was then asked to join the leadership of the outreach branch of WEC in France and then for the sending base until the end of 2018.

Our congregation responds every Christmas with loving generosity with gifts for needy children and adults on Oak Island.  Our church has historically demonstrated an outpouring of love and generosity in support of this program to make Christmas a little brighter for many families in our community who live below the poverty level.

The Missions Committee is now collecting Gifts Cards for families on Oak Island.  The Oak Island Resource Center has requested Gift Cards instead of purchased gifts.  Last year, recipient parents noted that with the Gift Cards they can purchase clothing & shoes for their children according to their actual needs.

A gift wrapped box will be displayed in the narthex on Sundays for receiving donated Gift Cards; and in the Church Office during the week.  Gift Cards are available from Food Lion, Lowes, Publix, Walmart, CVS, Academy Sports, Belk, 

Big Lots, Show Shoe, Rack Room Shoes, Amazon or gas cards.

Please indicate the amount of the Gift Card on the outside envelope.  

Contact:  Paula Paxton

Sarah serves as Stepping Forward Ministries - Director of Foster Care & Adoption Ministry.

Sarah is from North Carolina and graduated from Liberty University with a Bachelors degree in Family & Child Development and a Masters Degree in Psychology. Her first mission trip to Romania was in 2006 when she worked with abandoned babies and orphanage children. In 2009 she came to Romania full-time and soon began advocating for children’s rights by establishing Anchor of Hope to help children find “forever homes” and working with government officials to change adoption laws. Sarah's work includes placing children in foster families, and in teaching foster parents and caregivers how to care for children from traumatic backgrounds. Sarah also plans and runs a yearly camp for orphanage children where they learn about Christ, while receiving relationship therapy.

Today she has two adopted children and six foster children that she cares for. Inspired by Hebrews 6:19, "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul," Sarah sees Jesus as the greatest hope for so many orphaned and abandoned Romanian children.  Sarah asks all of us to pray for the children, and for the opening of international adoptions by the Romanian government.

Percy & Muyunda's goal is to raise, train, and equip a mission-minded generation of worshipers who will successfully lead people into the transforming presence of God in Zambia and beyond.  They travel to meet the persistent demand for worship leadership training through equipping church leaders. This, in turn, yields disciples, evangelists and artists who will evangelize and plant healthy mission-minded churches.

The success story of Percy & Muyunda is mirrored by the national pastors and leaders whose lives have been transformed through their ministry. They have established a network of approximately 300 colleagues throughout Zambia and southern Africa.

Percy is an ordained minister and gifted worship leader who loves to teach a sound understanding of Biblical worship, teaching churches how to use worship to facilitate mission. Muyunda, on the other hand, has an amazing passion for children and is also a proficient tool in marriage counseling.

As Percy puts it, "Zambia has a singing culture. But much of our singing is rooted in ancestral worship. We sang to our ancestors simply to dull our pain. Biblical worship is truly healing and is rooted in a lifestyle of sacrifice and obedience to our Lord."

Following his conversion in 2000, Percy served as a Volunteer Evangelist, Youth and Worship Leader in churches across Zambia and Namibia from 2000 to 2007. He trained in Botswana to be a Missionary & Church Planter in 2007, and then served as ex-officio Youth Pastor at Jerusalem Church in Mwandi, Zambia for five years, where he oversaw eleven congregations and helped plant two new Churches. He started the Inyambo Mission Center in 2010 and later founded the Biblical Worship Training Centre.

Percy received a Bachelor of Theology with Education Degree from Justo Mwale Theological University in Lusaka, Zambia in 2016.

Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) works in partnership with local churches to give students a place to grow in their faith, search for answers, and find community. We are a place for the convinced and the unconvinced, the confident and the doubting, the struggling and the seeking.

The Kennedys love everything about the UNCW campus-- from the skateboard racks at the dining halls, to the way that flip-flops are considered appropriate attire at the most formal campus events. Sam’s other favorite things are making noises on his guitars, surfing, skateboarding, and sampling the wares of Wilmington’s many coffeeshops.

Sam is a Wilmington local, a Tarheel fan, and a graduate of Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte.  In 2009, he married Shaunna in a sunny cove outside. He and Shaunna have two children, Gus and Hattie, who love getting to know college students! Sam became the RUF Campus Minister at UNCW in the fall of 2019 after serving on staff with Young Life and Christ Community Church in Wilmington.

If you would like to connect us to a student, please reach out to us by email:   sam.kennedy@ruf.org.

Billy & Kate Greenman’s mission work in Peru began with short-term trips in high school in 2001.  After college graduation in 2009, both came to Peru as full-time missionaries to work with orphans and vulnerable children.  In 2019 the Greenmans began working with Paths of Hope Ministries, developing and directing the work of trauma competent care for abandoned and at-risk children.

Over the years we have held various roles from volunteer coordinators to directors of a ministry to abandoned children, where we worked closely with the staff at six children’s homes and the Peruvian government. Now, we are working with at-risk youth through Paths of Hope and Billy offers counseling to families as a Marriage and Family Therapist.

Oak Island EPC member Susan Smith founded Paths of Hope.  The organization focuses on disadvantaged children and young adults in Lima, Peru.  Partnering with United World Missions and missionaries Billy and Kate Greenman, Paths of Hope mentors these disadvantaged Peruvian children and young adults to develop purpose in their lives by nurturing them in the Christian faith and guiding them into successful careers.  These children are orphaned and have had little hope of obtaining a successful adult life.  Paths of Hope funds all program expenses.  Missionaries Billy and Kate Greenman coordinate the mission’s program in Peru and raise their own support through United World Mission.

“Operation Christmas Child” partners with churches all over the world to reach boys and girls with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  A shoebox filled with small gifts of love open the way for learning about the Greatest Gift, Jesus Christ.  The congregation begins the Christmas season each year by filling shoeboxes, either personally or online, for distribution to children all over the world through Samaritan’s Purse International Relief.

Our congregation responds every Christmas with loving generosity with gifts for needy children and adults on Oak Island.  The Oak Island Community Center gathers specific wishes from families in need and prints individual requests on tags for our Angel Tree.  Our church has historically demonstrated an outpouring of love and generosity in support of this program to make Christmas a little brighter for many families in our community who live below the poverty level.

Providence Home provides a safe and nurturing shelter for youth, ages 10-17, who due to a home emergency or crisis cannot remain with their families.  Their mission is to provide eligible Brunswick County youth with short-term and safe shelter.  They provide 24-hour supervision, care, educational support, counseling services, and opportunities for spiritual development, for a maximum of ninety days, at no cost to the families.  Providence Home is not a therapeutic home, but rather a home that offers a nurturing atmosphere with safety, counseling, food, clothing, and shelter to youth who are in need of a short-term, safe haven.

This local fellowship of churches is made up of 20 churches who together seek to present the grace of Jesus Christ to those individuals & families in need.  Meeting short term everyday needs is the primary focus, in cooperation with one of the largest food pantries Brunswick County, and working with Brunswick Family Assistance to provide emergency financial aid.  The Fellowship also coordinates availability of Sunday morning worship at local nursing homes.  Other programs are an annual fundraising walk, a Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration, and community Lenten services.