Missions Supported

Missions of Calvary Lutheran Church LCMS, Charleston, SC

In addition to the missions discussed earlier, Calvary financially supports nine other distinct missions.  Many of Calvary's members volunteer time to these missions as well as providing financial support.

As a member of the LCMS (Lutheran Church Missouri Synod), we have always supported the mission work of the Southeastern District, http://se.lcms.org/initiating-new-mission/mission.php .  Our contributions to this ministry provide others with the help they need.  This can be through the missions of other congregations as well as support for new congregations.

Once a year, churches of the Charleston area join together to offer hope and to spread the word to people in our community through the work of the Convoy of Hope, http://www.convoyofhope.org/.  Calvary is a provider of help and on site prayer for those that come to the event to receive help and the gospel of Christ.

A former member of Calvary, John Heins, has been serving with the Wycliffe Bible Translators, http://www.wycliffe.org/ since the 1970s.  Wycliffe provides translation for many languages that have not yet received the gospel in their native tongues.  He and his wife Barbara, served for many years in Mozambique, Africa.  Currently they are stateside where John is assigned to a division of Wycliffe called JARS.  This is a special division charged with thinking outside the box with a focus on unique and innovative ways to augment Wycliffe's translation efforts worldwide.

Calvary, as well as some of our members are very involved in and support the work of the Low Country Crisis Pregnancy Center http://www.lowcountrycpc.org/.  This organization provides critical help to women that are pregnant and might be considering abortion.  Pregnancy tests, prenatal care and other services as well as bringing the gospel to these women have saved many babies as well as brought saving faith to their mothers.

We support the Dos Santos family that have been serving with the Mercy Ships http://www.mercyships.org/content/home for over twenty years.  Mercy Ships have provided medical care to many parts of the world that do not have the opportunity for health care that many of us take for granted.  The Dos Santos have had the privilege of serving both on the ships as well as with the shore based support group.

David and Carrie Russell serve with the Campus Outreach organization which was founded in the late 1970s.  The goal of this ministry is to bring the gospel to men and women that are preparing for future positions as college graduates and leaders in our society.  As a youth and young adult, Carrie was a former member of Calvary.  During her campus experience, she was introduced to the work of Campus Outreach.  She met David Russell and not long after married him.  They and their three children are moving to the Washington DC area as part of a new outreach to campuses there.

Calvary supports the Sandahl family as well as child sponsorship through Food for the Hungry International http://www.fh.org/.  Our support developed as a result of our introduction to short term missions with Food for the Hungry in Guatemala.  Food for the Hungry works in many parts of the world to help develop direction for a better life style, and it is through this contact that they spread the gospel of hope.

For over ten years, we have been sending people on short term missions to Guatemala to work with Food for the Hungry.  Members of the team are responsible to raise most of the cost of their own transportation as well as materials that will be brought to the country in support of their assignment for that year.  A major fund raiser for all members of the team is the annual auction held at Calvary in the spring of the year.

Almost everyone has seen a Gideon Bible either in a hotel room, doctor’s office or somewhere else.  Their website is http://www.gideons.org/Splash.aspx.  The Gideon organization is committed to spreading the written word throughout the world by making bibles easily available to millions.  Many of our members are associated with the Gideons.  Calvary also supports this work with financial contributions.