Meet the Staff and Volunteers
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In 2001, Mission to Amish People [MAP] started out in a small Sunday school room, located inside Bethel Baptist Church. But as time went on, the ministry grew and before long, a second and third person had to be hired. And since each Sunday school room was small in size, they had no choice but to keep branching out until the ministry had used up three classrooms. At that point, the church asked the ministry to consider the idea of building their own office space. Today the ministry is running their offices out of a 2,000 sq. ft. building, located about 500 feet away from the main church building. It is not uncommon to see between 20 and 30 volunteers working on mailing day.
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Joe Keim |
In 1999, while working as a tool and die maker at one of our local manufacturing plants, the Lord began to work in Joe's heart about taking the gospel back to his people. For over a year, Joe went through some tremendous struggles before giving up and making himself available to go wherever the Lord wanted him to go. By April of 2001, the Keim family had raised just enough financial support through local churches and individuals that they decided to take the scary plunge, let go of Joe's secular job, and go into full time ministry. As you can tell by looking through this web site, the Lord has blessed the MAP ministry far beyond anything they could ever have imagined. Many thousands of lives have been changed for all of eternity because the Keims made themselves available and were obedient to God's call. |
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Tina Duffield |
Tina is married and has two grown daughters and four grand-children. She got saved in the fifth grade while attending a Vacation Bible School. It would not be until after she was married that some wonderful Christian ladies drew her to the Lord, by loving and mentoring her. Today, Tina works as the secretary of MAP. Her job requires her to manage all the volunteers, run the SonLight Club, order ministry materials, help with the finances, take all the calls, and about 100 other things. Her prayer is that the Lord will always be able to use her for His work, no matter what that might be. |
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Bea Kennedy |
Bea Kennedy, the oldest child of Salvation Army Officers, has worked as a secretary, computer repair technician, and a medical transcriptionist. She and her husband, Terry, have three daughters and three grandchildren. In January of 1999, the Lord saved Bea. By fall, she was serving in her home church, working with 5th and 6th grade girls during the Wednesday night Bible clubs. Several years later, she began leading the ladies Sunday school class as well as doing an in-home Bible study with a neighbor. Today, Bea plays a big part in managing the web site for Mission to Amish People. Her position requires her to format and upload articles, upgrade web pages, advertise the ministry and make sure everything is in working order. She is also involved in developing and managing web sites for other ministries. |
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Eli and Rachel Raber |
If you have ever listened to a CD or watched a DVD that came from MAP, there is a very good chance that Eli and Rachel burned and printed them.They have a CD duplicator that copies up to seven CD’s at a time, and two printers that put labels right on the media. Both of them consider it a privilege to be part of the MAP outreach and would one day like to become more involved in mentoring others who come out of the Amish culture. Eli writes, MAP has had a very good influence in my life and I want to be able to help others who are in similar situations that I was in when I left the Amish.
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Robyn Rhoades |
Robyn asked Jesus to be the Lord of her life in October 1991. She and her husband, Terry, have two wonderful gifts from the Lord, Jenny and Steven. After home schooling both of their children and serving the Lord in various ways in the church, she felt the Lord starting to lead her to volunteer two days a week in a ministry. As she prayed about where the Lord would have her serve, she believed the Lord was directing her to the MAP ministry. She enjoys grading and putting together the lessons, sending out the awards twice a month, and any other tasks that need to be done. She also loves the fellowship of the other people who are there. Robyn volunteers 2 days a week |
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Wayne and Chris Vallowe
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When an Amish or former Amish person/family comes to MAP for emergency help, Wayne and Chris are the first on call. They take the person through an application process, and if approved, they will assist them with short term financial help toward housing and living expenses. Wayne works full time for a local missions agency and his wife Chris works part time as a nurse. Both of them are leading Bible studies as well as a prayer meeting for MAP. They have three children and several grandchildren. They have traveled all over the country, helping to present and update churches about the MAP ministry. This is a volunteer position |
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Norma Henry |
Norma has been a widow for many years. She has four children and seven grandchildren. In 2002, she sold her restaurant which she had owned and operated for 14 years. After retirement, she realized that she had extra hours in which she could be of service to my Lord. She helps MAP two days a week, grading and mailing out lessons and certificates for the SonLight Club. Norma volunteers 2 days a week |
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Lori Stackhouse |
Lori is married and has 3 children and 3 grandbabies. She retired from a landscaping business that she and her husband had for many years. Today she works at the MAP office from 9am to 5pm, four days a week. Her main job is entering Bible lessons into the computer, but as you might imagine, she does so much more than that. It is not possible to know what we would do without Lori. She is a full-blooded comedian and keeps the office alive for 8 hours a day, 4 days a week. Lori volunteers 4 days a week |
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Miriam Yoder |
Miriam, and her husband Levi, left the Amish when their children were still very young. And for 20 years they owned and operated a grocery store in Kentucky. In 2004, Levi and Miriam started talking to Joe about their desire to move to Ohio and help out with the MAP ministry. Several times we gave up that this would ever come to pass, but we also knew that if it was God's will, it would happen when the time was right. Month after month went by and finally, in October of 2005, they made the big move to Ohio. Miriam helps out with the SonLight Club at least 2 days a week. Miriam volunteers 2 days a week |
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Esther Gray |
Esther, and her husband, Glenn, have five children and a handful of grandchildren. They are country folks who just love to serve the Lord wherever they can. As for the MAP Ministry, Esther works at least 2 days a week grading Bible lessons. Like all the other volunteers, it would be hard to know what we would do without her presence. Esther volunteers 2-days a week |
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Linda Eichelberger |
Linda has 4 children and 4 grandchildren. She had always had a curiosity about the Amish culture. After hearing about the MAP Ministry through her church she felt a desire to volunteer to do what she could. She says it is such a blessing to see the many lives being changed through the SonLight Club. Linda works one to two days a week grading lessons or putting them together getting them ready to mail. Linda volunteers 1-2 days a week |
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Rose Allen |
Rose started volunteering in July 2009 after she retired from work. She works in the Bible Club at MAP. Her sister, Esther Gray, invited her to go with her. She is glad to have something she can do for God. She enjoys the work and the Christian fellowship. MAP has been a blessing to her. Rose volunteers 2-days a week |
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Phyllis and Herman Weibel |
Herman and Phyllis Weibel are new residents of Ashland County, Ohio. Their youngest of 5 sons built them a home next to his, and they are enjoying the gently rolling landscape and being so close to their twin teenage grandsons. They have a total of 12 grandchildren. Herman retired after 54 years as a pharmacist and owned his own drug store in Bellevue, Ohio. He then worked for a small pharmacy chain in southern Ohio. They are devoted to the ministry of MAP and the Bible Club and volunteer two to three days a week to the glory of God. Phyllis and Herman volunteer 2-3 days a week |
I Am New"Thank you for coming to our mission's conference. We believe this was our best mission's conference in several years. What a blessing it was to hear of your ministry! Our prayer is that our missions giving will increase and we will be able to take part in your ministry financially, but until then, be assured that you are in our prayers."
