Current Ministry

Neil’s missions assignment is to support and provide resources for the International Ministries (see the Home tab to the left). His knowledge and expertise in graphics, audiovisual, technology, computers and similar areas have helped each of these ministries at some time or another over his 23 years in world missions.

Often, JoAnn Butrin, fellow missionary who Neil reports to at IM, receives calls from ministries and missionaries needing Neil’s help. So far I’ve never had to say “No” to anyone, other than because of travel difficulties due to funding, but it definitely keeps Neil more than busy!

As if that weren’t enough, Neil volunteers as a reader for the Assemblies of God Center for the Blind. The Center sends him materials that he reads onto audio cassettes. His projects so far are many of the Berean School of the Bible courses or textbooks. To date, he has completed 22 projects!

Here’s a quick list: 360 Degree, Preaching, Act, Beginning Ministerial Internship, Called & Accountable, Church Administration Handbook, Church Administration, Finance & Law, Corinthian Correspondence, Courageous Leadership (my favorite), Developing the Leaders Around You, Effective Leadership, Encountering the New Testament, Eschatology: A Study of Things to Come, Introduction to Assemblies of God Missions, Introduction to  Hermeneutics, Introduction to Homiletics, Ministerial Ethics, Old Testament Survey, Pentateuch, Prayer & Worship, Prison Epistles, The Spirit Helps Us Pray, and Spiritual Leadership. Not too shabby for something he’s been doing in his spare time at nights and on weekends. It’s been rewarding, as one of the missionaries who years ago first encouraged Neil  to consider a life of full-time missions was blind!

Previous Ministry

Global University

Neil served for a 5-year-term at Global University. For most of the term, he served as Director of Communications and Associate Vice President of the Institutional Advancement division. He produced two quarterly periodicals, GlobaLink, which reported on the evangelism and discipleship efforts worldwide (someone comes to Christ every 8 seconds as a result of a Global course), and another magazine for students enrolled in the USA ministerial training program. He also developed a multitude of promotional materials, monthly prayer letters, and through Project Timothy, helped to raise funds for overseas pastors without a way to pay for their training.

Assemblies of God World Missions Communications

Neil assisted Director Randy Hurst in the AGWM Communications area for several years. His work included the Word for the World project, which is a Bible using only 200 words that nearly anyone learning English can understand. The target audience is people from all areas of the world where English is the second language spoken by the reader. He also edited all periodicals and promotional materials produced by AGWM, and served as the Assistant Editor of the Missions World Edition of The Pentecostal Evangel magazine.

Assemblies of God World Missions Editor

Neil created, edited and produced several monthly periodicals for Assemblies of God World Missions. One was WorldLink magazine, which was a tool to provide a communiqué between the leadership and national superintendents of the Assemblies of God World Fellowship. The second magazine was MAPS News, which provided testimonies, information, and listings of all available positions worldwide for short-term missions assignments.

Life Publishers/Book of Life

Director of Information Systems

Neil oversaw the creation of one of the first and largest information systems networks for a Bible-producing ministry. Several major Bible companies visited Life to see what we had developed, as it allowed us to create multi-version, multi-language bibles from start to finish, without having to use outside companies for costly components of the bibles. Our efforts helped start the process of creating and printing the many language versions of the Full Life Study Bible, (now also called the Fire Bible), one of the most popular Pentecostal study bibles in the world. We also helped launched the Book of Life (now Book of Hope).

Deanna was a critical component of the Reach The Children Foundation, which helped raised funds to place Russian edition Full Life Study Bibles in the hands of Russian pastors.

S.T.A.R. (Spanish Television And Radio) Ministries

Director of Information Systems

Neil oversaw the creation of the information systems network for this ministry which produced both children’s’ programming, as well as adult ministerial training programming. He created a database library software system that cataloged raw footage and allowed nearly instant access to specific footage; i.e. man walking across a street; saving incredible amounts of time.

Neil also drew architectural plans for a major expansion of the facilities as the ministry grew. When the chosen architect saw the plans, he only needed to move 2 stairwells to create fireproof egress to allow compliance with county laws and marveled at the excellent design of the new facilities.

Western Michigan Teen Challenge

Director of Education

Neil created curriculum used at the third-largest Teen Challenge residential program in the United States. Neil taught numerous classes, and was responsible for compilation of student reports.

Neil also assisted the Executive Director in a number of capacities, including fund-raising, grant-writing and other similar projects.