Kathie y Steve Arnold
Localización: Con sede en Flower Mound, Texas; capacitando a líderes y supervisando ministerios en Rusia, Albania, Kenia y Ucrania.
Agencia Misionera: Ministerios Ven y Coser
Hora local:
Steve and Kathie’s mission is to share the Gospel of Christ and provide life skills training through long-term discipleship and prayer. They accomplish this work by using “creative life skills evangelism,” which involves training and partnering with evangelical churches and mission programs in countries around the world to host sewing classes. They also walk alongside many of these churches and programs to help them implement spiritual and economic change in their areas.
Their ministry motto is: “Christ is our mission, and sewing and skills is our method.” The people reached by Come and Sew Ministries (CASMI) are the poor, widows, single moms, orphans, trafficked women, and the abused. Criteria is strict for those wanting to be trained in life skills, and each student is required to attend Bible study and prayer time with a trained leader from their culture. Many of CASMI’s students are coming to Christ after being loved deeply and taught well by tailors and spiritual leaders in their culture.
Steve shares: “Kathie ran a sewing school in our home teaching women and children to sew for 12 years. Though ‘ministry’ was not initially the intent, many students were reached with the love of Christ as they stayed after class and allowed Kathie to minister to their hurts. During this time, God also used our home to give guests an example of how we serve one another. When we began to travel and establish ministry to other cultures, God opened many opportunities for our now 50+ years of marriage to minister to many.”
Their first trip began in 2001 as a fact-finding trip to Russia at the behest of Josh McDowell Ministries, with the goal of bringing the Gospel into state-run orphanages through sewing classes. God allowed them 10 years going to Russia yearly, where Kathie’s sewing curriculum and creative evangelism outreach impacted many orphanage teachers, pastors and Sunday school teachers.
After those 10 years in Russia, where God taught Steve and Kathie so much about listening, leading, and His grace on the journey, Kathie was asked to go to Albania to help the widows. The key verse God has written on their hearts is James 1:27, “Visit orphans and widows in their distress.” They continue to be God’s servants to do this and to let God work in their lives to obey the end of the verse: “Keep oneself unstained by the world.”
Dios les ha abierto las puertas para ayudar a establecer el alcance de la costura en varios lugares de África, donde otros ayudan a liderar y abrir un camino para las viudas y mujeres pobres en Eswatini, Uganda y alcanzar a los huérfanos que conocieron en Kenia. Han trabajado más de 10 años en Albania con viudas desde el primer viaje en 2012. Los líderes albaneses comparten que 80% de los que asisten a los cursos de costura de CASMI están viniendo a Cristo y continúan sirviendo al Señor y trayendo a miembros de la familia a Cristo también.
Today, Steve and Kathie’s roles are to encourage their leaders, teach when necessary, and plan, execute, and fund new outreaches in each country. Each project has different needs, so their roles involve many tasks. In general, each project involves prayer, friendship, discipleship, teaching, mentoring, and financial wisdom and leadership. Leaders they work with and have trusted relationships with are from Russia, Albania, Kenya, Uganda, Eswatini, and Ukraine, as well as many US ministry leaders that use CASMI program guidelines.
Steve y Kathie le dan toda la gloria a Dios y son fieles en mantener un fuerte equipo de oración que ora por cada una de las damas y líderes que discipulan y comparten a Cristo en cada país. Te animan a unirte a este equipo y reconocen que es la razón por la cual solo DIOS recibe la gloria por todo lo que está haciendo. Su historia es la de usar tus dones para Su gloria y de ir a donde Él llama.
Steve y Kathie tienen 4 hijos adultos y 14 nietos, y han sido miembros de Stonebriar Community Church desde 2001.
Hobbies & Interests: A Steve y Kathie les encanta jugar a las cartas y juegos de mesa de todo tipo. Ambos disfrutan leer, acampar, viajar, hacer jardinería, pasar tiempo con la familia y mantenerse activos. A Kathie también le encanta coser, por supuesto, ya Steve le gusta hacer proyectos creativos de construcción.