by Rev. Casey Southerland
PMU Field Director, Cincinnati, OH
the Missions Banner, August/September 2021

(above: The newly installed PMU President—Rev. Dr. Kevin Backus)

The 2021 Annual Meeting was an occasion for thanksgiving to our Lord for several reasons.  First, it was the Council’s first opportunity to have an in-person meeting in two years, so the docket was filled with items to address for the sake of our missionaries and their labors.  It also included reports from all our US-based missionaries as well as consideration of new mission opportunities.

Second, we are grateful for the leadership the Lord continues to give to PMU.  Dr. Kevin Backus will serve as the PMU president in the coming year.  This year also marked 30 years of dedication and service on the PMU Council for Rev. Jim Huff.  Please read the article in this edition of the Banner as we remember Rev. Huff’s time serving on the PMU Council.  Celebrating benchmarks in service with Rev. Huff were Dr. Jason Hutchinson and Rev. Casey Southerland, serving five and ten years respectively.  We thank the Lord for these and our other council members who invest their time, gifts and energy to the work of missions with PMU.

Lastly, while 2020 was a year that saw the cancelation of ministry efforts, this year’s meeting included the initiation of three new endeavors in the service of the Lord’s Kingdom.  Two of these labors are Team Timothy trips, which will include the participation of BP servants young and old to advance PMU missions at home and abroad.  Team Timothy St. Paul is slated for the summer of 2022 and will help our Church Planter, Rev. Frank Liu, and the Cornerstone Reformed Church reach their community with the gospel through Bible Clubs and other ministries.  It will be a mission where families with children can serve together!  Team Timothy Brazil, serving with Rev. Doug Leaman and his family in January 2023, will include service on the Soli Deo Gloria land and other opportunities to support their mission.    The third undertaking is the initiation of mission work in Peru.  In Peru, PMU is working with Western Reformed Seminary to provide seminary training in the city of Iquitos.  Our desire is to help train pastors and plant churches in the region in future years.  This work comes in response to appeals from Peruvian pastors and residents of Iquitos to help them reach their region with the gospel.  Please join us in prayer that many would enroll in seminary courses and that the Lord would raise up BP missionaries to serve on that field in future years.  Please contact the PMU office (office@pmumissions.org) if you’d like to make sure you receive information on any of these ministries.

Please join PMU in praying, supporting and serving the work of gospel missions in the US and around the world!