OC-US

A Brief History of our Team Development

On October 29, 2004, Dr. Greg Gripentrog wrote to the OC family:

"Shortly after becoming OC president, in early 2003 I began to have a growing conviction that the Lord was leading us as a mission to expand our ministry in the United States. Three primary factors which formed the basis for this conviction were as follows:

• The first factor was the growing spiritual need of the churches in the United States. Increasingly, the churches in the United States are needing the same kinds of ministries as churches in other countries of the world....
• The second factor was the increasing number of opportunities which the Lord is giving OC to serve the churches in the U.S....We should no longer pass up the opportunity to mobilize churches to bring the Gospel to unreached peoples who now reside within the U.S.
• The third factor was the resource which the Lord has given to OC to assist the churches in the U.S. For the past 20 years our sister organization in Canada, Outreach Canada, has been developing expertise and tools which have been used by the Lord in a sonderful way....

Dr. Gripentrog finished his letter saying, "I strongly believe that this step of obedience which we have taken in response to the Lord's leading will eventually result in significant ministry impact in the United States and around the world."

With that rationale along with much prayer and many discussions, the U.S. ministry of OC was born with the appointment of Bob Rasmussen as "field director" on October 1, 2004. In January of the next year, Bob and Lyn moved to a tiny apartment in Blaine, WA where they could access the fellowship and resources of the Outreach Canada staff in Delta, B.C. The learning curve was steep, and the recruiting efforts began. We are forever grateful to Dr. Gerry Kraft and the entire Outreach Canada team for taking on the extra burden of hosting our new team and bearing with our fledgling attempts to fly on our own!

The first teammates to show interest were Ben and Hope Lin, originally from Taiwan and then living in Southern California. The Lins envisioned a ministry of strengthening the Chinese churches in America and Asia. But financial and medical challenges served to redirect the Lins to join OC's Asia team and move back to Taiwan--a disappointment for our new team, but clearly what God was leading in the lives of the Lin family.

Next came Ken and Joyce Morse who were returning to the Northwest from 9 years in New Zealand where Ken serves as a professor. Their interests and skills were broad, being "finishers" who wanted to use their many life skills for the Lord in their retirement years. We thank God that each have found meaningful ways of serving in missions as they have brought their passion for the nations to our team.

David and Tara Malouf, along with Mikaela and Luc, were the next to join us. David had known of OC since boyhood since his parents, Bob and Mary, have long served on the board of OC. In fact, David recalls time spent with OC founder Dick Hillis. The Maloufs moved up to the Seattle area from Phoenix, AZ and have made terrific contributions to our team development in our early stages.

As the Maloufs moved north, the Rasmussens were moving south from Blaine, WA to Federal Way, WA. This central location between Seattle and Tacoma provides a convenient launch point by car or air.

Not long afterwards, God was speaking to Dave and Deanne DeVries (with teenagers Doug and Maddie) about joining the US ministry team. Deanne grew up in an OC family, as her parents Bill and Laurie Keyes served first in Brazil, and in a number of capacities for decades. Dave always thought he would finish planting and pastoring the church in Southern California to then train church planters. When Dave heard the vision of the US team, he and Deanne felt the time had come to make the jump to missions. Once they decided, the transition happened quicker than anticipated! We are delighted to have them round out our current staff, even as we wait for others to join us.

Our ministries have developed sharper focus each year, based on clearer understanding of God's calling, the passions of each team member, and opportunities presented to us. We continue to discover more of how to live together as a team, a process not unlike getting to know the person you married!

May this brief accounting of our story encourage you, and motivate you to pray for us.