Africa 2011
In the year 2000 Corryton Church began to partner with the Christian Hospitality Network in helping to sponsor missionary retreats.  Paul Cowell, owner of Whitestone Country Inn located in Kingston, Tennessee, had a passion for refreshing missionaries so that they could continue to serve oversees.  Mission work is unimaginably difficult.  In addition to the isolation and loneliness, missionaries do a difficult work that is full of set-backs and disappointments.  These four-day/three-night, all expenses paid (except for travel) retreats have been held in ten locations in Europe, Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia.  In addition to being able to relax at four-star resorts, the missionaries have been able to consult with doctors, chiropractors, and counselors.  The gratitude expressed by these missionaries has been overwhelming.

In 2005 Rocky and his wife Betsy began to be a part of the team that went on the trips to minister to these missionaries.  Rocky speaks on spiritual/emotional health issues and helps the missionaries to face and to deal with the disappointments of ministry.  He also teaches on leadership and marriage.  Betsy served as a nurse to a doctor, and both of them counsel and encourage missionaries at meals and throughout the day. 

Discouragement is at epidemic proportions among missionaries.  Ministry is difficult anywhere; it is especially difficult overseas.  One discouraged couple had been serving for ten years in a Muslim country where ministry is unimaginably difficult.  Seeking to encourage them, they were told that they had to focus on the fact that they had been sowing good seeds.  There replay was “We haven’t sown any good seeds, we feel like we’ve just been scratching around on the top of the dirt.”  They were discouraged and ready to quit and go home.   

Worship Pastor Alan Cottrell and Pastor of Etc. Grant Rodgers joined the team in 2006.  Alan has led worship since 2006.  Tears flow down the faces of the missionaries as they get to worship in English.  He is also the trip comedian, causing missionaries to laugh until they cry with his many “characters”.  The laughter brings great healing to discouraged servants of God.  In Thailand, a woman told Alan after a service that it was the first time her husband had laughed in five years.  He HHhhh

Grant has been the videographer and spends his time recording interviews with missionaries.  Stories include a couple whose daughters were raped in Africa and now have AIDS; they are still there serving.  Another missionary mom had to hit the floor with her preschool boys to protect them from the bullets flying through her house.  They had reported two men who recently robbed them and now returned to kill the family so they couldn’t be identified; they are still serving.  Another missionary was shot down and left for dead for helping take wounded gang members to hospitals for care.  He now has use of only one hand and lives in a wheelchair; he’s still serving.

In August of 2011, Corryton is hosting its own missionary retreat for International Mission Board (IMB) missionaries in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.  These Southern Baptist missionaries serve in the Sub-Saharan region of Africa.  Members are sponsoring missionaries.  The sponsors will become prayer partners with those missionaries and will correspond with them to be an encouragement.  A team of Corryton members plus four other team members will be ministering to these missionaries August 3 to September 3.  They will be offering worship in English, lots of laughter, and solid help on dealing with the difficulties of overseas work.  The missionaries will be able to get physical therapy, marriage counseling, individual counseling, and financial counseling.  One of our professional farmers will be offering agricultural advice.  We will be massaging hands and doing a lot of listening and encouraging.  We will also be helping them financially with some fun things that can be done there in Victoria Falls.

Earlier this year, Corryton raised funds to build ten wells in this region of Africa.  Some of the missionaries attending have overseen the construction of those wells that have made clean water accessible to tribes in dry areas.

Mission trips are of huge importance to individuals and to churches.  We go to bless and we are the ones who get blessed.  We come away with a greater heart for missions.  But the most important work is done by the missionaries day in and day out on the field.  They know the people; they know the needs; they know what helps and what hurts their efforts most.  Corryton Church is helping people to say “yes” to God around the world by helping these missionaries to be healthy and to remain at the work on the field. 

Pray for this effort and contact us at 865-688-3971 if you would like to help us in this much-needed ministry to missionaries.  Also, pray for God’s guidance on next year’s destination; we are looking at locations in Southeast Asia.