The Pandemic Took the AWF International Office to the Next Level

The pandemic brought many restrictions for ministry, but God allowed the AWF International Office to rise to the occasion. The AWF back office worked tirelessly to provide news and timely communications in three languages while supporting webinars and hundreds of online meetings. These are faithful brothers and sisters who serve the Lord with great competence and passion.

One interesting feature of this team is that all members are pastors, MKs (missionary’s kids) or PKs (pastor’s kids). Not that this is a requirement, but it helps the team to coalesce and work together when its members have similar life experiences and more than a professional approach to ministry.

Many of you know Beatrice Koopmann who serves as the executive assistant to the president and oversees all the administrative work of the office, including the social media communications. She was born in Brazil as an MK, studied Economics and Administration in Germany and speaks fluently four languages. Eunice Ron Mateo joined the AWF office as a fulltime staffer this year as the assistant to the president for Relief and Development (R&D). She gives administrative support to R&D and partnership programs. Eunice was born in Ecuador as an Alliance PK, studied education and theology and lives in Uruguay.

The AWF office is also served by competent part-time staff. Alex Fajardo is a PK born in Colombia and an Alliance pastor himself. He is responsible for communications strategy and website development. Elizabeth Brandão, also an MK, was raised in North Africa and does French translations and content writing. Akira Ikuno is a Brazilian Alliance pastor who lived in Japan and now works in video-processing and communications platforms.

We are also grateful to brothers and sisters who voluntarily give their time and expertise to serve the AWF office. Dick Lawyer is a former pastor who lives in Delaware in the United States and was Pennsylvania Broadcast Editor of The Associated Press for nearly four decades. He is chairman of the board of SALT Leadership Inc., a ministry that has a longstanding partnership with the Alliance. Dick is our editor and consultant for written communications, leading monthly meetings with our content writers. Fred Smith has been the AWF statistician for many decades while serving as missionary and regional director for the US Alliance and faculty for Toccoa Falls College and FATELA. Other volunteers include Priscila Shimizu (PK and my daughter) who helps with content writing, and Stella Moriguchi (PK) who helps in the area of communications and marketing.

I should also emphasize that our brothers from the US C&MA Office have been of great help to improve the operations of the AWF. We use the Alliance portal for web hosting and email management, receiving much support from Dr. Sam Kurien (CIO of US C&MA) and his team, including Kris Rickert, Edwin Ramirez, and Ken Murray. Additionally, many members of the team led by Ken Baldes (AWF treasurer and vice president/treasurer of US C&MA) have helped with financial operations, including Judy Collins, Lisa Hill, and Jenifer Morrell.

I would like to quote from A.B. Simpson to close this year-end message: “God means every Christian to be effective, to make a difference in the actual records and results of Christian work. God put each of us here to be a power.”

Merry Christmas!

Jura Yanagihara
President of the Alliance World Fellowship