American Missionary Fellowship

John Hoover recently left his longtime job at a central Pennsylvania bank. He is moving to a new climate zone, where he expects to spend a lot of time visiting with people old enough to be grandparents and great-grandparents. But John did not retire; he is starting a new career as an AMF missionary.

Along with his wife, Kathy, and their three daughters, John is moving to Nashua, New Hampshire to begin ministries in nursing homes. “We wanted to go to a part of the country that was less churched than Lancaster County,” he says. A friend of the Hoovers who did an informal survey of their home county, Lancaster County, counted between 600 and 700 churches in the county’s 946 square miles. In contrast, The Barna Group’s studies on unchurched Americans show that the Northeast has a particularly high percentage of people who do not attend church.

John and Kathy sensed a call to missions about seven years ago, after John prayed, “Lord, do things in my life with the help and support of my wife that I could have only dreamed about.” That prayer led to leadership training and ministry opportunities at his church, as well as consideration of overseas missions work. As the Lord showed them that they were not meant to go overseas, retired AMF missionary and Home Office staffer Claire Harstad encouraged them to consider missions work in the United States. Later, when praying about the choice of New Hampshire as a mission field, the Hoovers were encouraged in that direction by a woman who saw an AMF magazine advertisement and emailed the Home Office, asking for missionaries to be sent to her home in New Hampshire.

The Hoovers have visited their new field of service, and John has already begun making some contacts at nursing homes. He even visited one and enjoyed chatting with several of the residents. He really looks forward to getting to know the nursing-home residents he will meet as a missionary. “I like to listen to people and to their stories and things,” he says. Coming to a new region, he expects to hear some interesting stories about the occupations the people in the area once held and is excited to hear about their spiritual formation, about how God revealed Himself to them as they grew up.

As of late July, about two weeks before the Hoovers’ planned move, they still needed to find housing in New Hampshire and raise $1,455 in monthly support to start full-time service. Depending completely on the Lord for provision is a new experience for John and Kathy, but they look forward to seeing Him work as they learn to rely on Him. Please pray that they will fall more in love with the Lord as they see Him provide, that their family will adjust easily to a new area (away from familiar places and the support of an extended family), and that the people of New Hampshire (who are likely to see them as outsiders) will accept them completely.