But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.” - Acts 1:8

 

PFBC has a vision for sharing the love of Christ
all over the world through missions work.

We do this through a variety of mission trips, ministries, and missionaries. From our backyard to the other side of the world, PFBC is helping to spread the Gospel and the truth of God’s love to anyone and everyone.

The missionaries PFBC supports are spreading the Gospel across Asia, Europe, the Philippines, Latin America, and Africa. Additionally, many of them are teaching, mentoring, and spreading God’s love right here in State College.

Learn about the missionaries we support below!

 

  John & Sandy Mackin
  CRU

     We have been staff members with Cru for over 41 years, first serving at the 
   University of Pennsylvania, before serving 16 years in the Philippines. For the past 19 years we have   
   served at Penn State with a specialized ministry of Cru called the Epic Movement, which ministers to
   Asian American students.

   There are over 1 million Asian American college students in the U.S.A.; the vast majority do not know
   Jesus. We are involved in a ministry of evangelism and discipleship among Asian-American students,
   seeking to win them to Christ, build them up in their faith, and send them to win, build and send others. 
   Currently, we have about 80 students involved here at Penn State. We are seeking to equip students for a
   life time of ministry in local churches and in the workplace, as well as in Christian service. A number of
   our alumni have become pastors or missionaries (serving in East Asia, the Philippines, Thailand, and the
   U.S.A.)

   Pray for us as we teach: wisdom in preparations, teaching faithfully the Word of God with practical   
   applications to students’ lives. Pray students will be hearers & doers of the Word.

 

  Mark & Audrey Ogden
  CRU

   Mark & Audrey have served on staff with Cru for 40+ years and currently serve on with Global Expansion for
   the Jesus Film Project in East Asia. They yearn to see God’s Kingdom be  established and grow in China,
   Mongolia, North and South  Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore and Pakistan.

   They served in campus ministry in Florida, Oklahoma and Indiana before moving to Penn State to see a
   spiritual movement of winning, building and sending Asian Americans and international students for Christ
   and long-term impact. Audrey served in Hungary before getting married in 1984 to Mark, and our family
   served for 15 years in East Asia.

 

  
  Bill & Lisa Clark
  The Navigators and Global Scholars

    We’ve been serving full-time with The Navigators since 1981 with a focus on university students. We’ve
    served at Syracuse University, Ithaca College, and Penn State University. In 1992, we moved with our two
    children (Jesse & Todd) to Sofia, Bulgaria where we ministered for about eight years.

    We returned to State College in 2000; it was our home and base of operation until 2005. During our time in
    the US, Bill was a graduate student at Penn State and together we were involved in international student
    ministry. After Bill completed his Ph.D. we moved to Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria to minister to the academic
    community at The American University in Bulgaria.

    Our ministry approach has always been relational and holistic with an emphasis on investing deeply in the lives
    of a handful of young people at any one time. Our desire is “to advance the Gospel of Jesus and His Kingdom
    into the nations through spiritual generations of laborers living and discipling among the lost”. In practical
    terms, this means coming along side young people and serving as mentors as we travel through life together.

 

  Jensica Isiminger
  DiscipleMakers

  After high school, I planned to go to a Christian college. Instead, God led me to Kutztown University and the 
  ministry of DiscipleMakers. All I can say now is praise God that things did not go according to my plan. I
  quickly learned through DiscipleMakers that God cares most about His own glory—and I was forced to decide
  whether I wanted to spend the rest of my life being about my own glory, or His. After recommitting my life to
  Christ freshman year, God has used DiscipleMakers’ Bible studies and discipleship to repeatedly show me
  that while I am the worst sinner, He is the most wonderful Savior.

 

  Taylor Maslin
  DiscipleMakers


I have been attending PFBC for about two and a half years now, but I thought it may be helpful to first introduce myself if you don’t know me. While in early high school, I became a Christian and started going to church with a friend and his family. After high school, I went to SUNY Oswego to earn my undergraduate degree in chemistry and then came to Penn State to earn my graduate degree in forensic science. While at Penn State, I got involved with DiscipleMakers, a campus ministry, and started attending PFBC. Over the two years of my degree, I fell in love with the mission of making disciples of college students and really saw the strategic opportunity we have in targeting college students with the gospel. This led me to apply to join staff with DiscipleMakers in February 2023. I was accepted to work in our Headquarters, here in State College, and then started support raising in June 2023 right after I graduated from Penn State.
 

The Lord graciously and so quickly finished my support raising at the end of October 2023, just five months after I started! Over the past three months, I have been in the headquarters learning my new role as an Event Planner. My role is primarily to coordinate and help conference directors plan the four student conferences and two staff conferences that we have each year.  In January, we had one of our staff conferences and in February we had a one-day student retreat. I have been learning so much and it has been such a blessing to see how impactful these conferences are on the students and staff.
 

 
  Mike Usilton
  DiscipleMakers

   

Just over one year ago, I moved my tassel from right to left and started work for my ministry with DiscipleMakers. My first task was to raise up a team of prayerful and financial partners who would provide my needs for my ministry with DiscipleMakers. Through donors like you, God brought in my needed support very quickly, and I moved back to State College to work at DiscipleMakers headquarters this past February! Praise God for His provision! 

For the past four months, I have been learning my new role in Human Resources, (HR) which consists of different tasks needed to keep DiscipleMakers ministry running smoothly. From researching and helping staff with necessary resources like health insurance, 401(k) plans, and taxes, to thinking of new ways to care for our missionaries, it's safe to say there is a lot to learn. 

One part of HR I am particularly passionate about is our staff orientation. When DiscipleMakers staff transition to campus or headquarters, it can be overwhelming. DiscipleMakers desires for our staff to be equipped and energized when they move to their first campus, so their impact is effective in making disciples right out of the gate! It is my role to make that happen by giving them the necessary resources in a way the staff grasp the information. It’s the behind-the-scenes work that multiplies the ministry of many staff, and I am happy to do it! 

 

  Kirk & Julie Zuercher
  China Outreach Ministries (COM)

   Mark & Audrey have served on staff with Cru for 40+ years and currently serve on with Global Expansion for
   the Jesus Film Project in East Asia. They yearn to see God’s Kingdom be  established and grow in China,
   Mongolia, North and South  Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore and Pakistan.

   They served in campus ministry in Florida, Oklahoma and Indiana before moving to Penn State to see a
   spiritual movement of winning, building and sending Asian Americans and international students for Christ
   and long-term impact. Audrey served in Hungary before getting married in 1984 to Mark, and our family
   served for 15 years in East Asia.

 

  Pregnancy Resource Clinic
  PRC

   At Pregnancy Resource Clinic, we believe people matter! We show our care for the Centre Region through the
   provision of services related to pregnancy, parenting, and sexual health.
   
   It is our joy to meet clients with free and confidential support, in the midst of unexpected circumstances.
   For the client who is facing an unplanned pregnancy, we provide a pregnancy test, ultrasound, and options
   education through a team of trained Client Advocates. For the mom choosing to carry her pregnancy to
   term, we surround her with a loving support group and materials assistance. For the man or woman who has
   chosen abortion in the past, we offer an Abortion Recovery Help support group to walk them toward healing
   and redemption. For the man or woman who thinks they may have contracted a sexually transmitted
   disease, we provide STD testing and treatment.
   
   By educating, encouraging, and empowering men and women in our community, we love to instill the “You
   Matter” message found in our identity as God’s image-bearers (Genesis 1:27). Thank YOU for faithfully
   supporting PRC as we seek to make an impact for the Kingdom. If you would like to learn more or schedule to
   come in for a tour, please contact us at help@scprc.com.

 

  Lauren Broyles
  New International   

   Lauren’s ministry work emphasizes community transformation in Kenya through clean drinking water and
   the Gospel. Lauren’s work uses household water filters to improve water safety. Additionally, water and
   sanitation health clubs support education and community relationships. Lauren’s work addresses physical
   and social needs and is an arm of a larger Kenya ministry which pursues wider church-planting, pastoral
   training, and spiritual formation. Lauren has been an affiliate of New International since 2015 and has
   continued to minister in Kenya while pursuing her Ph.D. at Penn State. Lauren has recently finished her Ph.D.
   in Civil Engineering, where she studied household water insecurity and water resources. Into the future,
   Lauren is eager to see how God would continue to use her to minister to others through clean drinking
   water.

   Please pray that God would provide us wisdom and discernment in ministering through clean drinking water
   in Kenya. Please also pray that God would be saving people through our ministry activities and the
   relationships we build within communities.

 

  John & Jennifer Balmer
  Training Pastors International

   WHO we are… Training Pastors International is an international ministry training program devoted to 
   training national pastors throughout the world. It started in the Fall of 2000 in response to the enormous
   need of providing ministry training to pastors in less-developed countries of the world.

   WHY we train… There are more than two million pastors in the Majority World and most of them (95%) have
   no opportunity for further ministry training.

   HOW we do it… We partner with individuals and churches in the United States and key national leaders in
   Africa and Asia to take short-term mission trips to conduct one-week pastoral training institutes.

   Our total statistics… We have taken 47 mission trips (1 to 2 months), conducted 155 institutes, and trained
   29,821 pastors in 29 different countries over the past 24 years.