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The White Rock Fund
Northeast U.S. Missions
Helping Establish and Strengthen New Testament Churches
The Northeast is home to millions of people, yet many communities have limited opportunities to hear the Gospel or worship with a faithful New Testament church. By supporting missionaries serving throughout this region, The White Rock Fund is helping establish congregations, strengthen believers, and share the love of Christ where the need is great. We invite you to meet these dedicated workers and discover how God is using them to make an eternal impact.
Missionary Stories
Quechee, Vermont, Randy Gardner; Upper Valley Church of Christ
I was blessed to be raised in the Lord’s church by faithful parents. As small boys in a young family, we traveled every Lord’s Day an hour and a half each way to attend worship at the Church of Christ in Springfield, Vermont. From our little farm in the hills of Vermont, Dad traveled to the south to raise his support and returned to enter full-time ministry at Montpelier and later Barre, Vermont, and later Cape Cod.In nineteen sixty-nine I attended Harding College, where I fell in love and married my sweet wife, Sharon. (We were born in the same hospital and played in the playpen with each other as infants so God had it all worked out ahead of time.)
After graduation I taught High School Art for two years before making the decision to go off to Northeast School of Biblical Studies and then enter the ministry. Upon graduation, Brother Russ Fowler called me and asked me to come and work with him in Conway. Russ was the man who had begun and grown two congregations and raised the money and built the building for both Concord and Conway, New Hampshire. The next 5 years were some of the most important of my life with Russ as my mentor and fellow worker in the Lord. Russ and Leah and Sharon and I had home Bible studies going constantly, and the church grew accordingly.
Since those early years of ministry, we have served in Rutland, Vermont; Cape Cod, MA; Trumbull, CT; and here in Quechee, VT, at the Upper Valley Church of Christ for the past 18 years. We love the work, and the Lord has blessed it.
Quechee, Vermont — Randy Gardner
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Bronx, New York — Paul Oppong
Bronx, New York — Paul Oppong
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Worcester, Massachusetts — Nat Kissi
Worcester, Massachusetts — Nat Kissi
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Milford, Connecticut — Tim Tarbet
Milford, Connecticut — Tim Tarbet
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Other Supported Mission Works in the Northeast
Augusta, Maine
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Augusta, Maine — Phil Stratton
Berkshire, Massachusetts
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Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Cleve Stafford; Berkshire County Church of Christ
Cleve was born in South Africa and came to the United States in 2001. After attending Southwestern Christian College, where he obtained his undergraduate degree in Bible, he went on to complete a master’s degree in Christian counseling. In 2006 he started working at the White Rock Church of Christ in Dallas, Texas, as a youth minister. In 2014 he was offered the position of Associate Minister at that church, a position he held until 2021, at which time he accepted the challenge of becoming the pulpit minister of a new church in Pittsfield, MA. He is married to Melinda Stafford, the love of his life, and has three children and two grandchildren.Castleton, Vermont
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Castleton, Vermont — Kirk Israel
Kirk and Karen Israel grew up in the Northeast and met when both enlisted in the US Army. They married in 1980 and have two adult children and 8 grandchildren. Kirk was reared an atheist but became a Christian believer in 1996. He pursued a career in construction and engineering in Vermont, but when he became a believer, he enrolled and graduated from Sunset International Bible Institute. His top priority in life is to serve the Lord by building up the Green Mountain Church of Christ in Castleton, Vermont. The congregation is committed to evangelism through Family Fun Day, Cancer Kits, a Singing Training Seminar, and a Fall Dinner Event for the community. Both Karen and Kirk teach a number of home Bible studies every week. Sixteen were baptized into Christ in 2025. The church is planning to purchase a larger facility in the near future, which will give room for greater growth.Greensburg, Pennsylvania
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Greensburg, Pennsylvania — Stephen Harr
Horseheads, New York
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Horseheads, New York — Paul Cowels
Paul Cowles and his wife, Dawn, were born in New York (Finger Lakes Region). They have four children and ten grandchildren. Paul pursued a career in law enforcement; Dawn’s career is medical analysis. After being baptized in 1982, Paul attended Northeastern Christian College in Villanova, Pennsylvania. He began preaching for the Horseheads (New York) Church of Christ in 2023. He previously served as minister of the Church of Christ in Sayre, Pennsylvania. The Horseheads congregation has an active outreach with the gospel, which includes direct mail and neighborhood picnics, and recently hosted a “Soul-winners Workshop." A young woman was baptized in 2025. Sunday attendance is around 30. The church has a nice church building in a convenient and prominent part of the city.World Evangelism
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