Scott and Charity Smith, Missionaries to Venezuela, Speak at Sandhills Assembly of God in N.C.

Pictured are Missionaries Scott and Charity Smith, their five children and Pastor Ty Van-Thomas (right) of Sandhills Assembly of God in Southern Pines.

“God, I will not go,” Scott Smith said when he was 33 years of age (in 2008) and felt “God calling” him to leave the N.C. trucking industry and serve as a missionary to South America.

Smith, 40, and his wife, Charity, spoke recently at Sandhills Assembly of God in Southern Pines, N.C., telling of their mission endeavor in Caracas, Venezuela. Their children, who lived with them in Caracas, include Malachi, 17, Mariah, 15, Micah, 14, Matthew, 12, and Merci, 9.

Smith, a “country boy” who grew up in N.C., said that about two months after telling God he wouldn’t serve as a missionary, he felt a “strange pain” in his left arm. He sought medical assistance. At that time, Smith and his wife headed up the children’s ministry at Raleigh First Assembly of God, and a church elder quickly drove over to pray for Smith, before he underwent two EKGs and a stress test.

“After the tests, they told me, ‘You had a heart attack, but it’s now as if you never did,’” Smith said. “It was as if Jesus wiped away that heart attack. God healed me.”

Endorsed by the Assemblies of God, Smith and his family raised funds and moved to Costa Rica in Sept. 2012 for a year. They next moved to Venezuela and eventually settled in Caracas, the nation’s capital.   

They worked in a public school of 700 students, teaching “values” classes where they discussed “citizenship, integrity and self-control” and were free to refer to the Bible.     

“Santeria,” a religion that has roots in the Yoruba people of West Africa, is growing in Venezuela, Smith said, noting that some Venezuelan children wear “green-and-yellow bracelets” that indicate Santeria involvement. Adherents of Santeria often identify as Catholic, attend masses and baptize their children as Catholic, while also practicing Santeria, which survives via oral tradition. As Cubans left their island, many took Santeria to the U.S., Europe and other South American countries.

Smith said that gang violence and inflation plague Venezuela.

“I’ve waited in line for three hours to buy one liter of milk,” he said, adding that gasoline, however, is extremely cheap.

The Smiths hope to return soon to Venezuela.

Some members of Sandhills Assembly gather around the Smiths to pray them. 

Volunteers at Life Care Pregnancy Center (Carthage, N.C.) Receive Certificates

Pictured are some Life Care Pregnancy Center volunteers, staff members and board of directors members who attended a luncheon honoring LCPC of Carthage, N.C., volunteers for 2015. (Click on photo to enlarge it.)  

Life Care Pregnancy Center (LCPC) of Carthage recently held its “Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon 2015” at Sandhills Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Southern Pines, North Carolina.

“Each volunteer is a piece of the puzzle,” said Suzanne Clendenin, LCPC’s executive director, speaking to luncheon attendees, including some members of LCPC’s board of directors. “You’re very, very important. You’re ‘puzzle piece.’ You’re ‘His workmanship.’”

(She referred to Ephesians 2:10: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that we should walk in them.”)

“A piece of a puzzle can go only in one spot,” Clendenin said. “The constellations are nothing compared to you. You’re created for it [LCPC work] and we appreciate it.” 

 Pictured above are Eileen Giglio, client services director for LCPC of Carthage, and Suzanne Clendenin, executive director for LCPC of Carthage.

Pictured below is Alice Alston, a veteran LCPC volunteer.

  
Alice Alston, who “gave out 18,000 diapers” through LCPC during 2015 spoke next.

“I’ve known Suzanne about 13 years,” Alston said. “I organized the ‘Mommy Room’ [at LCPC].”

LCPC is open Tues. through Thurs. from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

“Tues.-Wed.-Thursday is my spiritual time, when I can give service to someone besides myself,” Alston said.

Eileen Giglio, LCPC client services director, presented certificates to volunteers in appreciation for their hours of work at the center.

“Everybody just comes in and goes to work,” she said. “Every day is an adventure – new clients, old client. They love what we offer and come back for what you offer. Volunteers don’t get paid because they’re priceless.”

Around 28 ladies now serve as LCPC volunteers, Giglio said.

Parents can attend free weekly parenting classes at LCPC until their children are two years old. Free one-on-one sessions are available for moms who are pregnant and/or have a child under two years old. Call (910) 947-6199 for information. See “Life Care Pregnancy Center” on Facebook and at friendsofLCPC.org.

LCPC offers pregnancy tests and limited ultrasounds. An ultrasound confirms a pregnancy also gives a client the opportunity to see her baby. Since August 2014, LCPC has “performed 92 ultrasounds,” Clendenin said. 

 Pictured is Lorraine Buracker.

Lorraine Buracker, an LCPC volunteer leads a “Teaching Your Children about God” group every other Wed. from noon to 1:00 p.m. at the center.    

LCPC is “a Christ-centered ministry that promotes the sanctity of human life by providing Christian direction, compassionate care, accurate information and practical assistance for individuals and families facing crucial decisions surrounding an unplanned pregnancy or pregnancy-related crisis. LCPC promotes the prevention of unplanned pregnancies and pregnancy-related crises through abstinence-until-marriage education.”

LCPC is part of Carenet, Heartbeat and Carolina Pregnancy Care Network.

 Shown are some members of the LCPC Board of Directors. Suzanne Clendenin is pictured second from the right of the photograph.

Some LCPC volunteers are shown enjoying a "gift exchange" game at the "volunteer appreciation luncheon."