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Grand Junction Church of Christ
2893 Patterson Road
Grand Junction, Colorado 81506 970-245-4210
Scott & Lisa Harris
Dear Friends,
We have just completed work on a link and video to promote AOM's relief program to our orphans in Bulawayo. We don't know how much news you get about what is going on currently in Zimbabwe, but it is not good. Food shortages are reaching the critical stage within the country, and orphans are some of the hardest hit. We feel compelled to try and do something to help, thus this video and blog. Lord willing, we will find a way to get food packets to the orphans which are in our program and the families that are caring for them.
Scott and Lisa Harris moved to Johannesburg, South Africa with their three children in January of 2004 where they work with African Outreach Ministries. AOM is a ministry that aims to 1). Target under-churched people groups and aid in the establishment of fellowships of churches throughout southern Africa. 2.) Promote and assist in developing strong African church leadership. 3.) Compassionately address the problems of AIDS, high unemployment, and the need for social development. You can learn more about AOM at www.africanoutreachministries.org.
Scott’s call to missions in Africa came as a small child. At the time, his grandparents, John and Ruth Dunkin were serving as missionaries in Johannesburg, South Africa, and his Uncle and Aunt, Allen and Janelle Avery, were living and serving in Zambia. God put it on his heart to one day follow in their footsteps, and now 33 years later, he is working alongside Allen and Janelle through AOM.
Scott’s mission experiences before AOM include a two-year internship through the Master’s Apprentice Program (MAP) in Lyon, France where he learned French. Scott was then part of the Harding University African Summer Internship program in 1989 where he spent time in the following countries: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Rwanda and Kenya. Scott has a BA in Bible and a BA in French from Harding University. He also has graduate hours in missions from Harding and Abilene Christian University.
Lisa was called into missions as a young girl as well. She remembers a missionary visiting her church and talking about the need for missionaries in French-speaking Africa. She went home and told her mother she was going to marry a missionary and go to the Ivory Coast. Lisa was also part of the Harding University African Summer Internship program in 1989, and spent seven weeks in Kenya.
Soon after Scott and Lisa were married in 1990, they joined a team of other students from Harding University to begin church planting among the Watchi people in southern Togo in West Africa. Before moving overseas, the Togo team spend a year working together as part of the St. Louis Spiritual Internship that allowed the team to bond in ministry. The team then spent seven months in Albertville, France for French language learning before moving to Tabligbo, Togo. Scott and Lisa spent two and a half years planting churches among the Watchi http://www.watchiharvest.com supported largely by the Grand Junction Church of Christ.
In 1997 Scott and Lisa moved to Dallas, Texas were they spent almost seven years before returning to Africa. During the time in Dallas, they adopted two children, Gabriel (1997) and Mariah (1999), and later were blessed to give birth to their youngest son Jayden (2001). Scott worked at an alternative public high school as an Assistant Principal and then Principal while in Dallas. Lisa ran a home daycare while at the same time began her career as an author www.lisaharriswrites.com. Lisa has sold 4 books and had over 50 articles published. While in Dallas, Scott also finished a MBA from the University of Phoenix.
The Harris family (and AOM team) will be moving from Johannesburg to a new location near Tzaneen in the Limpopo province in the northern part of South Africa. The team will be making this move to be more logistically central to much of their work. The Harris family hopes to be moved and settled into their new home by the end of 2005.
Harris Family Cell group meeting in our home
Family and truck crossing the Zambezi on the ferry Kids playing in Chipata, Zambia
Lisa teaching Chipata Scott preaching Mongu, Zambia