Dr. John Bernard

John and Melinda have been missionaries with United World Mission (UWM) since 1989. They joined UWM because they loved the emphasis on the local church and training leaders, which continue to be core to the mission and vision today. They served in Spain in the early 90s and returned to serve in organizational leadership, eventually being appointed as President in 2002.

They have been married for 25 years and have three great kids, Geoffrey (Junior at Winthrop University), Daniel (Sophomore at Furman University), and Emily (12 years old – 7th grade in the Fort Mill, SC public schools). They have lived in Fort Mill (outside Charlotte, NC) for 12 years but their heart’s home is the Boston area. John is thankful for his time at Gordon-Conwell (Master of Divinity) and Columbia International University (Doctor of Ministry), as well as for their home church in Medway, MA, their present church home at Forest Hill Church in Charlotte, and for each of the churches and friends that have loved and supported them along the way.

John & Bonnie Edwards

John and Bonnie have been team-teaching the KIT class (ages 5-9) since Summer 06 and they love it!

 They served as missionaries with UWM since 1989 with Spanish speaking people of Bolivia, then after studying Quechua, with the Quechua people. John was then Area Director for Latin America with UWM. They served in Peru, Mexico and Chile, beginning new teams and providing teacher training for nationals involved in children’s ministries. They returned to the USA in November 2005.

 They have 3 daughters, Carrie, Kristia, & Katrina. Carrie went to be with the Lord in 2006 after struggling with lung cancer. Widowed while young, she left her only daughter,16. Kristia and her husband, 2 daughters, and 1 son live in FL and serve with New Tribes Mission. Katrina, their youngest, lives with John and Bonnie in Rutherfordton.

Helen (Chip) Griepsma

Chip currently coordinates continuing education workshops and seminars for BCM missionaries.  She was Director of International Training for BCM International, coordinating candidate orientation, as well as workshops and seminars designed to update and strengthen the ministries of BCM missionaries and Christian educators.  Chip has led and coordinated workshops and seminars in Brazil, Canada, Eastern Europe, Europe, Finland, the United Kingdom, as well as in the United States, for missionaries and Christian Education personnel. 

 She teaches a variety of areas including teacher training, inductive Bible study, learning styles and spiritual warfare.  She speaks at women's retreats and leads women’s Bible studies.  She has been a trainer with Precept Ministries' Institute of Training, and has taught English and Christian Education courses at Washington Bible College.

 Chip teaches the following courses at the Center for Intercultural Training in Union Mills, North Carolina:  Spiritual Warfare, Mind Styles, and Studying & Using Scripture Effectively.

Karen Griffith
Karen has recently come to CIT after 17 years on the mission field in Europe. Karen and her husband Gary, with their two boys, are serving with United World Mission. The Griffiths are based here in Rutherford County, but serve around the world. Karen is passionate about seeing the hope of the gospel of Christ reach our very needy world. She is particularly burdened to see cross-cultural kingdom workers, not simply survive overseas, but thrive in their lives and ministries. 

 She has ministered in a variety of capacities during her years of service. She went first to Poland in 1993 as a single missionary as a church planter and teaching ESL as a means of evangelism, as well as helping with MK education.  In 1996 Karen married Gary, moved to Bulgaria, where Gary was serving as academic dean of a Bible school. In Bulgaria she taught Theological English and mentored and encouraged Bible school students from around Eastern Europe as they prepared for ministry. In 2001 the family moved to Scotland where Karen was involved in women’s ministries, teacher training and leadership development. Upon returning to Bulgaria in 2005, she and her husband began not only training nationals for the ministry, but also mentoring missionaries throughout the Balkans. Karen has coached language learners and helped language coaches throughout Eastern Europe develop comprehensive language and culture acquisition programs for new missionaries. Currently, Karen mentors missionaries around the world from various mission agencies and is a facilitator at the Center for Intercultural Training.

 Karen has a degree in Intercultural Studies from Biola University, a teaching credential from the state of California, a TEFL certificate from Cambridge University in England, and has completed language studies in Spanish, Polish, and Bulgarian at various universities.

Andy LaBreche

Both Andy, and his wife Pam, grew up in Christian families—Pam the oldest of four preacher kids and Andy the youngest of six boys.  Pam trusted Christ as Savior at an early age, led to Christ by her mother.  When he was 18, Andy realized his need for a Savior in a small country church in eastern Michigan.   After Christ gave him a boot in the rear in 1977 he went off to Bible College at Tennessee Temple University, where he met Pam, who got him hooked on missions, and graduated in 1982 with a Bachelor of Arts in Bible.   A year after marrying, they set off for China, where they taught English for two years, ate Chinese food three times a day, and where Andy enjoyed being a head taller than almost everyone else.

After China, Andy and Pam returned to the States and entered the ThM program at Dallas Theological Seminary.   They both graduated in 1992, Andy with majors in Old Testament and Historical Theology.  In 2007, Andy completed the doctoral program in missiology at the Evangelische Theologische Faculteit in Heverlee (Leuven), Belgium.  His dissertation was entitled, Ethnocentrism. U.S.-American Evangelical Missionaries in Romania: Qualitative Missiological Research into Representative Cross-Cultural Value Based Conflicts.  And in spite of its long title it has actually proved quite practical in missionary training and even in mediating several conflict situations.

 Andy and Pam have served in Timisoara, Romania, since 1996, primarily focusing over the years on teaching, outreach to university students /academics, and missionary training.   Andy has served in various leadership roles, as the field leader for Romania/Moldova, as the training director for Greater Europe Mission, and most recently as the co-director (with Pam) of GEM’s Member Development Department (Training, Leader Development, Member Care, MK Education Services, and In Step Prayer Initiative).  Besides teaching in general, Andy’s passion is helping missionaries survive and thrive.

Pam is also the language acquisition consultant for GEM Europe-wide, helping new missionaries with language learning.  She is currently a doctoral student planning to research the area of missionary effectiveness.

 Andy and Pam have two boys, Alex (a freshman at Cedarville University) and Nate (a junior studying online through NorthStar Academy), and a rather large assortment of animals.  And they still love Chinese food. 

Dr. Tom McCormick

Tom McCormick (PhD. in Humanities: Linguistics & Philosophy from the University of Texas at Arlington; MA in Bible, Westminster Seminary; PhD. Cand.: Philosophy, Institute for Christian Studies, Toronto)

 He served with SIL in Peru (N Junin Quechua, literacy and translation), as well as a trainer  of consultants and literacy workers in PNG and Cameroon.  More recently he has assisted an indigenous Indian Mission to train trainers for Mother Tongue Literacy Programmes. 

 Tom began teaching Language Acquisition in Toronto with Mission Prep in 2000, designing the PLANTS program.  He has taught with CIT since 2001.  Tom has sought to combine the best insights & practices from PILAT, LinguaLinks, ICCT, the Growing Participator Approach (Greg Thomson), and ESL approaches. 

 He also teaches with the European Training Programme in the UK, Tyndale Seminary in Toronto, ESL programs in Toronto, and has worked with Nursing Homes for over 30 years.

Ed Nickle

Ed joined the staff  Fall of 2008 as Facilities Manager and also helps facilitate some of the Teams and Heart of the Missionary classes. Ed is a CIT alumnus from the class of 1998. He moved to Forest City from Hungary with his wife Marge and daughter Christine.

 Ed served as Regional Developer, Area Director, and Regional Director in Eastern, Central, and Northern Europe from 2000-2008.

Dr. George Schultz, Jr.

George graduated in 1975 from Columbia Bible College with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Biblical Studies and a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree in l979 from Denver Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary. George completed his Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) at Columbia International University in 2001.  His dissertation was entitled Models of Missionary Training: An Assessment of Alternative Approaches to Training for Cross-Cultural Ministry.

 George and his family served on the field in missions from 1980 to 1994 in Canada, Alaska, and Russia doing demographic and receptivity survey work in Minnesota, Ontario and Manitoba, teacher and director of the Arctic Bible Institute, church planting in an Athabascan village in Alaska, Director of Missionary Training Outreach (summer missionary program), Alaska Field Director, Director of Siberian Ministries and Russian Field Director.

Since1995 George has served as the director of the Center for Intercultural Training.

Kathy Schultz

Kathy graduated from Columbia Bible College with a Bachelor of Science in Biblical Education.

 Kathy, George, and children served  from 1980 to 1994 in Canada, Alaska, and Russia. She served in a variety of ways on the field: counselor, campus bookstore manager, cook, hospitality, event planner, administrative assistant at the field office, and Christian Education Trainer in Siberia.

 She serves at CIT as a SYIS Facilitator,  Director of the TCK Program, and teacher for the YIT (Youth Intercultural Training) program. She is currently taking courses in Life Coaching with a specialty in coaching teens and college age young people with ADHD.

 George and Kathy have 3 grown children.

Tim Wagner

Tim and Debbie were raised in south-central Pennsylvania and graduated from Appalachian Bible College in WV where they met on a summer music team.

He has a  Bachelor of Arts degree in Bible/Missions from Appalachian Bible College and a Master of Arts degree in Ministry/Leadership from Lancaster Bible College.

They served as church planters in Portugal for almost 9 years with BCU/TEAM. During that ministry, the Portuguese Baptist Convention ordained Tim for the pastorate. He later accepted a ministry as Director of Training Ministries and then as Executive Vice President with BCM International in Philadelphia, PA.  He joined the CrossWorld (UFM International) team in Nov. 1998.  As Director for Mobilization, his responsibilities included overseeing the areas of Candidate Ministries, Short-term ministries, Church Ministries, and Representation. Tim also served as Director of Specialized Training with CrossWorld.

 After teaching periodically at CIT for 7 years, Tim joined the staff fulltime in Nov. 2005 as Assistant to the Director and Program Director.