USA Missions Forms Partnership With Global Institute
Church of God USA Missions has announced a strategic partnership with Global Institute, a ministry led by a team of Church of God ministers with a specific focus on ministering to the nearly 2 million Muslims in North America. Leaders of Global Institute are Dr. Jerry McNabb and Pastor Fred Nichols. According to an announcement by Dr. James E. Cossey, Administrative Coordinator of USA Missions, this partnership was endorsed in a recent meeting of the U.S.A. Missions Board.
Chaplain Jerry McNabb, a Church of God ordained Bishop, is a former Assistant Director of the Church of God Chaplains Commission and a retired long-term military chaplain experienced in ministering to persons of many cultural and religious backgrounds. He has devoted many years to study of the Islamic faith, and interaction with Muslims in various parts of the world. McNabb, a doctoral graduate of Regent University, teaches—with involvement from Nichols—a class on Islam at the Pentecostal Theological Seminary in Cleveland.
Pastor Fred Nichols is a Church of God pastor in Dearborn, Michigan, an ordained bishop, district overseer, and a member of the Michigan State Council. He and his wife, Melodie, have developed a most effective outreach to the Muslim community through their ministry, Ismael’s Blessing International. I.B.I. is strategically located in Dearborn, the center of the largest concentration of Arab-speaking Shia’ Muslims in the world. Because of this, ministry workers and leaders are able to learn the culture, language and practices of the Muslim people in a real world setting. Through I.B.I.s training venues, evangelism, outreach and discipleship training occur simultaneously and shorten the learning curve for those wanting to serve overseas. To date, I.B.I. has trained almost a thousand church workers, leaders and missionaries for these virtually unreached people.
The objective of the partnership with U.S.A. Missions and Global Institute is to provide a reliable resource for Church of God ministers and members wishing to learn how to understand and reach out with the love of Christ to their Muslim neighbors, and for those preparing to do ministry in Muslim countries or in highly populated Muslim communities.
Assistant General Overseer Dr. Wallace J. Sibley is the Executive Director of U.S.A. Missions, and Dr. James E. Cossey is the Administrative Coordinator. For information on connecting with Global Institute, contact Cossey’s office at (423) 478-7103.
