Donnie and Kara W.

onnie, Kara and their family spent over three years in the 2010s in West Africa with MTW,
working alongside a young and growing Presbyterian denomination in a predominantly Muslim
context. It is comprised of around 11 churches and is pioneered by mostly first
generation converts from Islam. They are part of the 1/10 of 1% who are
protestant evangelicals in a country of 14 million people where 95% of the population is Muslim.

They assisted in the formation of the next generation of church leaders while also
serving as conduits between the national church and various international
partners. In their return to the field in 2021, they joined friends as part of a new
team whose focus is mainly city center church planting and university work (the
first RUF Global on the continent of Africa). Donnie and Kara recently moved out to a more rural area, building on the relationships already established and helping to
oversee a presbytery along with existing leadership. More specifically, they are
being asked to help identify and train potential ruling elders and their wives.

Donnie, originally from Pittsburgh, is a member of the Highlands Presbytery,
having served as an associate pastor at Trinity PCA in Asheville, NC and as an
RUF campus minister at the Savannah College of Art & Design before that. Kara
grew up in several West and East African countries. They have three children:

Gabe (early career in Charlotte, engaged to be married spring 2023), Alec & wife, Faith (contractor in Asheville), Kathryn
(Appalachian State University), and consider Asheville home as a family.

Prayer Requests:

1. For adjustment to a more rural setting, coming alongside church planting pastor Moustapha and his family; they meet weekly for a nascent worship service
2. For involvement in training pastors and their wives via monthly gatherings for mutual teaching, fellowship and training of younger men (“Timothies”) preparing for ordination
3. For the development of the concept and practice of ruling elders in the West African church
4. For their son Gabe’s preparation for marriage to Devon in spring 2023
5. For a recent Muslim visitor to their weekly worship service
6. For continued language study, that Donnie would become more proficient in French for teaching and preaching