March, 2018
As I sit in my warm home, the second Nor’easter of March rages on outside my window bringing ice, snow, and high winds, assuring that our New York winter goes out like a lion! Here are some updates on our work with Global Training Network, thank you for your prayers and partnership!
Training Immigrant Pastors
Tomorrow we head to a pastor’s conference where Caryn and I will bring training to over 100 pastors and their spouses, most of whom are first generation immigrants. Please pray for our seminars, and the leaders who will attend. Caryn will speak to the women, helping them to learn to speak up and to take responsibility for their own needs and desires. This is a necessary skill in many cultures that minimize the voice of women, resulting in them feeling powerless and helpless. John will be meeting with the men, addressing true measurements of success and significance in ministry. In cultures where magnetic preachers attract tens of thousands of followers, it is important for these dear leaders to know that their significance comes from Christ and their success comes from faithfulness and endurance.
Healing Abuse
Caryn’s greater availability has multiplied into the lives of many people! Not only has she started a new Mending the Soul group primarily for leadership women in the New York area, she has also been able to provide leadership to start our first Mending the Soul group for men on the east coast! Comprised of male Christian leaders in our area, this group will help bring desperately needed healing as well as be the first step in training facilitators for a new network of abuse healing groups for men! Please pray for both the facilitators and attendees of these groups as they meet throughout the Spring.
Reaching Post-Christian Places
All missionaries must study the needs in their culture, and then meet people at the point of those needs. We have found that there is a strong need here, especially in the midst of the #MeToo movement, for parents to have resources to protect their children from abuse. Therefore, our church plant is planning an event for the community to address this need. This will be a panel discussion forum, where we will invite experts on abuse protection from the community to speak and answer questions from the audience. Please pray that this will be helpful, and that many from our community will attend. Pray also that as we love and serve our neighborhood where they are, that this will be a first step in seeing gospel renewal and transformation there.
Personal
We are so excited to share some great family news! Our middle son, Matthew, was accepted out of a pool of hundreds of applicants into the Ph.D. program in Neuroscience at Stony Brook University, a top research institution right here in New York! Matthew will be studying causes of Parkinson’s and Depression in adults. We couldn’t be prouder of him, and we know he will make great contributions in his field!
Thank for your partnership which results in raising up healthy and effective leaders in the most needy and post-Christian places.
Love in Christ,
John and Caryn
249 Wilson Ave. • Westbury, NY 11590 • (516) 424-7506
www.globaltrainingnetwork.org/who/john-and-caryn-amandola
March, 2018
As I sit in my warm home, the second Nor’easter of March rages on outside my window bringing ice, snow, and high winds, assuring that our New York winter goes out like a lion! Here are some updates on our work with Global Training Network, thank you for your prayers and partnership!
Training Immigrant Pastors
Tomorrow we head to a pastor’s conference where Caryn and I will bring training to over 100 pastors and their spouses, most of whom are first generation immigrants. Please pray for our seminars, and the leaders who will attend. Caryn will speak to the women, helping them to learn to speak up and to take responsibility for their own needs and desires. This is a necessary skill in many cultures that minimize the voice of women, resulting in them feeling powerless and helpless. John will be meeting with the men, addressing true measurements of success and significance in ministry. In cultures where magnetic preachers attract tens of thousands of followers, it is important for these dear leaders to know that their significance comes from Christ and their success comes from faithfulness and endurance.
Healing Abuse
Caryn’s greater availability has multiplied into the lives of many people! Not only has she started a new Mending the Soul group primarily for leadership women in the New York area, she has also been able to provide leadership to start our first Mending the Soul group for men on the east coast! Comprised of male Christian leaders in our area, this group will help bring desperately needed healing as well as be the first step in training facilitators for a new network of abuse healing groups for men! Please pray for both the facilitators and attendees of these groups as they meet throughout the Spring.
Reaching Post-Christian Places
All missionaries must study the needs in their culture, and then meet people at the point of those needs. We have found that there is a strong need here, especially in the midst of the #MeToo movement, for parents to have resources to protect their children from abuse. Therefore, our church plant is planning an event for the community to address this need. This will be a panel discussion forum, where we will invite experts on abuse protection from the community to speak and answer questions from the audience. Please pray that this will be helpful, and that many from our community will attend. Pray also that as we love and serve our neighborhood where they are, that this will be a first step in seeing gospel renewal and transformation there.
Personal
We are so excited to share some great family news! Our middle son, Matthew, was accepted out of a pool of hundreds of applicants into the Ph.D. program in Neuroscience at Stony Brook University, a top research institution right here in New York! Matthew will be studying causes of Parkinson’s and Depression in adults. We couldn’t be prouder of him, and we know he will make great contributions in his field!
Thank for your partnership which results in raising up healthy and effective leaders in the most needy and post-Christian places.
Love in Christ,
John and Caryn
249 Wilson Ave. • Westbury, NY 11590 • (516) 424-7506
www.globaltrainingnetwork.org/who/john-and-caryn-amandola
ABOUT JOHN AND CARYN AMANDOLA
Married since 1986, and having three great boys, John and Caryn have a long history with GTN’s founders, Paul and Lisa! Caryn and Lisa have been friends since Junior High school, and Lisa and her family played a great role in Caryn coming to faith in Christ as a high school student.
"As a newly married couple, we were challenged by Paul, who was the youth pastor at Northwest Community Church, to take on greater ministry responsibilities while youth leaders there. John later succeeded Paul in that same role, where he learned how to multiply spiritual leaders. John also succeeded Paul as a church planter, Paul planting NCC’s first church plant, John the second. It now seems so natural for us to join with Paul and Lisa on staff with GTN, having the same passion to raise up leaders!"
John is a native New Yorker and Caryn grew up in Arizona. John is a graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo, holds an M.Div. from Phoenix Seminary, and is ordained in the Missionary Church. Caryn is a graduate of Texas Christian University and is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree in Professional Counseling. They have much experience in overseas ministry, church planting, mentoring leaders and pastoral ministry.
Consistent with the mission of GTN, Caryn and John have a great passion to raise up Christian leaders all over the world, especially in an area of very great need which is very close to their hearts: The New York Metro area. Their ministry involves several facets:
Married since 1986, and having three great boys, John and Caryn have a long history with GTN’s founders, Paul and Lisa! Caryn and Lisa have been friends since Junior High school, and Lisa and her family played a great role in Caryn coming to faith in Christ as a high school student.
"As a newly married couple, we were challenged by Paul, who was the youth pastor at Northwest Community Church, to take on greater ministry responsibilities while youth leaders there. John later succeeded Paul in that same role, where he learned how to multiply spiritual leaders. John also succeeded Paul as a church planter, Paul planting NCC’s first church plant, John the second. It now seems so natural for us to join with Paul and Lisa on staff with GTN, having the same passion to raise up leaders!"
John is a native New Yorker and Caryn grew up in Arizona. John is a graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo, holds an M.Div. from Phoenix Seminary, and is ordained in the Missionary Church. Caryn is a graduate of Texas Christian University and is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree in Professional Counseling. They have much experience in overseas ministry, church planting, mentoring leaders and pastoral ministry.
Consistent with the mission of GTN, Caryn and John have a great passion to raise up Christian leaders all over the world, especially in an area of very great need which is very close to their hearts: The New York Metro area. Their ministry involves several facets:
- Planting innovative, missional churches in the least churched, least reached counties in the USA.
- Training Christian leaders who work and study in the world’s most influential city to be spiritual leaders who multiply.
- Reach international students to eventually return to their countries as missionaries.
- Travel overseas to train Christian Leaders who otherwise have few resources available to them.
