Matthew 25 Ministries

04/30/2025

Today is Coach’s 90th birthday. He had a famously severe dislike for this day above all others and he would have been mortified to see that we are announcing this special day publicly. It was the worst kept secret among his friends and family at Chapel Field. And yet he was quietly touched when people remembered and acknowledged it.

As big and bold as Coach was, he did not like the spotlight on him, celebrating him. He wanted the focus on what was being done: is it good, honorable and worthy. One of his life’s mottos, borrowed from CT Studd, was “Only one life twill soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last.” That was what mattered to Coach. That is the heritage, passed down through him, of all who carry on this theme. Serve God with your life. Keep your heads about you.

Happy Birthday, Coach. We miss you.

03/17/2025

We had a BLAST hanging out with Anne and her daughter Caroline this past week! I hope you had the chance to meet her around campus and hear her update about New Hope Children’s Center. Anne was also featured on Redeemer Broadcasting Radio with Dan Elmendorf. Now she is off on her next US adventure down south. But she’ll be back there first week in April for a short visit again before she returns to Kenya. Stay tuned for possible sightings during her final visit! If you’d like to support the (over 200!) children and the rest of her work, the fastest way to get your donation to NHU is to send them to Matthew 25 Ministries at:
211 Fleury Rd
Pine Bush, NY 12566
We will be wiring the donations directly to Anne when she returns! Don’t delay!

03/08/2025

The eagle has landed! Anne and her daughter are here! And we are loving it. Anne will be visiting Chapel Field this coming week and speaking to the students about the work the Lord is doing at New Hope. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will use these events to shape and mold these students’ minds and hearts. It is our hope that her visit will make an impact on their lives. Who knows who will be inspired to serve Him on the mission field?! Stay tuned for updates on her time here in NY.

02/23/2025

Did you guess it?! Now you know and we hope you are as excited as we are to have our own Anne Chege on our campus! Anne will be visiting in early March and again in early April before she returns to Kenya. Please watch for opportunities that may occur to meet her or hear her speak about her ministry while she is here!

02/12/2025

Not Santa Claus. Better! One of our Matthew 25 ministry partners is coming to visit. What to know which one? Stay tuned! If you’re in the local area, you won’t want to miss it.

01/18/2025

12/30/2024

Do you remember Simon and Martha? Our Matthew 25 family has been praying for them since the passing of their youngest child. Now, some months later, we are overjoyed to report that this family has undergone a change for God’s glory and their good. Simon and Martha have been attending baptism classes and may be baptized by February! Also, since October, Matthew 25 has been supporting Simon and Martha (and New Hope) by sponsoring their wages at the orphanage. We send funds to Anne and she is able to pay them to serve and work: Martha works with the children and babies and Simon works around the premises. This allows them to have the dignity of work and purpose while providing for their family as well as adding much needed staff to the busy New Hope team. Please continue to pray for Simon and Martha, that they will seek the Lord with all of their hearts and teach His statues to their children.

12/07/2024

Notes From the Field:
Jon Romaine, Logrono, Spain

M25: Jon, what are some challenges to doing missions in Spain?

JR: Some people are devout Catholics, others are atheists after seeing church corruption. Our evangelism style is relational. Most Spaniards don’t know what an evangelical is so often we are starting from scratch. This means dealing with difficult topics, tearing down walls of atheism & presenting the truth of God’s word.

M25: What’s a typical ministry week for you?

JR: 2-4 meetings weekly with church members for discipleship & training & spending time building relationship with those in our local community. I study for my Sunday sermon, a Wednesday devotional & prayer meeting & men’s Bible study. We’re also involved in biblical counseling for our church & community.

M25: Have you seen your ministry produce fruit?

JR: In our 7 yrs in Spain, we’ve seen 3 people come to the Lord after meeting with each of them for long periods of time. When our family returned to the US for Ian‘s treatment, our Bible study had 8 participants. When we returned, it was up to 19 members! We now have 30 church members & a weekly attendance between 60-65 people. People are hungry for God’s word.

M25: That’s so encouraging! Please tell us what gives you the strength to carry on your ministry after Ian went to be with the Lord?

JR: Hope in the Lord & in His Word! Nothing else in this world could satisfy the longing & groaning we have to be with our son. The word of God truly sustains us each new day. Yes, we experience pain & grief daily. During Ian‘s cancer journey, I studied through the names & character of God which deepened my knowledge of who He is & I want to place my faith in my Lord & Creator, who is sovereign, regardless of what might happen to my children, my family or myself. A great book about prayers of lament is “Dark Clouds, Deep Mercies”. We belong to be with our son. In hard moments, Hannah & I try to model praying with lament to our children and friends and point them to the promises of God that we must place our faith in.

M25: Thank you for sharing, Jon. We are humbled by your faith. God bless you, your family & ministry!

11/22/2024

We asked Jon how he was called by God to serve in Spain. Here’s what he said…

“While serving in the Air Force for six years, I traveled with a team on a mission to Madrid Spain to assist and teach anti-terrorism to the Spanish military after Spain experienced their first attack by Al-Qaeda. I spent a month outside of Madrid. While there I searched for an evangelical church, but was unsuccessful. This led me to read about the religious history in Spain and I found that less than one percent of Spain was evangelical Catholicism, the state established religion until 1975. After serving in different capacities in my local church back home, I left the military to pursue ministry. I didn’t know what this would be, but I can continue to serve the Lord in many different capacities for the next seven years while finishing Bible college and then seminary. I had taken several missionary trips during this time and after we were married, Hannah and I surveyed Spain. Spain has great spiritual needs, and our hope is to plant indigenous churches and continue to teach through a seminary. Spain was labeled to us as a “graveyard” for missionaries, as people serve in many places in Europe and see little fruit or growth. This challenged my wife and me to be willing to serve regardless of the results. We presented our desire to our local church and it is our church that confirmed our calling to Spain, and we remain accountable to them as we develop a strategy and plan, following the example we find in Paul missionary journeys.”

Stay tuned as we learn more about what the Lord is doing through Jon, his family and his ministry partners in Spain. 🇪🇸

11/14/2024

FUN FACT!

Our partner and CF alumni Jon Romaine had a distinguished career in the United States Air Force, including serving aboard Air Force One in the Presidential and Joint Chiefs of Staff security service. Jon was Airman of the Year in 2003 and he earned the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for his service in combat.

We are proud of you, Jon! Happy Veterans Day!

11/10/2024

Missionary Highlight of the Month:
Jon & Hannah Romaine, Logrono, Spain

We’re back with a new missionary highlight! Jon (CF class of ‘99) is actually one of our original two ministry partners despite the fact that we are only introducing him now. This is for a very particular reason.

At the time Matthew 25 began introducing our partners on social media, the Romaine’s suffered unspeakable hardship. Jon and Hannah’s 7-year old son Ian (pictured above) was diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer (DIPG). Their family came back to the US for a time to seek treatment for Ian and to give him time with his family. For reasons unknown to us here below the Lord called Ian to be with Him in March 2023. From that day forward they will only get closer and closer to once again seeing their beloved son who went ahead of them to rest with our Savior.

With heroic resiliency in the knowledge of their calling Jon and Hannah and their two daughters have returned to the mission field in Spain where they have served faithfully since 2011.

We are tremendously honored to support Jon and Hannah and their work in Logrono. And we are excited to share their story with you. Please stay tuned for more from the Romaines!

09/29/2024

Can we talk about Bad News? There is a lot of it out there. And we have access to a constant stream of it, most of it outside of our reach of influence. The internet, social media, and emails give us a quasi omniscience, knowing more than we ever have before yet we ultimately lack the omnipotence to fix pretty much any of it. The danger is it makes us either numb or depressed. As Christians we are not permitted to drift to either extreme. Nor can we bury our heads and escape to our “mind palaces.”

What can’t we do? We can’t be God, who knows all, has perfect power and perfect will. What can we do? We can be the hands and feet of Christ to those who suffer bad news IN our sphere of influence. That is where God has placed us, with a particular family, particular neighbors, particular coworkers and in a particular body of Christ. And there is enough bad news there to keep us busy. As our namesake passage tells us:

Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?” The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:37-40).

Let’s put this into action in light of Simon and Martha’s loss. They are in our sphere of influence and need great encouragement. Will you consider sending an email message to condole with them and encourage them? Let’s flood them with the balm of fellowship from across the world. They do not speak much English but if you send a brief, simple message to our partner Anne, she will translate them and give them to this hurting family. I encourage you to send an email to [email protected] and put in the subject “For Simon and Martha”

Put a 👍🏻 in the comments if you send an email. Let’s encourage one another to apply our hands to the bad news and bring the healing of Christ to it!