The Fitzgerald Church of God believes in carrying forth the great commission. Our missions department takes care of not only our local church but churches across the world. Our missions department financially supports several missionaries monthly and takes an occasional mission trip to minister hands on. This page highlights the missionaries that we support and allows you to hear an update from them personally.

BEN & DIANE BUSTAMANTE (Italy)

Ben and Diane have been pioneer pastors for 18 years in Italy. The first church they planted was in the city of Milan, and one year later they planted another church in Brescia. The churches in Mantova, Florence, Pisa and Biella have been added as well over the years. Their congregations are mostly made up of Filipinos and other English-speaking nationalities, but God is using these members to reach Italian nationals through the work environment. Ben is a member of the leadership council for the Church of God in Italy, and Diane serves on the Italian Ladies Leadership committee. They share a vision for raising up other Filipino churches and are currently training leaders to care for these works.

Ben graduated from a Church of God Bible College on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines and went on to study at Christ for the Nations in Dallas. Ben’s parents came to know the Lord through the ministry of Dr. Lovell R. Cary. Diane graduated from Christ for the Nations in Dallas and went on to graduate from Rhema in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She accepted the Lord at the age of 6 and was raised in a Christian home in Lancaster, Texas. Ben and Diane married on July 17, 1994, and were blessed with a daughter, Hannah Joy, on April 22, 2000. They both hold credentials with the Church of God. Ben and Diane want to be a part of this last day outpouring by evangelizing, equipping and raising up leaders for the preparation of His soon coming.

NEIL & JENNIFER LAWRENCE (Kenya, Africa)

Neil and Jennifer Lawrence are COGWM missionary educators/evangelists in Kenya, East Africa, where they have been serving since 1993. They adopted their son, Joshua, in 2003 when he was 7 months old. Neil’s primary ministry is to lecture Bible, Theology, and Ministry courses at Discipleship College, a COG East African Regional Bible College. The  17-acre campus is located in Eldoret, Kenya where the Lawrence’s live. The student body is comprised of mostly Kenyans. Ministers from other African countries where the Church of God is located are also studying (Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan, Tanzania, Burundi, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana). The opportunity to spend quality time helping form the students’ “theological/ministry world-view” is Neil’s greatest joy and definitely the focus of his calling.

The Lawrences are involved in Evangelism and Worship through Eagles’ Wings Gospel Team which they formed in 1999. As of November 2018 they have done 183 Gospel meetings all over Kenya and parts of Uganda. This ministry works with a local Church of God congregation to proclaim the Gospel in the open air. Students and graduates of Discipleship College are members of the team. These crusades (3 to 7 days long) have been held in market places, town centers, road-side centers, slums, and villages; in other words, “where the people are.” Thousands have been saved and hundreds of churches boosted through this evangelism ministry.

Eagles’ Wings Studio was created to minister through recorded music and video. The audio studio, formed in 2008, enables the team members to produce their own and other Christian artists’ Gospel music. The video studio is the location for the production of “A Higher Place” TV program. “A Higher Place” is a half-hour teaching/preaching program being broadcast nationwide on Kenyan television to a multitude of viewers several times each week since November 2015.

BILL & JODY NORLING (Somoto, Nicaragua & Senegal, Africa)

Bill & Jody Norling are missionaries and Bill is the director of World Harvest Ministries International. They have a heart for reaching the nations with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They have ministered in Latin America, Cuba, Europe, Africa, and the United Kingdom preaching in crusades, conferences, and planting churches since 1986. World Harvest Ministries International has a Discipleship Training School in Somoto, Nicaragua training young people to become disciples and missionaries and reach the Unreached. WHMI also has a team in Senegal, Africa sharing and spreading the Gospel.

CRUZ & KEYDI PANIAGUA (Venezuela & Ecuador)

Cruz and Keydi Paniagua have been church planters and pastors in Venezuela. They have also served as National Education Directors and founders of the Center for Ministerial Training of the Church of God in Venezuela (CEMK). Training a new generation of leaders and ministers for service and planting new churches. Since 2016 they have lead church planting processes in Colombia, Peru and Ecuador. And since 2019 they founded the CPX (department of church planting and development in Latin America). Training leaders throughout the continent and catalyzing so far the planting of more than 3124 churches in 19 countries.

Cruz and Keydi also coordinate two refugee centers, one in Venezuela for high-risk children and another in Ecuador where they serve migrants in refugee status. His passion in ministry is preaching, leadership development, teaching and church planting.

Cruz and Keydi have three beautiful daughters, Sofia Alejandra, 19 years old, Maria Victoria, 3 years old and Maria Fernanda who is on the way. They are Venezuelan migrants residing in Ecuador.

WAYNE & PHYLLYS WOZNIAK (Peru)

Wayne and Phyllys first went to the mission field in the early 1980´s.  They have served in the Dominican Republic, Peru and Colombia, working with developing Bible colleges in all three countries.

In 1999 they moved to South America where they met the challenge of reopening Gamaliel Bible College. During their eight years of ministry in Peru, a total of 150 students graduated from the three-year program.  Thirty-five churches were planted by their graduates.

In August of 2007 World Missions appointed them to Colombia where they founded SEBIBE (Berea Bible College).  After 11 years there, they had 80 graduates and thirty-one churches had been planted by their graduates.

In 2018 Wayne and Phyllys were asked to return to Peru to reopen the Bible college there.  Presently they are living in Lima, Peru and serving as regional directors of SEBIGMAR in Peru and SEBIBE in Colombia.  Training pastors and church planters is their greatest joy.