{"id":10894,"date":"2019-08-05T17:17:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-05T17:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/?p=10894"},"modified":"2026-10-02T01:35:04","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T01:35:04","slug":"a-switch-to-teachbeyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/?p=10894","title":{"rendered":"A SWITCH TO TEACHBEYOND"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n

David Durance, President of\u00a0TeachBeyond<\/span>, gave this reminder on a cool mid-June evening concluding a weeklong orientation a few weeks ago at Wheaton College in Illinois. Melissa and I were among 70 teachers\u00a0<\/span>reaffirming\u00a0<\/span>our<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u201cYes\u201d to serve in Haiti<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

If you haven\u2019t heard yet, after 8 years with One Mission Society (2 years of prep followed by 6 years on the field in Haiti), our family is making the switch to an alternate\u00a0mission<\/span>\u00a0organization called\u00a0<\/span>TeachBeyond<\/span>.\u00a0 When Melissa, as Director of Cowman School, was first introduced to\u00a0<\/span>TeachBeyond<\/span>\u00a0about 18 months ago, she was excited because she had found a missionary sending organization which could mobilize new teachers for our school very quickly. The more we interacted with the folks at\u00a0<\/span>TeachBeyond<\/span>, the more impressed we became with the entire operation.\u00a0<\/span>TeachBeyond<\/span>\u00a0backs teachers in 55 countries around the world, working with them in a collaborative role – rather than as a\u00a0<\/span>long-distance<\/span>\u00a0supervisor – offering training, administrative support, and educational expertise along the way.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

We will always be grateful to OMS for introducing us to Haiti and giving us a meaningful place to serve the Lord among \u201cthe least of these\u201d, and, to be\u00a0absolutely\u00a0<\/span>clear, this move is not motivated by any particular dissatisfaction with OMS, but rather a recognition that\u00a0<\/span>TeachBeyond<\/span>\u00a0is a better fit for our present ministry in Haiti, both for the school and for our family.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

WHAT\u00a0WON\u2019T<\/span>\u00a0CHANGE\u00a0<\/span>as we join\u00a0<\/span>TeachBeyond<\/span>:<\/span><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>(<\/span><\/span>God willing!)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

Our\u00a0J<\/span>obs<\/span>: Melissa\u2019s role as Director of Cap-Haitien Christian School (formerly \u201cCowman\u201d) and my role as\u00a0<\/span>high<\/span>\u00a0school English teacher there will not change.\u00a0<\/span>Our\u00a0<\/span>L<\/span>iving\u00a0<\/span>S<\/span>pace<\/span>: Our family moved off the OMS grounds over a year ago when OMS Haiti\u00a0<\/span>as a whole was<\/span><\/span>\u00a0being threatened with eviction. At that time, we began to rent a house from a third party just down the road, so our living space will not change either.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Our\u00a0<\/span>F<\/span>riendship with OMS<\/span>: We\u00a0<\/span>anticipate<\/span>\u00a0interacting, working, and praying with OMS friends and colleagues on a weekly, if not daily, basis.\u00a0<\/span>Opportunities for\u00a0<\/span>V<\/span>isitors<\/span>: Short term mission teams and individuals sent via OMS (and its \u201cMen for Missions\u201d program) will still be more than welcome to serve at the school for a day, a week, or even longer.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

WHAT\u00a0WILL<\/span>\u00a0CHANGE\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

Means of Contacting Us:\u00a0Our email and physical addresses will change a bit:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

3170\u00a0Airmans<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Drive<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

The Route of Financial Support from our Ministry Partners:\u00a0First, thank you, thank you, thank you!\u00a0<\/span><\/span>We humbly ask those who support us financially either monthly or periodically to now do so through\u00a0<\/span>TeachBeyond<\/span>\u00a0at\u00a0<\/span>give.teachbeyond.org\/support\/steve-and-melissa-gross\/<\/b><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>There are many options easily accessible on this website, including electronic fund transfers.\u00a0<\/span>It will be necessary to stop any automatic payments going through OMS in the next few weeks.\u00a0<\/span>(You can call OMS at <\/span>317-888-3333<\/span>)\u00a0<\/span>Funds given in our name through OMS will\u00a0<\/span>continue to\u00a0<\/span>reach us for a limited time<\/span>\u00a0(a month or two)<\/span>, but eventually later gifts will simply be absorbed into OMS\u2019 operational fund.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n

When Melissa and I started ministry at Cowman (Now called \u201cCap-Haitien Christian School\u201d), our \u201clong range\u201d goal was to see the first graduating senior class from a school which had traditionally ended service around 6th<\/span><\/span>\u00a0grade AND (more importantly) to make sure these graduates would be \u201ccollege ready\u201d.\u00a0 Two months ago, our son, Caleb, and two Haitian classmates (Bryan and Keren) became the first to earn a high school diploma from Cowman\/CHCS.\u00a0 Caleb will start at Wabash College in Indiana in just a few weeks. Bryan starts at the University of Akron in Ohio and Keren starts at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania this month as well!\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n

(P.S.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Melissa and I financially supported a couple of\u00a0<\/span>our school\u2019s new\u00a0<\/span>TeachBeyond<\/span>\u00a0teachers this past year and can testify firsthand that the\u00a0<\/span>TeachBeyond<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>website<\/span><\/a>\u00a0is extremely user-friendly, fast, and convenient. Also, we have appreciated the fact that\u00a0<\/span>TeachBeyond<\/span>\u00a0makes it a practice to NOT send frequent appeals for other projects by email or snail mail.\u00a0<\/span>Any<\/span>\u00a0email a<\/span>nd\/or home a<\/span>ddress\u00a0<\/span>shared with\u00a0<\/span>TeachBeyond<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>will be used only for communication regarding our ministry and\u00a0<\/span>to send\u00a0<\/span>your\u00a0<\/span>year-end<\/span>\u00a0receipts<\/span>\u00a0for financial gifts<\/span>.<\/span>)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

, gave this reminder on a cool mid-June evening concluding a weeklong orientation a few weeks ago at Wheaton College in Illinois. Melissa and I were among 70 teachers\u00a0\u201cYes\u201d to serve in Haitimission.\u00a0 When Melissa, as Director of Cowman School, was first introduced to\u00a0TeachBeyond\u00a0backs teachers in 55 countries around the world, working with them in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10894"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10895,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10894\/revisions\/10895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}