Family of missionaries brings their message to Greensburg

Joe Hornaday
Greensburg Daily News

Fri, May 16 2008

— Missionaries Brian and Lynne Utter, alongside their young son
Jacob, visited Greensburg's Community Church of the Nazarene
Thursday to explain their mission and recent exploits.
According to Pastor Perry Cook, the family will take many trips
through all of the districts in the country, informing local churches of
what is happening in the field of missionary work. The Utter family
was just recently in Buffalo, N.Y.
According to family patriarch Brian Utter, the family has been living in
Argentina for the past six years, performing various missionary
duties for the Church of the Nazarene.
"We've loved every minute of being there," he said. "We use our son
Jacob in our ministry as much as we can."
Young Jacob Utter is part of what is called the "missionary kids" in
Argentina. The group is made up of kids from all corners of the
globe who help to spread the church's message. The youthful
missionary had created a video for the presentation, introducing
several young children who help in the missionary programs that the
family has encountered in their travels around South America.
"Our church truly is an international church," Brian Utter said. "In
Argentina, we preach for two hours at a time."
He added that two hours was much longer than the traditional
churches in America.
The ministry's program started in South America several years ago.
When the first missionaries arrived, they immediately noticed the
impact of the river, and how much the people there depended on it.
"The river provides food, transportation, communication, and work,"
Utter claimed. "And they are an oral society."
The originators of the movement preached along the river, but
paddling from village to village was time consuming and difficult.
When the Utter family arrived, they became part of an effort that
raised $40,000 to purchase a riverboat to make spreading their
message easier.
"I was very excited about this project," Utter noted.
Their ministry, named the World Mission Broadcast ministry,
became a part of the program that sponsored the boat that would
transport people and material to build churches.
"It turned out to be much more than just a taxi," Utter said. "The
reality was that the area had one missionary and one boat, but 2
million people without a church. There were no TVs, no phones and
no internet. That's the reality of their technology along the Amazon
River."
Utter's knowledge of media took the riverboat to the next level.
"We turned the boat into a traveling radio station," he explained. "It's
dangerous to just approach a village. Now, we can send a one-way
message to a village that we aren't communicating with. Our goal is
to make a connection in their communities and spread the Master's
word."
The only connection between any of the people was the river that flowed through their lives.
"The 20,000 communities along the river are isolated, but they're
connected through the river" he said. "We want to reach everyone
with our message."
Utter closed his presentation with a simple message.
"Our message is that you're the message, echo," he said.

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