Stephen & Laurie Erickson

Career Missionaries since 2007, serving the Gogodala people of Papua New Guinea. Also serving as Field Directors to other missionaries.

We are Stephen and Laurie Erickson with our two daughters, Karin and Johanna. In 2003, after working as an architect for 20 years, I received a pink slip and suddenly was unemployed. But God provided me with small jobs to pay the bills while, unknown to me, He was preparing us for cross-cultural mission work. An elderly saint in our church said to Laurie one day, “Maybe God wants you to be missionaries. Do you get the AFM magazine?” I attended a Christian men’s conference and heard a fiery young preacher talk about the need for missionaries in unreached areas of the world. But it was another eight months before I started thinking seriously about AFM. One night, I experienced some serious doubts and prayed for clarity and assurance that God was leading. Before dawn the next morning, I woke up realizing I had just seen myself in heaven surrounded by a dozen PNG men thanking me for coming to share the gospel with them.

Now we’ve been working with the Gogodala people since 2007. We’re building a training-center campus that will also serve as a camp meeting facility. Twelve young men from Kewa village are helping us. None of them were church members before, but now, nearly all of them are baptized. Our plan is to use the training center to equip local missionaries to take the everlasting gospel to other villages up and down the Aramia River.

Frontier Stories

Aspirations

In PNG, many men talk about becoming a big man (political leader). But should having political power be the goal for believers in Christ?

By: Stephen Erickson
October 01 2022, 4:42 pm | Comments 0

William’s Fall

It happened so fast I did not have time to formulate a prayer. We watched helplessly as our comrade climber dropped thirteen feet from the roof.

By: Stephen Erickson
August 01 2022, 10:14 am | Comments 0

Skills Used in God’s Service

I was pleased to see the young men back at church as well. Even the workers who remained with me started attending church, and one of them now wants to be baptized. Praise God! How wonderful it is that they are experiencing the satisfaction of giving back to God.

By: Stephen Erickson
June 01 2022, 8:35 am | Comments 0

Prayer Evokes A Response

Wadobato became a dear friend through the years that followed, bringing us wonderful fruits from her garden.

By: Stephen Erickson
April 01 2022, 3:18 pm | Comments 0

Roy Biyama, Gogodala Businessman Used by God

I am thankful for the great hope we have of seeing our brother Roy in heaven very soon.

By: Stephen Erickson
March 01 2022, 8:37 am | Comments 0

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