History

1997
Founder and President, David Joannes, moved to Hong Kong along with a small team of Teen Mania Ministries intern alumni. They called themselves HK Project. David and the team served at Bibleway Ministries, smuggling Bibles from Hong Kong to China, and helped to distribute the Word of God throughout the mainland. They also hosted international short-term teams who joined in couriering Christian literature to China’s persecuted believers. In May, 1997, David met his future wife, Lorna, as she joined a short-term team from Christ the Living Stone Fellowship in Manila, Philippines.

1998
David moved to Kunming in Southwest China. He began intensive study of Mandarin Chinese and joined a small missionary fellowship. On the weekends, he took twelve-hour overnight sleeper buses to the rural countryside where he practiced his language skills with unreached and unengaged people groups.

2000
Tens of thousands of hours spent on public transportation throughout Southest China solidified the clear direction of reaching unreached people groups. After years of continual ministry, David saw a harvest begin to form as countless seeds were sown among Gospel-deprived ethnic peoples.

2003
Teams from around the world traveled to China. David preached and translated for leaders and ministers of numerous denominations who joined in the passion to reached the unreached. In mid 2003, after nearly seven years since David and Lorna first met in Hong Kong, they got married in December, in the Philippines.

2004
David and Lorna Joannes returned to China as a married couple to continue working among unreached people groups. Pilot is launched, becoming the first Within Reach Global outreach center near the borders of China and Vietnam. Zhang Rong, the first indigenous missionary joins the organization.

2005
College outreach takes off. Hundreds of students join the English Corners that act as the “big net” for evangelism. Many Chinese students are discipled in their new faith.

2008
After ten years of service in China, Within Reach Global is founded as a US 501c3 non-profit organization. This new platform serves the foreign and indigenous missionaries serving at the ministry.

2011
The five outreach centers (and two that were shut down because of persecution) grow as autonomous expressions of local-led outreach. The foreign and indigenous missionaries strategize about next steps as China’s perscution ramps up. David and Lorna Joannes move to the Philippines.

2013
Chiang Mai, Thailand becomes the new base of operations.

2015
New partnerships are formed and an influx of international short-term teams help pioneer outreach among unreached people groups.

2018
Jacob and Betsy Smith move to Thailand. Having served at Impact Africa for nearly eight years, Jacob joins Within Reach Global as the new Operations Director. He helps to form the structure that will allow the ministry to grow and expand.

2019
New staff and interns arrive from America, Philippines, and South Africa. Campus outreach among Thai and Chinese college students becomes a focal point of the ministry.