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Jennifer and
I are both from Springfield Ohio. We were married in the
summer of 1992. I went into the Military and served my
country in the United States Navy for 4 years. Our son, Ian, was
born October 5th 1995 in Blue Hill, Maine. Time went by…our
marriage went into a downward spiral and while staring at
the probability of divorce; we were introduced to the Lord.
We fell in love with Him from the start. We agreed that if
we were going to do this, we were going to
 jump in
completely. God healed our marriage (I could write a book on
that alone), delivered us from addictions, and started us on
an awesome roller coaster ride called ministry.
It started out playing bass for the praise and worship band
in our youth group. We served our Youth Pastor and his
wife…just glad that we were able to do something for the
Lord and our church. We were working in the youth ministry
when our Youth Pastor received an offer to be an associate
Pastor at his home church. I was faced with the opportunity
to go full time in ministry. This was no surprise to me
however because I had been feeling God tugging on my heart
to keep my eyes open for an opportunity.
It was definitely a leap of faith because I was working a
great job with great benefits…But when God calls, I’ve
learned to listen. Our daughter Evelyn was born October 14th, 2000
and this was another factor. We would lose our health
insurance. Like I said, it was a leap of faith. With the
prayers and support of my wife Jennifer, and our friends and
family, we made the leap into full time ministry.
This is when I made my first trip to Russia. My Pastor had
been going for about 10-15 years. I had always felt a burden
in my heart for Russia…now I was finally going to be able to
go. When I came back from that first trip I think a part of
me stayed there, as if God was letting me know that Russia
would always be a part of me. We had done a youth conference
while we were there and I made some connections that have
become friends over the last couple years. I was able to
take my wife Jennifer with me on my third trip. It was like
we were home. It just felt right. We had no idea at the time
that God was preparing our hearts for the mission field.
Move forward to August of 2006. I was in prayer when God
instructed me to begin to prepare for a move to Russia. My
wife Jennifer had been telling me that something big was
about to happen that would change our lives. WOW! I wasn’t
expecting that. We prayed about it for months. When we were
sure this is where God wanted us, we came out with the
information. Our church has been very supportive. We are
honored to extend the ministry of our church into Russia and
are looking forward to the adventure and challenges of the
overseas mission field. |
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