The 2022-2023 New Missionary Class 

Jacob stopped his 1969 Dodge Charger on an Iowa farm road one night and, convicted by the Lord, surrendered his life to Christ. His life changed again when a mentor pointed to a map on the wall and said, “Jacob, there are many people in this world who don’t know about Jesus. What are you going to do about that?”

After a trip to India, he began praying for a missions-minded wife to join him in ministry, and God brought Carol into his life. Carol was born in India to missionary parents—and grandparents. Jacob and Carol moved to India after their marriage but returned after six short months. God led them to a strong local church for discipleship, while Jacob found careers in construction and as a school principal, and Carol as a nurse.

Years later, their son invited them to visit Uganda with him, and seeing the dire need for pastoral training, they realized God was directing them to uproot. They formed Reaching Africa’s Unreached in 2013 to train church leaders from northern Uganda and South Sudan, provide theological literature, teach farming, and offer medical outreach. Recognizing their need for teammates and ministry successors, they joined ABWE and are excited to partner with a growing team.

The influences of godly role models and effective, caring teachers combined to shape Rebecca’s career path. Growing up in a Christian home and Christian school, she learned about missions early and committed to following God’s direction for her life. After obtaining a degree in secondary education, she taught at a Christian school, but after five years, her growing burden for missions led her on a trip to Kenya. On the flight home, she realized the Lord was directing her to serve in Africa, and, soon after, ABWE missionaries shared the need for teachers in Togo. Rebecca spent two years in Togo providing educational support for missionary children, teaching in a local Christian school, and serving in kids’ ministry—and is preparing to return.

Rebecca grew up with a healthy understanding of missions and a passion to serve the Lord wherever he placed her—which was in the Midwest until she met a missionary named Andrew. Andrew, a licensed aircraft mechanic, was appointed with ABWE in 2017 and traveled to Brazil, Togo, and Ghana to service aircraft. The Lord showed Rebecca that she could follow God and follow her husband into cross-cultural ministry without fear, and they married in 2022. They plan to serve in Ghana through aviation and developing national churches among unreached people groups.

“You have to see this hospital!” Derek told his wife, Christine. Derek was visiting his sister’s family, short-term missionaries in Togo, when a medical situation brought them to Hôpital Baptiste Biblique (HBB). He knew Christine, an anesthesiology assistant and respiratory therapist, would be amazed that the staff prays with patients and openly shares the gospel—privileges she did not enjoy in the Canadian healthcare system. As Derek and Christine weighed the possibility of missions work with their own hesitations, Christine noticed that the Bible says 365 times not to fear and surrendered her concerns to God, committing to visit Togo. After serving three years, they recognized the crucial need for ministry though anesthesia and construction and committed to longer service.

At HBB, Christine serves patients and trains Togolese nursing staff, while Derek maintains the hospital facilities, servicing the plumbing, electrical, water filtration, vehicles, and repairs to ensure uninterrupted ministry.

Daniel and Anya had always been drawn to missions but kept delaying their plans—until serious illness prompted Daniel to reconsider his life pursuits.

Daniel, saved at 14, began taking short-term missions trips in high school. He met Anya in Russia, her home nation, while serving together at a Bible camp for orphaned children as young adults. Anya trusted Christ at 18, and, inspired by the missionaries leading her church and by missionary biographies, completed a degree in linguistics to pursue Bible translation. After their marriage, however, Daniel’s medical studies, their growing family, and the routine of life in the US relegated their missions involvement to short-term trips. God used two serious illnesses to restore their passion.

“I saw that my life might go at any time, and I may be missing what God has for me long term,” Daniel said.

Daniel and Anya, with their seven children, joined ABWE to serve through medical and church ministries in Togo.

P. and R., both South Asian nationals, were born to Syrian Orthodox families that turned to Christ. P.’s father became a missionary to an unreached region until insurgency forced their family to flee, losing everything. As P. grew older, he sensed the Lord’s direction to continue his father’s ministry in that region, but, like the prophet Jonah, feared the people’s violent history and fled to another city, where he worked with non-profit organizations.

R. was saved at 16, committing to serve the Lord with her whole life. God refined her theology through a master’s degree, preparing her to equip pastors’ wives. 

When God again directed their family to the unreached area through a dream, they obeyed.

“From the moment we stepped in that land, God started moving,” P. shared.

As hundreds of people came to faith, P. and R. strategized how to develop house churches, train leaders, and organize them into a network. They continue to serve churches in this region.

Throughout their marriage, God led Stephen and Kaytlin to serve in Japan. They arrived in Japan in 2016 excited to begin ministry, but after confronting a series of difficulties, their first term ended in personal crisis and a sudden move back to the US.

As they embarked on a season of healing, they discovered a lack of resources for helping missionaries prevent and overcome crisis, which led Kaytlin to further her education in counseling. As God restored their family, he continued to provide opportunities to build relationships with, and minister to, Japanese families in their area.

In all this, their desire to serve in Japan never diminished.

Now, by God’s grace, Stephen, Kaytlin, and their two daughters have a new opportunity to return to Japan as missionaries with ABWE, where they will help develop local churches and uphold missionaries and local pastors through counseling and care.

As a child, J. hated God. Orphaned as a baby in Ukraine, he was adopted as a toddler by a family in the US who hosted him for a medical procedure—a privilege he was granted only when the girl originally scheduled passed away before the travel date. His questions about God’s goodness, coupled with the bad representation of Christians at the church his father pastored, led to growing resentment. The Lord allowed him to be humbled through complications from surgery at age 13, and he gave his life to Christ, recognizing God was far more gracious than he thought.

While listening to a message about the Great Commission in school, J. realized that if he had struggled with God’s goodness, surely others did as well, and committed to serving God. After attending Bible college, he served in Southeast Asia and in Australian churches. He now plans to serve in anti-trafficking ministries in Southeast Asia. 

K. was serving with a campus ministry in college when a friend heard a missions presentation and told K. about unreached people groups.

“We decided we really had to do something about this,” K. explained.

Initially focused on prayer, K. didn’t consider serving in missions herself until she attended a conference featuring David Platt and discerned that God was inviting her to leave her home, family, and possessions to follow him overseas. After a summer exploring ministry with an ABWE team in Southeast Asia, she committed to work among this unreached people group. She plans to build redemptive relationships with students and assist in church planting.

C. was helping her mother with a church missions project when she learned about the spiritual darkness in restricted-access nations, igniting her passion for unreached, unengaged people groups. At the guidance of godly mentors, she served short-term in Southeast Asia and West Africa before combining her experience with textiles and women’s evangelism in businesses in Central Asia. When political situations changed, she landed in South Asia and met D., serving with Live Global. Now married, they plan to focus on church planting and community development in Muslim nations.

In a surprising phone call during their college days, R. expressed his commitment to overseas missions. Initially thinking it was just a phase, A. learned about God’s heart for the nations through a campus ministry, and they mutually decided they were willing and able to go. After extensive training through Bible school, pastoral ministry, and Radius International, they envisioned serving a remote, unengaged people group. When they met an ABWE missionary family who invited them to join their team in Southeast Asia, they briefly considered it—but were so sure it didn’t align with their plans that they burned the missionaries’ contact information as kindling in a campfire. To their surprise, their church elders later approached them about joining a team in Southeast Asia—the same people they had previously met. Recognizing the Lord’s direction, R. and A. committed to serving in Southeast Asia.

Nathan and Azusa have served in Japan for over 20 years. Nathan, interested in Asia since childhood, decided to be a missionary at age 16 but was afraid to pursue his goal until others faithfully communicated the power of God in missions. He visited Japan and, in 2001, moved there permanently to teach English in public schools. He met Azusa, a Japanese national saved as a child in Sunday school and later discipled by godly women who taught her biblical principles for marriage and raising their four children.

When the pastor of their small Japanese church suddenly retired, his responsibilities fell to Nathan and another church member. When the other man also left, Nathan faithfully pastored the church while working full time until, discerning God’s direction to focus on the church, they connected with ABWE missionaries and joined ABWE to continue full-time church ministry.

Born in a refugee camp in Southeast Asia to divorced parents, M. arrived in the US at age six with her dad and brothers. She trusted Christ at the Christian sports camp she attended each year, and a believing couple serving as parental figures took her to church. She began volunteering in youth sports ministries, and after completing a degree in sports management, intended to serve her community until God gave her a desire to return to Southeast Asia for mission work. She plans to develop a ministry to nurture young women and evangelize youth.

Madison, a singer-songwriter, expressed her calling to missions through song after hearing a missionary read a letter from a remote people group begging to hear the gospel. Raised in a branch of Mormonism and saved when her best friend paid for her to attend a youth camp, she had become interested in short-term missions but committed fully after hearing the world’s needs. Upon hearing her song, her pastor encouraged next steps, and she served as a missions mobilizer with the Traveling Team before spending a month in Portugal with an ABWE missionary family. Interactions with Portuguese baristas generated a love for the Portuguese people, and Madison plans to join the Portugal team, engaging young adults with the gospel.

Born in the Balkans and raised in Canada, Ben grew up in a Christian home but didn’t have a personal faith until his high school philosophy class prompted questions about his purpose in life, and he trusted Christ. When his parents informed him that they were moving back to the Balkans to serve with Live Global, he joined them to assist their street evangelism ministry distributing gospel literature. After two years, he decided to join Live Global himself to expand his ministry. He plans to develop an online evangelical radio station in the Balkans—the first of its kind in their nation.

“God has shown me my true purpose in life, a true calling that is worth most to me,” he declared.

God used Sarah’s experience growing up as a pastor’s kid to lead her to overseas missions. Moving frequently, Sarah’s family remained immersed in all aspects of church ministry. As she searched for her own ministry calling, her love for children inspired her to study education at a small Christian college, where an ABWE prefield missionary introduced her to missions. While student teaching in Budapest, Sarah learned that the frequent uprooting in her childhood allowed her to connect with international students at International Christian School of Budapest, where she now plans to teach and serve missionary kids.

L. placed his faith in Christ after hearing the gospel preached during a baptism. Through a long process of sanctification in his youth, God transformed his choices and lifestyle. While serving at a Christian camp in college, a coworker shared about his ministry in Southeast Asia, which, together with opportunities to witness to Roman Catholics, inspired L. to pursue missions. He graduated from seminary and is now preparing to serve communities in Europe influenced by Catholicism and postmodernism.

During her sophomore year in college, H. attended a presentation by the Traveling Team, and, for the first time, heard that three billion people lack access to the gospel.

“I knew that I had learned something that I could never unknow,” she reflected.

As she began praying for missionaries to serve unreached people groups, God convicted her to become one of those laborers. She plans to use her passions for public health, discipleship, and mobilization to serve alongside Live Global national partners reaching Muslims.

Jack and Loulou’s journey to missions was marked with providential encounters. Jack, an American, and Loulou, French-German, first met in Cyprus as he studied abroad and she completed a ministry year with Cru. After reconnecting several years later, Jack searched for a way to join her in Berlin and serve in a church. As Jack mentioned the difficulties of finding a doctrinally sound church in Berlin while visiting his brother in a hospital near Washington, D.C., a passing nurse overheard their conversation and recommended a Baptist church that she had attended there. Jack wrote the church that same day and arranged an internship with the ABWE missionary pastor. Now married, Jack and Loulou serve as youth directors at CrossWay International Baptist Church and serve youth through evangelistic outreaches, school visits, and Bible studies. They plan to expand their ministry through counseling, addiction ministries, and discipleship among Berlin’s diverse population.

J. spent his college years bargaining with God, attempting to avoid a call to missions and the challenges he witnessed growing up as a missionary kid. During his senior year, he relented and received an invitation to accompany an ABWE missionary on a spring break trip to the Balkans. Seeing open doors for ministry, he returned for three years as a teacher at a biblically-based school—where he met L.

L. arrived as a short-term teacher after hearing her college professors present an opportunity and unexpectedly finding herself tell them she was interested. Discovering that her giftings were best used in serving the missionary team, she returned for long-term ministry. 

Now married, J. and L. plan to serve their Balkan community together—J. as a discipleship coordinator, training local believers often isolated in their Muslim context, and L. through member care.

Kurt, born and raised in Mexico City, was saved as a teenager through the ministry of an ABWE missionary who invited his family to join a newly planted church in their neighborhood. Impressed with a desire for kingdom work, he attended seminary and became a youth pastor in the church where Bethany arrived for short-term ministry.

Bethany first experienced missions on a local inner-city trip in high school, after which she unexpectedly told her church that God wanted her to become a missionary. At her pastor’s suggestion, she assisted missionaries in Mexico City during the summer after college, and later returned as a career missionary with ABWE. She and Kurt married and served together from 2009-2018. After a period of ministry in Pennsylvania, they realized their burden for Mexico had never left and committed to return.

“Mexico is changing from being lost in idolatry and syncretic Catholicism to being lost in post-modernism and atheism,” Kurt explained.

Kurt, Bethany, and their three children will assist Mexican pastors in church planting.

Patience experienced international missions firsthand as a teenager when her family moved to Honduras. As Patience’s family came alongside a young lady pregnant at 15, God gave Patience a passion for helping young women in crisis. She completed a year of Bible college to gain a foundation for ministry and, learning about the impact of counseling, pursued a bachelor’s in biblical counseling. Through college contacts, she connected with ABWE and discovered opportunities to apply her background in Spanish, counseling, and discipleship at the Florece Prenatal Center in Chile and in local Chilean churches.

With a multi-generational heritage of missions on both sides of their family, Stephen and Jessica had grown up always naturally considering cross-cultural ministry for themselves.

As Jessica pondered whether to pursue missions or medicine, the Lord’s answer came: “You can do both.” She met Stephen during medical school orientation, and, discovering the mutual interest in missions, they married. As family medicine doctors, they were assigned a rotation in Ecuador, where they met a German couple restarting the hospital in Shell, the historic ministry location of missionary martyr Nate Saint. Located strategically at the edge of the Amazon basin and serving seven people groups, the hospital integrates physical and spiritual care for the growth of the church. Resonating with the vision, Stephen, Jessica, and their three sons joined ABWE as the next step toward serving in Ecuador.

H. grew up in a nominally Christian family, and through God’s grace, came to faith at 16 in a theologically liberal church. As her family become serious about their relationship with God, they called the local Baptist church, and the ABWE missionary pastor offered to teach them biblical theology using “The Story of Hope” evangelistic resource.

In college, H. ministered to international students from creative-access countries, and, at the advice of her pastor, began praying about ministry. Her experience growing up with friends familiar with abuse, addiction, and teen pregnancy gave her a burden for working with battered women and children, and she was excited to find opportunities on the ABWE Chile team.

Born and raised as a missionary kid, Lydia learned Brazil’s language and culture as a native. She began serving in children’s ministry at an early age, experiencing the joy of edifying others. She remained in Brazil for college, completing bachelor’s degrees in early childhood education and culinary arts and a master’s in biblical counseling, while serving in a church and teaching English as a Second Language. After her studies, her Brazilian pastor kindly exhorted her that, after having said that she planned to pursue full-time ministry since she was 14, it was time to begin. Her church sent her to intern with the ABWE team in southern Brazil, where, crossing cultural boundaries within the country, she served in children’s ministries. She joined ABWE to serve long-term in southern Brazil and plans to use her skills in counseling, discipling women, and teaching English at the Life Center ministry and church plant in Dois Irmãos.

Christian’s life changed 30 years ago when he was asked to donate bone marrow to his oldest brother diagnosed with leukemia.

“I saw my past and my future,” he reflected. “I gave my life to the Lord and told him, ‘When you call me, I’ll be there.’”

With a growing desire to testify of God’s grace in their lives, Christian and Ximena immigrated to the US from their home in Chile in 2003. After planting several churches among the Hispanic population in central Pennsylvania, they launched a ministry to reach 2,500 migrant agricultural workers in the area.

“I believe they could be 2,500 potential missionaries to go back with the gospel to their families,” explained Christian.

Now joining EveryEthne, Christian and Ximena will continue to reach migrant workers, lead a bilingual church, and increase missions involvement in local churches.

“Our call has been one that started at home and has continued,” Grace said, highlighting the influence of godly parents on their ministry. Grace was saved at a young age, and witnessing the faithful testimony of her father, a pastor, and her mother created a desire to follow their example into ministry as a pastor’s wife.

Likewise, Ray grew up immersed in his family’s ministries: his father was an ABWE filmmaker and his mother served in Jewish outreach. He found his own calling through studying God’s Word in college, where he met Grace. Ray planted a Korean church with a friend in Pennsylvania, and, over the next 30 years, planted subsequent churches and coached church planters in Michigan. Ray now serves as EveryEthne’s director of church planting.

A passion for the hurting led Donna to a new ministry—and life partner.

The hurts and difficulties Donna faced in her youth set her on a quest to find God, and she trusted Christ at 19. Seeking continued healing, she met with a series of counselors but found herself leaving each office the same as when she walked in. Recognizing a problem, she realized God was leading her to become a licensed Christian counselor. She served 14 years as a counselor and mentor in her church before meeting Jim, an EveryEthne missionary who equips local churches to build grace-and-truth relationships with LGBTQ individuals—a ministry for which he is uniquely suited, after the Lord brought him out of the gay identity that he embraced for 30 years.

Jim and Donna were married in 2022. Finding that their skills and passions dovetail for life and ministry together, Jim and Donna serve with EveryEthne to equip the local church through counseling, mentoring, and leading Heart, Mind, and Soul: LGBTQ seminars.

An army chaplain encouraged Michael to consider missions while deployed as a helicopter pilot in Iraq and Afghanistan. Originally from a Catholic background, Michael had come to faith in college through the witness of a Baptist roommate and developed his interest in missions through reading biographies and listening to sermons during deployments.

April’s eyes were opened to the needs of the world as a child, listening to a teacher from the Philippines. A mutual interest in missions drew her and Michael together in college.

When Michael’s army service ended, he trained to become an aircraft mechanic, planning to enter missions aviation. His love for teaching the Bible in an adult Sunday school class led him to seminary, where their family connected with ABWE. Michael now serves as ABWE’s director of mission aviation.

As avid sports fans who named their six children after famous athletes, Mark and Kim plan to serve God as part of the Live Global sports impact team.

Although both Mark and Kim grew up in the church, they didn’t have a personal relationship with Jesus until later in life. Attending a missions-focused church, they began giving to missions and going on short-term trips until God brought them to a belief that they needed to go themselves.

“We met national partners who were faithfully working so hard to make Jesus known in their countries, but often with few resources,” explained Kim. Through Live Global, Mark and Kim will cast a vision for national partnership among US churches.

B. and C.’s journey to missions began in 2015, when they committed to spend 21 days in prayer and fasting with their church in Michigan, resulting in an overwhelming desire to pursue short-term missions. When they heard about an opportunity to use their background in public safety with ABWE’s TACTICA ministry, they began traveling regularly with TACTICA to serve first responders in Central and South America. Through an early retirement, God answered their prayers for direction with news that ABWE was seeking a security director to provide security training, assessments, and crisis management for the global family of ministries—a role they have held since May 2023.

God’s providence led Ken and Melissa to a world-wide ministry caring for the most vulnerable.

Discerning God’s direction into full-time missions, Ken, Melissa, and their three children moved to Costa Rica in the mid-1990s but were unexpectedly called back to the US after just one year. Amid the discouragement, they began to see God’s plan: they adopted three children, fostered 40, and led hundreds of believers on missions trips. Through Melissa’s work at a local pregnancy center and a surprising phone call bequeathing their family a building in Costa Rica, she realized God was directing them toward a ministry for which she was uniquely suited: establishing gospel-centered, life-affirming pregnancy centers.

“I went into pregnancy ministry for the same reason that we led mission teams: to share the gospel with people who were hurting,” she explained.

Their ministry, Beautiful Feet, has expanded to more than 90 centers in 26 nations. Ken and Melissa are excited to bring Beautiful Feet into the ABWE family.

B. was saved out of the darkness of alcoholism in his native Middle East. He began drinking at age 13 due to family struggles, and, banished by his father, he lived homeless for eight years until finding Christ. His life transformed, he shared the gospel with homeless friends and used his resources to aid their recovery. When persecution arose, he fled to Southeast Asia.

A. moved to Southeast Asia at age 14 and became depressed at not having opportunity to attend school.

“When I met Jesus, he changed my whole life,” she said.

B. and A. both served actively in local churches, and after their marriage, planted a church for fellow refugees, where they trained 17 new believers to become leaders. A. also manages a school for refugee children and women. Seeking new ministry opportunities, they connected with EveryEthne and plan to move to Canada to reach immigrants from Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia.

Paul and Katie’s experiences prompted a mission to reach veterans, service members, and their families for Christ.

Raised as a pastor’s kid and saved at church camp, Paul strayed from God as a young adult. He joined the US Marine Corps in 2007, and he and Katie were married shortly after his graduation from boot camp. Paul served seven years as an infantryman and combat instructor, deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan. After combat, he began struggling with the effects of military trauma. Not prepared for the impact on their family, Paul and Katie found God’s grace in the path toward healing and restoration in their marriage and relationship with God.

“We felt God was calling us to help other veterans because of our experiences,” Paul explained.

Paul and Katie joined EveryEthne’s Centurion Project to use their insights and Katie’s nursing training in developing seminars for local churches on trauma and healing, along with resources to empower them to reach warrior families in their communities.

Dallas stared as the man seated next to him dropped a check for $7,000 in the offering plate. Intent on living for his own selfish ambition and financial gain, the man’s actions prompted Dallas to question him privately.

“He shared the gospel with me in a way that my heart was stunned,” Dallas recalled.

Turning from self to Christ, Dallas became excited about sharing his faith and later enrolled in seminary. He served as a church planting catalyst, starting churches in Michigan and Nebraska.

Jen grew up in China and trusted Christ after hearing a sermon by Billy Graham. She found direction from Ezekiel 34, dedicating her life to finding the lost and healing the sick as a nurse.

Dallas and Jen plan to use their backgrounds to serve rural areas through medical education and church planting.

Music has always held an important role in Bethany’s life, leading her to worship ministry after trusting Christ in her youth, but God revealed an additional avenue of ministry during college. 

“God impressed on my heart that if I wanted to be involved in something of eternal value, I needed to invest in people,” she said.

She enrolled in seminary to complete a biblical counseling degree and met Jesse, who was studying to become a pastor.

Jesse, originally from Canada, trusted Christ after hearing the gospel from his mother and watching God transform his parents’ lives. Through personal prayer, he felt a heavy burden to preach the Word, and later discerned a calling to plant churches in the Bible Belt—where the name of Jesus is known but Jesus himself often is not. They now serve as church planters in Elizabethtown, Ky., focusing on preaching and lifelong discipleship.

H. and her husband J. (appointed in 2022) have served with Belizean nationals since 2005. Both H. and J. were teachers and were given the opportunity to serve in Belize over the summers.

On one of their first trips, they followed God’s direction to buy food for a pastor’s family in a rural village. As they experienced God working through them to provide exactly what the national pastors needed for ministry, they were inspired to develop their role as a link between the ministry in Belize and churches in the US who can provide personnel and finances. They joined Live Global to continue regular ministry in villages throughout Belize.

Sarah grew up as a Catholic questioning her beliefs. Dissatisfied with the priest’s perpetual answers based on tradition, she accepted her neighbor’s invitation to attend the youth ministry they led at a Baptist church and trusted Christ. Years later, another neighbor connected her with a Bible-believing church where she learned about missions. Desiring to serve God but unsure how as a single mother of five, she found a fit with Live Global. She plans to regularly travel overseas while advocating in the US for national partners.