Tom and Joanna Appel
France | 00850
Our Story
We (Tom and Joanna) met in college in Nashville, TN. We both have a passion for music and ministry. When we were first married we felt a call to go to the UK, so we bought one way tickets and went! God was incredibly faithful and we ended up staying for five years doing work in the Anglican church. We moved back to the states and had our three sons, Reuben, Eli and Silas, and Tom started to pursue his Masters of Divinity at Bethany Seminary.
After a few years working in the secular non-profit world, Tom felt called back into ministry and has spent a few years as a youth pastor in Colorado. We felt the call to France in 2014 and joined GEM in 2015. During our time of fundraising, we had our fourth child, Elodie. We arrived in France in April of 2017 and spent a year in language school near Paris. We moved to Normandy in 2018 and have been living and working alongside churches ever since. In 2025, our son Aaron was born in France.
Where We Work
We live and work in Caen, Normandy about five minutes from the D-Day Beaches. Our work is as a family on mission, using hospitality, sport, neighboring, and especially the arts and music to build relationships and be a witness in our community.
We work to support local church communities, both protestant and catholic in the development of sung worship and helping to provide pastoral care. We have formed a musical duo called “Hometown Tennessee” and we play small shows in the area where we are able to sing and share about Jesus. We love to host meals and outreach events in our home and have hope to have a community art space in the city.