Mike and Nancy Elwood
US | 13920
Our Story
Mike was born and raised in Michigan, moving to Florida after graduating from Central Michigan University. He gave his heart to God as a high school senior and was discipled by the Navigators throughout college. Nancy was born in Ontario, Canada and moved to Florida at the age of 11, graduating from the University of South Florida. She understood her need for a savior during a time of family devotions when she was 7. Mike and Nancy met in Bradenton, Florida and headed to Columbia Graduate School of Bible and Missions in South Carolina. There they met a missionary starting a Bible school for eastern European students.
Where We Work
God led us to work with GEM in 1981. We began our missionary career in Yugoslavia which at that time was a restricted region for mission work. After a few years of language learning and enculturation, we moved to Vienna to work with the Eastern European Bible Institute where Mike was Dean of Students and taught a variety of classes. Nancy began to work at Vienna Christian School, teaching and doing administration. After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the onset of the war in Yugoslavia that divided the country, the Bible School was moved back into Yugoslavia. Our family made the decision to move to Hungary to be involved in pan-regional ministry. Mike worked with the Alliance for Saturation Church Planting and then served as GEM field leader in Slovenia for several years. Nancy worked with others to found SHARE Education Services, a partnership of mission agency educators coming alongside families to assist them with educating their children cross-culturally. In 2016, God called them back to the U.S. to care for aging parents. Mike is now primary caregiver for his 91 year old father and Nancy continues to serve missionary families at GEM and at SHARE. She also contributes to the health of missionary families throughout the globe through PACE, an online training organization she and a colleague formed to train education consultants for missions.