We met in Cannon Beach, Oregon (1985) at the annual Village Missions pastors conference, and became friends in middle school. We dated throughout university, and were married on August 5, 2006. We both have a BA in Bible and Theology, and Micah is completing a MA in Counseling and a MA in Theology at Denver Seminary. We have two boys, who were both born in France. Our story is not unlike the teens that we serve, as we both grew up as pastor's kids. We've always been very familiar with Christian values, traditions and Bible stories that we learned growing up. However, the process of connecting the things that we knew in our heads to our hearts, and making the faith of our parents, a faith of our own, has not always been as easy some may assume. As our GEM-K team connects with MKs relationally, cares for them emotionally and challenges them spiritually, we help them to develop resiliency. When teenagers make their own decision to wholeheartedly follow Jesus, and when families are thriving on the field, it's incredible to see the things God can do in and through them.