How I came to faith in Jesus Christ: I have no memory of the first moment when I trusted in Jesus as my own savior and experienced the cleansing of sin through faith in his death and resurrection. I do remember going through a pre-baptism class when I was seven years old and through self-examination realizing that I did trust in Jesus for my salvation. It seems to me that the truer test of a person’s salvation is an ongoing experience of being kept in faith by His sustaining grace. And that is the heart-beat of my testimony. Every trial and challenge has been sustained because I am not walking through life alone. The Spirit of Christ is in me and the body of Christ has been with me. In this company, nothing has been unendurable and my faith in God has grown stronger year by year. I love God. I love the ways of God and the people of God. I love worshiping God and serving Him. These things are the best evidence of my salvation.

How I was called to preach: I was thirteen years old in the summer of 1987 and I went to a church camp in Redding, CA with my youth group. As soon as I got to camp, the Lord laid this burden on my heart: “Preach the gospel to Julia.” My heart sank because I really liked this girl and it did not seem like the best plan to share Jesus with her. I mean, I wanted her to like me the same way that I liked her! That same first day at camp, I was reading in Phil. 4 during my personal devotions. I high-lighted v.6,7. “Be anxious for nothing, but in all things by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let all your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” I highlighted those amazing words, but I was not experiencing them. I was in a fight with God.

Living without peace because I would not submit to God’s call on me was a miserable experience. On Thursday evening that week I went to a chapel service. I really do not remember what the speaker said; but at the end of service I prayed and said, “I will do anything you want me to do; I will preach.” After re-reading Phil.4:6,7 I left the chapel alone and walked out into the moon-lit trees. With every step I received more and more peace from Him. I was walking along praising God out loud with the most amazing feeling inside of me. From that time on, I have been a preacher. I love the gospel and I love presenting the good news to people who know Jesus and to people who do not.

Why I feel called to the Pacific Northwest: Early in my high school career, I started a practice that I still follow today. I have multiple book-marks in my Bible with prayer requests written on them. Every day I open to one of them, read a chapter and pray over the requests (in high school, I kept ten marks–today, only five). One of my bookmarks has a heading at the top that says, “Send our laborers” (in honor of Jesus’s command in Matt.9:37,38). Under that heading, I have written several regions for which I have a burden because I know that there is a greater need for the gospel than there is available gospel-laborers. One of those regions that I have spent years praying over is the Pacific North West (I know, California is not part of that region; yet I can’t help loving California and feeling some longing towards it as well).

About my family: Grace and I met at the Urbana Missions Conference at the end of the year 2000. We were married on April 27, 2002 in Yakima, WA. Together, we have been blessed with seven children. Grace has taken on the considerable challenge of home-schooling our crew from the very beginning. She expends a considerable amount of time and energy discipling and educating our growing company.