After becoming a Christian in middle school at a youth group retreat, I stayed involved in a Bible Study and youth group all throughout high school.  God really protected me during those adolescent years!

As a teen, I had met some wonderful people in GCM—including a guy I thought was great, too!  When I began attending Bowling Green State University, I searched for GCM right away and got involved from the very first event. Eventually, without even realizing it (or desiring it), God was raising me up as I served and was teachable to those around me.  I was shocked and fearful when asked to go to LT ’87 early to be a leader.  Me…a leader?!?  That summer I began to realize that by God’s grace I could lead others to follow Christ, not follow me.

When I graduated in May of 1988 I didn’t know what I really wanted to do with my life. So, I went to LT to postpone my decision.  That summer, after wavering and considering moving on to a community setting, I sensed God leading me to stay in BG even though the staff program did not yet exist.  My heart was still on campus.

After working full-time at a job in my major for nine months (which involved getting up at 5:15 a.m.) and ministering on campus often late into the night, I realized something had to change.

After much prayer and consideration, in the summer of 1989, I joined the first (then GCCM) New Staff Training. We had 2 long weeks on very hard chairs, but by God’s grace I made it through, raised support and was soon reaching out to women full-time at BGSU. I was thrilled to be available to focus on ministry.

After two years as a single staffer, Paul and I got married and he joined me on staff at BGSU until we had our first child three years later.  I still loved campus ministry and volunteered as much as I could—babies can be student-magnets!

Eventually, Paul sensed it was time to move on and God opened a door by providing a position in the GCM office. I had been in Bowling Green for 11 years and given so much of myself to the church, it was very hard to leave.  In Columbus I continued to be involved with the female campus staff as long as I could until we had our third child. For a short time, I even worked part-time in the office as an administrative assistant.

After living in Columbus for five years, we relocated to Orlando, Florida with the GCM office in 2001. At that point I sensed God leading me to take a step up in ministry as our three kids were getting a bit older and I still had a strong passion to minister to women. As a result, the “beauty for ashes” letter was born and I began raising more financial support to once again be employed part-time for GCM. At just the right time, God provided the wonderful team of Kathy, Andrea and Collette as well. And now, I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to continue laboring with all of you and help support you in any way I can. Now we are back in Bowling Green, Ohio, ministering locally to the campus here as well as nationally.

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