My wife, Julie, and I have four children: Rebekah, Katie, Emily, and Nathan. We want to share a little family history.
Julie and I, individually in college, made a commitment to the Lord that we would go and serve anywhere that the Lord would lead us. We committed our lives to His service. We were married in 1993. In 1997, we presented ourselves to our church in TN ready to go to the foreign mission field. God had other plans that proved to be most wise and good for us (imagine that!)! We know now that we were not ready as individuals, as a couple, nor as a family. God needed to mature us and prepare us.
After being led to Charlotte, NC, life set in (jobs, church life, and children). Throughout our lives (especially in Charlotte), we have been active in church life, serving in many capacities. In 2000, we became a part of a church plant. That experience matured us unlike we had ever anticipated. We were a part of the "nuts & bolts" of the operations. In 2004, I was ordained as an elder and served for 3 years. During that time, I worked with the missions in our church and even served as the director and led our first mission trip to Red Lake, MN. Even as a family, we served faithfully in our local church, but always having a place in our heart for missions and seeing the Gospel go out to the ends of the world.
In 2009, as a family, we began working with the international student ministry at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. We fell in love with the students that came every Friday night during the school year and those that came through the summers. In 2010, through the direction of that local international student minister, we were connected to the North American Mission Board and the national coordinator for collegiate evangelism.
In 2011, we were commissioned by our home church, Living Faith Baptist Church, and the North American Mission Board to begin an international student ministry at Purdue University.
At the beginning of September 2011, after our house sold in Charlotte, we traveled around the southeast to complete our support raising and completing our ministry partnership team.
On Nov. 10, 2011, we arrived in West Lafayette, Indiana to begin this ministry through a miraculous series of events! Since arriving, our family has grown up through this journey. Our daughters have grown up into beautiful young women, and our son is maturing into a respectful young man. Their talents have blossomed since moving here. Rebekah now has a degree from Bryan College in Musical Theater. Katie has graduated from Miracle Mountain School of Discipleship. Emily is planning to head to college next year to study Worship Arts. Nathan is busy learning about coding, building with Legos, and preparing for a possible future in engineering. The Lord only knows. We are excited to see where the Lord will take our children.
Please feel free to visit Dennis' BLOG to read about current events and thoughts. Also, you can visit our ministry site to see what we refer the international students to as we initially meet them.