Background
My journey through life so far has been an adventure. Growing up in Wisconsin was an adventure in itself. After high school, I decided to attend the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to pursue a career in teaching. My years in college were the most formative and faith stretching. These years brought about a desire to center my life around helping kids find God in everywhere they look. My love for missions was cemented with a trip to Senegal during my sophomore year at UWM and my love for the wilderness came about through an intense summer working as a wilderness guide for Adventurous Christians, a Covenant Bible Camp in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. I will always have a place in my heart for this camp and the life lessons I learned there.

How did you become a Christian?
My parents raised me in the knowledge that there was a God who created this world and created me and He wanted me to know Him intimately through His son. In high school I was challenged to think critically about my faith and for the first time thought intently about why I believed what I believed. But it was not until college that I experienced the truly transforming power of Jesus. Through opening my eyes to pain I had held in for so many years and then Him holding me as I worked through that pain, I experienced the depth and solidity of God’s love.

What is a leadership lesson you have learned while serving at LeaderTreks?
Trust. LeaderTreks has taught me how a trust filled life in God can bring about changes we never imagined. It’s amazing to come to this knowledge and then to see students figure it out as well, knowing that life is a journey and we are never fully there.

What is one of your gifts and how do you use it?
One of the spiritual gifts placed in my heart is Comforting. Through multiple hardships and difficulties I have overcome in my life, God has used these experiences to develop a level of empathy, equipping me to better serve His kingdom.

Who is one student that you have seen grow as a leader?
On my second trip in Louisiana, I met a girl named Rebecca who blew me away with her leadership. She was the kind of girl who would stand up right away and lead a group in the right direction. But it wasn’t her boldness that impressed me, but rather her humble spirit while leading. Rebecca put herself third in everything she did and taught me valuable lessons about serving while leading.

Family
My parents, Dave and Mary, have been married for over thirty years and are continually teaching me about the power of service based love. My oldest brother Shannon serves as a youth pastor for Community Church in Fond du Lac, WI, where he lives with his artist wife Leslie, my niece Alena Hope, and their dog Nala. Kevin, the middle brother, is pursuing his nursing degree at University of Wisconsin after working as an arborist and his wife Kelly serves as a market research consultant in Madison, WI. They have two dogs, Olive and Madison.

Personal Blog
http://revolutionaryrants.blogspot.com