My husband, Chuck, and I have been in ministry since the early 90s. We served in Asheville, North Carolina at Trinity Presbyterian Church (PCA) in youth work for 10 years before we were called into full-time, career global work. We were blessed to have the support of our sending organization Mission to the World (MTW) and moved to Perth, Australia with our very young family of five children. We have been working in Australia since early 2002 and our initial assignment was equipping/training youth leaders within an Australian Christian denomination of 8 churches during our first four years on the field.
During our 2nd and 3rd (four year) terms, we served on a team geared to mercy ministry to disadvantaged people, along with equipping, discipling and encouraging Aussies in the work of the church in Fremantle, Western Australia. I enjoyed leading weekly ladies Bible studies to several different age groups (usually a morning one for mothers and an evening one for single ladies).
Our church plant (called churchfreo) has been described as “street level” in that it is located in the community that boasts the largest homeless population in Western Australia. “Church” is who we are and “freo” is the nickname for the town of Fremantle. Hence who we are and where we meet! The ministry is focused on the needs of its surrounding community. Churchfreo regularly ministers to the unsaved, drug and alcohol addicts, homeless people, and believers whose hearts have grown cold.
Our family is now serving in Hobart, Tasmania where we are in a start up work in the Central Business District (CBD) of Hobart. As we try to duplicate the mercy ministry we were involved in planting at Fremantle, life in Hobart is significantly different. I struggle daily with being a supportive, godly wife and sometimes long for the “messy” ministry we were once associated with.
We have four daughters and one son. Our oldest daughter, Jordan (25) is married to her Covenant College sweetheart and living in Waynesville, NC with their two wonderful kittens. Our other four children live with us in Tasmania. Logan (21) is studying Broadcast Journalism and Criminology at the University of Tasmania. Our middle daughter Ryan (18) has just finished her high school diploma and is working on many art projects while applying to a Creative Media Institute to study for a Bachelor of Animation and Graphic Design. Evan (16) is homeschooled and has been working at our local McDonalds for over a year. My baby and only son, Cooper (14) is also homeschooled and has just secured his first job at a Fish-n-Chips shop here in town. He rides his skateboard to work down many steep hills.
Personally I love many things – my dream is to write a book one day on our funny family travel experiences. The things I love most and would tell you about myself are:
I AM:
- wife
- momma of 5
- follower of Jesus
- sunbather
- cook
- scrapbooker
- organizer (ok-OCD)
- homeschooler
- global worker
- sojourner
- homemaker
- foodie
And most of all saved by the grace of God. I am so grateful for His love, grace and mercy and hope I can portray that to all of those I come into contact with.
©2017 Thrive.