Jeff

I grew up in a Christian home and accepted Christ as my Savior when I was ten years old. Several years later, during my third year of college, I began to seek God with all of my heart. I discovered the joy of serving Him, mainly in the areas of music and youth ministry.

After graduating from college, I went to Bolivia as a summer missionary, and while I was there God made it clear that He was calling me to serve Him cross-culturally. So I decided to go to seminary to prepare for the ministry God was calling me to.

After graduating from seminary, I went to Ecuador as a summer missionary with HCJB World Radio and worked at the short-wave transmitter site. God used this experience to show me He wanted me to serve in Ecuador long term.

During this same period of time, one thing that caught my attention is that another summer missionary in our group had also felt God leading her to return to Ecuador – a young lady by the name of Terri Fitzpatrick. One thing led to another, and we discovered that God’s plan for our lives also included serving as a couple. So during our time of support raising, we decided to add the stress of getting married, just for good measure 🙂

We headed off to language school together, eager to begin the ministry we had been preparing for. After eight months in Costa Rica studying Spanish, we boarded our flight to Ecuador, excited that our dream of returning there as career missionaries had finally become a reality. We served in many different areas during our 13+ years in Ecuador, but focused primarily on leadership development.

In August of 2007, we moved back to the U.S. to work with Christian ministry there. A few years later, God put a desire in our heart to return to Latin America and led us to the mission SIM. I am excited to be a part of the SIM team in Loja, Ecuador, where we have been serving since May of 2012. To learn more about the ministry God has led us to in Loja, click on Ministry in the main menu above.