WHO WE ARE

1995 - Born to a Loving, Christian Marine Family

I was born in Jacksonville, North Carolina to an incredible family. Growing up, my brother Josh (3 years older) was my favorite playmate, and Lindsay (6 years older) was my role model. My dad served 22 years in the Marine Corps, but other than the times he was deployed, I remember him being a very present, loving, and caring dad. He modeled Christ-likeness and led our family in following Jesus. My mom was our rock (and in many ways still is!), driving us to and from countless hours of soccer games and gymnastics practices, and wanting to know every detail of our day. It still humbles me greatly knowing that God was kind enough not only to create me but to give me this family and the incredible childhood I had.

2008 - My Profession of Faith

After living in North Carolina, we moved to Quantico, Virginia, then Portsmouth, England for my dad’s job. Upon finishing that 2-year assignment, we moved to Stafford, Virginia, where my dad retired from the Marine Corps and we began to plant roots. In middle school, we began attending Mt. Ararat Baptist Church. In 7th grade, I signed up to attend their winter retreat where they would be studying the story of Job. During that retreat, the Lord convicted my heart as the question was asked, “What would be left of your faith if everything else was stripped away?” Though I had heard the truths of God my entire childhood and was familiar with the gospel, it truly seemed as though the scales were removed from my eyes that weekend and I saw my sin and my need for a Savior for the very first time. The Lord, in His kindness, heard my cry for help and gave me new life in Christ. I still remember excitedly going home from this church retreat feeling completely different, knowing I was saved by grace through faith, asking my sister, “How do I tell everyone what just happened? I am a new person!”

2011 - Exposure to Unreached People Groups

After making that profession of faith, I promptly began reading the Bible for myself, wanting to understand more about God and draw closer to the Lord Jesus in my life. Through my parents’ teaching, my church’s discipleship, and my friends’ encouragement, I grew in my faith and began asking God what He would have me do with my life. In middle school I had a strong desire to help those in need, not understanding how I could have so few needs while there were so many suffering around the world. I began considering how I could help – maybe I would build clean water wells or fight against starvation – but no matter what, I knew the Lord was drawing my attention to the nations. In high school, I began learning not only about the physical needs around the world, but the grave spiritual needs. A missionary couple, Jason and Laken, were raising support to move to Papua New Guinea, and as I watched their lives and heard about their long-term goals to see an entire tribe transformed by the gospel, I was inspired. Upon talking to them, I learned for the first time about unreached people groups and began asking hard questions such as, “What happens to those who die, who have never heard of Jesus?” It wasn’t long before I felt the Lord was confirming in me a desire to serve overseas as a full-time missionary.

2013 - The University of Alabama

After graduating high school, I wanted to hop on an airplane, move to Africa, and go change the world. Praise God for wise parents who encouraged my enthusiasm, but knew that I needed time to mature before I could wisely move overseas! Through God’s providential hand, I chose to attend The University of Alabama where I affectionately say I experienced my favorite 4 years of life! Roll Tide. Though I did not know a single soul on campus when I first arrived, God provided incredible friends and an incredible church that poured into me. As my love for the Lord increased, so did my desire to make Him known among the nations. While in college, I participated in international ministry and developed deep friendships with students from all around the world - many of whom were from unreached people groups. During this time I learned what it meant to share the gospel with someone who had never heard of Jesus and likely never would have if they stayed in their home country. Through tears and laughter, I fell in love with these dear friends and my desire to serve God overseas only grew stronger.

2017 - Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

After learning about and considering many organizations that support missionaries, I decided I’d like to go overseas with the International Mission Board if they would have me. Thus, after graduating from Bama with a B.S. in Secondary Education Mathematics, I chose to attend Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and pursue a Masters degree in Intercultural Studies, a degree path designed to prepare missionaries for overseas work. While there, I met Derby, fell in love with him, and began to catch a vision and zeal for work among the Thai people.

1992 - My 1st Move to Thailand

My parents moved my family to Thailand to be medical missionaries in October, 1992. My Dad was going to work in a rural hospital and my mom went (initially) to keep us all alive. I’d say both goals were a smashing success; my dad saved lives and my mom sustained them. I left America with two siblings: Gary (3) and Becky (6 months). Sandi joined us a few years later—Dad delivered her.

~1995 - My Profession of Faith

I was very outgoing as a child—much like I am still today. I made neighborhood friends quickly and spent the majority of my days playing with them. The town I grew up in was similar to most villages and towns in Thailand—it was riddled with demonic oppression. In fact, it was not uncommon for my Dad to see patients in the hospital or in the town possessed by a demon. My friends and their families were terrified of these spirits and did everything they could to appease them. My closeness to these friends meant I shared in their fear. I was afraid of the dark, being alone, and certain places in town. I was crippled by my fear. 

One day, my fear became too much for me. I thought to myself, “How in the world am I going to live the rest of my life with this immense fear?” I was sitting down under our stilted house when I remembered all that my parents had told me about Jesus. They told me that in the beginning, God created the world and that He created it good with no suffering and no fear. They told me that God is powerful and that He alone is God. I also knew that He alone was more powerful than the evil spirits in my hometown and that He alone could help me with my fears. But then another thought came to my mind. I remembered that my parents said that God is all-powerful and good, but that things changed in the world when human beings decided to disobey God and not live according to His design. In other words, I couldn’t ask God to help me until I confessed that I wasn’t living according to God’s design. I was a sinner and the only hope I had to be made right with God was if I chose to believe that Jesus died for my sin. So, sitting there alone under our stilted house, I prayed to my Maker. I asked Him to forgive me of my sins and make it so that I had nothing to fear anymore. 

God never took my fears away completely. In fact, still today, I struggle with fairly frequent night terrors among other things. However, God has always shown Himself to be faithful. While my fears are still present, He took away the greatest fear I could face—His eventual judgment. Sometimes, I felt my fears were similar to the thorn in the Apostle Paul’s flesh and I would cling to the promise that God’s grace was, is, and will always be sufficient. I was always embarrassed about my fears, but God has shown me that in my weakness He is not only strong, but capable of using it for His glory among the nations. 

Today, I love sharing my testimony with Thais because it's a chance to highlight the hope that is in Christ. I am constantly amazed that my redemption story uniquely relates to millions of Thais. Millions in Thailand and billions of others around the world suffer from significant fear of the spiritual world. By God’s sovereignty, I shared in their misery for a time. But by His grace, I now walk in the newness of life bought by Christ on the cross and instilled in me by the Holy Spirit, and I can share this hope in Christ with them in a uniquely relatable way. To God be the glory.

2009 - My Move to America

Upon graduating high school, I moved to the US where I attended North Greenville University in South Carolina and studied video production. I wasn’t sure what God was calling me to do after college, but I knew I loved video storytelling and would try my hand in the film industry. This was my trajectory until the president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (remember this school for later), Danny Akin, came to my school to speak in chapel. He preached on missions but all I can remember is him saying from the stage that we shouldn’t be asking God if we should go overseas to do missions, but why should we stay in the US. This broke me. I went back to my dorm room weeping because I knew that I personally had no good reason for staying in the US. However, I still wasn’t sure what my role overseas was going to be. So I decided to test the Lord’s calling on my life by spending the summer after my junior year and the first semester of my senior year in South Asia to use my skills as a video producer. While there, I fell in love with the Lord and His work among the nations in a whole new way. I just knew God was calling me to make a longer commitment to international missions. So, before returning to the US, I applied with the International Mission Board to serve a 2-year term in Chiang Mai, Thailand as a video producer.

2013 - My Move Back to Thailand

Promptly after college graduation, I moved back to Thailand. The next two years would prove to be some of the most fruitful years in my faith. I had the best job a 22-year-old could have and I had an incredible supervisor to back it. I got to travel every other month to a different country where my sole purpose was to capture and then tell the stories of what God was doing all over Asia! Needless to say, I was hooked. I knew that God was calling me to return to the mission field as a long-term worker. However, this time, I felt led to return not as a video producer but to participate in evangelism, discipleship, and church planting. 

2015 - My Move Back to America

To serve the church as a long-term missionary meant that I needed more theological and biblical training. So, I came to Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, where Danny Akin was still the president. I was scared to death! I hated theology and I wasn’t too fond of reading or writing. I went to Southeastern to get the shortest degree I could so that I’d be able to return to the field as soon as possible. But God had something else in store for me. My affections grew for Him even more while in seminary. The classes became devotional and His Word was coming alive more than it ever had before. I still had a strong distaste for reading and writing, but they were a necessary annoyance to continue my walk with the Lord. 

I was wrapping up my degree when my mentor, Dr. Chuck Lawless, spoke to me about pursuing further education at Southeastern. I did what any respectful student would do: I told him he was crazy and he was losing his ability to discern a quality student from a tolerable student. Despite my outburst, he lovingly and patiently explained to me why he thought I should seriously consider pursuing a Ph.D. And just like with Danny Akin, I returned to my apartment weeping over what I felt God was calling me to do. Here I was, wrapping up my degree, in the process with the IMB to return to the field, and God threw me a curve ball.

2017 - Still in America

My mom laughed for a solid minute when I told her I was going to apply for the Ph.D. program at Southeastern. She genuinely thought I was joking. I was an under-qualified Ph.D. candidate, to say the least. I knew it, the Ph.D. office knew it (a story for another time), my friends knew it, and even my mom knew it. I have never been accused of being a natural at reading or writing and I was willingly signing up for an incredible amount of both. But one of my Dad’s childhood lessons kept ringing in my head: “Son, never confuse the hard way with the wrong way.” Just because something is hard, doesn’t mean it isn’t right. 

By some miracle, I met Bethany and she agreed to go out with me just as I began the process of applying for the program—and by another miracle, I was accepted (both by Bethany and the Ph.D. program). A day after we returned from our honeymoon, I started my first seminars. By the grace of God and with the help of so many others, I graduated.