Our Team
Equipping disciple-makers around the world — meet the people behind the mission, and why they said yes.
I am a servant, husband, father, and engineer. I love solving engineering problems — particularly when it helps other people. God's calling has led me from the workforce to education, where I enjoy teaching engineering at College of the Ozarks and investing in the next generation of problem solvers. My wife and I are blessed with three children who we take turns evangelizing in the ways of the Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves.
My initial involvement with DFH served two passions — I wanted to serve the Lord in the mission field, and I wanted to serve my friend Chris with his engineering ministry. God teaches us that our skills and gifts are to be used first for His kingdom, and I saw DFH doing exactly that. Chris first asked me to serve on the board of directors, then on staff, and I have been happily involved since 2011. My primary focus now is introducing my engineering students to the ministry and looking at ways to refine and develop our engineering services.
As a mechanical engineer and a midwife, we spent six years in the heart of Davao City, Philippines, volunteering with a charity maternity clinic whose aim is to share Christ's love through compassionate midwifery care. It gave us amazing opportunities to share who Jesus is through quality prenatal, labor, delivery, and postpartum care.
In 2020 we joined Designs for Hope as regional directors of Asia, where we equip and empower disciple-makers with innovative solutions to their spiritual and physical needs — partnering with pastors, missionaries, and indigenous churches throughout Asia to engage the lost with the good news of Jesus Christ.
Join us on this journey to do our small part to impact the world for the Kingdom as we serve throughout South and Southeast Asia. Please pray for us, share our story, and help us go, love, and serve His people.
I'm deeply passionate about seeing lives radically transformed through Jesus Christ and bringing the Gospel to those who have never had the opportunity to hear it. Through Designs for Hope, I partner with pastors, church leaders, and communities across Africa to make disciples, equip and strengthen local churches, and ignite lasting hope in places facing great need.
I'm married to my wife, Junie, and together we are committed to faithfully following God's call wherever He leads us. I believe every person deserves the chance to encounter the life-changing hope found in Christ, and I'm honored to play a part in the incredible work God is accomplishing throughout Africa.
I have the privilege of serving as the Director of Donor Relations for Designs for Hope. My wife and I have two daughters, Ann Shepard and Henrietta — Henrietta has gone ahead of us to heaven. As a family we have loved the ministry of DFH from the very beginning, and we recently had the opportunity to dedicate a water well in Ethiopia in her memory. That has made Ethiopia and the work being done there a very special place in our hearts.
One of the things that drew me to Designs for Hope is that everything is done with the Gospel in mind. Water wells aren't just clean water wells — they're opportunities to share the Gospel and the love of our Heavenly Father. Projects exist to open doors to the good news of Jesus Christ.
I'm also deeply drawn to the way DFH works alongside disciple-makers within their own countries and communities. We want to empower local leaders to shepherd and care for their people — because they're the ones who are with their communities every day.
After 38 years as a banker and corporate trainer — alongside a concurrent season in music ministry with my wife, Shelia — I retired in 2021. I spent several months searching for something meaningful in which to invest my retirement years, and through a number of ways I believe God led me to Designs for Hope.
I visited the DFH office to explore volunteer opportunities and the staff was so welcoming and friendly. I knew almost immediately that this was a place I would enjoy and a mission I could embrace. About six months after that first visit, I was in Kenya on my first mission trip.
Having a sense of God's calling to this ministry has made my time here so rewarding. I feel blessed to be a part of this team and privileged to take part in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
My journey with DFH started in 2020 after graduating from seminary with my Master's in Biblical Studies. I had been serving at my church for years, but during a missions trip to Tanzania, God showed me how I could use my education and gifts to help with pastor training in developing nations.
I began praying for God to lead me to a local ministry working overseas, and He answered that prayer soon after graduation. Working as the Pastor Training Coordinator for DFH has been such a blessing to me and my family, and I'm so thankful that God called me to this work.
If you have a heart for global missions, or you feel like God is calling you to serve Him in this way, we would love for you to go on a trip with us sometime.
Storytelling has always been how I make sense of the world — and how I point others toward what matters. Through international missions work across Uganda, Kenya, and El Salvador, I've seen firsthand how powerful it is when a community's story gets told well: it builds trust, opens hearts, and moves people to act.
That's what drew me to Designs for Hope. I joined because I believe every family and child this organization serves has a story worth telling with dignity and care — and because I wanted to use my gifts in communication to help make hope visible, one story at a time.