After more than two decades of life and ministry with Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF), serving in Serbia and Montenegro, we worked ourselves out of our “job”, meaning we turned everything over to national workers, and returned to the U.S., thinking we would transition back to American life and ministry. However…that was not to be. In 2013 our CEF international ministries leadership sent us to Manila in the Philippines, spending several days with the CEF Filipino National staff, and Hong Kong to attend a regional CEF conference. While running…literally…through the Tokyo airport attempting to catch our connecting flight to Manila (unsuccessfully!), we were struck by how much we felt at home in an airport, in a city, on a continent we had never before visited or lived: British Airways, Lufthansa, JAL, ANA, KLM, Austrian Airlines…we could have been at home in any one of the major European airports through which we had transited so many times during the years. Upon returning to the U.S., we realized that our hearts and souls were still very much globally-focused and we began seeking God’s face as to what this meant. After receiving much encouragement from a counselor friend in Grand Rapids, Michigan, our CEF international leadership sent us, in 2014, to the Narramore Christian Foundation training seminar/conference in Turkey. Through the various sessions, interactions, and times with God, we returned to the U.S., our hearts burning with a desire and passion to come alongside missionaries and national staff who are isolated, hurting, scared, lonely, and feel they have no one who understands, cares, or will listen. In autumn 2016, we were honored to be accepted as full-time missionaries by Paraclete Mission Group, an organization specializing in Pastoral/Member Care for Global Christian Workers and with whom we have been working since January 2017. We are privileged to come alongside GCWs in central and southern Europe, east Asia, and creative access nations in the Middle East and Africa, specializing in mentoring, contemplative weekends of Scripture study, listening, seeking out professional help for those who desire such help, providing times of Sabbath Rest Retreats for our former teammates, and, in the fall of 2023, facilitating the launching of the Serbian language Untying the Knots of the Heart discipleship series.

We have been married for more than 45 years, having met at Grace College of the Bible in Omaha, Nebraska. We have four grown children, all raised in Europe, three of whom are married and have blessed us with grandkids. After two years of studies at Grace, we transferred to the University of Nebraska where Jan earned her RN, and Doug a Bachelors in Music Education. In the fall of 1986 we began our training and mission preparation with Child Evangelism Fellowship, moving to Vienna, Austria in 1989, joining the CEF European Outreach team, ministering in Communist East Europe. During that time we were introduced to the nation of Yugoslavia and began working in a country experiencing war, implosion, refugees, a police state, and the beginning of a growing team of national CEF missionaries and a national CEF ministry program. In early 1996, we moved to what would become the Republic of Serbia in the former Yugoslavia. After more war and two evacuations, we moved back to Vienna in late summer 2000, where we continued to mentor, train, and raise up a team of national missionaries and leaders who would expand the CEF ministries in Serbia, Montenegro, and later Bosnia-Herzegovina. In 2012, it was with many tears yet hearts of gratitude that we returned to the U.S., leaving behind a team that is completely led and staffed by nationals, doing great things for our God throughout Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia.