When I was growing up, my family went to church every time the doors were open. God showed me that I was a sinner when I was seven years old, and I asked Jesus to save me from my sins and lead me in His way. I was baptized a few weeks later. Since then, God has continued to show me His grace in the hard times and the good times: my mom passed away the next year; my dad remarried when I was a teen, I served on a church-planting team in Central Asia in my 20s, Joe and I married and had kids and fostered and adopted. It has been an adventure growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 3:18)

I’m beyond grateful that the Lord led us to Bethany when we moved to Peoria 18 years ago. I’ve loved being part of the orchestra, various Bible studies, nursery teams, Open Hearts Open Homes, and the counseling ministry. I look forward to deepening relationships with those in the Bethany family as we follow Christ together.

I was born and raised in a Catholic household and, therefore, grew up with a head knowledge of who Jesus was. However, it wasn't until my junior year of high school, when our school required us to complete community service hours outside of school, that I was truly faced with the question of who Jesus was to me. During my service at a therapeutic riding barn, a friend I made there asked me a question that shook me: "Are you a Christian? Do you believe Jesus is your Lord and Savior?" Initially, I was offended - I'm Catholic, so of course I'm a Christian. However, it forced me to reflect deeply on my relationship with God. It became clear to me that despite having grown up learning about Him, I had not truly accepted Christ into my heart. In this reflection, I asked Jesus to be my Savior and began the lifelong journey of following Him and prioritizing Him in my life. It's now clear to me that Jesus had been preparing me to walk with Him all throughout my life, even before I outwardly accepted Him to be my Lord. Praise God for his goodness and mercy!

I have been serving at Bethany in Awana for 3 years and have recently accepted the position of TNT boys coordinator. I have also been serving in the worship ministry for 3 years, playing drums and bass. Initially, the thought of becoming a deacon scared me, mostly due to feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt. However, through prayerful consideration, I have felt God's call to begin the training and grow as a willing servant to Him in this role. I am also excited to deepen my relationship and understanding of Him through the studies prepared for us by the elders.

I was blessed to grow up with parents who love and serve the Lord. I grew up knowing the truth about who Jesus was, and I put my faith in Him at a young age. As I've grown over the years, there have been ups and downs in my walk with the Lord, but He has remained faithful. He never let me go, and I've come to love Him and be in awe of Him more and more as the years go by.

Since making Bethany our home church, I've been given many opportunities to serve. I've specifically been blessed to be part of Bethany's thriving, biblical, children's ministry. I look forward to continuing to make connections with children and families in Bethany as well as other groups within the church. My hope is to be better prepared and equipped to serve and love our Bethany family, and I know becoming a deaconess will do just that.

The Lord blessed me with parents that raised me in a Christian home. At the age of 10, I prayed to ask Jesus to be Lord of my life. Initially, I remember a softness for growing and serving, but through my teen years and into adulthood, allowed myself to think that I could live the way I wanted all while looking “good” on the outside. There were seasons of reading scripture and praying, but usually to serve my purposes. As I look back, I see how God used my sin, consequences, and hard circumstances to bring me to the end of myself. In January of 2011 Pastor Ritch gave a challenge to read the bible through in a year. So, I did this for the first time in my life. My eyes were opened to God’s sovereignty. As I continued to read His Word and grow in understanding the role of the Holy Spirit in my life, my desire to obey, display His fruit and live an honoring life also grew. I began to see others’ needs, struggles and hurts above my own. My husband, Gordy, and I served in the high school ministry and the Lord gave me a desire to encourage these precious girls through difficult and often painful circumstances. So, I began mentoring and discipling them. There has been continual, steady growth since then. I find it difficult to find the right words to say how grateful I am for God’s mercy in my life, and not leaving me to myself. He is worthy!

To be a deaconess is exciting for me to consider as I believe it will grow deeper relationships and allow new ones. I am humbled that God uses me and I trust I will learn to be a better servant of His church through this ministry.

I grew up in a very small church that was part of a large mainline denomination. I don’t remember a time when I didn’t believe that God existed. Also, even when I was very young, I somehow knew that God could see me and he heard me when I talked to him. My mom would pray with me before bed and regularly communicated God’s love for me when I was young. I can still remember true things about God that I had learned from VBS teachers, an evangelist at the state fair, and a couple different baseball coaches. By the time high school came around, I had been confirmed in my denomination, and if any would have asked, I would have said I was a Christian. My denomination was very heavy on teaching about the love of God and very light on just about everything else. So as a teenage boy I knew God loved me, but why wouldn’t He? I thought of myself as a good kid; I had things I wouldn’t do. I had things I would do though, supposing God was ok with what I thought of as lesser sins because I had stayed away from the “real bad” stuff. If I was honest with myself, though, this didn’t take my feeling of guilt away. Eventually, my reckless behavior landed me suspended from school and from the basketball team. I my sin was on display and for the first time in a while I had to consider that I wasn’t quite as good as I thought I was. Not long after the suspension, I attended a Christian retreat. I heard a lot about the love of God again, but before I did, I heard about my sin. I didn’t need to be convinced that I was a sinner; I knew it. I knew I needed to be forgiven. “But God shows love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” On the cross, Jesus, sinless as he was, was punished for the things I had done. God’s wrath against my sin was satisfied in what Christ had done on the cross. Christ’s resurrection carried with it the promise of my own. I had been awakened to this truth and I responded by putting all of my hope in it and turning away from my sin. God’s love for me was more profound than I had known. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

I have been serving as a high school youth leader since 2011. There were a few years where I led a basketball ministry as well. Over the years of serving the youth ministry, it’s plain to me that I have been even more served by the ministry. I am pursuing service as a deacon from a sense gratitude I have for all the ways this body has served me. I also pray that God would use this service to change me and make me more like Himself.

I was born and raised in a Christian home in Jackson, MI. My Mom and Dad were hardworking and faithful followers of Christ. Dad worked as a postmaster in a small town 30 minutes from where I grew up and my Mom was an elementary school teacher. I had two older sisters who by God’s grace are Christians like myself. The summer before my 9th grade year, I went to a camp called Pine Trail in Saugatuck, MI. The topic of the week was grace and the principle book of the Bible that was being taught was Philippians. Although, I’m sure I heard the gospel many many times before. This week in particular, the concept of grace fell upon my heart with power. I heard again and again that my relationship with God was one that could not be earned through my own merit nor destroyed (once attained) by my own shortcomings, sins, and failures. I heard that those who are united to Jesus by faith are seen by God through the lens of Christ. My eyes were opened in a fresh way to the fact that the holiness and goodness of Jesus had been transferred to me in the eyes of God and that my sin had been fully transferred to Christ. I remember picturing the Father looking upon me as I knew He looked up on Jesus- with perfect love and delight. Romans 8:1 became my life verse: “Therefore there is no no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus These truths set me free. I remember being used that week on our youth group’s drama team and thinking, “Can there be anything more exciting and awesome than being used by God for His purposes?” I trace my call to full time vocational ministry to that week and the ministry I had the opportunity to participate in as a high schooler. My story has so much more to tell because this was merely the beginning of my walk with Jesus. But grace has been the constant theme. I have failed my Master on many occasions. He has disciplined me, taught me, encouraged me, and strengthened me every day. He has blessed me with a wonderful wife and four precious kids. He has always given me the opportunity to be a part of gospel proclaiming churches that are full of people who have loved and ministered to me. Jesus is my treasure and I know that I am treasured by Him.

Bethany in particular has played a major part in the story of my life. It is here at Bethany that I have walked through most of my twenties and thirties and put skin on many of the doctrinal and theological truths that I learned at Bible college and seminary. It is here at Bethany that I found my wife. It is here at Bethany that I have been fed God’s Word through the pulpit ministry and through godly mentors. My desire is to serve Bethany as an elder because I know without a doubt that Jesus loves this church. He loves Bethany as a whole and He loves the individuals who make up the community that is Bethany. I believe that loving and serving all of you is a way that I can love the One who has laid down His life for me (Galatians 2:20).

My Father God lavished His love on me and drew me to Himself as a young child. Through the stories of sin and sacrifice throughout the Bible, I recognized that I was separated from Him by my sin and that a perfect sacrifice was necessary to bring me to God. From my earliest memories, I believed that Jesus was that perfect sacrifice. Christ died from sin, once for all, the Righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body, but made alive by spirit (1 Peter 3:18). Papa God continues to lavish His love on me by working day by day, month by month, year by year to make me more like His perfect Son. I can’t wait to someday be perfect and see Him as He really is.

I’m deeply grateful for my Bethany church family. In our 17 years here, you all have loved, challenged and encouraged my husband Dan and I and our kids, as our family has grown and grown. I believe that an important part of church life is older women teaching younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled (Titus 2:3-5). I am passionate about being part of that chain—learning from those ahead of me and teaching those behind me. May we be ready for every good work our Perfect Father has laid out for us.

I was raised in a Christian (presbyterian) home by 2 faithful parents. I made a private decision (prayer) at VBS as a child. In high school, I began pursuing my selfishness more and God less. This trend continued into college where God took a relationship away from me against my will. I concluded that if God’s choice was to take this relationship from me and if God is sovereign, then I had to reject the doctrine of God’s complete sovereignty so that I could pursue restoration of the lost relationship. I failed. Even though I failed to prove I was sovereign over my life, I continued to pursue myself and sought alternate explanations for life and secular philosophy. I continued to harden my heart towards God, but my reason for rejecting Him fell into a subconscious place in my mind. As a result of my pride, depression, and selfishness I had to leave my college and transfer to another. At my new school I was alone and broken. I attended Cru once and filled out a connection card, but I never returned. One of the leaders used my contact info to pursue me relentlessly and I eventually agreed to meet with him. He built a close relationship with me and eventually called me out (graciously but directly) for rebelling against God. He helped me see that the reason I wasn’t finding what I was looking for in the secular world is because of my rebellion. I went home that night and wept, I begged God’s forgiveness and repented. I decided I didn’t want to pursue myself anymore, but Him instead. I was no longer a slave to myself but was free to fight my flesh. I can’t say that I’ve won every battle with my flesh since then, but I can say that I’ve been fighting alongside the King of Kings, not against.

I currently serve as a co-leader of our community group alongside Josh Beakley and Jason Barley. Additionally, I co-lead the 3rd grade boys T&T small group and serve as an advocate for the Biblical Counseling Ministry. I am also involved as a co-leader in the Soccer Ministry. I see value in the structure of the leadership development program. I believe it will improve my ability to lead/serve in the ways God has called me (husband, father, community group co- leader, T&T leader, employee). I also hope it will be encouraging in my relationship with the Lord by developing a deeper understanding of what His word says on the prepared topics. I love and respect our church leaders, and I want to be able to help serve them and alongside them.

I didn’t grow up in a gospel centered home and my exposure to religion taught me to do good so I would receive God’s blessing and if I did bad things I would receive God’s cursing. I failed often to live in step with outward religious moral conformity. So, as a late teen, I abandoned the idea of God. As the years went on, the wear and tear of my life’s sin and suffering began to weigh on me. I began searching for something to give me relief. I started hosting a topically Christian book club in my home. At the end of one of our meetings, an attendee invited me to her church. To the praise of His glorious grace, I heard the gospel preached at that faithful church and the rest of my life has been spent humbly walking in the good works He has prepared for me.

I have had the immense pleasure to serve the women and families at Bethany through a variety of different ministries including discipleship and counseling. I'm excited to continue to grow in Christ-likeness through service as a deaconess and I'm prayerful that this role will continue to conform my life into one that is shaped by the upward call of Christ Jesus.

I grew up in a Christian home and attended Peoria Christian School. I gained a broad knowledge of theology there and I was a believer, but it wasn’t until I joined Cru in college that the Lord opened my eyes to the centrality of the Gospel. I began to see growth in the fruit of the Spirit in my life. More recently the Lord has shown me His attributes, particularly His goodness and His identity as the Good Shepherd, through marriage to Dan and parenting Jacob and Ollie. He has also used the last seven years of teaching and studying at Community Bible Study to make His Word truly come alive to me.

I enjoyed what I affectionately refer to as “tour one” of working in the church office from 2012-2015, when I left to stay home with our oldest son. During my years away from the office I served as a table leader and secretary for Awana and a co-director at VBS, and worked on various editing projects. I was invited back for “tour two” in 2022 and have worked as the adult ministries admin ever since. The Lord has grown my heart for the church over these last few years, from serving our homebound members to watching the men jump onboard with The Anvil to seeing women’s events grow exponentially to working on the sermon series booklets and seeing so many of you using them regularly. It has been a really fun ride. I love this church. I love the people, the stories, and seeing how God is working. And I look forward to learning and serving her more in a deeper capacity.

I grew up in a Christian home, but it wasn’t until my senior year of high school that I truly understood the gospel and began to take my faith seriously. It was then that I felt the weight of my need and the relief of the mercy God offers through His Son. From Matthew 7, I came to understand that being a Christian was more than just a label or a Sunday ritual—it required yielding my whole life to God and embracing the joy of a personal relationship with Jesus. That realization transformed my perspective and deepened my desire to walk with Christ daily. Through the challenges and joys of life, marriage, and family, God has continued to graciously and gently reveal to me that I cannot—and do not have to—live each day relying solely on my own strength and wisdom. These moments have been both humbling and faith-building, teaching me to lean more fully on Him. Today, I’m learning to live with increasing reliance and trust in God, knowing that He is faithful to guide and sustain me.

I’ve been serving with the tech team at Bethany for a while—originally running slides on Sunday mornings and then transitioning to work on the livestream a few years ago. If you’ve ever watched Bethany online, there’s a good chance I was on the other end helping to make that happen! I also serve as a community group leader alongside my wife; we love facilitating a small group to regularly connect, study God’s Word, and share life together. Becoming a Deacon feels like a natural next step to deepen my service and commitment to the church body. I am excited about the leadership development process and learning how I can better serve the local church. I look forward to growing deeper in my own faith, supporting others in their walk with Christ, and contributing meaningfully to the life and mission of the church.

As a young Christian, I always thought I was pursuing God. Now, as a "mature" Christian (in age only), I know it is God who has pursued me. My spiritual journey began when I was 7 years old. I went in front of my grandparent's church and stated that I wanted to accept Jesus as my Savior. My grandparents modeled a loving and dependent relationship on Jesus, and I knew I desperately wanted that intimacy with Him that they had. It was when I began reading God's Word in my early 20's that I learned more about God's character and I began to have a relationship with Him that was modeled for me. God's Word has allowed me to find Truth. In that Truth I have found peace for my soul. God has brought me so far from who I used to be, and at the same time I realize how very far I still need to go. Surrendering has always been a challenge for my "independent" nature, but I have learned that by surrendering I am getting out of the way to watch God work. And by watching Him work, my trust and faith in Him grows.

1 Corinthians 2:9 reads: No eye has seen, no ear has heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him. It is because of my love and desire for God that I have a love and desire to serve the church. I am grateful for the family God has given me at Bethany and pray that my life and example points others to seek Jesus just as my grandparents did for me so many years ago.

Born in a home where Christ was talked about and church was expected, I knew the answers to biblical questions and memorized scripture verses from a young age. However, the church we were a part of at the time did not preach well the need for Christ or the personal response that each person needed to come to him. It was when we made a switch to a new church when I was 10 where I began to realize my sinfulness and my need for a savior. When I was 11 years old, I remember the pastor speaking about Heaven and Hell, and I realized for the first time that I was a sinner and that I needed Christ to save me and wash me of my sins. I could tell you I was a sinner in the years before, but I did not understand the weight of what that meant next to a holy and righteous God. This was the first time I knew I was guilty before God and his holiness. I remember asking my parents what I could do to be saved from the penalty of my sins, and they prayed with me in the kitchen a prayer for salvation. It was then I placed my faith and trust in the Lord Jesus to give my life to him. He changed my heart to want him, to embrace him, and to trust in his work on the cross and his resurrection as the only means of salvation. I did not fully realize that trusting in Christ would begin a lifetime of discipleship under Jesus, but I am so thankful for God's grace and patience towards me. He has helped teach me over the years since believing in him, a greater capacity to understand this great salvation and what following Jesus truly means. It was God's act of merciful grace that gave me eyes to see him and grace that is keeping me following him. He's given me a greater love for him, a greater knowledge of his work, greater love for his word, and greater love for his people, his church. Praise be to God who brought me out of darkness and spiritual death, into spiritual life and marvelous light!.

From 2020-2024 I had the privilege to serve and minister to our children and families of Bethany. Within this role I was able to help lead our children's ministries, including Sunday School, Children's Church, Awana, Special Needs Buddy Teams, Nursery, and VBS. It was my joy to help partner with men and women in this church who love and serve so well. All those on our Children and Family Ministry Team (Jason Barley, Tina Myatt, Joy Baumann, Hannah Jayslen, Michelle Collins, Bob Castle) have been a blessing to serve alongside as we've sought to care for the children and families of this church. In the last 2 months, my role has transitioned now with God's provision of Michelle Collins to our Children's Director role. Since November of 2024, I have started serving as our Adult and Family Discipleship Minister to meet the need and opportunity of discipleship we have at Bethany. I believe this fits in well with my passions, my gifting, and my desire to see all of God's people grow as they follow him. I am excited to help partner with ABC's, Men's and Women's Ministries and begin to oversee the discipleship of our church as a whole. I believe beginning the Elder-In-Development process will better help serve Bethany in this new role. I believe God has called me to serve him in vocational ministry and to place upon my life the desire to serve the church as a pastor/elder. I believe he has set me apart for this service and I pray throughout the process of the elder-in-development program that this will provide clarity and help towards this end. I desire for other elders within the church to help verify this calling upon my life, as I know the process for discerning who is to shepherd God's flock never happens alone. I believe this is not just a private calling, but a public one. It is a hard calling to Shepherd God's church. It is a dangerous calling. It is a calling that only by his grace will I be ready for. It would be my immense privilege to steward this responsibility should this be what the Lord, and what Bethany desires. It is already such a gift to serve this church, and I pray I would be able to serve in this way also.

God revealed my need for Jesus as my Lord and Savior as a child. I accepted His free gift of salvation and was adopted into His family through Jesus. He put it on my heart to publicly proclaim my faith and be baptized when I was in high school. God has grown me leaps and bounds in my faith, dependence upon, and love for Him.

I’ve experienced great joy serving in the different children’s ministries here at Bethany. It's not only been sweet to get to know the kids, but to also learn about God together. Not only has serving in these ministries allowed me to get to know my church family, but it has also allowed me to make and grow friendships where I've been able to glean wisdom from my sisters in Christ. In my pursuit of being a deaconess I’m looking forward to new opportunities to serve and worship Jesus.

For as long as I can remember I have had an understanding that God is real. At age 10ish- I had knowledge of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. I knew that without Jesus I was going to hell, hell was a nasty place and I did not want to go there. I prayed a prayer asking Jesus to save me, and that was it. At that point I thought I was good to go, I was not a bad kid, I went to church, I asked Jesus into my life. I thought I had it all under control. Then high school hit and those years were hard. I wanted to be liked by everyone. That lead me to make a lot of poor decisions that turned into a lifestyle throughout my time in high school. I knew what I was doing was not pleasing to God, but my fear of man drove me to suppress the convictions I believe God was laying on my heart. The summer after I graduated high school, I was broken. I spent a lot of nights praying asking God to give me the strength to turn from my sinful ways. I was looking for whatever I had “to do” in order to make all this right. God is faithful and through counsel here at Bethany, God used Ephesian 2:8-9 to show me grace. It completely blew me away that it wasn’t what I had “to do”. It was what God did for me! I'm forever grateful for God's work in my life, the salvation that I have through Jesus finished work on the cross.

I have been serving in Awana. First, I spent a couple years bouncing around in Sparks and now have landed with the current 3rd grade boys in TnT. I have moved up with these specific boys last couple years and it has been great. I look forward to the opportunity to serve the church in a formal way through the service of Deacon. I’m not sure what that will look like for me, but my prayer is that God could use me for His glory. So also, please pray for me.

On Oct. 12th, 2014 God brought my dead soul to life. I grew up in church, graduated from Bible college, married the preacher’s daughter, and prayed ’the’ prayer 100’s of times, but I was dead. On that night, my wife was begging God to wake me up. Our marriage was in shambles, our lives were in a downward spiral, so my wife being the prayer warrior she is, went to God. As for me, my philosophy was always, “I got this! I’ll figure it out! I’ll just be better.” I’d never admit then that I didn’t know how to get it, figure it out, or even how to be better… But God… That night, while lying in bed, I started to think about heaven and hell out of the blue. Fear consumed me because I didn’t know where I’d go. I sat up in bed, my heart racing, all my sins, and addictions overwhelming me, and knowing I needed a Savior! I needed to confess my sins to Him, to ask Him to forgive me, to repent of those sins, and to ask Him to save me. Ephesians 2:8-9, 1 John 1:9, Romans 3:23/6:23/5:8/10:13 all ran through my head, and I knew the Almighty God was after me. There was no escaping Him - I didn’t want to - His irresistible grace was on full display. All I wanted to do was to run to Him for salvation, for peace, for healing. He saved me that night, and I’ve never been the same since. We serve a God who loves to put broken things back together.

God has led me to serve as the Care Director here at Bethany since Sept. of 2020. It has been a joy to serve in this capacity, and I’m hopeful for many more years of service. He has also allowed me to serve as a Biblical Counselor, ABC Leader in Dust to Glory, in the Children’s Ministry as the Large Group Leader, and in multiple care projects both as a helper and providing team oversight. 2014-2015 - I was a CG Leader in Canton, IL where we lived. I’m not sure we were on the official list at Bethany, but several other Bethany families joined our group. 2017-2020 - God called me to pastor Coal Creek Bible Church in Fairview, IL. Thank you for allowing me to share this information with you, and considering me for the deacon position. It was a joy to look back and see how God has been with me, calling me, and using me for His story.

I was born and raised in a Bible believing home and one that was very active in attending church and various other church activities. I knew the truth of the Gospel from a very young age. Unfortunately, I chose to go my own way in living life for myself until the age of 21. I was a senior at the University of Illinois. The Lord used several different things to grab my attention at that time. I am the youngest of six children and was the only one who was not living for the Lord. I received a letter from my oldest sister expressing her love for me and concern for my soul. During lunch on a day during the same week I received the letter from my sister, my oldest brother also expressed his concern about my spiritual well-being. These things were not a regular occurrence, so it grabbed my attention. Also, during that same time, there was a book out that was titled “88 reasons for the rapture in 1988”. Even though I knew enough about the Bible that this prediction was probably not going to happen as the book stated, I got me to consider what my state would be if it did actually happen. I was dating a girl who was attending Illinois State University in Bloomington. I went to see her the Friday evening of this same week. I was going home for the weekend after visiting her, which was about an hour and a half drive. During that drive home, I vividly remember the struggle between my flesh wanting to continue in my sinful ways, and the Holy Spirit convicting me of my sin and calling me to surrender my life. It was late at night when I arrived home and my Mom was waiting for me to arrive and was sitting at the kitchen table when I came in the door. I went to her and shared that I wanted to surrender my life to the Lord. From that moment on, my life has never been the same. I praise the Lord for his mercy and patience with me and for saving me from my sin through His death, burial, and Resurrection!

I really have not been serving at Bethany in a specific role since moving to Peoria 3 plus years ago. I served in church leadership for many years before moving to Peoria and wanted to take a break from that specifically and serve in other ways. After being presented with this opportunity, as I have prayed through it, I feel the conviction to move forward. I have been serving in other capacities outside of Bethany, specifically being heavily involved with the Greater Peoria Area Fellowship of Christian Athletes. What I am looking forward to most is finding out at a deeper level where the needs are at Bethany and where the Lord would have me serve.