Our Story
We met in the Lyndon Diner in Lancaster Pennsylvania in the fall of 2004. Katie was attending Lancaster Bible College and was eating in the diner withsome friends, when Jeff had just returned from a tour and was reuniting with friends at a concert when they stopped by the diner. Jeff saw Katie sitting at the diner with some friends, and the story started from that moment. Katie was from Fountain Valley California and Jeff was born and raised in Lancaster Pennsylvania.
Katie finished her year out at Lancaster Bible College in Lancaster and it seemed that we spent every waking moment together. We were attending the Lancaster Vineyard Church, where Jeff had been since it’s public launch in 2003. After College ended, Katie returned that summer to California and Jeff left as a roadie for a two month tour and then a three month tour. Jeff had sold most of everything he had to stay on the road and decided to follow Katie to California, as we both knew we were to be married together. Jeff lived in California for five months and we were engaged at Dukes Grille, a restaurant right on Huntington Beach.
After we were engaged we knew that we both knew we wanted to not only be married in Lancaster Pennsylvania but we also wanted to follow God back to Lancaster Pennsylvania, where it was obvious his spirit was leading the both of us. Jeff returned to Lancaster in December of 2005, Katie followed in January of 2006. We were married March 18, 2006 in Lancaster at Faith Calvary Church by Katie’s Father and our Pastor at the Lancaster Vineyard. Jeff
started taking Church Theology, History & Planting classes through Vineyard Leader’s Institute and interning at church under the Pastor. We served together on Leadership team and began attending the Vineyard East Region’s Church Planting Training Conferences. We realized in 2006, at the Why Philly? Church Planting Conference that someday we would return to be part of God’s Kingdom work in Huntington Beach California. However, for the next three years we plugged into our church and our community. We lived on the Latino side of the city, and ran a urban community initiative ministry as
Living in Lancaster
we also constantly tried to find new ways to reach out and love our neighbors. We both Love Lancaster to no end and facing leaving it was the hardest choices we have ever made in our life. In 2009 as our Mentoring Pastor announced he was moving to Ethiopia for missions, and we took a job and apartment in the Washington DC metro of Northern Virginia, where we became involved with Dayspring Mennonite Church (Jeff’s 16 Generations of Heritage before him are Mennonite & Anabaptist). A year after moving, Jeff’s department was completely terminated and 3 months into being unemployed, Jeff wasn’t able to find work in the area.
At that point we both considered returning to Lancaster Pennsylvania and had the opportunity to, we truly missed the area, our family, our work and our Church. However, we also both knew at this time God hadn’t called us to move back to Pennsylvania. As we both feel we are called to Church Plant in the future in Huntington Beach California, we decided to move out west and recollect our financial composure and begin the legwork of what it is that God has called us to do out there.
Right now we are in that journey, westward, and just pressing into the Father’s heart, and it has been truly rewarding as he has been meeting our needs and witnessing his Spirit open so many doors.
