Joe's Story
Joe was saved at a young age and at age 8, he answered God’s call to preach. He received his training at Baptist College of Ministry and Theological Seminary. For 10 years, he served on staff at Falls Baptist Church in Menomonee Falls, WI, where he and his wife, Mary Jane, developed a deep understanding of the needs, challenges, and opportunities of local church ministry as they led in a variety of roles, as well as assisting in the planting of a church in Shawano, WI. Joe and his family now travel in evangelism, preaching for revival in churches in the USA and around the globe.I was born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago, where I had the wonderful privilege of being born into a Christian home. All of my growing up years, we regularly attended our local church, for which I am extremely grateful to my parents. I was saved as a young child, kneeling on the kitchen floor beside my mother who led me to Jesus. In 1993, the Lord led our family to Marquette Manor Baptist Church in Downers Grove, IL, where I was baptized, and later called to preach during the annual missions conference.
Though I remained focused on preparing to fulfill God’s call on my life as I entered junior high and high school, I also fell into sin. For several years, I found myself bound in guilt and shame of repeated failure, wanting out, but so ashamed that I continued to hide my struggle from my parents and other spiritual influences in my life. On the outside, things seemed to be going great as I continued to move toward the ministry, but inwardly, I questioned if I would ever get free enough for God to use me. One Tuesday night during my junior year of high school, I visited a nearby church that was hosting revival meetings with Evangelist Jim Van Gelderen, and God used simple truth that night from Colossians 2:6 to ignite hope in my heart that freedom from the bondage of my sin was possible if I would step out in faith, trusting Jesus to give me the power to do what I could not do in my own strength. That night was the beginning of my revival journey.
I confessed my hidden sin to my parents and began on a journey to full deliverance from the sin that bound me for so long. I am so thrilled today to be able to be a part of helping other men get free from those same areas of defeat. God is so amazing! After graduating from high school, I enrolled in Baptist College of Ministry where God gave me many wonderful opportunities to grow in my personal walk with God and ministry perspective as I trained to serve in evangelism. These were years of continued personal revival. As a part of this training, I interned at a small church in CA, spent a semester helping to plant a church in rural Wyoming, traveled to churches all over the US with college teams, and traveled with the Minutemen Ministries War of Special Forces. After graduating with my B.A. in 2011, I enrolled in Baptist Theological Seminary to receive further training. Around the same time, the Lord led my wife, Mary Jane, and me together and we were married in March of 2012.
As I finished up my seminary training, we served on staff at the college and Falls Baptist Church. After graduation in 2014, the Lord led us to continue to serve on staff at Falls Baptist, filling a wide variety of roles at various times including leading the bus ministry, overseeing church media work, developing publications (including the Christ Walk Journal, a simple tool designed to help anyone spend extended, daily time with God), assisting in the planting of a church in Shawano, WI, and overseeing the elementary Sunday School ministry of the church. Throughout these years, our hearts' desire to be serving local churches in evangelism continued to grow, but the Lord clearly led us to wait and continue to serve in our local church. This too was a part of God’s revival journey for us, and as we look back, we can clearly see the hand of God nurturing key truth in our hearts and developing His message within us.
During these years, the Lord blessed us with our 7 wonderful children: Karis, Joey Jr., Caleb, Janna, ChristyAnna, Toby, and Mordecai. We consider it an amazing privilege and responsibility to train these sweet children to love Jesus with all of their heart and serve Him. We are blessed.
In 2020, the Lord led us to begin to take steps towards heading out in evangelism, and we are excited to now be on the road full-time, preaching for revival wherever the Lord opens doors for us. We are humbled and thankful to be a small part of God's work in churches around the world as we seek to lead people to genuine revival...Jesus Himself!
Mary Jane's Story
Mary Jane, wife of Joe and mother of 7 children, is well-equipped to serve as an evangelist's wife. Her contagious smile and down-home perspective make her a blessing to many. She has an education degree and is gifted in working with children of all ages and loves to reach out to those who are often unnoticed.My dad was saved out of Roman Catholicism one month before I was born, so I had the privilege of growing up in a Christian home where both parents wanted their children to serve God. As a five-year-old, my father sat me down one evening and led me through the Romans road. It was then I saw myself as a sinner for the first time that needed a Savior, and I placed my dependence on Jesus Christ alone to save me from my sin.
Our church had annual missions conferences that my parents made sure all of us attended. Year after year I was challenged with the number of unreached people around the world and the need for believers to fulfill the great commission. The Lord clearly called me to missions when I was in second grade. Throughout my middle school and high school years, my family hosted missionaries, preachers, and evangelists in our home, and took numerous family ministry trips, all of which developed the growing burden I had for missions and the ministry. During my junior year, my dad took me along on a missions trip to the Fiji Islands where we ministered in multiple churches across the islands. That was when I realized that God had made me for itinerant ministry work.
I attended Baptist College of Ministry, where I had the privilege of leading the Reformers Unanimous Kids Club program, as well as teaching Sunday school to preschool, elementary, and teens. After graduating with my BA, the Lord allowed me to continue ministering in the church orchestra, the RU kids club, as well as assisting my husband in neighborhood Bible clubs, Sunday School bus ministry, and church planting in Shawano, Wisconsin.
Whether we are at home, at our local church or traveling on the road, both me and the children love being part of the ministry that God has called Daddy (and our family!) to. We look forward to meeting you soon!
