Janae Taft has joined the DM staff team!

Janae Taft

We are excited to announce that Janae Taft has joined the DiscipleMakers staff team! Janae is currently a senior at Albright College. She expects to graduate soon in December.

Like many of our staff, Janae decided to join DiscipleMakers because God changed her life through DM’s ministry while she was in college. She connected with the Christian fellowship at Albright in her freshman year where she recommitted her life to Christ during DiscipleMakers’ Fall Conference.

Thinking back on her time with DM in college Janae shared, “God has been kind to gift me with the involvement of DiscipleMakers in my life throughout my college career. I am elated and honored to serve in the ministry that taught me what it looks like to live and grow as a Christian!”

For the next few weeks, Janae’s focus will remain on her studies. Once she graduates, she will work on raising the funding required for her ministry with DM.

Please praise the Lord with us for another kingdom laborer!

Tim and Holly Howden have reached their ministry funding goal!

We are excited to announce that Tim and Holly Howden have reached their ministry funding goal! They have now transitioned into their next ministry assignment in DiscipleMakers’ Headquarters where they will serve in our Media Department.

Since January 2020 the Howdens have worked faithfully to recruit a team of partners to support their ministry with DiscipleMakers through prayer and financial support. Just after starting their support-raising journey, they were faced with the Covid-19 pandemic and had to shift all of their meetings online. The Lord worked mightily through many Zoom meetings over the past year and a half to faithfully provide for the Howden’s ministry with DiscipleMakers. “While our support raising journey was not what we would’ve ever expected,” Holly said, “we experienced God’s kindness and mercy through many brothers and sisters partnering with our ministry with DiscipleMakers. We are deeply grateful and eager to begin serving in the Media Department for many years to come!”

Moving forward the Howdens will be working to expand God’s kingdom on college campuses through the exercise of their creative gifts. Tim will be using his background in filmmaking to capture stories of how God is at work in the lives of students on campus and work to recruit more laborers to join DiscipleMakers staff in the harvest fields. Holly will be using her background in graphic design to draw students into Bible studies, outreach events, and conferences where the word of God will be taught and the gospel of Jesus will be preached!

“We could not be more thrilled to have the Howdens on board,” said Caleb Olshefsky, who works in our Media Department and mentored the Howdens through their ministry funding process along with his wife Kaylah. “Kaylah and I have had a front-row seat to God's provision for the Howdens over the past year and a half. They are going to be an incredible asset to our Media Department moving forward, and we are eager to be able to offer our staff and students even more media support because of the expertise and creativity the Howdens bring to our team.”

Please praise God with us for sending more laborers to our Headquarters to support the vital work of making disciples of college students!

Jared Knorr Has Joined DiscipleMakers' Staff Team!

Jared Knorr

We are excited to announce that Jared Knorr has joined the DiscipleMakers staff team! Jared will be graduating shortly from Penn State University where he has been an active student leader in our Christian Fellowship there. Jared also participated in DiscipleMakers’ internship program during the summer of 2019.

After participating in an internship related to his major, Jared felt that the Lord was calling him into full time ministry to see students impacted in the same way he had been during his time at Penn State.

Upon the acceptance of his new position with DiscipleMakers, Jared said, “I am so excited to start this new chapter of life doing campus ministry with Disciplemakers! I eagerly look forward to seeing how God impacts the lives of students through DM just like he did mine!”

Please pray along with us as Jared begins raising up a team of prayer and financial supporters for his ministry with DiscipleMakers. Pray that the Lord would provide, and that He would bless Jared’s ministry to college students for many years to come!

Jasmin Medina is ready to minister in Northeast PA!

We are pleased to announce that Jasmin Medina has completed her initial fundraising for her ministry with DiscipleMakers! Having reached this milestone, Jasmin will begin ministering to students at East Stroudsburg University (ESU) and Wilkes University as a member of DiscipleMakers’ Northeast PA Team.

Jasmin will have plenty of opportunities to invest in students, training them to reach out on their campuses. She said there’s a lot of pent-up excitement especially among student leaders at ESU, where classes have been held entirely online this whole school year. “I just want to help to equip them, so that we can get to the point where we can unleash them on campus once classes resume,” she said.

Regardless of whether her ministry is in-person or online as she gets started, Jasmin is looking forward to encouraging students to see how God is at work. “I want to instill in them if I can, that the Lord still has victory at the end of the day and that His mission doesn’t stop.”

Praise God with us for His provision to send another laborer into the harvest field on campus!

Christianna Otto has reached her ministry funding goal!

We’re pleased to announce that Christianna Otto has reached her ministry funding goal! Christianna will now transition to her next ministry assignment: ministering to students at Bloomsburg University and Bucknell University as a member of DM’s Susquehanna Valley Team.

Since June, Christianna has been working on recruiting a team of partners to support her ministry with DiscipleMakers through prayer and financial support. “It’s been really neat to see how God has provided,” she said, noting that she’s been blessed by the friendships she’s been able to develop with the people on her support team.

Looking ahead, one of Christianna’s first opportunities will be to help lead some online Bible studies with students that are taking place over the semester break. In fact, all of her early opportunities to connect with students will take place online, as Bloomsburg and Bucknell do not plan to bring students back to campus until at least February. “Connecting with people in a virtual format is really different from connecting face-to-face,” Christianna said, “but that doesn’t mean connection is impossible. God is at work despite our separation.”

Zack Gugenheim, the team leader of the Susquehanna Valley Team, also expressed thankfulness for Christianna’s joining the team. “We’re super-excited to have her,” he said.

As for Christianna, she’s most excited about the opportunity to connect with students. “That’s why I joined this ministry—because I feel that God has called me here,” she said. “I want to get to know the students and share Jesus with them.”

Praise God with us for sending another worker into His harvest field! 

Tim and Holly Howden will serve in the Media Department of DiscipleMakers' HQ

We’re pleased to announce that Tim and Holly Howden will serve in DiscipleMakers’ Headquarters in our Media Department once they reach their ministry funding goal!

Both Tim and Holly served in the Media Department as summer interns during their time in college. Both also graduated from Kutztown University where Tim studied video production and Holly studied graphic design.

“We’re thrilled to welcome these two skilled laborers onto our team as we seek to support and expand DiscipleMakers’ ministry and impact to students on campus,” said Caleb Olshefsky, their current fundraising mentor and member of the Media Department. “It is rare to find those who have a heart for missions work, skill in their field, and a willingness to work behind the scenes. Tim and Holly have all of these qualities and we are very grateful to the Lord for bringing them to us,” said Caleb.

Tim and Holly are eager to reach their ministry funding goal to serve in this new role. When reflecting on their placement in DiscipleMakers Headquarters they said, “Praise God for His kindness in providing abundantly for our ministry during this strange season! We are excited to use the creative skills God has given us to reach college students with the Gospel through DiscipleMakers for years to come! We’re grateful for God’s sovereignty to prepare us for serving in this role through our education in college and the team we will be serving with.”

The Howdens received this placement upon reaching a significant milestone in their fundraising: God has provided over 50% of the giving to DiscipleMakers that they need to reach their funding goal! Please pray with us that the Lord would continue to provide for Tim and Holly’s ministry with DiscipleMakers through faithful ministry partners.

Josh Herring has reached his ministry funding goal!

Josh and Megan Herring

We’re happy to announce that Josh Herring has reached his ministry funding goal! This means that he’s ready for his next ministry assignment: ministering to students at Lafayette College and Muhlenberg College as a member of DiscipleMakers’ Lehigh Valley Team.

When Josh began raising support for his ministry with DiscipleMakers in June, he and his then-fiancée Megan had two goals in mind: that they would raise 50% of the funds they needed to raise for DiscipleMakers before their wedding in August, and that they would reach full support before the end of the fall semester. “We thought we were praying ambitiously,” Josh said, “but God exceeded our expectations.” They reached both milestones with time to spare.

Josh said that while in one sense he was surprised by how eager people were to invest in their ministry with DiscipleMakers, when he thinks more broadly about it he’s not surprised at all. As he put it, people’s giving “was evidence of the Lord’s continued providence over campus ministry, and shows the importance of reaching college-age students. A lot of people who wanted to hear about our ministry experienced that when they were in college, and wanted to hear more about how God is at work now.”

Looking ahead, Josh and Megan are eager to connect with students at Lafayette and Muhlenberg. Josh is particularly excited about the diversity of the student body at both schools, which draw students from all over the world. “One of my desires,” he said, “is to be a person who identifies with people regardless of where they’re coming from. I’m excited to be an ambassador of Christ, not because of any merit of my own but because of how God has worked in me.”

“I’m excited to get to know our team in the Lehigh Valley,” Megan added. “We saw the Lord continuously at work in peoples’ desire to give and pray so abundantly. We’re so thankful He’s brought us to this point.”

Praise God with us for sending more workers into His harvest field! Please pray for Josh and Megan, that God would bless their efforts to make disciples of Christ among students.

Maggie Enestvedt has reached her ministry funding goal!

We’re pleased to announce that Maggie Enestvedt has reached her ministry funding goal! This means that she is ready to begin her next ministry assignment: ministering to students at Shippensburg University.

The story of God’s providing for Maggie’s ministry with DiscipleMakers is an example of how God is not bound by the circumstances that feel so limiting to us. “We went into lockdown a month after I began raising support,” Maggie said. “The large majority of my meetings with ministry partners happened over Zoom or by phone.”

But despite the limitations imposed by the pandemic, she found that people were eager to partner with DiscipleMakers in reaching students with the gospel. “I loved seeing the response of people eager to make an investment in the Lord’s Kingdom,” she said. “It was a privilege.”

Ali Hallman, who mentored Maggie through her support raising, also expressed excitement. “I’m so grateful that I had the privilege of walking this path of support raising with Maggie!”, she said. “Her personal discipline, humility, gospel-driven joy, and fierce trust in the Lord to work for His glory will all be a huge blessing to her co-workers and the students.”

Having reached this milestone, Maggie can now turn her attention to her ministry to students. Here too the pandemic imposes limitations, as Shippensburg University’s safety protocols don’t permit Maggie to visit campus in-person. But having seen God work through remote meetings in her support raising, Maggie is eager to see what God will do now among students. “I’m honestly really excited,” she said. “My preference obviously would be to be on campus with the students, but I’m confident that the Lord has ordained what has happened, and will work through the opportunities we do have.”

Praise God with us for providing for Maggie’s ministry with DiscipleMakers, and for sending another worker into His harvest field!

Christianna Otto will serve on our Susquehanna Valley Team

We’re pleased to announce that Christianna Otto will join DiscipleMakers’ Susquehanna Valley Team when she reaches her ministry funding goal! (The Susquehanna Valley Team ministers at Bloomsburg University, Bucknell University, and Susquehanna University.)

“I’m really excited about going to the Susquehanna Valley because there’s a lot of really cool opportunities there,” Christianna said. “I’m looking forward to learning more about the campuses and getting to know the students.”

Christianna’s placement in the Susquehanna Valley comes on the heels of fellow missionary Becky Snyder’s completing her fundraising and beginning her work on the same team. Christianna saw this as an added benefit to her new assignment. “I feel like Becky and I have become pretty good friends during fundraising,” she said, “and now I can look forward to working with her on the team!”

Susquehanna Valley Team Leader Zack Gugenheim also looks forward to Christianna’s arrival. “We’re thrilled to have her,” he said. Praising Christianna’s servant-heartedness, he added, “The fact that the Lord would be faithful to send two new laborers in this season really speaks to His goodness and His concern for the students on our campuses.”

Christianna received her campus placement following her reaching a significant milestone in her fundraising: God has provided 50% of the giving to DiscipleMakers that she needs to reach her funding goal. She began raising support in June, having graduated from Penn State in May.

Becky Snyder has reached her ministry funding goal!

God has provided a team of financial partners whose giving to DiscipleMakers meets Becky Snyder’s ministry funding goal! This means Becky is ready to transition to her next ministry assignment: serving on campus with DiscipleMakers’ Susquehanna Valley Team.
(The Susquehanna Valley Team ministers at Bloomsburg University, Bucknell University, and Susquehanna University.)

The process of recruiting a team of financial partners can sometimes take a long time. In Becky’s case, however, God provided quickly. She began raising support in June, reached the 50% mark in July, and reached full support just before the end of August.

Conventional wisdom says that people give most generously in times of financial security, which would suggest that 2020 would not be a good year to raise support as a new missionary. Based on her experience inviting people to invest in DiscipleMakers’ ministry to students, however, Becky shared a more nuanced view. “Very few people regarded the pandemic as a reason not to invest,” she said. “This is the time when college students need the gospel most. People were excited about that mission, and they were excited about doing it now.”

Becky’s support raising mentor, Taylor Kauffman, sees Becky as a valuable new team member arriving at a crucial moment for ministering to students. “She’s a natural community builder, so it will be great to see how the Lord uses her to help build the staff team as well as the campuses, not only as they navigate the pandemic but also long-term.”

Praise God with us for sending a new worker into the harvest field! (Matt. 9:37–38)