Kurt's Story
I grew up in a Christian home. My earliest memories include attending church with my family. While having a church background, I never took ownership of my faith until the sixth grade. Riding my bicycle home from school, I was hit by a car and almost lost my life after receiving a life threatening head injury. While in the hospital recovering, I read the Bible with new freshness. It was during this time I took ownership of my relationship with Christ.
In high school, I traveled with Teen Missions, Intl. to Switzerland for a summer of mission work. At the beginning of the trip, I began to sense God’s call upon my life. A speaker in an evening rally challenged us to come forward if we sensed God’s call to full-time ministry. That was the moment I went public with the calling God was placing upon my heart. God has reinforced that call through the years.
In college, I studied for a degree in computer science. While interning for IBM, I realized the computer field was not the way I was called to serve Christ. I left IBM and after college began attending Westminster Theological Seminary.
While in seminary, I became interested in student ministry. I was a part-time and full-time youth pastor until God shaped a new desire in my heart. This new desire was to lead and preach in a local church.
My wife was not raised in a Christian home. In her mid-twenties, while at a low point in her life, she came across a pamphlet which explained the Four Spiritual Laws. As she read it, God touched her heart and she asked Christ into her life. She began attending a Free Methodist Church where she was discipled in her faith by an older Christian couple. She attended the church and was part of a small group Bible study for the next 3 years.
We met while attending the Willow Creek Community Church singles ministry. She knew I was studying for the ministry and as our relationship progressed, so did her excitement for the potential of serving Christ together. Today her primary ministry is raising our three children. She is a natural encourager, enjoys helping behind the scenes and is energized by displaying acts of kindness towards those in need. She has a college education but stopped short of receiving her diploma. Before our marriage, she was part of a team that managed computer security at the national headquarters of Hewitt Associates in Deerfield, Illinois.
While in seminary, I became interested in student ministry. I was a part-time and full-time youth pastor until God shaped a new desire in my heart. This new desire was to lead and preach in a local church.
Cindy's Story
My wife was not raised in a Christian home. In her mid-twenties, while at a low point in her life, she came across a pamphlet which explained the Four Spiritual Laws. As she read it, God touched her heart and she asked Christ into her life. She began attending a Free Methodist Church where she was discipled in her faith by an older Christian couple. She attended the church and was part of a small group Bible study for the next 3 years.
We met while attending the Willow Creek Community Church singles ministry. She knew I was studying for the ministry and as our relationship progressed, so did her excitement for the potential of serving Christ together. Today her primary ministry is raising our three children. She is a natural encourager, enjoys helping behind the scenes and is energized by displaying acts of kindness towards those in need. She has a college education but stopped short of receiving her diploma. Before our marriage, she was part of a team that managed computer security at the national headquarters of Hewitt Associates in Deerfield, Illinois.
The Trucksess Family
God blessed our family with three children. David, 17, is our serious student. He enjoys wrestling. Daniel, 15, is social and athletically skilled. He enjoys also enjoys wrestling. Both boys love Jesus and made public proclamations of that love through baptism in the fall of 2007.
Deanna, 11, is the little girl of the family. She is the socialite who (like many little girls) is always talking. Already we see leadership gifts and her mother’s caring heart. Like her brothers, she enjoys gymnastics.
The Church We Serve
I have the privilege of serving as the Senior Pastor of CrossWinds Church (www.faithefree.com). CrossWinds Church is an Evangelical Free Church with campuses in Spirit Lake and Spencer, IA. The church is driven by the mission of passion for God, compassion for our neighbor and reaching our region, and beyond, with the life changing message of Jesus Christ.
