James and Jen Schaefer
Jen and James met at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, in 2009. They have one son, Nathan, who was born in May 2011. On their first date, walking the beautiful trails of Wissahickon Park, they discovered that they shared 1Thessalonians 2:8 as a philosophy of ministry. James and Jen desire to serve the Lord by loving people through sharing both the gospel and themselves. They do this through hospitality and small groups ministry, counseling and teaching others in the local church. For ten years before attending seminary, James worked as an educator at a Christian school and directed a commercial art gallery. James first became passionate about missions on a trip to Beijing, China, where he used his gifts as a visual artist to communicate the gospel cross-culturally. Before seminary, Jen was on staff for five years with Campus Outreach at John Piper's church in Minneapolis. It was in college, while attending a missions conference, when Jen made a commitment to the Lord to be available to serve him anywhere. Jen has one class left to complete her Masters in Biblical Counseling from Westminster and has counseled in several crisis pregnancy centers. James graduated with his MDiv from Covenant Theological Seminary in May 2012; in July, he completed his yearlong pastoral internship in the PCA. A friendship with George and Martha Mixon and a desire to serve in Africa, led the Schaefers to explore the possibility of serving with the World Harvest team in Nairobi, Kenya. In their six-month internship, they look forward to seeing how Bible storying works, participating in the process of training rural Kenyan church leaders, and learning from other team members about ministry in Africa. James and Jen believe that answering this call will change the way they do ministry for the rest of their lives.
DESIGNATION NUMBER: 25512
