Currently the coordinator for the Ending Homelessness Initiative for the Northern California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Joelle previously served as the Director of Disaster Recovery & Development for the Paradise Seventh-day Adventist Church in California. She worked closely with Maranatha after the Camp Fire of 2018, which at the time was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California's history, and the most expensive natural disaster in the world in 2018 in terms of insured losses. Over the course of several projects in Paradise, Maranatha constructed 452 storage sheds for survivors of the fire, who were living on their burnt properties with no place to store their belongings.

Joelle recounts the day of the fire, November 8, 2018, what it was like escaping the flames with her family, and the subsequent aftermath. She recalls the moment when she felt called to do more to help her community and how she grew into her role with the Paradise Church despite no disaster recovery experience. She talks about the inspiration for the Maranatha shed project and how she helped to coordinate hundreds of volunteers across multiple projects. She also discusses how she’s had to redefine the term “missions” since her community outreach work began, understanding that a person can serve locally without having to travel internationally.

Watch two episodes of our television program, “Maranatha Mission Stories,” on the Paradise Shed Projects:
https://watch.maranatha.org/videos/mms10e07
https://watch.maranatha.org/videos/mms11e03

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Since 1992 Steve has run his own ministry, “Involve Youth,” speaking for youth events, conducting training seminars for youth leaders, creating youth ministry resources, and teaching youth ministry professionals. He’s an author of many books and coordinates the Intergenerational Church cohort for Andrews University’s Doctor of Ministry program. He’s been instrumental in helping to craft the experience for Maranatha’s annual mission trip for high schoolers, Ultimate Workout (UW), and helped to start Maranatha’s collegiate and annual Family Projects.

Steve reflects on how he first got into youth ministry, how much he and his youth changed in serving on those first mission trips, and at a fundamental level, what the goal of missions is. He describes his first UW experience, which was actually the third UW, and how the program was almost shut down. He reflects on how the tragic death of volunteer Alex Williams was a galvanizing force for UW as a movement; in the first couple of years, there were 20-30 volunteers, but the next year there were 70 kids who applied, many citing the legacy of Alex and wanting to make a real difference in the world.

Steve explains why the mission trip environment, with new people and new places, is the perfect setting for teens to discover more about their identity, and how the world around teens has changed in his decades of ministry. He discusses how leaders can approach volunteers who may cause problems for others, and how he begins to prepare a group for a return home from the mountaintop experience of a mission trip. Steve talks about why he eventually felt the need to step away from UW and how he tackled the challenge of leading new age groups when he was asked to create a collegiate and family project mission trips for Maranatha.

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How do you curate a volunteer experience that makes people want to come back time after time? Our VP of Advancement shares how Maranatha has worked to provide mission trips that make a difference in the lives of project recipients, as well as the volunteers doing the work. Karen’s journey with Maranatha started in 1989 in Berrien Springs, Michigan, and in this episode she shares what projects were like in those early days and how they’ve evolved. She recounts the first large-scale project for Maranatha in 1992, when they recruited 1,200 volunteers in just five months to construct 25 churches over 70 days in the Dominican Republic. She also reflects on just how impactful these mission trips have been to volunteers, even those who are rediscovering their faith.

Karen talks about how Maranatha has intentionally shaped its projects to provide participants with the space to reflect on their experience, connect with each other, and how making accommodations more comfortable at times has removed barriers to participation for some people. She explains how anyone, no matter their skillset, age, or experience, can be an effective volunteer on a Maranatha project, and why she believes people continue to return year after year.

Karen references a testimony from Sondra Godfrey in which she shares how anyone can serve on a Maranatha mission trip. You can watch that testimony here: https://watch.maranatha.org/videos/cv23b-godfrey

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Laura has worked for Maranatha in Donor Relations for years, but there was a time when she never thought she’d work for such a ministry. Her early career in software sales was lucrative, allowing her to rub shoulders with California's rich and famous. Yet, she wasn’t happy. Her job lacked purpose, she couldn’t find meaningful connections in her relationships, and the faith of her youth was a faded memory. In a low point, she was reminded of an influential figure from earlier in life, Don Noble (Maranatha’s President). She reached out, in what would be the start of a transformational journey that would see her travel around the globe with Maranatha, find love, renew her faith, and connect with countless people also changed by the mission.

Laura talks about her journey outside the church and how a trip to Cuba started the process of bringing her back. She shares what it’s been like to visit potential project sites Maranatha is considering, including when we have to say “no” to a project request. She reflects on some of the unique settings, people, and places she’s experienced over the years. The conversation closes with her recent mission trip to the Dominican Republic to help construct a large school building in the neighborhood of “Ciudad del Cielo.”

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Visit maranatha.org for more info on the work of Maranatha Volunteers International.

Our VP of marketing shares her journey in telling the story of Maranatha through print, TV, and more. What’s it like to capture the essence of people in need halfway around the world? What goes through the mind of a field producer as they’re curating a story for television? Julie shares her experience in navigating delicate topics and intentionally writing to help broaden her readers’ worldview, as well as some of the most impactful stories she’s worked on and how all of these experiences have shaped her as a person.

Julie’s storytelling extends beyond traditional communication mediums, to a large convention she plans each year called “Mission: Maranatha,” which attracts up to 2,000 attendees or more. She explains what goes on behind the scenes to pull off a successful and meaningful event of this size.

Julie also describes how she was touched on a recent trip to India at the Binjipali Adventist School, where the living conditions for students are horrid. She relates that knowing just how different things will be once Maranatha is finished on a project like this gives her a sense of anticipatory joy.

Read Julie’s magazine story about Karl Schwinn and Maranatha’s work in Afghanistan here: https://maranatha.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/The-Mission-Pilot-Karl-Schwinn-CORRECT.pdf

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Go behind the camera with our director of television, who breaks down how we produce a TV program in the mission field. It’s a balance of logistics, planning, and keeping your eye open for just the right story. Christina has been filming and producing programming for Maranatha since the early 2000’s and has experienced it all, from embedding with a well-drilling crew in the bush of Mozambique, to rescuing a Maasai girl in Kenya from female genital mutilation (FGM) and child marriage.

She shares how important the producer’s role is in creating a story from scratch, knitting the components of visual footage, character interviews, and overall story arc into a final product. Christina also explains the other types of media she collects on a trip outside of the episode she’s producing, the post-production process for TV after the trip is over, and how being a part of these stories has impacted her life.

Here’s the two TV episodes of “Maranatha Mission Stories” that highlight the Kajiado Adventist School and Rescue Center in Kenya:
https://watch.maranatha.org/videos/mms910
https://watch.maranatha.org/videos/mms907

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In our first field episode, Dustin Comm talks to our country manager for Zambia under a mango tree at the Bethel Seventh-day Adventist Church, during a mission trip where Maranatha volunteers were constructing a medical clinic in October 2023.

Luke’s career started in India’s corporate world, but the toll it took on him prompted a change. Working in construction for Maranatha offered him the chance to travel and take photos, one of his passions. Luke started off working as a construction supervisor in southern India. Later, he took his young family to live in the second-smallest country in Africa, the island-nation of São Tomé and Príncipe as Maranatha’s country director there. He talks about the challenges of transitioning to a new place far from home with a foreign language. He describes the first steps Maranatha takes when establishing itself in a country, before volunteers have come for mission trips. He also shares how he and his wife, who were not Seventh-day Adventist, began to diligently study with the conference president in São Tomé, who baptized them in the ocean.

Eventually Luke took his family to mainland Africa where he currently manages Maranatha’s operations in Zambia. He talks about some of the needs there, like clean water and basic health care. He reflects on how difficult it is when, from time to time, the well-drilling team doesn’t hit water, including the heartbreak of facing a village to tell them the news. Luke also shares some of the current projects Maranatha is working on in Zambia, including the Sala and Mwami Adventist Schools, and the Bethel clinic project.

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Maranatha's country director in Peru shares how he started in the mission field as a 20-year old missionary to Mozambique. Elmer recalls how he constructed hundreds of Maranatha's One-Day Churches in both Mozambique and Brazil, and how the COVID pandemic affected the work in Peru, including dramatic escapes by two Maranatha volunteer groups before the country shut down in March 2020. He also talks about the exciting work Maranatha is beginning in the Amazon jungle of Peru, where, without roads, materials must be shipped on a river barge on a seven-day journey to reach congregations waiting for help. Unfortunately we were short on time for this episode, and look forward to the next opportunity to hear much more of Elmer's story!

To watch the TV episode about the initial COVID pandemic shutdowns in Peru and elsewhere, and how they affected Maranatha volunteer groups, click here: https://watch.maranatha.org/videos/mms11e02

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Visit maranatha.org for more info on the work of Maranatha Volunteers International.