Ken started his life in the church but fell away while in elementary school. It was as a young adult that God brought strategic people into his life to draw him back to God. After being reintroduced to the church he grew up in, he encountered the Holy Spirit and recommitted his life to Jesus, getting baptized shortly afterwards.
Sydney fell deeper in love with Jesus in college and the calling to bring the gospel to the nations was planted in her heart. Instead of sending her overseas immediately like she thought, God redirected her story inviting her to serve with a local campus ministry for 7 years. During that season not only did God equip her as a disciple-maker, God also brought Ken and Sydney together.
Ken always wanted to be a pilot growing up but was told that was impossible because of his color vision deficiency. So instead, through a series of events, he found himself in aviation maintenance school with the feeling that God had something more for him with the skills he was learning. One day, a friend from church invited Ken to MATA to pick up his son from the aviation summer camp. While there, Ken had a crucial conversation with the director and learned he could become a pilot by taking a medical exemption test for his color vision deficiency. After passing this test with flying colors (pun intended) Ken started flight training in April, 2024.
Now, Ken is trained as an airplane mechanic (A&P), is a private pilot, instrument rated, tail wheel and high performance endorsed, and is currently completing his commercial course. He will be joining the MATA staff as a maintenance intern for the next three years working towards his Inspection Authorization (IA) and being better equipped for the mission field. Sydney and Ken are still seeking the Lord as to where they will end up, but are on their way to reaching unreached people with the gospel.
