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About Our Staff
Chuck: Founder and Executive Director
As the founder and Executive Director of Café 1040, Chuck combines his passion for evangelism with more than 15 years experience in management and servant leadership. He began his career with the United States Army, working for six years in military intelligence. He became well accustomed to the start-up environment, serving in three diverse new ventures including banking, construction and telecommunications.
Chuck began working at North Point Community Church supporting the "7:22" Singles Ministry and Passion Conferences in 2000. His experience with these dynamic ministries planted the seeds for further exploration of God's call on his life. Following the completion of a 2-year Bible training program and service as a short-term missionary in several countries and urban settings, Chuck began to sense that the Lord was leading him to help mobilize tens of thousands of college students to the 10/40 Window. Since this time, he has been seeking to satisfy this vision through Café 1040.
Chuck married his ministry partner Miki in 2003 and they have been blessed with four children. Miki continues to serve along side Chuck in leading Café 1040.
Jimmy: Partnership Development and Graduate Coach
Jimmy has been on staff with Café 1040 since May 2009. As the Graduate Mentor, Jimmy combines his experience in career counseling with his love for college students and missions. When he is not talking with Café 1040 graduates, Jimmy travels around the country to develop formal partnerships with mission sending organization.
Growing up in Kentucky, he has a fondness for all things "Kentucky". However, he has been in Georgia since 2001 and has developed an appreciation for things related to the Bulldog Nation. In addition to his affection for Georgia and Kentucky, he has an appreciation for the great outdoors. In fact, he's continually looking for opportunities to hike and camp.
Kurt: Pre-Go Mentor
Kurt's life was destined for a life of missions when he became a follower of Christ while on his first short term missions trip in Mexico. After college he spent 4 months in Argentina before heading back to the states to work in a secular field, followed by 12 years as a pastor. In 1993, Kurt and his wife Nancy, and their 3 young children were called to Russia and later to Central Asia to help facilitate the planting of numerous churches over the next 13 years.
Kurt's passion is to help mobilize sharp young people to minister in regions of the 1040 window where few or no churches exist. He will serve as a pre-go mentor and later help develop a member care ministry and use his experience to assist in the building up of the overall ministry of Café 1040.
Jami: Pre-Go Mentor
From the age of 10, after her first trip to Mexico, Jami has known she would work in missions. She spent the next 15 years being molded into the young woman the Lord desired her to be all the while taking several short term mission trips to explore the world of missions. She is an extraordinarily relational person who enjoys getting to know the hearts of those around her and learning how to best show them the Lord’s love. Her passion is to meet people in their needs and help them along whatever journey God has placed in front of them. Upon hearing of the multitude of unreached people in the world her heart broke for them. A life without Jesus is a life without sustenance or purpose. She knew the Lord gifted and positioned her perfectly to mobilize thousands to take His love to the many unknowing people groups. In 2009 she married her biggest supporter, Andy. Daily, he encourages her to follow after the Lord’s heart above all else, even him. They live in Atlanta where they are very involved with their church. Jami enjoys knitting, painting, crafty diy projects, Braves baseball and catching up with friends over a cup of coffee.
Courtney: Recruitment Lead
Courtney is a "tuxedo" of passions---part missionary mobilizer; part health and distance running enthusiast. She was born and raised in Texas, graduating from high school near Dallas and then attending Texas Tech University after that. She earned a degree in History but followed her formal education with a short-but-successful career in the Health and Fitness Industry, first as a personal trainer and then in departmental management.
Courtney's career in mobilization ministry began in college when The Traveling Team spoke to her sorority about the biblical foundation of missions. After nurturing her missional interest for several years, she left her health club in 2007 and began traveling the U.S. on staff with The Traveling Team. Three years and about 68,000 driving miles later, she transitioned to Café 1040's home office in Atlanta. Here, Courtney will be afforded the joy and challenge of heading up the recruiting department, whose staff members carry the responsibility of finding all the students who are ripe for Café 1040's mentorship program, and then introducing them to the first phase of the application process.
Regina: Student Recruiter
Regina came on staff with Cafe 1040 in 2012 to serve as a student recruiter. Prior to joining the team at Cafe 1040, she served for 3 1/2 years at her local church as the Director of Student Ministries. She and her husband, Brad, had a daughter in 2010, named Amari Grace, and they both continue to be very involved in student ministry in their community. They are motivated in outreach to this generation by the belief that this can be the generation that sees the name of Jesus reach every people group, and the understanding that the King of the Universe deserves the praise of his people… all of them.
Regina's family loves to travel. Brad loves playing ice hockey. Regina loves playing volleyball. And Amari loves playing CandyLand. Regina graduated from Texas A&M University in College Station and is currently pursuing her M.A. in Global Leadership from Fuller Theological Seminary. They have made Texas their home, but are in trusting God a relocation to Colorado in 2013.
Regina and Brad are constantly being challenged and stretched in the desire to see the Kingdom of God lived out in their home and their community. It is their deepest desire to serve the King and see Amari follow their lead in a life devoted to making Jesus' name known around the world.
Mike: Team Leader, USA and Applicant Mentor
Mike's first love is God and second to God only is his wife, Michelle. In 2009, their daughter Elisha was born and in 2011, their son Asher was born. "His highest aim, foremost desire and greatest intention, is to pay heed to the holy gospel in all things and through all things, to follow the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ and to retrace his footsteps completely with all vigilance and all zeal, all the desire of his soul and all the fervor of his heart," to borrow a statement from a biography of St. Francis of Assissi. Mike really enjoys the outdoors, listening to music (especially live music being played by a really talented guitarist) and deep meaningful conversations that leave you encouraged, or contemplative.
Danielle: HR Administrator
Danielle joined the staff of Café 1040 in December 2010. After several short term trips, she knew God was not only moving around the world, He was also moving in her heart. She desires to use the gifts God has given her to serve others and play a part in the great commission He has entrusted to us.
Danielle uses her natural administrative skills and creativity in her role as HR Administrator. As part of the Global Team, she works with staff stateside and around the globe. She is passionate about serving our current and future staff to ensure they have everything they need to play their part in reaching the unreached. Her goal is to help the ministry run like a well-oiled machine, taking away administrative burdens, so others can focus on the students or their individual projects.
Daniel: Assistant to the Executive Director
Standing atop a tall building in a city somewhere in the heart of dusty Central Asia, Daniel watched groups of people below going about their lives. It was summer 2006 and he was a visitor to this region and was overwhelmed to learn that 98% of these people were unreached with the Gospel of Jesus. As the sun slid below the surrounding mountains, he felt a deep burden as the Spirit reminded him of the words of Christ:
“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Luke 10:2
In that moment as Daniel observed the faces of those beautiful people, people who knew nothing of Jesus Christ, he knew that something had to be done to get missionaries to remote places like this with the “living water” of God.
The Lord brought Daniel and his wife Jenna to be on staff with Cafe 1040 first through her experience as a student with Cafe 1040 in North Africa, but secondly with this specific call to be aligned with God’s heart “to send out laborers into his harvest.”
In Daniel's role on the Cafe 1040 Global Team, he has the privilege of assisting the Executive Director in the leadership of the ministry and in a support role to our greater ministry and mission. As we work to mobilize the next generation of missionaries to unreached peoples with the Gospel of Christ, he often remembers that moment in Asia where God reminded him “The harvest is plentiful.”
Christina: Director of Development
Christina began working for Café 1040 in December of 2009 and serves as the Director of Development. Her job is to find creative ways to share the story of Café 1040 and ask others to be involved and invested in the mission. Prior to working for Café 1040, she worked as the General Manager of Two Story Coffeehouse, Director of Development for the UGA Wesley Foundation, and Program Specialist at GUIDE, Inc. She has a heart for nonprofit organizations, and turned that passion into an education at the UGA Institute for Nonprofit Organizations. She earned a Masters degree in Nonprofit Management.
Christina loves telling people about the significant work of Café 1040! Her and her husband Stephen both share a passion for the unreached as well as a firm belief in the potential of the next generation, so they enjoy any opportunity to mobilize! They live in Athens, GA, with their daughter Kate. Christina is a self-proclaimed coffee-snob, loves to cook, and enjoys spending her free time with her wonderful family!
David: Chief Strategist and HR Manager
David has a drive to see the church flourish. When exposed to the disparity of workers problem--41% of the world's people groups have never had the opportunity to trust and follow Jesus and around 95% of missionaries go to reached people groups--he wanted to provide leadership to an organization that helped solve it. The church cannot flourish in places where the gospel is unknown.
David joined Cafe 1040's staff in 2011 as Chief Strategist and HR Manager. He brings with him 7 years of experience in campus ministry where he led, pastored, and discipled college students and post-graduates into deeper faithfulness to Jesus. He is currently completing an MDiv with Asbury Seminary. His passion for organizational leadership and talent-development is only outpaced by his love of Jesus, his wife, and four daughters.
For the safety and security of our overseas staff, we have decided not to include their names, biographies and photos. But you can be sure they are really cool people who love the Lord.