Meet The Team

I was born on May 29, 1961 in Fremont, Nebraska.  I was raised in a Christian family and was the third of 7 Children.  I have always been very athletic.  I played football and ran track in high school.  I played two years of semi-pro football, one for the San Jose Bandits and one for the Omaha Mustangs.  I love sports.  I water-ski, snow ski, roller blade, work out and have studied Tae Kwon Do.  BUT the most important thing I do is serve God.  I am His radical servant who is willing to go anywhere and do anything He asks of me.  But I haven’t always been that way. 

For over 15 years, I ran from God.  I rebelled against His will for my life.  I didn’t want to be a poor Christian boy who had no fun!  I wanted to live life and be as crazy as I felt necessary to have that fun.  So, that is exactly what I did for 15 years.  I was the sinner of sinners.  There was nothing I would not try at least once.  I had no fears!  I was rejecting God with all my might!  But God wasn’t done with me yet. 

You see, in the height of my glory, God allowed my eyes to go dim.  I have a genetic eye disease that causes blindness.  When I thought I could do it all on my own, God got my attention.  He took a great deal of my vision away.  And I thank Him for doing so.  I know that might sound crazy to some of you, but as I looked back in the wake of my life, I saw a lot of hurt and tragedy.  I had burned through two marriages, and countless relationships.  I had stolen from people, lied to people and fathered a son who I was totally ignoring.  But God got a hold of me!

In 1992 after 15 years of running from God, He and I had a conversation in my living room.  I finally gave my whole life to Him.  I sold out 100%.  Now I wish I could say that life has been perfect, but God has had a lot of cleaning up to do in my life.  He has blessed me with my wife, Sonya (we have been married July 9, 1994), and has re-established my relationship with my teen-aged son, Nick (Thunder).  He has forgiven me for all my mistakes, and despite my stupidity, has placed me into ministry.  It took 15 years for me to finally obey Him, but I am sold out 100%. 

I have been working with Youth since 1992.  I have been a Youth Pastor in the Nazarene Church and the Baptist Church.  I am currently a full-time Evangelist with this ministry.  I founded T.E.A.M. Jesus Ministries in 1992.  But it was on December 22, 1998 that we became a viable ministry.  That is when we incorporated and became a non-profit organization. 

I am the president of T.E.A.M. Jesus Ministries, Inc. and the leader of the X-Treme Team.  The Team is the answer to my prayers.  I love showing people the Power God has over sin.  I am dedicated to sharing God’s Gospel to the world for as long as I live.  I am a radical, God fearin’, sin smashin’, man of God.  I am thankful for the Grace I found in Jesus!  God has given me a great vision to reach this world with His Gospel.  God is Awesome! 

If you have any questions or would just like to chat, you can e-mail me.   May God Radically Bless Your Day! 

I was born on July 15, 1966 into a Parsonage Family.  My father has been a minister in the Church of the Nazarene for 40 plus years.  Church has always been a vital part of our home.  I have one older brother and two younger sisters. I am glad for the Christian heritage that I have been given.  Now in my family I have a wife of 16 years, Renee, one son, Jay, and two daughters, Ashleigh and Annie-Grace.  My prayer is that I will be able to pass the same Christian heritage on to my children as my parents did to me.

 I accepted Christ as my personal savior and began a personal relationship with Him when I was eleven years old.  I have never given up on that relationship.  I know that I have not always lived as close to Him as I should have.  I know that no matter where I am in my relationship that Christ is always there to guide and direct me.  Jesus is my best friend.

 I  accepted a call to ministry when I was 14 years old.  I have strived from that day to this to fulfill that call as God would have me to.  Although God calls,  it was not always easy to follow because of the lack of confidence.  But as God told Moses in the book of Exodus to go and lead His people, God has given me the strength to go and do all that He has called me to do.  

I was educated at Eastern Nazarene College and was ordained in the Church of the Nazarene in 1991.  I have been Youth Ministry for over 14 years.  My heart truly is with the youth of our nation.  My ministry has taken me in a lot of different directions.  I have lived in Massachusetts, Utah as well as my home state of West Virginia.  My great goal is to be where God would have me to be, no matter the cost.

In His Service,
John W. Marker
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My Journey to Christ started in a Christian home.  My parents have always been Christians who are involved in their church.  I was in church the first Sunday of my life and every Sunday and Wednesday from then on.  Yes I had a great start to my journey, but this wasn’t enough to keep me from Satan’s grip.  God created me for a purpose and Satan created a purpose for me. 

When I hit the 3^rd grade I started the year off by calling the principal “baldie”.  Not knowing at the time, that was actually where my trouble began.  It seems so small, but as much trouble as I got in that day I realized that I would survive.  As the years went on I got into deeper trouble.  I started smoking cigarettes in the 8^th grade and pot in the 9^th grade.  This led to immoral relationships also lying ,cheating and stealing.  Satan seemed to be winning the battle.  However God had put warriors on the hunt for my soul. 

While all this was going on my parents had kept me in church.  My Mom and Dad prayed daily for my soul.  Finally in 1995 my father got me to a 1 on 1 meeting with the Holy Spirit.  In San Diego CA, at Padre stadium the battle changed its course and God took over.  Since that moment God has become my refiner and purifier.  I have had to go through some real heat to get the impurities out of my life.  At the same time God has used me to reach others and pull them back from Satan’s grip.  God continues to use me at home, work, church and everywhere I go.  This is God’s design and my desire.

Always on the move,
Tim Willison
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I was born July 10^th 1962 in Nampa, Idaho. I am the third of four children in my family. All of my life I have known what it was like to live in a Christian home. I have had the privilege to grow up in a home with both parents together my whole life. We always went to church, always went to Sunday school, and always went to summer church camp. I knew what it meant to be a Christian, I knew how to talk, what to say and when to say it.

The summer of 1980, going into my Sr. year of high school, Jesus and I began to have a conversation about my relationship with Him. He told me that I did not have a relationship with Him. I was playing a game. I did not like that for I did not like playing games much. Jesus said I knew how to act, I knew what to say, I even knew when to say it but I did not know Him in a personal way.

That summer I asked Jesus to forgive my sins and take control of my life. What an awesome adventure life has been. I have been blessed with a wonderful wife, whom I met that same summer at camp. I have four great daughters. And I get to hang out with teens and tell them about Jesus Christ as a fulltime youth pastor.

Living Daily for Him,
David Smith
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Team Member: Eldon Kelley

My name is Eldon Kelley.  I have lived in Northport, Washington since April of 2005.  Before that I lived in Tonasket, Washington for 5 years.  I am married to a wonderful, Godly woman named Amy.  We have three children, Kenneth, Paul, and Elizabethanne.  Some of our favorite things to do as a family is to ride horses and shoot our bows, but we like to do anything so long as it is together.  I enjoy hunting and am teaching my sons about it.

I grew up in Mount Vernon, Washington and went to church from the very start of my life.  I remember giving my life to Jesus when I was about 4 years old.  I lived my life for Jesus up through most of my High School years, but as worldly temptations grew stronger, my walk with Jesus grew weaker.  I gave in to drinking heavily, swearing, living a sexually immoral life, and just doing what was easy.  I lived this way even though I knew it was wrong and many times tried to quit.  I wanted to live a life for Jesus, but couldn’t seem to do it on my own.

On July 22, 1995 I married a beautiful woman, Amy.  She has a son named Kenneth who was 20 months old when I became his daddy.  Together we decided to allow God to change our lives into what He had planned for us.  In June of 2001, God put a calling on my life to become a pastor and go into full-time ministry.  I began to take Bible School classes online and prepared myself for what God has for me.  I realized that I couldn’t change my life on my own, and even my wife couldn’t change it for me.  It was only when I let Jesus have control that my life changed.  I have now become the pastor of an Assemblies of God church here in Northport.  I have made a commitment to serve Jesus for the rest of my life no matter how strong the temptations are.  Jesus is worth living and dying for! 

The verse that I live by is in 2 Corinthians 12:9.  The apostle Paul says “Each time Jesus said to me ‘My gracious favor is all you need.  My power works best in your weakness.’  So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may work through me.”

Bearing His torch,
Eldon Kelley
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My name is Gary Pierce Jr. and I come from a really close family that didn't know Jesus. I have had some bad experiences with Churches and came to a conclusion that I didn't want anything to do with the Church.  I coach Grid Kid Football and one of the other coaches, Craig Bridges and I were pretty competitive and we got into some good arguments. Craig wasn't my favorite person and when I found out he was a Christian, I just felt more secure in my feelings for the Church.

On September 11, 2001 I was putting some football equipment away and Craig and I got into a conversation about the times we were living in. I expressed my fear and insecurity for my family and Craig expressed his confidence in how it didn't matter what happened, his family had the Lord and they were safe. This really made me think, but I just kept going and after a while I forgot about it, but Craig and I started to become friends. 

Then the tough man contest came to Kennewick, WA. I had been watching previous contests and felt I could do that. I used to box, so I started training and got ready. The week before the fight I got sick and I had a lung infection. I should have backed out but I had to much pride. So I went on and I won and after the fight I was interviewed by the local news crew and then I was so tired and drained I could not even drink. I asked my wife to take me home. Well, she asked the paramedics to take a look at me and they couldn't find a pulse. They started an I.V. right in my car. Then I was put into an ambulance. I was suffering from severe dehydration. Next thing I knew I was in the emergency room with fluids being put in me as fast as possible. While on the table I told my wife to find us a church. So the next day, she went with a friend to Desert Springs Community Church. A week later I went and I felt the Pastor was speaking directly to me. So I went the following week and he was still speaking to me. So I gave my heart to Jesus. The Lord really started to bless me, my wife, and our three sons also asked Jesus into their lives. Then my parents, my sister, nieces, nephews, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. It was awesome.

My family is even closer now and we all serve the Lord in different ministries and in 2003, my wife Larna and I felt God calling us into full time ministry.   God is good and we are blessed to be ministering in His grip.

Sincerely,
Gary Pierce Jr.
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