Bob Allums
Our beloved Pastor Bob is now a full time missionary, serving as the Director of A Praying Life for SeeJesus Ministries. When we asked him about his background, he simply replied “I am a sinner saved by the glorious grace of God but you probably need a little more than that, huh?” A Praying Life calls itself "a ministry for badly praying Christians" and offers studies that teach people to pray like Jesus did.
Jamie & Jacki Gildard
Jamie and Jacki are part of a church-planting team with MTW in the growing aerospace technology corridor west of Toulouse, France. They are building relationships, sharing the good news of Christ, and encouraging evangelism and leadership among French Christians.
From Jamie and Jacki: "France lies in the heart of spiritually barren Western Europe. Centuries of persecution and ridicule have left the 60 million people with less than one percent evangelical Christian witness. Yet God will call His people from every nation (Rev. 5:9). There is searching among the French and a void in their hearts that only Christ can fill."
The Gildards served on a church planting team in Marseille, France from 2001 until the team’s transfer to west of Toulouse. In 2007, a team from Spring Valley had the privilege of visiting the Gildards in Marseille, to see their work up-close and meet with local Christians there. The Gildards have four adult children: Rebecca, Jimmy, Owen, and Angelle.
Ian Hammond
Ian and Hanna married during his time at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi. During their time in Jackson, they planted an RUF International among the students at Mississippi College. While serving with RUF International, both Ian and Hanna were convinced that serving internationals was the best job in the world, so upon graduation, they moved to Evanston, IL to plant an RUF-I at Northwestern University and serve there full-time. Ian enjoys good movies, good books, and being a mediocre basketball player. http://www.ruf.org/mi
Dale & Carmen Phillips
Dale Phillips serves as the Director of Leadership & Organizational Effectiveness for ReachGlobal, the missions arm of the EFCA. Dale and Carmen joined Spring Valley as members in 2001, before their first assignment overseas. They consider Spring Valley their sending church, and one of our short-term mission teams visited them in Budapest in 2011. What a blessing to be able to be part of their ministry!
From Dale and Carmen: "We love to tell the stories of all that God has done in our lives. As children, growing up in Latin America, we both developed a huge love for missions. Serving for 10 years in Europe with our own children deepened our walk with God in a way we never imagined possible. Our stories are filled with joy and pain, but interwoven throughout is the constant thread of the grace of God. The more God works in us and shows us our own brokenness, the more his light shines through us. This truly is amazing grace. Out of what God has done in us, we now help facilitate a process called the Deep Community Experience. Deep Community is a four-phased experience that takes leaders and their communities toward the core of who God has designed them to be, resulting in grace-filled kingdom impact.
"Serving as the Director of Leadership & Organizational Effectiveness for ReachGlobal, it is a privilege to travel to mission fields all over the world and walk alongside ministry leaders in their own personal transformation process, seeing God use our story to create a safe place for others in ministry."
Andrew Barber
After spending 9 years working as an English teacher at the Stony Brook School on Long Island, Andrew Barber has transitioned into the role of Campus Minister for Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) at Northwestern University. He has a Master's of Divinity from Covenant Theological Seminary and enjoys helping students live their lives in light of the gospel. He is married to Jessica and together they have four children who love to read good books and wrestle in the backyard: Murray (9), George (7), Wendell (5), and Posey (3).