Following God’s Call

BY JARED KALTWASSER

LON MONAHAN

As global technology adviser at Pioneers, Jennifer is in charge of keeping the organization’s communications systems running smoothly and securely, which can be a challenge in countries that are hostile to Christianity.

As a child growing up competing in Bible quizzes, Jennifer* ’08 found she had a knack for compiling statistics. It also taught her something about ministry.

“I saw how you can use technology in ministry,” she says.

That lesson would stick with her as she followed God’s call to Northwestern College and eventually to the far corners of the world.

When the computer information systems major was a senior, she participated in a Summer of Service, working in West Africa with the church-planting organization Pioneers. Looking to enter the job market, she noticed a providential correlation between her skills and Pioneers’ needs.

“I met with their IT director,” Jennifer recalls. “She started listing off their projects, and I thought, ‘I can do that.’”

After praying, fasting and turning down higher-paying opportunities in the corporate world, Jennifer took a job at Pioneers’ Florida office.

The work was rewarding but also exhausting. In 2012, she left to join a for-profit company, resolving to serve God through giving and being involved in her church. In the meantime, she began studying theology, earning a master’s degree on nights and weekends.

Then in 2017, she heard God’s call again. This time it came in the form of a Facebook message: Pioneers wanted her back.

Jennifer returned to Pioneers as its global technology adviser, based in Thailand. No matter where she goes, she says a lesson she learned as a child holds true.

“Your life is ministry. So whether I’m doing this Pioneers work or I’m working at a tech startup, honestly I feel I’m doing equal ministry based on where my heart is.”