Read Jessica's biography here:
I have been a Christian for most of my life, raised in a loving Christian home in Texarkana, Texas. I fell in love with Jesus at a very young age. I was baptized and confirmed at Williams Memorial United Methodist Church in Texarkana when I was in the Sixth Grade. I was very active in my youth group and choir. I followed Him faithfully until my first year of college until I became disillusioned with church. I didn’t give up on God completely, but I did walk away from the church for a couple of years.
God began calling me back to Him and to ministry so I joined a Christian music group with a missions focus called Celebrant Singers. For two and a half years, I traveled with them to 45 states and 7 countries, mostly in Latin America, ministering to people through music, personal testimonies and prayer.
After my time with the Celebrants, I moved to Arlington, Texas to finish my Theatre degree. I also took a lot of Education courses during this time thinking I might decide to teach later on. I worked full time at a bank while taking a full course-load. When I graduated, I decided to continue working at the bank where I was promoted several times.
I eventually began became the office manager for a local law firm. I handled all the finances and HR responsibilities. During that time, I began to feel a strong pull back towards missions. I went on a short-term mission trip to Paris and really felt a confirmation to pursue long-term missions. Shortly after that, I was laid-off from my job. It was just the push I needed to take the leap into full-time ministry. I then joined a Christian organization called Educational Services International (ESI) and taught English as a Foreign Language in Cheb, Czech Republic for almost three years.
I returned to the states for four years and worked at the Dallas Zoo as the Cash and HR Manager for the retail and food services. Then, ESI asked me to return to the Czech Republic as the Program Director for Central Europe. I oversaw 49 teachers in three countries (Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia). Unfortunately, ESI had to close its doors due to financial reasons in June of 2014. ESI made an informal agreement with TeachBeyond to help teachers who wanted to stay on in their respective countries of service. TeachBeyond hired me to help with this transition and to develop a National Schools TEFL program for them.
I feel that I am called to train, mentor, and develop teachers so they can be effective teachers and be empowered to minister outside of the classroom. This job is the perfect mixture of my past job skills and my calling.
I am an avid reader. I enjoy classic literature, young adult books and non-fiction. I love to crochet gifts for my friends and family during the long, Czech winter nights. I occasionally sing on the Praise team at my church in Prague. I like attending theatre and visiting museums. I am very interested in learning about other cultures.
