Our Story
In 2013 our family’s world almost changed significantly. Dave had what seemed to be a very mild heart attack that led to the discovery of severe coronary artery blockages and quadruple heart bypass surgery. Of the four blockages, one of which was termed a “widow maker”, the one that collapsed and cause his attack only resulted in very minor damage to his heart. God had spared him, and our family, and it was only natural to begin wondering “for what?” Fast forward 18 months, Carlton Deal is in town and we are standing around the grill on a relatively mild January evening chatting about his and Shannon’s ministry in Brussels and Serve the City (STC) in particular. Dave was amazed at how God had grown STC from a single volunteer event in Brussels to a movement that now stretched to 100 cities around the world. He also felt led at that point to offer to help Carlton think through what it would take to transform STC into a sustainable organization that could continue to expand around the world.
6 months and several emails later Carlton asked if we would consider providing administrative support for STC International. This was a role that capitalized on both of our skills and gifts in organization and operations management. The need for an operations group at the international level was later identified as a key part of STC International’s 2020 vision for the movement. As Dave was already beginning to consider retiring from NASA in 2017 the timing certainly seemed right.
Although we were both close friends and supporters of the Deals for over 25 years we knew we needed a better understanding of both STC and how it fit in with a philosophy of reaching people for Jesus. To that end we decided to take the opportunity to be part of two trips to Brussels in support of the Deals. In the first, Cindy went with the Women’s Ministry Team to meet the Women of the Well. This group of women in the Deal’s church plant in Brussels, The Well, were able to expose that team to many of the ministries and organizations that SCT works with on a weekly basis and how serving with them has opened the doors for conversations about Christ. The second trip, on which we both participated, was in direct support to STC’s Big Volunteer Week. This trip provided us with the opportunity to see how STC works on the ground level and to have further face-to-face discussion with Carlton and Shannon on their vision and how we could help to make it a reality. PCC only supports this event every other year and coupled with the one-off trip the women we took it as just another example to us of the providence of God’s timing.
Because of our belief that serving our community cannot only change lives in the here and now but also lead both those being served and those serving to Christ, we have taken on the challenges presented to us by Carlton of initiating Serve the City in Newport News (which is now Serve the City Peninsula and for which Cindy serves as the "city" leader) while also engaging directly at the international level (Dave leads the Global Operations Team as STC’s Chief Operating Officer). We rejoice in being part of the “many people doing small things together” to make a big difference.
6 months and several emails later Carlton asked if we would consider providing administrative support for STC International. This was a role that capitalized on both of our skills and gifts in organization and operations management. The need for an operations group at the international level was later identified as a key part of STC International’s 2020 vision for the movement. As Dave was already beginning to consider retiring from NASA in 2017 the timing certainly seemed right.
Although we were both close friends and supporters of the Deals for over 25 years we knew we needed a better understanding of both STC and how it fit in with a philosophy of reaching people for Jesus. To that end we decided to take the opportunity to be part of two trips to Brussels in support of the Deals. In the first, Cindy went with the Women’s Ministry Team to meet the Women of the Well. This group of women in the Deal’s church plant in Brussels, The Well, were able to expose that team to many of the ministries and organizations that SCT works with on a weekly basis and how serving with them has opened the doors for conversations about Christ. The second trip, on which we both participated, was in direct support to STC’s Big Volunteer Week. This trip provided us with the opportunity to see how STC works on the ground level and to have further face-to-face discussion with Carlton and Shannon on their vision and how we could help to make it a reality. PCC only supports this event every other year and coupled with the one-off trip the women we took it as just another example to us of the providence of God’s timing.
Because of our belief that serving our community cannot only change lives in the here and now but also lead both those being served and those serving to Christ, we have taken on the challenges presented to us by Carlton of initiating Serve the City in Newport News (which is now Serve the City Peninsula and for which Cindy serves as the "city" leader) while also engaging directly at the international level (Dave leads the Global Operations Team as STC’s Chief Operating Officer). We rejoice in being part of the “many people doing small things together” to make a big difference.