The Empower Training

Jeff was born and raised in Spain in a missionary family where he also served for 12 years as a missionary church planter. While working in Spain multiple churches were founded as well as discipleship programs launched and matured along with developing partnerships and projects both in Spain and North Africa with various projects involving medical and business development.  In 1995 he moved stateside to become the Global Missions Pastor for Overlake Christian Church, a community of 7,000 at the time, in Redmond, WA for nearly 14 years.  Within his role he was involved in developing multi-cultural partnerships with organizations around the world to provide practical help to improvised demographics.  Under his leadership the church went from 3 to 45 short-term mission teams a year with hundreds of individuals mobilized to serve internationally as well as domestically. He himself has led numerous teams always with the focus of training others in the process to take on these leadership roles. A successful formal 3-year Bible Institute was launched for equipping candidates for missionary service around the world.

In addition, he has taught in multiple training settings in Africa, Central Asia, and Latin America as well as consulting for other mission organizations and NGOs on global and local strategies for reaching broken communities to see desired transformation and change. Jeff has served for many years as the chairman for various organizations dedicated to church planting, discipleship the development of schools, educational women’s and children’s programs, HIV/AIDS recovery programs and anti-trafficking efforts in multiple countries.

Jeff currently resides in Kirkland WA is married for 40 years and has two married children and four grandsons who are the joy of the family. He can be contacted at JeffMc@notabandoned.org.

She has a BA in Organizational Management and a master’s degree in International Community Development, with a thesis focus on the sustainability of the anti-trafficking movement from Northwest University. Both degrees were completed with honors. Alex brings with her a background in missions from her years working for a large church, as well as graphic design, marketing, and jewelry design skills. In her 14 years with Not Abandoned she has grown to oversee their communications, program development, and training for the organization and their partners. She has sat on both mission and non-profit boards and is passionate about supporting other women in leadership.

Alex is a sought-after speaker and trainer on the topics of trauma, trafficking, outreach, and faith and has been fortunate to share what she’s learned internationally at universities, conferences, churches, and public service trainings. She enjoys coaching direct care teams to help them improve their own holistic health and the health of their programs and leading teams of volunteers to work with Not Abandoned’s Freedom Centers. However, what impassions her the most is getting to work directly with women in the industry directly. As someone who experienced years of sexual exploitation herself, Alex brings a unique insight to the Not Abandoned team and the work of empowering others.

Her work over the years has taken her to many different countries across several continents. She finds peace in how people truly are more alike than different and joy in still celebrating those differences. Today, she resides in Kirkland, WA with her 1-year-old Shepherd mix and enjoys weekends of exploring with her chosen family and beloved friends. She can be contacted at AlexM@notabandoned.org.