Why, you may ask, have we adopted a Spanish name…? Well, there’s a perfectly good short explanation for that, but I prefer the long way…
I’m dad, also known as Kevin. Angela (my beautiful wife you see in the picture), and I have been married for almost 18 years now. We have a beautiful daughter, Clara, and a handsome son, Collin. Together, we are La Familia de Pimientos (The Peppers Family).
Since Angela and I began dating, we’ve lived in the northern suburbs of Atlanta where we established our family, getting married in Blue Ridge, and raising our kids in Woodstock. Angela and I met almost 20 years ago working at an Italian restaurant in Canton called Provino’s. After a short time working together, we both went onto the mission field together, but in separate locations. We flew to California together and trained there before boarding separate planes, with separate teams, and headed across the ocean to work with elementary-aged children using Bible stories to help them practice conversational English.
That was my first foray into international missions. Angela had been overseas three times previously – twice to Asia and once to Africa. When we returned from our respective trips that year, we became close friends which then blossomed into a dating relationship. After a year of dating, we were engaged and married a year later.
During the time we were dating, we attended what is now Revolution Church in Canton, GA. It was called Ridgestone church back then. It was there that we met our dear friends, Jason & Carrie Noble.
The Nobles had moved from Ames, Iowa to plant Ridgestone church and invited me and my brothers into a small discipleship group/bible study with them. I was rather immature in my faith at that time, and they exercised great patience helping me better understand how to study scripture and apply its teachings to my life.
After some time, the Nobles moved back to Iowa to be closer to their parents as they focused on building their own family. In the time they were back in Ames, they had four boys and remained close to the Lord – more to come on them later.
During the time Jason & Carrie were back in Iowa, Angela and I found ourselves floundering a little in our faith journey until sweet Clara was gifted to us by God. We knew when she was born though, that we were called to be stewards of the wonderful gift God had entrusted to us so we returned to fellowship at Revolution Church (which had rebranded from Ridgestone during our absence). God was beginning to work in our lives, drawing us closer to Him as we served the church by hosting and leading small groups – just as Jason & Carrie had done for us several years before.
A couple of years after Clara arrived, we were blessed with the birth of our son, Collin. We moved into our new house at that time, where we continue to live and are committed to raising our children up in the way God would have them go. After a while, we sought to find a slightly smaller community of believers within which to grow more intimately with the Lord.
We began attending Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Hickory Flat, GA in late, 2017. It was through that move that God began to place an emphasis to global missions back on our hearts. The church membership is committed to advancing the Gospel both locally and globally. Having served the mission committee’s annual fair through our work in the hospitality ministry for a couple of years, I was asked to join the committee where I now serve to help develop and execute missions strategies for our congregation.
I work from home full time and Angela manages the house and serves in hospitality at the church. Clara and Collin are homeschooled so we get to spend a lot of time together as a family! As we prepare to journey to Spain this summer to partner with Jason & Carrie, we’ve adopted the title of La Familia de Pimientos which in Spanish means, The Peppers Family.