John

John discovered his call to mission while cruising the Pacific as a helicopter pilot for the Navy. That led him to Fuller Seminary to get an MDiv with an emphasis in Cross-Cultural Studies. At Fuller, he met The Rev. Anne Wheeler who had been serving in Kenya. They married and went to Kenya together as Presbyterian missionaries where John served as chaplain and taught Physics and Christian Religious Education in a Kenyan high school. He was ordained by PCEA in 1992.

Next, John served with the Mekane Yesus Church in rural Ethiopia, where he helped with the construction and opening of the Charles Haspels Bible School. Following a time serving as missionaries-in- residence and working on a DMin in the U.S., they returned to Ethiopia where John taught at the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology and The Mekane Yesus Seminary. After a stressful four years, they returned to the U.S. and ended service as PCUSA missionaries. John has partnered with Anne in the Member Care Coordinator role for TAP from 2009 until 2016. For the first five of those years, they returned to Ethiopia to teach once every year. John has a particular heart for visiting Partners in their place of service. Pastoral Care and Encouragement