Missionary Bio:
Josh and Kristen both trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior as children. At the age of four, Josh prayed with his father to accept Christ. Seven years later, he committed his life to serving Christ, wherever the Lord would lead. This commitment led him to study computers and engineering at LeTourneau University .
When he was a sophomore he spent six weeks in Venezuela setting up an email server. He saw that missionaries have a real need for someone to help with their computer needs. Computers have become a vital part of their ministries, but often they have no tech support on the field to help when problems come up. On this trip, the Lord called him and challenged him to use his technical skills for reaching the world with the gospel.
At summer camp before the fifth grade, Kristen prayed with her counselor to give her life to Christ. Later, in junior high and high school, the Lord challenged her to consider the possibility of missionary service.
After college, the Lord led Josh to take an apprenticeship with the HCJB Global Technology Center in Elkhart . At the same time, He led Kristen to take some time off to work and grow after high school. God brought them together and they were married in July of 2002.
In April 2003, Josh and Kristen were appointed as missionaries by HCJB Global. In the years that followed, Josh served as a software developer on the ARIEL project and a mentor in the apprenticeship program. Beginning in 2005, Josh took on the role of Director of Information Security for the mission as a whole, helping to ensure that the missionaries around the globe can focus on ministry rather than spam, viruses, or hackers. He also continued to serve as part of the technology team supporting the work at the technology center.
After seven years of working part-time and serving part-time with the Technology Center , God is leading the Gees to take a full-time position with HCJB Global. In addition to serving as the Director of Information Security, Josh will serve as Regional Systems Administrator for the Euro-Asia, North Africa/Middle East, and Euro-Asia regions. In these roles, he will be involved in securing, protecting, and maintaining the computers, software, and equipment that make it possible for HCJB Global to minister to the lost and needy in these regions. Kristen anticipates serving by helping out in the office as well as being a full-time wife and mom.
In order to be physically closer to those to whom they minister, Josh and Kristen will be moving to Bradford , England and joining the HCJB-UK office. There Josh will be working with Mick, the IT manager, who currently does all the IT support for the UK office as well as supporting the missionaries in Euro-Asia, North Africa , the Middle East , and Sub-Saharan Africa. There are a growing number of missionaries in these offices, and each has real computer needs that make it difficult for them to focus on their primary ministries. However, none of these offices have enough need to require a full time IT person. Josh and Mick will work in the UK office doing support and service on the computers and email and file servers there, but will also make trips to these other countries to help with their IT needs.
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