For nearly two decades, Michael has worked to develop, empower, and equip leaders. Prior to joining BILD, Michael rose through the ranks of an industry-leading precision agriculture company, leading the development of a nation-wide dealer network. During this period, Michael established two thriving businesses, raising livestock and growing corn and soybeans in the Central Iowa heartland. Throughout these years, Michael also applied his developmental skills to church leadership, chairing his church’s board of administration, preaching sermons, and teaching adult education courses. Michael is building a global network that identifies, trains, and equips leaders at every level, to impact their communities for the gospel. Michael also directs the development of leaders nationally and in the context of the CityChurch of Ames-Des Moines.
Jeff is the founder of BILD International, which is committed to promoting comprehensive church-based theological education worldwide, in the way of Christ and His Apostles. He has taught church-based theological education seminars throughout the United States and in over sixty countries and helped establish leadership training programs in those countries, identifying, developing, and empowering strategic leaders in 9 civilizations and in a 600 Shadow City Initiative, launching the C-BTE Network. In addition, Jeff helped found Ontario Bible Church (now the CityChurch of Ames-Des Moines) and its Ministry Apprenticeship Training located in Ames, Iowa, and has served since 1972 on the pastoral team, currently as Senior Pastor. He is the author of BILD's Leadership Series, a comprehensive 25-course theological education, leadership-training curriculum and 7-course General Education curriculum; The Encyclicals and The Paradigm Papers: New Paradigms for the Postmodern Church; The First Principles Series and The Story; and several life development resources. His current writing project is The Mastering the Scriptures Series. Jeff and his wife Nancy have two adult children, Anna and Jonathan.
Steve joined BILD in 2002. Formerly he was Vice-President and Dean of External Studies for Moody Bible Institute, overseeing its correspondence school, off-campus sites, online courses, and Radio School of the Bible. Previously, he was Associate Dean for Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He has served in various capacities for ACCESS, Association of Biblical Higher Education (ABHE), and Distance Education Accrediting Council (DEAC). He wrote “Social Presence in Online Learning” for Best Practices of Online Education and “Situated Learning: Optimizing God-Given Learning Community” for Christian Education Journal. His Ph.D. is from Loyola University with a dissertation on "Experiential and Situated Learning.” Kemp is the founding Academic Dean of BILD’s Antioch School of Church Planting and Leadership Development, the first accredited higher education institution to be truly church-based and competency-based. He has served as church planter, pastor, elder, and is now an apostolic leader of the CityChurch of Ames-Des Moines. Steve and his wife Judy have two adult children, Michael and Sarah.
Bill is the Training Systems Director at BILD. He graduated from Philadelphia College of the Bible in 1984 and from Dallas Theological Seminary in 1989. He has been a pastor since 1990 having served in Central Pennsylvania, New York City, and North New Jersey before moving to Iowa in 2008. Bill is a pastor at the CityChurch of Ames-Des Moines and Associate Dean of Partnerships and Training at the Antioch School. In addition, Bill is working with M.Min. and D.Min. students in BILD’s international partnerships to develop advanced translation skills. Bill and his wife Kathy have five adult children, Dan, Mike, Josh, Tina, and Lissa.
Randy has been part of the BILD team since 2008. He is Associate Dean of Partnerships and Support with the Antioch School, helping North America partners establish sound church-based leadership training programs. Locally Randy is on the leadership team of the CityChurch of Ames-Des Moines and has ministered among college students for over two decades. He and his wife Carol have three children and two grandchildren.
Josh graduated from Iowa State University in 1997 with majors in Accounting and Management of Information Systems. After working for University Systems Technology for five years, in 2002 he joined the team at BILD. His previous experience in working with universities and managing development teams to design a fund accounting system to be utilized by university foundations, laid the framework that has enabled him to fulfil the role of Chief Operating Officer for BILD. He and his wife, Anne, have been involved in the CityChurch of Ames-Des Moines since 1997; they have five children: Kaleb, Greta, Rachel, Ruth, and Rowan.
Nathan joined BILD in 2002 and has more than 14 years of experience in marketing, branding, software and print design. He has co-founded several tech startup companies, one of which was acquired by a major U.S. media company. Nathan leads the design, marketing and product development efforts of BILD International and also oversees the development of young adults at the CityChurch of Ames-Des Moines. Nathan and his wife Stephanie have four children: James, Lucas, Natalie, and Abigail.
Randy joined the BILD team in 2020, having previously worked in market development, business management, and financial services operations. He holds a bachelor's degree in marketing and a Master’s in Business Administration from Iowa State University. Randy and his wife Megan have been engaged with the CityChurch of Ames-Des Moines since 2005. Originally from eastern Iowa, Randy first moved to Ames, Iowa, for college, then followed a career to New Jersey for two years and Denmark for four before returning to central Iowa. Randy is an avid cyclist and enjoys mentoring youth riders with the RAGBRAI Dream Team. Randy and Megan have two children, Henry and Ava, and are a part of the CityChurch of Ames-Des Moines in Urbandale.
James joined the BILD team in 2021 as the translation project manager, specifically overseeing the translations of the BILD resources into different world languages. James graduated from University of Northern Iowa in 1997 with degrees in Criminology and Psychology. He spent a year as a Deputy Sheriff and left law enforcement for a career in project management. James, his wife Rachel, and their son David, host a church in their home as part of the CityChurch of Ames-Des Moines.
Nancy has worked with her husband Jeff from the beginning of BILD in whatever capacities were needed as the organization has grown. She currently works in the BILD network as Jeff’s executive assistant and editor for his writing, plus she enjoys working with “SIMA” and the BILD office team. In the CityChurch of Ames-Des Moines, she is currently overseeing a children’s curriculum project and is active in the formation of its community Re:Build program. Besides their two children, Jeff and Nancy have five wonderful grandchildren: Andrew, Amanda, Alicia, Gabriel, and Olivia.
Tina has enjoyed years of volunteering at the BILD office and was excited to become an official team member in 2015. After serving in different roles over the years at BILD, Tina's main focus has become assisting Michael in his work. An active member of the CityChurch of Ames-Des Moines, Tina enjoys engaging with the city of Ames through the CityChurch and through working part-time at the local hospital.
Anne joined BILD officially in 2021 after years of working alongside her husband Josh in an unofficial capacity. She and Josh have been involved in the CityChurch of Ames-Des Moines and BILD for 25 years and have a passion for seeing the church grow across the globe. After being home full time with their five kids, she is excited to join the team in a more hands on supportive role as an executive assistant. Outside of work and family she enjoys exercise, especially biking and hiking as well as reading, camping, and traveling.
Kathy joined BILD in 2002, having previously served 18 years as Supervisor of the Public and Employee Wellness programs for the City of Ames, Iowa. Kathy now plays a key role with BILD in grant writing and reporting for BILD projects. She also leads the acquisition and administration efforts for obtaining copyright permissions for articles used in our resources. She has been a member of the CityChurch of Ames-Des Moines since 1971. Kathy and her husband Aaron have three adult children, Caleb, Jessica, and Zach. They have seven grandchildren.
Mike is a software developer with over a decade of experience creating web applications, building servers, and maintaining network systems for several companies in Iowa. He is the lead developer for the BILD Cloud system and also helps look after BILD's server infrastructure. Mike and his wife Megan are actively involved in the CityChurch of Ames-Des Moines. They just moved into their first house and are excited to be able to integrate more with the Ames community.
Caleb has been a part of the BILD and Antioch School team since 2016, following a decade of non-vocational work with the team. Caleb works together with the leaders of Antioch School programs, helping them complete their certifications, and training them in the BILD paradigm and systems. Locally, he is part of the leadership team of the CityChurch of Ames-Des Moines, and helps to lead BILD's national CityChurch Network. Caleb grew up in Ames, where he makes his home with his wife Annie and his two young boys.
Javier, originally from Perú, serves as the Associate Dean of Partnerships and Hispanic Initiatives in the Antioch School. He earned his B.A. from Columbia Bible College in 1986, and his M.Ed. in 1994 from Wheaton College Graduate School with a Thesis on the “Qualitative Evaluation of a Curriculum for Leadership Training in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.” He is currently doing PhD. Studies with PRODOLA. Javier served 20 years in Paraguay where he coordinated from 2000 to 2009 the Pastors Training Program of the Association of Evangelical Pastor in Paraguay (APEP). He travels extensively in Latin America equipping leaders, helping them implement church-based leadership training processes "from Disciple to Doctor." He and his wife, Cecilia, are currently in Orlando, Florida leading a house church planting effort among Latinos, and as part of Northland Church.
Martha joined BILD and the Antioch School of Church Planting and Leadership Development in 2021. She has been a part of the CityChurch of Ames-Des Moines since 2005. She is excited about serving God in this role and looks forward to continuing to see God work. She finds great joy in serving her church family, reading, playing piano, crocheting, and spoiling her two nieces.
Caroline joined the BILD team in 2020. She finished school at Western Technical College in La Crosse, WI spring of 2020 with a degree in graphic design. Caroline got connected with the Ames community by working the past five summers at camps in Iowa. She enjoys drawing, digital art, and CrossFit.
Lisa Chicken joined the BILD team in 2020 shortly after she and her family made the move to Iowa with the intent of plugging into Ames-Des Moines City Church. Growing up as a bilingual pastor’s kid, she always dreamed of being a part of an organization which trains leaders worldwide and after 13 years of homeschooling her four children, she jumped into this new adventure with the Antioch School. She is eager and enthusiastic in sharing her passion for what God is doing through BILD and supporting our partners with joy. She enjoys reading, exercise, nature walks, traveling abroad, family movie nights and never gets tired of ‘Chicken’ jokes.
Molly has been helping Nancy around the BILD office since 2013 and was excited to officially join the BILD team in 2021. She loves being part of a team and thrives on helping people, such as with transcribing and putting tabs in courses. She also loves learning new things, like putting together the Library book database and learning how to use the different libraries. Molly and her family have been involved in the CityChurch of Ames-Des Moines her whole life. She enjoys exercising, spending time with her two boy kitties and nieces and nephew, watching movies, traveling, and reading.
Megan joined the BILD team as a content writer in 2021. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communication from the Greenlee School of Journalism at Iowa State University in 2003. After the birth of her first child, Megan left newspapers to be a stay-at-home mom. In that time, she freelanced for numerous newspapers, international organizations, and various non-profits. Megan and her husband Randy have been a part of the CityChurch of Ames-Des Moines since 2005 and are members of the Urbandale Church. Together they have two children, Henry and Ava. In her free time, Megan enjoys reading, cycling, traveling, and volunteering for her local elementary school PTO.
Pam began working at BILD in 2011. She works in accounts receivable to invoice and process payments for BILD and the Antioch School. She has been involved with the CityChurch of Ames-Des Moines since 1976. Pam and her husband Tom have one daughter, Shanna. They are the proud grandparents of a grandson and granddaughter.
Lilian started working for BILD in 2019. She works in accounts receivable, processing payments for BILD and the Antioch School. She graduated from Prairie Bible Institute in Alberta, Canada. Lilian became involved in many ways with the CityChurch of Ames-Des Moines in 1974 when it was called Ontario Bible Church. She finds great satisfaction in seeking the welfare of the city by volunteering in several organizations in the city of Ames, Iowa. Lilian and her husband, Don have two adult children and six amazing grandchildren: Isaac, Elliott, Samuel, Joshua, Lucy, and Andrew.
Don has been involved in the development of BILD since 1974 and has been on the BILD board since its incorporation in 1986. He graduated from Prairie Bible Institute in Canada and holds an Agricultural Business degree from Iowa State University. He currently helps with the printing, assembling and shipping of BILD resources. Don and his wife Lilian have two adult children, Lynnay and Darren. They have six grandchildren.