Alumni Impact Stories
We asked various alumni how they are living out their faith in all walks of life. These are their stories…
Carmen (Jones) Bridges (‘90)
-
Describe Your Current Role and How You Impact Others:
I work with cheerleaders, dancers and gymnasts. I am currently with Kansas City Athletic Cheer where I coach competitive cheer teams. At KCAC I run TumbleIQ, in which I develop tumbling programs. I also work one on one with athletes of all ages from beginning to elite to professional. I teach athletes their acro and tumbling skills. Whatever their goal, we achieve it. Each athlete has a different path. I truly engage with each one and let them know and believe that they matter. That each one has an amazing gift or talent. I coach them to believe in themselves and that they can do phenomenal things. It is so inspiring to see the transformation and confidence grow in children of all ages to young adults.
How Do You Live Out Your Christian Faith In Your Job, Church, Family Life, and/or Community?
I work with so many young children to young adults. I try to live and lead by example. I live by Gods commandments. I am a safe place for all of my athletes. I show compassion and care for each one. I listen to them and build a relationship of trust.
In my church, I am the pianist. Mr. Regier taught me well. My husband and I put God first and I pray that my children and community see that in me.What Are Some Areas Of Involvement In Your Local Church?
I am the pianist.
Prior Career or Job Title:
Program Director at Emerald City Gymnastics
Describe Your Past Role(s) & How You Impacted Others:
I have worked with thousands of athletes through my career. I have tried my best to be an example and inspire young athletes. I have tried to bring something positive to sports of perfection. I have heard back from several through the years. That is very rewarding. It is rewarding to hear the little things they remember. If I had just a small impact on them that is a win. I truly care about the athletes I have worked with and I pray that stays with them.
Ashleigh (Horn) Croslin (‘14)
Hon. Michael J. Gibson (‘75)
-
Describe Your Current Role and How You Impact Others:
A Municipal Judge is a public service position. The ethics and judicial discretion is an enormous responsibility. The delicate balance of protecting the due process (rights) of the accused; fair and just rulings, must all be accomplished while considering the public safety of the entire city. My confidence, actions and decisions all begin with prayer and alone time with Christ prior to the beginning of every court session.
How Do You Live Out Your Christian Faith In Your Job, Church, Family Life, and/or Community?
As a 41 year member of Vision City Church in Rio Rancho, and former board member, I thank God daily for a Pastor that teaches textual content from the Holy Scriptures that often relate to today's world. Christ is the center of my 48 years of marriage to my wife Dawn and my family. My adult children Misty, Adam and Marie continue that legacy in their homes and families. Again, I am thankful to Christ daily for this family dynamic.
What Are Some Areas Of Involvement In Your Local Church?
I am a former church board member but now I am not permitted to serve on any board as a member of the judiciary. I also spent many years in the church choir and praise team. Thank you Charles Regier for the music instruction!
Prior Career or Job Title:
"My first job was during the summers while attending CBA . As an orphan I had no schedule for my summers. I worked on a custom harvest crew with Jacob Gossen. He was a much needed mentor, great employer and treasured friend to this day.
After high school I attended Grace Bible Institute for one semester. I had no parents, no direction and no funds so my time at Grace was short lived. With no formal education and no work skillset I decided to enlist in the US Air Force 1976-1980. I chose the Military Police career field and received incredible training from the Air Force that served me well in my career to follow. In 1980 I was accepted to the New Mexico State Police Academy in Santa Fe. I had a 23 year career serving in Patrol and Narcotics divisions. It was a rewarding and very challenging, demanding career. After my career I went back to school and completed a BS in Criminal Justice Management. ""Remember, it is never to late to gain more education."" While attending school I worked part time as an office manager for a local mortuary. In 2006 I was selected to manage a federal grant through US Health and Human Services that promoted healthy marriages and healthy families. The grant sadly ended in 2011. The grant was not considered faith-based but faith played a vital role in nearly every marriage mentoring and counseling session that was conducted. I was very blessed to work with the grant and what it entailed. It certainly had a positive influence on my own marriage.
In 2012 I opened my own small business training law enforcement small arms instructors for police agencies throughout New Mexico. I closed this business at the end of 2023.
In March 2020 I was appointed by the city of Rio Rancho to the position of Municipal Judge. This opportunity was unexpected however I approached the position as a calling as I did with my prior public service positions, and part of God's plan for my life. I am currently in the process of stepping down from the bench and retiring. It is time..."
Describe Your Past Role(s) & How You Impacted Others:
"I am convinced that my life's path, much filled with tragedy and much filled with reward, was guided by God's plan for me. My calling to public service positions in the military, the state police, the federal grant and the judiciary gave me such opportunity to spread God's word and grace in scenarios that I believe would have not otherwise presented themselves. With age comes wisdom is a commonly used phrase. I believe as a follower of Christ it it also comes with boldness to share your testimony and share God's mercy and grace with others you have contact with.
-
Describe Your Current Role and How You Impact Others:
My role is to nurture, encourage, teach, and point people back to God. As a mom, I get to shape, teach, and disciple my children. As a ministry wife, I get to walk alongside my husband and serve the people God has placed around us. As an author, I get to take the lessons God has been teaching me and put them into words that might encourage someone else.
How Do You Live Out Your Christian Faith In Your Job, Church, Family Life, and/or Community?
"I live out my Christian faith by allowing it to shape every area of my life. As a homeschool mom, I have the opportunity to disciple my children every day, not only through what I teach them but through how I treat them, how I handle challenges, how I pray, and how I point them toward Christ.
As a wife to a youth minister, I support my husband in his calling and serve alongside him as we care for the young people and families God has placed in our lives. I try to be someone who listens, encourages, welcomes, and makes people feel seen and valued.
As an author, I use the gifts God has given me to encourage others in their faith and help others recognize that their everyday lives have purpose. I want my writing to point people toward Scripture, intentional living, and a deeper relationship with Christ.
In my church and community, I try to live out my faith through building genuine relationships, encouraging others, and being willing to meet people where they are. More than anything, I want my life to reflect Christ in the ordinary moments. I know I will never do that perfectly, but my desire is that the people around me would see His love, grace, truth, and compassion through the way I live."
What Are Some Areas Of Involvement In Your Local Church?
My involvement in my local church is centered around serving alongside my husband in youth ministry, supporting the students and families God has placed in our lives, and helping create a welcoming and encouraging environment within our church community. I enjoy building relationships, encouraging others, praying with and for people, engaging in worship, and being available when someone needs a listening ear or support.
Prior Career or Job Title:
I have worked in Insurance, as a teller, in bookkeeping, and served as a house parent at a Children's Home.
Describe Your Past Role(s) & How You Impacted Others:
"Throughout my working life, I have had the opportunity to serve others in a variety of roles, including working in insurance, as a bank teller, as a bookkeeper, and as a house parent at a children's home. Each position taught me something different about responsibility, integrity, compassion, communication, and caring for people.
Working in insurance, banking, and bookkeeping taught me the importance of being trustworthy, dependable, detail-oriented, and willing to help people navigate situations that could sometimes be stressful or unfamiliar. These roles allowed me to build relationships with people while serving them professionally and responsibly.
My experience as a house parent at a children's home had a particularly personal impact on me. It gave me the opportunity to care for children, meet them where they were, provide stability and encouragement, and be a consistent presence in their lives. That experience deepened my understanding of how much small acts of love, patience, and consistency can mean to someone.
Today, I continue to use what I learned through those experiences in my roles as a wife, homeschool mom, ministry wife, and author. Whether I am teaching my children, encouraging a student or another woman, serving alongside my husband, or writing, I want to use my experiences and gifts to encourage others, point them toward Christ, and remind them that their lives have value and purpose."
Brendan Miller (‘21)
-
Describe Your Current Role and How You Impact Others:
I am a Student Pastor at First Baptist Church of Wagoner Ok. I have a great opportunity to speak into the lives of students and parents directly. I preach every Wednesday night to around 100 students. I lead a Tuesday morning Bible Study. I lead Sunday night Home Groups and I have plenty of opportunities to disciple students. The teenage years are some of the most difficult years of someone's life. They are experiencing all kinds of temptation, uncertainty, and new relationship dynamics that they have never dealt with. Their faith is also becoming more real. I get to come alongside them and assist them in their walk with the Lord. In doing so, I hope to also reach their parents and challenge them to grow in their faith as well. The students make such an impact on me as well. They challenge me to be strong in my faith and also to be as courageous and bold with my faith as they are. My wife and I love mentoring and walking alongside these students. Our motto in our student ministry is "Connecting students to real truth and real community." This motto is what I strive for in my ministry. I know students search and long for truth. We want to give them the foundation of truth in Jesus Christ that they can use for the rest of their lives. Students also crave community and providing solid Christian friendships allows students to possess more confidence and accountability in their faith.
How Do You Live Out Your Christian Faith In Your Job, Church, Family Life, and/or Community?
It is very easy to live out my faith at my job because I am a pastor. However, it amplifies how you live in your family and community. Pastors have been called to live to a different standard. So, I strive to live as an ambassador for Christ as best I can in both my home and community. Living out my faith, as a husband, has allowed me to model what a Christian marriage looks like. Many students come from broken families. My wife and I do our best to model what a godly marriage looks like.
What Are Some Areas Of Involvement In Your Local Church?
I preach every Wednesday for the students. I lead a Bible Study on Tuesday mornings. I provide counseling and mentorship to students. I lead a Sunday night Home Groups for students. I run our student Instagram and the Church's Instagram.
Prior Career or Job Title:
Student Intern
Laura (Estell) Shamblin (‘97)
-
Describe Your Current Role and How You Impact Others:
I am one of five fellowship-trained Developmental Behavioral Pediatricians in the State of Oklahoma. I see patients with diagnoses such as Autism, ADHD, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, Childhood Trauma, and complex medical and genetic conditions. I direct our resident education program for pediatric residents and participate in fellow training, research, quality improvement in access to care, and speak to professional groups to provide education in my field. I began a website called TraumaInformedMD.com to help provide trauma informed education to those who work with children, and I use it to train residents who will become pediatricians in our state.
How Do You Live Out Your Christian Faith In Your Job, Church, Family Life, and/or Community?
My job involves listening to parents tell me about years of worry and angst about their child, seeking a correct diagnosis or an intervention that will improve the quality of life of the entire family. I usually spend 1 to 2 hours with a family at our first visit. Families are vulnerable with me, and I work with both families and medical trainees from a variety of cultural, educational, and religious backgrounds. Being grounded in my faith and prayer allows me to listen with compassion to the concerns of others and to provide respectful and family centered care, while not carrying the load of others home to my family. I am a wife and mother to four wonderful children, ages 12, 13, 14 and 15 years who keep me very busy. We are very involved in our church and our local Christian school community.
What Are Some Areas Of Involvement In Your Local Church?
Since our marriage, almost 20 years ago, my husband and I have taught Sunday school at Southern Hills Baptist Church. We first taught College age, then Singles, and now we have been teaching in Youth for five years. I am currently helping to teach 9th and 10th grade girls. One of the most fun things for me is seeing young families in our church who used to be our college students and are now married and bringing their children to Sunday school. I also volunteer in the preschool area and in our program for children with neurodiversity during the church service as well.
Prior Career or Job Title:
I formerly worked as a General Pediatrician for the Bethany Children's Center, in an after-hours clinic, and as a stay-at-home mom for several years before going back to do a fellowship in Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics.
Describe Your Past Role(s) & How You Impacted Others:
"As a medical student, there were four CBA alumni attending medical school at the same time. I participated in the Christian Medical Dental Association and went on four medical mission trips with them. I later helped lead a medical mission trip to Cambodia with my church.
As a stay-at-home mom, including having 3 children in 3 years and then adopting internationally, I was personally impacted by the difficulties of parenting children with the challenges of neurodiversity and the effects of adoption as well as the challenges of remaining in community with others while I was feeling overwhelmed. As a result, I came to learn much I would not be able to understand in my current job without that life experience. My experiences as a parent allow me to help others who are going through similar and difficult experiences, including friends, church members, and those I serve as a physician.
In 2019-2021, I was appointed by the Governor to serve on the Executive Board of Directors of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority. I served during the Covid-19 pandemic, which was quite an experience, and I was privileged to help pass the rules that allowed Oklahoma Medicaid to begin reimbursing for targeted therapies for Autism Spectrum Disorder, which has widely changed the landscape of services for autism in our state. "
Andrew Troyer (‘13)
-
Describe Your Current Role and How You Impact Others:
In my current role, I work with multiple teams in a corporate and field environment to construct and modify oil and gas production sites. My goal is to positively impact others by letting the love of Christ shine through me.
How Do You Live Out Your Christian Faith In Your Job, Church, Family Life, and/or Community?
My family serves with the Net Menders mission organization. Net Menders has an annual mission trip in February to aid and equip local churches to be lights for Christ in the South Texas/Mexico region. Participating in mission trips to help further the Kingdom has been a challenging and fulfilling experience. It is a constant reminder that Christ will make a way if we trust in Him.
What Are Some Areas Of Involvement In Your Local Church?
We are members of Bethel Mennonite Church in Hydro, OK where I serve as a trustee and periodically teach adult Sunday School.
Jennifer “Jenni” Harms (‘90)
-
Describe Your Current Role and How You Impact Others:
"I am a Licensed Clinical Marriage & Family Therapist and owner of HomePlace Therapy in Wichita, KS. With more than 20 years in private practice and roots in community mental health and hospital inpatient care, I work with adults, couples, and older teens. My approach is compassionate, practical, and grounded in evidence-based care while honoring the faith, relationships, and values that give each person’s life meaning.
My role is to walk alongside people as they make sense of their stories, heal from painful experiences, strengthen relationships, recognize their strengths, and find hope for what comes next. The name HomePlace reflects what I hope to create: a place where people feel safe enough to come as they are, be known and understood, know that they belong, and be challenged to grow.
I believe some of the most meaningful impact happens when someone who has felt alone realizes their story matters, they have a place to belong, and there is hope for who they are becoming."
How Do You Live Out Your Christian Faith In Your Job, Church, Family Life, and/or Community?
"My Christian faith is not a separate part of my life; it shapes how I understand my purpose, how I see people, and how I try to serve others. In my work as a therapist, I often have the opportunity to share my own faith story when it is appropriate and welcomed, and to walk alongside people who are hurting, questioning, or searching for hope and a place to belong. Regardless of a client's beliefs, I want every person who enters my office to experience compassion, dignity, acceptance, and the assurance that their story matters.
My faith is also deeply rooted in relationships and in my Mennonite heritage. Every year, my mom and I assemble and hand-quilt quilts that we donate to the Kansas Mennonite Relief Sale and the CBA German Feast and Auction. I love that something as simple and ordinary as sitting together around a quilt frame can connect generations, creativity, service, faith, and generosity.
CBA also gave me one of the greatest gifts of my life: four of my very best friends, who remain my best friends today. More than three decades after graduation, we continue to live out what it means to be the body of Christ for one another. We have each other's backs. We laugh and cry together, celebrate life's joys and carry one another through its losses. We cheer each other on, tell each other the truth, hold each other accountable, and remind one another who we are when one of us forgets. CBA taught me about Christian community, but these friendships have allowed me to experience it for a lifetime.
Increasingly, I see my calling as creating those kinds of spaces for other people; places where people are known, loved, challenged, encouraged, and reminded that they belong. Whether that happens in my therapy office, around a quilt frame with my mom, over breakfast with someone experiencing homelessness, in a discipleship group, or halfway around the world on a mission trip, I want to be willing to meet people where they are, make room for them at the table, and faithfully walk alongside them."
What Are Some Areas Of Involvement In Your Local Church?
"I have been part of Ridgepoint Church for 30 years, and service has taken many forms during those years. For 15 years, I coordinated our Downtown Breakfast ministry, which serves people experiencing homelessness and financial hardship in Wichita. I also spent 10 years coordinating our Welcome Team greeters and recently completed six years of service on our Nominating Team, including serving as chair.
Over the last year, I intentionally handed those long-term leadership responsibilities to others to make room for a new season of ministry. I now serve on Ridgepoint's Women's Ministry team with a desire to create opportunities for women to grow in their faith through service and missions. In December, I will help lead a women's mission trip to Peru. One of the things that makes that especially meaningful is the opportunity to serve alongside another CBA alum who is ministering there.
Preparing for Peru has even given me the chance to combine missions with a little Mennonite creativity. As part of our fundraising, I curated candle scents inspired by our baking heritage—Schnetka, Cherry Moos, and Zwieback. I also help lead Ridgepoint's annual Verenika Dinner, so apparently Mennonite food continues to find its way into my ministry!
Currently, I also serve on the leadership team of my Sunday School class, mentor others, lead a discipleship group, and am part of a core group at Ridgepoint exploring the development of a new church campus somewhere in the Wichita area."
Prior Career or Job Title:
"Director of Outpatient and Clinical Support Services, Via Christi (Ascension) Behavioral Health Services
Director of Program & Case Management, The Breakthrough Club of Sedgwick County (COMCARE affiliate)"
Describe Your Past Role(s) & How You Impacted Others:
I have spent my entire professional career in mental health comforting the brokenhearted, uplifting the downtrodden, and serving those in need.
Early in my career, I worked with individuals living with severe and persistent mental illness, helping them address not only mental health needs but practical needs such as housing, education, and physical health. I developed a family program and provided group therapy for parents living with mental illness. I later moved into leadership, directing case-management and psychosocial rehabilitation programs and eventually overseeing a broad range of behavioral health services at Via Christi, including inpatient psychiatric social work and therapy, outpatient services, partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient programs.
Although my roles have changed from case manager, to family program coordinator, to administrator, to therapist and business owner, the calling behind them really hasn't. I have always been drawn to people who are hurting and to work that restores dignity, strengthens relationships, creates hope, and helps people discover that their circumstances do not have to define the rest of their story.
Jay Penner (‘14)
-
Describe Your Current Role and How You Impact Others:
Leads interface development for engine replacement program for B-52 bomber for the U.S Air Force. Impacts others by leading interface team by example.
How Do You Live Out Your Christian Faith In Your Job, Church, Family Life, and/or Community?
My wife, son, and soon to be daughter. Attend Together We church in Yukon. We strive to show the love of Jesus to those around us at our workspaces and in our community/neighborhood.
What Are Some Areas Of Involvement In Your Local Church?
We attend a small group with other couples with young children to support each other by encouragement and studying the Word together.
Prior Career or Job Title:
Aircraft mechanic