Steve and Nancy Huerd

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Nancy grew up in a Christian home in northeast Missouri, attending church functions regularly, but it didn’t truly impact her life until her junior year of high school when her team lost the Missouri basketball championship.  Through the help of some of her friends, she realized the emptiness of worldly achievements and asked Christ to come into her life.  During her college days at the University of Missouri, she played basketball and was very active in Campus Crusade for Christ, the former name of Cru.  Through her involvement in Cru, she was able to share Christ with most of her teammates and lead several Bible studies.

Eventually, she became connected and plugged into the local high school ministry while teaching and coaching at a St. Louis area high school.  Sensing God’s call on her life not merely to teach and coach but to be a full-time missionary, she joined Cru full-time.  Her first assignment was in Minnesota, where she met Steve.

Growing up in Minnesota, I did not attend church and was sincerely searching for the truth.  During my sophomore year in high school, I became a Christ follower as the result of a large outreach presented by Student Venture (Cru’s High School Ministry).  I became a student leader in this movement reaching many of my peers with the gospel.  In college, I was very involved with Cru at St. Cloud State University (St. Cloud, MN), and attended two summer projects in Washington DC (inner-city), and Japan.  Because God had changed my life so much, instinctively, I knew God had called me to join Cru even before graduating from high school.

Nancy and I first met in Minnesota in my hometown of Anoka, where Nancy had just reported to begin working at her first assignment on staff in 1987.  I joined full-time staff with Cru in 1988, and we were married in 1990, participating in an incredible student ministry in Colorado.  In 1995, we moved back to Minnesota so I could attend Bethel Seminary, where I completed my master's degree (M. Div.).  Upon graduating from Bethel, we served in the director role leading the Twin Cities high school campuses experiencing a fruitful student ministry for over twenty years in Minnesota. 

The Lord led me to pursue a doctoral degree in education from Talbot School of Theology.  I wrote my dissertation on how parents, nonparental adults, and peers influence adolescent faith development.  During this six-year time span, I helped launch new Cru ministries in the country's western half through distance coaching. 

Currently, we live in Orlando, Florida, working on training new missionaries who join Cru as they prepare to enter one of the most strategic mission fields of the world – the high school campus.  Nancy coordinates summer assignments for all of our full-time staff as well as evaluates new staff applicants. Steve divides his time between equipping and inspiring staff as they mobilize people to financially give and pray, teaching Bible classes, and studying pertinent theological resources for those working with students.

We have two adult children: Jon (27), who currently lives in Los Angeles, and Matthew (24), who lives thirty minutes away from us here in Florida.

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