MINISTRY FOCUS

Joy is excited to serve in Cadence Adult Ministry and is currently developing her partnership team. As a Navy veteran, she loves connecting with fellow service members, focusing on ministering to and discipling women. Her 16-plus years in the Navy give her a unique insight into the military experience and a profound understanding of a service member’s need for Christ and Christian community. God is using her journey to help her relate to service members as they grow in their faith and navigate their military careers. While on active duty, she served as Cadence Associate Field Staff at The Bridge Hospitality House in San Diego, California, supporting weekly gatherings by teaching Bible studies, mentoring women, and facilitating community-building events.

FAITH

Joy had the privilege of growing up in a Christian home and in the church. This foundation led her to accept Christ and be baptized at a young age, but her faith became personal in high school. The power of God’s Word, the importance of prayer, and the need for Christian community are lessons she learned in her childhood church that have become especially important as she has grown older.

When she first joined the Navy, she struggled to find other believers and a faith community. However, shortly after being stationed in Yokosuka, Japan, a friend invited her to a Cadence hospitality house, where she found both. From then on, she sought out Cadence houses whenever she had the opportunity during deployments and work-related travel, and she was blessed by many ministries. Her journey of faith and life is full of God’s love, goodness, and mercy. God and her faith family, especially Cadence, have helped her navigate the many ups and downs. Now she is excited to continue serving the military by creating that community for others as a Cadence missionary.

FAMILY

Joy’s story begins in Alaska, where she was born and raised by her parents, Marvan and Julie. Growing up in Alaska gave her a love of the outdoors, as she gallivanted across the state with her three siblings: older sister Jessica, older brother Michael, and younger sister Julianna, who graced the family with her presence ten years after Joy. Trading the Arctic chill for the desert heat, she and her family now live in Benson, Arizona, where her father and brother-in-law work for Raytheon, her mother works as a paraprofessional at an elementary school, and her younger sister attends Colorado Christian University online from Benson. Her older sister, Jessica, ambitiously runs a small farm and homeschools her three children, Joy’s beloved nieces and nephew. Sadly, Joy’s brother, Michael, was born with severe disabilities and passed away in 2012 due to complications from his illness. He is still greatly loved and missed by his family.