visionvienna

Jeff:
In 1976 Jeff was born into a nominal church-going family. He spent his early years in Frederick, MD and then moved with his parents and younger brother to Ellicott City, MD at age 10.  Jeff’s life changed the day a boy named Erik asked him to play basketball. Because of their new friendship, Erik invited Jeff to his youth group at Chapelgate Presbyterian Church in Marriotsville, MD.  It was through the ministry of Chapelgate that Jeff accepted Christ and he was very influenced by several mentors there. Also consequently, Jeff’s entire family came to know the Lord.

Jodie:
Born in 1977, Jodie was raised in a Christian home. Her parents were on Campus Crusade for Christ staff and she has two younger sisters. In her early years they lived in several places in New England and then finally in Peekskill, NY, when she was 11. Jodie accepted Christ as a young child, but was a luke-warm Christian churched kid, playing all the right cards depending on who she was with. At age 18, Jodie’s world fell apart and she couldn’t keep it all together anymore. She finally saw the depths of her sin and her need for Jesus. Since then it has been a continuing journey for her to not be a luke-warm churched woman, and to stay in a place of seeing the depths of her sin and even more so how loved she is.

Their paths collide:
Jeff and Jodie’s paths collided in 1995 in rather unlikely, cold place: western New York at Houghton College. They dated during their years at Houghton and studied a little, too, with Jeff furthering exploring his call to ministry with a degree in Bible. After their marriage in 1999, they spent a year living in the NYC suburbs while doing an internship with Campus Crusade’s United Nations ministry.

In 2000 they moved to the Philadelphia area for Jeff to pursue a M.Div. degree at Westminster seminary. During their years at Westminster they were introduced to World Harvest Mission.  Jeff did an internship at World Harvest his last year of seminary and both he and Jodie were able to spend a summer in South Hall, London, working with WHM’s church plant there.  While in London they got a good taste of what missionary life would be like. Also, God opened their eyes & hearts to the need for the Gospel in Europe, while confirming their love for the cities of the world and doing cross-cultural ministry.

Call to Vienna:
Rather than ending up in Europe right away, God had plans to grow Jeff & Jodie in other ways ~ first, at a small PCA church plant in rural central Pennsylvania. From 2003 to early 2007, Jeff was a pastoral intern at Hanover Valley Church. Their great kids were born during that time, their son, Ewan, in 2003 and daughter, Liesl, in 2005.

While they love the people of Hanover and were well cared for there, they also sensed God stirring in their hearts to explore their vision to see the darkness of Europe reached for Christ. They knew they wanted to be a part of World Harvest if God was leading them overseas and after much investigation, in 2006 they visited Vienna with World Harvest and the Hunters. At first the beauty of the city struck them but over the course of their visit, they also saw the deep sense of hopelessness there. Jeff, Jodie and the kids are really excited to be a part of the new team heading to Vienna with the Hunters, sharing with them a vision to plant a church in the city’s center, reaching the lost emerging generation of Europe.

Get to know the McMullens better by watching their video and checking out their Family Blog. 

Jeff and Jodie are praying to finish support raising by the end of 2008, so that they can move to Vienna in January 2009. To give to the McMullens–Jeff, Jodie, Ewan, and Liesl, clickHERE.