I had a chance to sit down with Karis’ current elder candidate, Aarik Danielsen. Lord willing, we will be installing Aarik as our newest elder on February 21, and we’re incredibly excited to have him laboring with us. As you’ll see here, Aarik has a great heart for the Lord and his church. I’ll be posting this interview in 3-parts over the next few weeks. So enjoy, and check back for the following parts!

A Little About Kate
After pursing sex, alcohol, performance & success, I came to the realization that none leave me feeling satisfied & all would disappoint & break me when I depended on them most. My second semester freshman year of college left me hoping for something that would never let me go; I heard the gospel for the first time in February, 2006 & was amazed that there was a God that loved me enough to send His Son to die in my place, because it was what I deserved, but no matter what I had done, did, or would do, He would always love me. I proclaimed Christ as my Savior a month later, in March 2006. In September of 2007 I began attending Karis after several friends suggested I visit because of its beautiful community.
A Few of the Ways Kate Ministers in Karis
I just became an intern this summer in July and it has been a challenging process and adjustment to life outside of being a student. Currently, I plan community & women events. Because I am the first woman intern with Karis, I have the opportunity to follow up with mostly all the women that visit Karis, which is awesome. I have also been blessed with a passion to talk about Jesus to everyone I’ve ever met, and am learning on how to coach others how to do that in their own lives.
Where Kate Senses God Calling Her in the Future
I have a passionate heart for many things: international ministry, underprivileged adolescents, and rough neighborhoods. I trust the Lord will guide me in the right direction as I continue to worship Him alongside my brothers & sisters at Karis.

A Little About Ryan

Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you came to Christ and Karis. I am 25. I have a beautiful wife, Melissa, and a wonderful daughter, Loreli. We were both raised in Kansas City. I got started believing in God when I was 8. From that time until now God has been revealing His grace to me and helping me rely less on myself and more on Him. I first started understanding the Gospel in late high school and truly began a relationship with God. That took me to college and a long search for a church community. I looked around Columbia for quite awhile and finally found Karis. Karis was everything I was hoping for and more!

A Few of the Ways Ryan Ministers in Karis
I get to do a lot of fun stuff @ Karis. I am the deacon of the the Shalom ministry which gives me the opportunity to help plan projects to designed to show Columbia God’s love. Additionally, I lead in a c-group in Broadway Village. I also help with a random assortment of things like security, sound/tech, preaching, music, etc.

Where Ryan Senses God Calling Him in the Future
I feel called to work with local churches, whether that’s local like 65201 or East Africa. I believe the Church is God’s instrument to reach a lost and broken world, so we are excited to serve. Specifically, I do feel called to be a pastor. We have lots of dreams for the future, but it could be summed up in wanting to see God’s redemption all across the world.

A Little About Bobby and How He Came to Christ and Karis
I was your good ol’ Baptist preachers kid. I grew up under the teachings of Christ and although I would mentally agree with the statements of the Christian faith, neither my heart nor my life reflected those truths. I rebelled hard, and walked away from the church when I left for college. After an unsatisfying life as a compulsive liar, drug addict, and alcoholic, among many other things, Jesus sought me out. He brought me to repentance in December of 2006 while alone at my home in Fulton, MO. My father, who by God’s providence had a relationship with Karis, recommended I check it out, and I quickly sought out the believers here. My first day at Karis, I noticed there was no piano player, and after sharing my conversion story with Luke and Kevin and auditioning for them, joined the church and the small band. The community, patience, grace, prayers, and discipleship I have received from so many men and women at Karis, have been instrumental in growing me from a complete bum into only kind of a bum. But God is doing a work in my life and is sanctifying me, and for that, I am thankful.

A Little About How Bobby Serves in Karis
My work as an intern focuses mostly on leading worship. I work directly under the worship pastor, Luke Daugherty. He has been discipling me since Aug, 2007 on how to be a worship leader. Every week, I study the sermon passages, come up with the liturgy, and the songs. Luke then looks over my work and makes changes as necessary and critiques what I do. We meet weekly to discuss matters of worship, both practical and spiritual.

Meet Jeremy Linneman here.