Mike Stephenson (from November 2003)

“Teaching at Emmaus draws upon the whole spectrum of my life experiences–from my time on the mission field to my educational background and all that God has brought me through.” This is Mike Stephenson’s assessment of his first semester at Emmaus. Mike and Kathy (McLellan, 1970) and their sons, Tim and Andy (current EBC students) moved to Dubuque from the Minneapolis area this past summer. Mike joins Floyd Schneider in the Intercultural Studies Department and his goal is to develop an educational track in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).

Born and raised in Raleigh, NC, Mike trusted Christ in his freshman year of college at University of North Carolina. During his college years, he attended an Urbana conference and came into contact with Kevin Dyer and Literature Crusades (LC). Following graduation he went with LC (now International Teams) on a two-year missions trip to Colombia and Bolivia. That’s where he met Kathy and they were married in 1978 after they returned to the US. Before going back to the mission field, Mike went to Columbia Bible College to get more Bible training. There he was challenged to consider ministry to “hidden” people groups–people among whom traditional missionary work is not possible. He became particularly interested in the Muslim world and with that in mind, he obtained his MA in Linguistics from the University of South Carolina in 1984.

In 1986 the Stephensons went to the Middle East, first with Operation Mobilization and later with CMML. Officially, Mike taught English at a cultural center. In his “free time”, he conducted Bible studies with some of his students and discipled other young believers. The Stephensons found that the hospitality of their home was also an effective outreach.

After returning to the U.S. in 1994, Mike eventually went back into secular work. However, he and Kathy became very involved in the ministries of their local assembly, Plymouth Bible Chapel in Minneapolis. Then they met Floyd Schneider at Storybook Lodge in 2002. When Floyd learned of Mike’s educational and missions background, he encouraged him to consider teaching at EBC. They prayed about it and became convinced this was the Lord’s leading.

Mike says the ICS program at Emmaus is special because of its strong emphasis on missions. He hopes that many of the ICS students will go on to become missionaries because “the Great Commission still exists!”