Entering the 21st Century

Communicating to the world on the web is a somewhat intimidating thing. For the past several years, Sharon and I have discussed the idea of creating (or have created for us) a web page. We even had a non-profit group volunteer to create a page for us. Prior to our last STAS (previously called "furlough") we had a "trial" page made, but, as happens in life, our direction of ministry changed and the trail page became instantly obsolete.

Well, this evening everything has changed. Right now in our house we have some colleagues with us and we've been chewing around various ideas about lots of things. The subject of a blog site came up and with the help of our friends, we now have entered the 21st century. WOW, that was easy!

Who are the Renards? Sharon and I (Jeff) were both reared in Wichita, Kansas. We were married on July 21, 1981 and immediately moved to Southwest Baptist University to start college. After four years Sharon graduated with a B.S. degree in Elementary Education and I a B.S. in Psychology. From there we moved to New Orleans so that I could attend seminary at New Oreans Baptist Theological Seminary, while Sharon taught at a private Christian school. After graduating from NOBTS with a M.Div. we moved to Norton, Kansas where I began working as a Drug and Alcohol counselor for a non-profit in-patient clinic. I worked with this facility for six years when God called us to the mission field. We have been missionaries here in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for 13 years now, serving with the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. We have four children (Wesley, Naaman, Willa-Ann and Priscila).