First of all, if you are a NextGen leader in the Gateway district that loves to write, we’d love to invite you to join the writing team. We are looking for regular contributors in children’s, youth, and young adult ministry roles. Let us know if you are interested.

Derick Brown

Derick is co-youth pastor with his wife, Pam, at Destiny Foursquare Church in Rapid City, SD. Visit his student ministry site at elevationgeneration.org and his personal blog at derickbrown.wordpress.com.

Ike Shepardson

Ike is a Colorado boy, and he’s served in young adult, youth, and worship ministry at Living Way Fellowship in Highlands Ranch, CO, since high school. Ike studied history and music at Regis University and philosophy of religion at Denver Seminary. He likes sports, date nights with his wife Kelsey, reading, and trying new restaurants. He can say the alphabet backwards in less than four seconds.

Shawn Michael Shoup

Shawn is a husband to Deanna Michelle, currently pursuing her degree in medicine, and father to four beautiful girls and a son. He loves playing with new technology and is very at home on the web 2.0 playground. He is also a musician, performer, and singer/song-writer.

For the past decade, Shawn has been a full-time pastor to students. In the past few years, he started writing student ministry articles on various student ministry sites, including YouthSpecialties.com. He is now the District NextGen Rep for the Foursquare Gateway District.

You can connect with Shawn online at ShawnMichael.org.