Sending Church: North Creek Baptist Church Bothell, WA

Field: Native American Ministries

God used a tragic accident to show Katie His plan for her life. Each year at the college she attended, the students took a hiking trip to the Grand Canyon. Her friend Joey convinced her to go during her Junior year. Not being a hiker, she stayed with the group who walked the rim while her friend trekked with the other group down to the Colorado River at the bottom. Hours later, Katie’s group received a call that three of the hikers had gone missing. Joey was one of those hikers. His body was eventually found in the river. She was devastated. But God used this tragedy for His glory.

Katie had grown up in a Christian home. Her parents, Jake and Paula Schopf, loved the Lord and taught her from His Word. Her grandparents, Jake and Izzy Schopf, served many years in Brazil with Baptist Mid-Missions. Katie attended a small church where the believers showed true love for each other and faithfully and quietly served. She was able to serve alongside them seeing their humble spirits and their heart for the Lord. She learned from their example.

Then came the loss of her college friend at the Grand Canyon. It was a very difficult time emotionally in her life. Eight years later, a friend from her church invited her to go to New Mexico to help with a camp for Native Americans. God showed her she could share the gospel through Joey’s story. When she arrived at the camp, she immediately felt at home. And she discovered that Joey had attended that same camp when he was young. Only God could have put all those pieces together. She saw many children and a teen come to the Lord that summer.

Through her time there, God brought healing to her heart and gave her a burden for the Native American people. Their living conditions are likened to a Third-World country. Many people have tried to convert them leaving them with a mixed-up belief system comprised of Catholicism, Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witness, and traditional beliefs. What they need is the truth of the gospel.

Since that first camp in 2017, Katie has spent many summers serving among Native Americans in Arizona and New Mexico. He has given her a one-on-one ministry with a woman from her work. While this woman has not yet trusted Christ, she has expressed excitement about Katie’s ministry in the Southwest because she is half Native American. Looking back, she remembers that even as a child she liked all things Native American—clothing, pictures, stories. God was preparing her heart for this ministry even that long ago.