Staff Team
Natalie was born into a church going family but doesn't ever remember hearing the good news about Jesus. At the age of 22 she understood her great need for a Savior and put her faith in Jesus Christ to save her from sin. Natalie is married to Steve Finkbonner. They have four grown and married children who have blessed them with seven grandchildren. Shortly after believing in Jesus, Natalie began serving with Child Evangelism Fellowship®. She has served in CEF® for over 30 years now and is very thankful to God that He has given her the privilege to share the good news of Jesus with thousands of children and to encourage churches and individuals to invest in the lives of children for eternity.
Angela Yost grew up in Whatcom County in a Christian home, with amazing parents, two younger sisters, and received Christ at age 4. By God’s grace, while reading Psalm 51 with family, Lord used this passage to convict her of sin and her need for Jesus as Savior and Lord. As she grew older, she enjoyed caring for children, and so started helping with Good News Club® at 14yrs. This led to attending Christian Youth in Action® (CEF's teen training school) that next year. The Lord used CYIA™ to give her a passion to reach/disciple the over 40,000 children in Whatcom County, and she eventually came on staff in 2016.
In her free time, Angela enjoys hiking, music, and loves coffee and candles. She is excited and humbled to be a small part of following the divine command to “make disciples” (Matt 28:19) through this ministry!
Kaylee Biewer was born in McMinnville, Oregon. She was adopted by her grandparents around
her first birthday, and has been growing up in a Christian household in Whatcom County ever
since! At age 9, she trusted Jesus as her personal savior. She keeps busy with her many
hobbies including knitting, roller skating, and any kind of art. CEF took Kaylee on staff
at age 16. She teaches 3 Good News Clubs a week, and balances school in the background.
She is excited that God is using her to work with kids, which has been a dream since she was
very young.
Debra Hockett Staton grew up in the Acme area in a Christian home with wonderful parents and 2 younger brothers. She was not allowed to receive Jesus as her Savior until age 12 per the church she was attending. She asked Jesus to be her Savior at Bible camp in Aug of 1970. Her mother was a teacher of Sunday School and Vacation Bible school all of Debra’s growing up years. She was an example of what joy there was in teaching children about Jesus. Debra Married her best friend just a few months after graduation in 1976 and moved to California with her new husband for over three years. In the first 5 years of marriage, she had 3 children and started attending Little Brown Chapel in Wickersham. She became very involved in her Church, Ladies group, VBS, Sunday School Teacher, and AWANA . When her children were young, Sue Spellman came and told her about GNC. She taught GNC for years and many Children got off the bus at church and learned about Jesus. More recently Debra took on the Acme area GNC and has been teaching for 5 years. Debra was also on the Board for the local CEF.
Free time for Debra right now is in short supply as she is taking online classes through CEF and teaching 3 clubs. She has been married to Dan for over 45 years and loves to spend time with him. She loves to camp, fish, and travel.
She was called Loudly by the Holy Spirit to step forward and work for CEF. She has learned that even at retirement age, there is no retiring when you are called to lead children to Christ. Christ had a special love for children in his ministry. The rewards of guiding a little one to the Savior give Debra more joy than you can imagine.
Rebecca Freeman
Children's Ministry Specialist
rebecca.freeman@cefofwa.com
360.784.4287
Rebecca has always wanted to be a teacher and when the Lord saved her that desire was transferred to the desire to share the gospel with everyone she saw. She wanted to share with others how Jesus died on the cross to save them from the punishment of sin, was raised for us because He loves us and wants to have a relationship with us. However, it was not until she started volunteering at Good News Clubs that Rebecca realized that both could be true! Since then Rebecca has been a summer missionary with Child Evangelism Fellowship and is excited to be hired as a Good News Club teacher. Reaching children with the gospel and helping believers to grow in their child-like faith has become a real passion in Rebecca's life. "I believe that teaching children the gospel and helping them to grow in their faith is the most important thing you can do." Rebecca's favorite verse is Colossians 3:16-17 "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father." (NASB) In Rebecca's free time, you will find her volunteering at Immanuel Bible Church, at Woods Coffee with a friend, reading some history books, or at the monthly Daughters of the American Revolution meetings.
Grace Macdonald
Children's Ministry Specialist
gracefulnoel04@gmail.com
360.393.8075
Grace Macdonald was born and raised in a Christian home by her loving parents with 3 siblings. As a child she would sing about Jesus from her crib and evangelise to neighbors from the swingset (this involved any song she could think of that mentioned Jesus and a very loud set of lungs as she soared into the sky.) She accepted Jesus as her Savior at age 9 after hearing some friends talk about their testimonies at church.
As a child Grace enjoyed attending the Good News Clubs put on by CEF and, as she got older, was excited to discover she could teach at them too! She has always loved kids, and adding Jesus to the mix was a wonderful idea to her.
Grace loves to sing, read, and hang out with her friends anf if there is a social event she is almost gaurenteed to be there! She is honored that God chose this path for her so she can embrace the things she loves while bringing glory to Him!
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Clare grew up in Northeast Iowa in the small town of Bellevue on a dairy farm. She attended Northeast Iowa Community College for Dairy Science and Agricultural Business. Here she met her husband Austin Vander Haak. When they graduated, she decided to moved out to Lynden, WA in 2016. She worked for a local dairy farmer and waitress at a local restaurant. She started attending Sunrise Baptist Church, joining their Tuesday morning bible study. She grew up going to a Catholic church, so she knew Jesus but never really had a relationship with Him. Through continued study and even volunteering at a CEF day camp, she put her trust in Jesus the fall of 2017. Clare always thought she would dairy farm, but God had a different calling. Early 2018 she was called to teach children, so she became a paraeducator in the Ferndale school district, became an Awana leader, and Good News Club teacher. Getting married in 2019, she helped with a CEF Day Camp over the summer. In 2020 and 2022 their daughter Payton and son Mason were born. Wanting to be home with the children, Clare decided to join the CEF team. She is beyond excited to teach the children of Whatcom County the Good News of Jesus!
Petra has been serving part time with Child Evangelism Fellowship® (CEF®) of Washington, Whatcom County chapter since the fall of 2015 as the Office Administrator.
Petra was born in Germany, during the time her family was serving as missionaries. When she was almost 5 years old, the Lord called her family back to the States where her dad was a pastor at a local church in Ferndale. She always heard from her parents the message about being ready to go and serve wherever the Lord calls. Sure enough when she was 13 years old, her family was called back to Germany to open up the country for a new mission organization. She experienced planting a church with her parents from the ground up. It was during those years her heart became soft to the desperate need to share the Gospel. She would return to the States on her own to complete her schooling and graduate from the Masters University. After which, she married her husband in 2001 and welcomed their daughter in 2007.
Reaching kids for Christ through providing administrative support to the field missionaries is her passion.
Petra enjoys spending time with her family and friends, watching football, drinking coffee and Bible Journaling. Her favorite season is Fall.
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Annika has spent her whole life here in Whatcom County. She grew up in a Christian family, went to Church every Sunday, knew the Bible stories and who God was, but she just was going through the motions.
It wasn’t until she was 13 that she attended CYIA (Christian Youth In Action), that the head knowledge became heart knowledge. She knew all the “right” answers, but it was then that she started her personal relationship with God.
She has been volunteering since 2018 for CEF by teaching in the summertime. It wasn’t until summer of 2022 that Annika felt called to pursue going on staff for CEF. She started officially as a field worker in January of 2023. She has 2 Good News Clubs she teaches at every week.
Aside from CEF, Annika enjoys theatre, music, painting, calligraphy, and reading.