We are thrilled to welcome these new campus ministers to our staff. Please pray for them as they begin their ministries on campus.
Vinnie Athey – University of Alabama – Huntsville
Vinnie grew up in Northern Virginia and graduated from Virginia Tech in 2010. After college, he did the RUF internship at the University of Florida and met his lovely wife Molly, who was the RUF intern at Florida State. They got married in 2014 and moved to Charlotte, NC where Vinnie earned his Masters of Divinity from Reformed Theological Seminary (2014-2017). The Atheys are excited God has called them to Huntsville, AL (AKA “The Rocket City”) to serve at UAH. Vinnie enjoys running, listening to music, and annually getting his heart broken by DC sports teams. Molly is an avid horticulturist and lover of Chacos.
Curtis Castleberry – University of Texas – San Antonio
Curtis Castleberry is a native Texan. Curtis spent time as a young child in west Texas but grew up in Corpus Christi. After high school he moved to San Antonio, TX to attend the Baptist University of the Americas (BUA). While finishing college and working at Jason’s Deli in 2007, he met his soon-to-be-wife, Marian, a San Antonio native. Curtis graduated from BUA in 2008, and he and Marian were married in January 2009. Curtis and Marian became members of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in San Antonio, where Curtis later served as Hispanic Ministries Apprentice–through a partnership between the Hispanic Leadership Initiative (HLI) and Redeemer Presbyterian Church– while he attended Redeemer Seminary, in Austin, TX. After completing seminary in May 2015, Curtis continued to work with HLI and served as a pastoral intern at Las Tierras Community Church in El Paso, TX. In February 2016, Curtis accepted a call to become the Assistant Pastor of Community Formation at Oaklawn Presbyterian Church in Houston, TX. The Castleberrys have two children: Jeremiah (JJ), born on July 12, 2011 and Levi, born on May 2, 2014. The family enjoys video games (Super Mario Brothers!), reading, basketball, movies, bike rides, and tacos!
Chase Daws – UC- Berkeley
Chase is a graduate of the University of Alabama-Huntsville and Westminster Theological Seminary. His wife, Holly, is a graduate of Auburn University and now works in marketing for a Nashville-based education company. Chase began work as the RUF campus minister of UC Berkeley in the summer of 2017. During their free time, Holly, Chase, and their little boy Gabe, enjoy exploring new cities, local food scenes, the outdoors, and front porches. Given a day off, Holly loves to cook and curate her food blog, while Chase roams around local waters fly fishing.
Peter Green – West Virginia University
George Hamm – University of Louisville
George grew up in Birmingham, AL and studied at Auburn University, where he learned to love and be loved by Jesus. He and his wife Laura met at RUF Summer Conference, and were married in 2014. George loves college students, running, poetry, and Chinese food.He is enthusiastic about everything.
Daniel Hightower – Jacksonville State University
Daniel was born and raised in Troy, Alabama. He attended Troy University where he studied Spanish and met his wife, Courtney. They married in 2009 and moved to Birmingham where Daniel earned a Master of Divinity from Beeson Divinity School in 2014. Following this, he began serving as the assistant pastor at Grace Presbyterian Church in Fort Payne, Alabama mainly working with middle school and high school students. Daniel and Courtney have 3 children: 4-year-old Naomi and one-year-old twins, Rebekah and Cole. The Hightowers are excited to be ministering to the Jacksonville State students. Go Gamecocks!
Kelly Jackson – Florida State University
Raised in the small south Georgia town of Thomasville, Kelly grew up taking day trips to Tallahassee. Little did he know it would become home! Kelly attended the University of Georgia from 2007-2011, where RUF played a huge role in shaping and nurturing him. It is also where he met his beautiful wife, Caroline! Upon graduation in 2011, Kelly and Caroline got married and served together as RUF interns for two years at Mississippi State University. Kelly continued working with students during his time in seminary through the college ministry of First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, MS. The Jacksons are extremely grateful for the opportunity to minister to the men and women at Florida State University! Kelly and Caroline have two beautiful children named Nora and Johnny, and they love college students, too!
Joshua Keel – Georgia Southern University
Joshua was born and raised in South Georgia. He received his degree in Education from Georgia Southern University in 2006. Once he received his degree from Georgia Southern and married his beautiful wife Erin, Joshua attended Beeson Divinity School, where he graduated in 2009 with a Masters of Divinity. After serving as the Assistant Pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Little Rock, Arkansas for seven and a half years, the Lord has called him to campus ministry. Joshua and Erin have three children, Jackson, Molly and Caroline. The Keels are excited to be serving at Georgia Southern University.
Brent Kilman – Rowan University
Brent Kilman is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). He has served teens and college students for more than ten years and is excited for the way today’s students are making the world a better place. Brent is married to Juli and they have a four year old son, Eben, who was adopted from China in 2014.
Jeff Kreisel – US Air Force Academy
When asked where he is from, Jeff responds with a resounding “Merica!” Raised in an Army family, Jeff has lived everywhere from Virginia to Alaska, Kentucky to Kansas, and Georgia to Germany. Jenn, on the other hand, is a Texan through and through! The two met while students at Baylor University where they were actively involved with RUF. Shortly after graduating in 2007, they were married and moved to Maine, where Jeff began an eight-year career in the United States Air Force as an Airfield Operations Officer. The Air Force would then take them on a wild ride around the world, including 5 moves, 2 deployments, and most importantly, the birth of their two beautiful daughters: Abby Jo and Ruth Anne. The Lord graciously used these experiences to reveal a passion in their hearts for full-time ministry, so with joyful trepidation, Jeff separated from the Air Force to attend Redeemer Seminary where he received a Masters of Divinity. And then to make things real confusing for everyone (themselves included), Jeff decided to join the Army Reserves as a Chaplain! For fun, the Kreisels enjoy traveling so Jeff can collect cheesy fridge magnets, snowboarding trips so Jenn can lounge in the lodge, and family movie nights so their daughters can watch My Little Ponies (Jeff is unabashedly a huge fan!). The Kreisels endeavor to reach, equip, and send servant leaders from the USAFA into a hurting world with the life-transforming love of Jesus Christ.
Nick McDonald – University of Missouri
Seven years ago, my wife Brenna and I sensed the Lord’s call toward campus ministry. We were working with high-schoolers in Brighton, MI, living 20 minutes from the University of Michigan. As our students graduated, we noticed a pattern: they were making all their important decisions AFTER high-school! This made sense to us. For us, college was a time to explore our own ideas about Christianity. During college I realized my Sunday School answers weren’t enough to address the drowning death of my brother and a suicidal best friend. I also didn’t see any connection between my faith and the things I cared about: morality, justice, beauty, work, philosophy, etc. So, for 4 years, I left the church.
After I graduated, I ran across a book called “Knowing God” by J.I. Packer. It was $1.00 in a used bargain bin, and I figured, “Knowing God seems worth a dollar!” So I took up and read. Over the next two hours, my questions about faith and life found a home. I saw how the gospel was the central foundation for philosophy, beauty, justice, work, and even comfort in my pain. This planted a seed in me: I wanted to go back to the college campus and give away these amazing gospel truths to students who feel in that same place (or who have some other way of being broken…like we all do). How I wished someone had come alongside me in those years and gently guided me toward the gospel!
Since then, we’ve had two sweet boys Caleb (7) and Owen (5), and I’ve graduated from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary with my M.Div before receiving the call to join RUF Mizzou in the Fall of 2017.
Wil Nettleton – Trinity University
Wil (short for ‘Wilson’) grew up in Tupelo, MS and attended the University of Mississippi, where he majored in English and was actively involved in RUF as a student. After college, Wil interned with RUF at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He also met his wife Mary Jett, who attended UNC and was an RUF intern at the College of William and Mary. After getting married in 2012, the Nettletons stuck around North Carolina for a couple of years before moving to Jackson, MS in 2014 for Wil to start seminary. Wil graduated from Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson with an M.Div in May, 2017, and the Nettletons moved to San Antonio in June, 2017 for Wil to start serving as the RUF Campus Minister at Trinity University. Long story short–they love RUF.
The Nettletons also love a good Netflix binge, playing with their dog, Charlie (they are the crazy dog people the Internet is constantly warning you about), Ole Miss football, Carolina basketball, and grilling out with friends. If you are a Trinity student, they would love to buy you lunch or coffee and get to know you better!
Matt Patrick – Wofford College
After earning an M.Div from Covenant Theological Seminary, Matt began serving as the Campus Minster with RUF at Wofford in June, 2017. Matt is originally from Huntsville, Alabama and studied English at The University of Alabama-Huntsville. Matt’s wife, Ivy, is a graduate of Berry College and works as a Physician Assistant. They love being outside, having people in their home, discovering new TV shows and reading.
Andrew Shank – Western Carolina University
Andrew grew up in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, but ever since his family moved to Charlotte, NC right after his 13th birthday, he’s called North Carolina “home.” Andrew is a graduate of NC State, and after his college days, interned with RUF at Virginia Tech before returning to Charlotte to attend Reformed Theological Seminary. It was during these RTS days that he met, wooed, and wed his wife, Trish. After finishing seminary, Andrew spent three years as the Pastor of Discipleship at Hilton Head Presbyterian Church before moving to WCU in the summer of 2017.
Andrew and Trish have one daughter, Sophie (1/7/17), and together they enjoy the outdoors, board games, reading, music, making pizza together, and going on adventures.
JB Wilbanks – University of Texas – Tyler
Jacob Zoller – University of South Alabama
Jacob did his undergrad at the University of Oklahoma, receiving a meaningless General Sciences degree. He went on to earn a Master of Divinity from Redeemer Seminary in Dallas. He enjoys board games, documentaries, reading, productivity tips, and doing nothing with people and pets. He loves candy and desserts more than you do.
Jacob and Leigh met and married as RUF interns in 2010 and spent 5 years as the youth ministers at Fort Worth PCA. They have a bouncing baby boy named George, two rambunctious schnauzers, and a fat, black cat. They would all like to get to know you.
Scott Andes – University of South Carolina RUF International
Scott is originally from the Annapolis, Maryland area. He did his undergraduate studies at the Virginia Military Institute where he received a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and Modern Lanugages. He served eight years as a Naval Fight Officer, tracking submarines all over the Pacific Ocean and serving on an Admiral’s staff at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. When the Iron Curtain fell, Scott resigned his commission in the Navy, joined the The Navigators, and ministered for three years among university students in Moscow, Russia. He then moved to Columbia, South Carolina and began graduate studies in Theology at Columbia International University, graduating in 2000 with a Masters of Divinity degree. During this time, he met his lovely wife, Victoria, a family practice physician in Columbia, and fell completely and utterly in love. Together, in 2002, they returned overseas to work with national pastors and church planters in Moscow, Almaty (Kazakhstan) , and most recently, Kyiv, where Scott served as the Dean of Students at the Evangelical Reformed Seminary of Ukraine for eight years. Scott is an ordained minister in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. He and Victoria have three children: Nathan (16), Amy (16) and Diana (14). They love traveling, snow skiing, eating Thai food, watching silly romantic comedies, and welcoming international students. This is his first year as a campus minister at the University of South Carolina with RUF International.
Kris Cooper – North Carolina Central University
Kris Cooper is a native of Newark, Delaware and is a graduate of Bucknell University with a Bachelor’s degree in History. He studied at Liberty University and received his Master’s in Christian Leadership. He started out doing campus ministry at the age of 19 years old by co-founding a campus ministry called “The Gathering” at Bucknell. After pastoring in Maryland the last four years, Kris is going back to his first love, campus ministry, at North Carolina Central. He is happily married to his wife, Santae Cooper, of seven years and they both share two children, a beautiful daughter named Alexis and energetic son named Andrew. When Kris isn’t doing ministry, he enjoys watching sports while rooting for the Niners or Pacers, reading Christian literature, analyzing movies, or just being joyful with a huge smile.
Michael Goodlin – Lehigh University
Michael is a 2015 Graduate of Westminster Theological Seminary and a 2008 graduate of Nyack College. He and his wife Natasha met at Nyack, have been married since 2012, and have two young children. Michael served in campus ministry as a student and has been helping with an RUF in Lancaster, PA since graduation.
Justin Smith – University of North Texas
Justin Smith is a native Texan originally from Arlington. He was very involved with RUF at Belmont University from which he graduated in 2007. After graduating and several odd jobs later (including working as a pre-school teacher, line cook, and landscaper) Justin met his wife Kathryn (a Vanderbilt grad and RUF intern) at RUF’s summer conference in 2010. A year later they were married and moved to Atlanta where Justin completed seminary at RTS Atlanta and Kathryn finished her Physician Assistant program at Mercer in 2016. Justin and Kathryn both love RUF and are excited about serving the students at UNT. They love listening to and talking about music, trying new foods, day hikes, having folks in their home, and the Texas Rangers (especially Adrian Beltre). They are also ready to try all the tacos in Texas!