The Childers family is based out of YWAM Kona but reaches the world. Paul and Susi are full-time missionaries with YWAM Kona, and the Childers kids serve the Lord in various ways — in traditional missions and in impacting their world for Jesus.
Paul and Susi married in 2002. In coming together they brought New Zealand, the USA, and Germany together.
“In bringing these nations together, it is like arms of love reaching around the world.”Loren Cunningham, at the wedding
Paul and Susi soon moved to Kailua-Kona as newlyweds to work with Loren and Darlene at King’s Mansion. After six months, the whole team moved down to YWAM Kona, and Paul and Susi have been serving in various forms of leadership there ever since.
Paul and Susi’s great joy and passion is their children. However, their children are starting to move out and go into their own life adventures. Only Gabrielle-Joy is left at home. Get to know Levi, Elisa, and Gabrielle-Joy below.
Levi is an undergraduate student at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (Honolulu) and is studying astrophysics. He is passionate to understand how the universe operates and dreams about being involved in a moon and Mars mission. If people are living there, he wants to bring the ministry of YWAM to them! He is also on staff with a campus ministry that shares the gospel and disciples young men. He loves his church, Bluewater Mission, and is currently training for the Honolulu Marathon.
Elisa is a dynamo. She is currently on her YWAM DTS and is taking the gospel to various nations in Asia and the Pacific. Elisa is always on the go! Ever since she was little she could never sit still. Her next several years will be spent in YWAM as a missionary of the Word and to the world. She still plans on studying kinesiology at university and loves sports of all kinds.
Gabrielle-Joy is our leader. She has a magnetic personality that draws people in as well as focuses her friends on a task at hand. She is a junior in high school and is a scholar-athlete. She loves sharing about Jesus at the Jesus Club at her school and also shares the gospel through hula and cultural expression from the Pacific Islands.