Jamie grew up in a Roman Catholic home and accepted Christ in high school. He followed his career as a Golf Course Superintendent for seventeen years. Jennifer accepted Christ early in life in her childhood church Elsberry ARP. Jamie and Jennifer married in 1993 after being high school sweethearts in their home town of Elsberry, MO, about sixty miles outside of St. Louis.
Soon after the Burkempers moved to South Carolina, the Lord began impressing missions on their hearts, especially after hearing a couple share their excitement as they prepared to leave for the mission field in 1994. However, soon they were blessed with their first child, and they didn’t feel ready to enter missions work and start a new family at the same time. The Burkempers helped with the youth programs in their church, and Jennifer taught Sunday school classes. As their family grew, the passion for Missions grew also.
The death of close high school friends during High School affected them so much that they made sharing the gospel a priority in their life, more specifically with youth. After serving on the Missions committee at Crossgate PCA, Jamie co-led a mission team of thirty-two to Acapulco, Mexico, to work with Street Children in 2004. While they were in Acapulco they sensed God's leading them to return for short term work. They served at Sobre el Puente (Streetchildrens shelter) for a two-year term. They supervised teams, had daily duties with the children in the drop-in center, cooked, and cleaned. Jamie was in charge of the sports program and maintenance of the facilities. Jennifer taught an arts and crafts class once a week and oversaw the clothes room and laundry.
As their time came to an end in Acapulco, they felt convinced that God was leading them to long term work to utilize their experiences from church ministry in the U.S. and their time in Mexico. God opened the door for a position with BEAMM serving as Mercy Ministries Coordinators in Ciudad Juarez/El Paso area. The Burkemper's are currently finishing requirements for MTW and raising prayer and financial support. They plan to help with summer teams on the border until they can join the BEAMM team full-time. They hope to support the local churches in developing mercy ministries that will expand and more effectively take God's truth to the community around them.
They have two children: John (3/8/1995) and Jossi (4/9/1999)
Jamie and Jennifer Burkemper
305 W Main St.
Walhalla, SC 29691
Home Phone: (864) 973-9110
Jamie's Cell Phone: (864) 784-9097
E-mail: jburkemper@fastmail.fm
To Support Them Financially,
please send your gifts to:
Mission to the World
Box 116284
Atlanta, GA 30368-6284
Account #: 10706
(click picture to view gallery)
