Ian & Carla Gennari

Carla & Ian Gennari (President & Director)

Carla and Ian Gennari have been serving as a full time missionaries in East Africa since February 2015 with their 3 boys. They have served the majority of that time through Youth With A Mission (YWAM).

Carla has been a Registered Nurse for over 24 years with her Bachelor’s in Nursing, Master’s in Palliative Care, and Certification in Community/Faith Nursing. She has also been trained in Basic Debriefing/Crisis and Trauma Care Response through Le Rucher Ministries. Her vision and passion is to see Palliative Care/Hospice with grief support and training established throughout Northern Mozambique and better incorporated at a National level while also incorporating these trainings and courses into YWAM.

Ian worked as a physical education teacher and sport camp director for the first 15 years of their marriage. He has also been a successful self-employed business owner in the areas of sport/fitness and finance. Building efficient teams and being a visionary are areas that give him energy. Ian’s focuses spiritually in the field currently are; introducing communities to Jesus, discipleship, marriage mentorship, teaching, writing and leading worship.

Bryan & Andrea Thiele (Vice President & Director)

Bryan and Andrea (Drea) Thiele have been married for 28 years. They live in Arizona with their 11 children and 4 grandchildren. They have been active in overseas missions for the past 15 years working primarily in Uganda, Kenya, and Serbia. Bryan is an entrepreneur and works bi-vocationally in the US as well. He has also served as a pastor, church planter, and worship leader for the past 20 years. They served on a Non-Profit board where Drea was the COO for several years. Bryan and Drea feel it is their life calling to work among and alongside people and groups who have limited resources and little connection to God’s love, hope and discipleship.

Sam Nisly (Secretary)

Sam Nisly has been living in Northern California with his wife Brenda for the last ten years. He grew up in the Amish community but strangely enough graduated from a small public high school in rural Kansas. He served as a secretary of a church school board for a number of years. Sam draws from a wide range of experience in agriculture, horticulture and animal husbandry but also enjoys machines, gadgets and construction. He is a whiz at appropriate technology with the end goal of empowerment and loves thinking outside of the box. Sam has been working as a handyman for many years but took a leap in 2024 and became a California licensed general contractor. He loves people and enjoys the interactions his weekly traffic control antics provide at Bethel Church. Sam and Brenda have seven children and have been married over forty five years. They spent four of those years in Belize as Amish church planters. More recently (2015) they did a five month stint as support staff at a medical facility in Mozambique. Sam and Brenda are over 70 but have been able to make the grueling trip to Mozambique in both 2023 and 2024.

Shilo Butler (Treasurer)

Shilo Butler (RN, BSN) is a Registered Nurse with over 15 years experience in acute care, home health care and wound care. She is currently working in an outpatient wound care clinic. Shilo and her family lived in Mexico for a year serving The Mission in caring for orphans, assisting in education of school children K-12th grade, and serving the needs of the local communities. She also has served in short-term missions to Guatemala and the Phillippines. She currently volunteers at her local church in music ministry.

Trey Neeman (Director)

Trey has worked in IT for 43 years working for large national and multinational organizations. For the past 11 years he has been a director, and currently leads a team of 40 software engineers in developing solutions for the company’s customer self-service website. He has been part of different churches in his life, including a home church in his own home. Participating in bible studies and life groups over the years has been a constant in their life. Trey has served on various mission trips within Phoenix, Mexico, and Mozambique. Over the years he has participated in ministries such as spiritual retreats for men and High School age students, including in local prisons. In addition, Trey and his wife Susie have helped to lead High School youth group, and taught Sunday School to all ages for 15 years.