Leadership Team
Lisa
WHITAKER
Sarajevo, Bosnia
Lisa was born into a Christian family in the state of New Jersey, USA. In high school she committed her life to the Lord and also began to seriously consider missions as a life long call. From 1982-1986 she attended Liberty University in Virginia, where she received a B.S. degree in Physical Education. During her time at Liberty she went on her first missions trip to Hawaii. Following university, Lisa moved to Tennessee to teach and coach in a Christian school for the next five years. It was during that time that she felt released to pursue missions on a full-time basis. Leaving her teaching profession, Lisa returned to Hawaii in 1992 where she did her DTS at King’s Mansion, Kona, Hawaii.
Lisa’s ministry for the last ten years has primarily been focused on DTSs. During 1993 and 1994 she was involved in the pioneering of DTSs in Krasnodar, Russia. In 1995 Lisa moved to Budapest, Hungary to work with Maureen Menard giving leadership to the first Collaborative DTS Project focused on the Balkans, Central Asia and Turkey. In 1997 she moved to Lausanne, Switzerland to join the staff of the International DTS Centre. From 1998, Lisa has been involved in pioneering new DTSs in the Balkans, teaching in schools, doing staff training and church planting.
Lisa’s vision is to see DTSs pioneered in other nations, to develop culturally relevant discipleship curriculum and to establish resource centers for DTS staff and leaders throughout Balkans, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Turkey.
Michael, and his wife, Darla have been serving in Youth With A Mission for nearly 24 years in a variety of positions. They have 3 busy teenage children. Over the past 10 years Orlando has been their home as they have co-pioneered YWAM Orlando along with Walden and Bev Owen.
Michael is the base director of YWAM Orlando and also serves as the USA Southeast District Director, which expands his oversight responsibilities to the seven other YWAM bases in the district. He is also the DTS Regional Coordinator for the central and eastern portion of the United States . One thing that marks them is their passion to thoroughly train and equip leaders.
Cheri MORGAN
Cape Town, South Africa
Cheri is from London, Ontario, Canada and has been with YWAM since 2001. She first felt a call from God to missions as a teenager through various outreaches in Canada and Eastern Europe. In 2001, she left a job in financial planning to do a DTS in Lausanne, Switzerland. This was a turning point as God called her to full-time ministry with YWAM.
Since then, Cheri has received further training and worked in Lausanne, staffing and leading DTS's, working with communications and administration, and with the ministry of GENESIS. She helped pioneer the first Multipoint DTS in 2003, joining several DTS's together with GENESIS, and continued with another Multipoint DTS in 2004. Through her work with DTS's, Cheri has grown with vision for new things, and for youth to really know God, and become passionate about changing nations for Him. Her desire is for DTS's to become even more effective in this, especially for leaders and outreach teams to be equipped and supported well.
Cheri also carries a heart for Africa, and will soon be based from Cape Town, South Africa. From there, she will continue serving DTS's internationally, focusing also to strengthen DTS's in that region.