Rick and Lori Lampen

Rick: When I was a teenager, I went on a missions trip to Haiti and worked in a small hospital there. That experience changed my life! I saw God using medicine to open doors for the gospel, and He spoke to me about being a medical missionary. As a family nurse practitioner, I love the challenge of working with street kids. Santa Cruz is the 14th fastest growing city in the world. As the city grows, so does the severity of the conditions of the kids on the streets—gangs, drugs, violence, hunger. The sad reality is that many street kids will not leave the streets. They will live most of their lives with sicknesses and die young and forgotten. More than anything, they need to know that Jesus loves them. Then, maybe, they will begin to grasp His love as they see how much we care about them.

I partner with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) as the medical person on their First Contact team, a ministry to street kids. The team’s goal is to build relationships with these 8- to 18-year-old young people and influence them to choose to leave the streets. 

Lori: As a shy missionary kid, I was deeply impacted by watching God transform the lives of many addicted and impoverished people living in the ghettos of the Caribbean. I became convinced of His power and profound desire to intersect any individual’s life. Let’s face it—life is tough, and God never intended for us to make it on our own. We need each other. I love to come alongside people, walk through life with them, and encourage them as they grow in their faith.

My passion is to help others become all that God wants them to be, whether they are 4-year-old Pre-K students, university students, young wives, or grandmothers. I serve as chaplain for Pre-K and kindergarten students and disciple and mentor women of all ages in my home.