Staff

Elizabeth joined the Lifeline team in July of 2012. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Interior Design  from Auburn University in 2008, also earning  a minor in Business. Her background includes operation of a business, designing and selling products to support Christian organizations. Elizabeth is honored to now be a part of the Lifeline  team and looks forward to raising  funds and awareness for the fatherless. She is excited to be able to use her creativity in planning Lifeline events and promoting all that the Lord is doing  through Lifeline  locally, nationally and internationally.

Bio coming soon..

Janna has studied both Vocal Music and Human Resource Management. She holds Senior level Human Resources lifetime certification (SPHR). She has two adult daughters, Jessica and Jordan. Both reside in South Florida. Janna is a member of First Baptist Pelham where she sings in the choir, rotates on the Praise Team, and is the back-up Sunday School teacher for the Adult Singles class. She is an avid reader of Christian books, loves Bible study, and can’t miss daily devotionals without feeling as if something is missing.

Katie joined the Lifeline staff in December of 2012. She received her Bachelor’s degree in social work from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in the fall of 2012. She is overjoyed that God has led her to Lifeline and she is so in awe of the work He is doing through every aspect of this ministry. Katie enjoys serving on the administrative team and assisting the birthmother counselors, foster care social workers and domestic adoption social workers.

Christopher Leist holds a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from Texas A&M University and a Master of Arts from American Military University. He comes to Lifeline following a 21-year career in the United States Air Force during which he flew C-5 and KC-135 aircraft across the globe, deployed numerous times and led several organizations at all levels.  Chris’ passions are serving Jesus Christ, loving his family and helping others that are called to grow their families through International adoption. Chris is married to Stefanie and they are the proud parents of 12 children: Victoria, Zach, Asher, Dalton, Sophie, Isabelle, Jude, Shepherd, Vivienne, Penelope, Esther (deceased) and Tallula.

Stephanie graduated from Troy University with a bachelor’s degree in Social Work and is a Licensed Social Worker. She joined officially joined the staff in May 2012 after falling in love with Lifeline through her internship. Her passion for the fatherless formed at a young age and grew through international missions and travel. She feels so blessed and grateful to be a part of serving the Lord while uniting families through international adoption. (Focuses on our Eastern European programs)

Cyndi is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has always had a heart for adoptions.  She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Carson-Newman College and a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Tennessee in 1997.  She has experience in a variety of therapeutic settings including hospitals, therapy centers, shelters and alternative/therapeutic schools.   Cyndi has specialized in trauma with a focus on treatment of sexual abuse.  Before joining Lifeline, she enjoyed facilitating foster care adoptions.  Cyndi has been married for 16 years and has 3 children. (Focuses on our Haiti and Africa Programs)

Sarah received her bachelor of social work degree from Auburn University and her master of social work degree from The University of North Carolina Charlotte. Her passion to work with adoption, foster care, and orphan care began in high school during mission trips to Juarez, Mexico. Since then, Sarah has been able to spend time in both Juarez and Uganda. She worked in adoption in Colorado and foster care in North Carolina before joining Lifeline in 2012. Sarah is married to Rob Dean and is grateful to be a part of Lifeline’s ministry serving as a social worker.

Bio coming soon..

Iris was raised in Westbrook, Connecticut. She graduated from Duke University in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Anthropology, also having studied Spanish, French, and Arabic. Afterwards she moved to Chinandega, Nicaragua and worked with the youth and children in a rural village called Villa Catalina. In 2010, she enrolled into the University of Georgia for her Master of Public Administration, focusing specifically in Nonprofit Administration. She married her husband Brad and moved to Birmingham in June of 2012. She loves kids, families, traveling, and languages and is grateful to be part of Lifeline! (Focuses on our Costa Rica and Peru programs)

Amaris graduated from Lee University with her Bachelor’s of Arts in Psychology. She moved to Birmingham, AL, and then began pursuing of Master’s of Social Work at the University of Alabama. Amaris first heard about Lifeline while searching for an internship for her program. She was drawn to the heart of the ministry to spread the Gospel and care for orphans. She was excited to join the Lifeline team after completing her internship in the spring 2013 semester. (Focuses on our Latin America and Eastern Europe programs)

Amber graduated from The University of Southern Mississippi in 2011, where she double majored in Communication Studies and French with a minor in Child and Family Studies. Amber earned her Master’s degree in Communication Studies from The University of Alabama in 2013. She had the great blessing of interning at Lifeline in the fall of 2012, and she was thrilled to join us on staff full-time in January of 2013. Amber is humbled to have the opportunity to serve the Lord at Lifeline through the coordination and co-leading of training s and education opportunities pertaining to foster care and adoption. She feels abundantly blessed for the opportunity to bring  God glory through this ministry. She and her husband, Bradley currently reside in Birmingham.

Donnetta holds a Bachelor of Social Work from Clark Atlanta University and a Masters in Social Work from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Donnetta came to Lifeline after working several years with Jefferson County DHR and prior to that working with the Department of Family and Children’s Services in Georgia. Donnetta is honored to be given the opportunity to work with Lifeline in the foster care ministry and serve the many of families that desire to make Jesus Lord over all area of their lives.

Heather joined the Lifeline staff in January of 2013. She earned her Bachelor of Social Work from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2009 and went on to get her Master of Science in Social Work from the University of Tennessee at Nashville in 2010.  Heather is passionate about adoption and is blessed to have the opportunity to walk through the adoption process with families.  She is excited to see God continue to work through adoption.  Heather lives in Birmingham with her husband, Alex.

Garth is originally from Annapolis, MD where he grew up on the Severn River and Chesapeake Bay crabbing and fishing. He graduated college from Multnomah University in Portland, OR with a degree in Bible and Theology and Educational Ministries. After college, Garth served as a missionary for 2 years in Bangladesh working with Muslim refugees translating an unwritten language into oral Bible stories. After this he worked at an outdoor alternative educational school where we lived with troubled youth year-round outside teaching life-skills and planning various backpacking and canoeing adventures. Now, Garth feels blessed to be apart of the (un)adopted team where he will be facilitating in-country orphan care projects in various capacities.

David joined the Lifeline staff in September of 2012 having admired the work of this ministry for years. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and Bible/Theology from Crichton College in Memphis, his hometown. He also has a Master of Divinity degree from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is an ordained pastor with twenty-four years of experience as a pastor. He has served on the boards of several nonprofit ministries. David has been married to Pepper since 1985 and they have four children: Zach, Jon and Ben as well as Cheyenne who they adopted in 2011 from foster care. David is excited to be involved with Lifeline because of the ministry’s passion to proclaim the Gospel through adoption and orphan care.

Rachel joined Lifeline in July of 2012. She received her undergraduate degree in Social Work from the University of Alabama and went on to get her Masters of Social Work soon after.  Rachel has always had a heart for orphans and  is excited to be a part of Lifeline’s ministry to provide children with the hope of the gospel, as well as loving homes. She joins Lifeline in Columbus, Georgia to serve families through adoptions, birthmother counseling, and adoption awareness.

Emily recently joined the Lifeline staff in June of 2012. She graduated from Augusta State University with a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work. Emily feels privileged to be a part of a ministry committed to advancing the gospel and is excited to serve families through the adoption process. She and her husband, Jonathan, currently live in Augusta, GA and have one daughter, Libby Grace.

Sue feels privileged to have joined the Lifeline Team in April 2013.  Sue earned her Master’s degree in Church Social Services from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas and Masters of Social Work degree from University of Texas in Arlington in 1994.   Sue and her husband, Gary, have 4 children, Caleb, Joshua, Andrew and Sarah.  Sue and Gary have spent most of their married life in full time ministry in the mid-west US.  The last 12 years they have served in Church Planting missions in Canada.  Sue loves social work and church/community ministry.  She loves equipping individuals and families in the body of Christ to use their gifts and resources to meet the needs of families and see life transformation and impact through sharing the Gospel.  She is excited to help develop the services and ministries offered by Lifeline to Kansas children and families.

Channing  graduated from Southwestern Assemblies of God University  in 2007 with her Bachelor’s degree in Counseling.  She is certified by the National Christian Counselor’s Association and is currently finishing her Master’s degree in Christian Counseling through Cornerstone University.  Prior to coming to Lifeline in March of 2013, she counseled with troubled teens and families, and with young women facing unplanned pregnancy.  Through these experiences, she developed a heart for birth moms and adoption ministry and is happy to serve as a Birth Mother Counselor and Domestic Caseworker in the Kentucky office.  She is honored to be part of an organization that demonstrates God’s heart for the fatherless and help bring families together through adoption.  Her husband Tim is also in ministry as a Youth and Worship Pastor, and she actively serves alongside him in their church.

Mary Frances joined the Lifeline family in October of 2011 as the Director of Lifeline’s Mississippi office.  She holds a law degree from Stetson University and a Bachelors of Business Administration in Marketing from Mississippi State University.  Prior to God leading her to Lifeline, Mary Frances served as Assistant Vice President and Trust Officer for Citizens National Bank’s Wealth Management Division.  Mary Frances feels so blessed to be given the opportunity to “take up the cause of the fatherless” each day.  She has a passion for uniting families and ministering to birth parents with the love and grace of Christ.  Mary Frances and her husband Ben live in Meridian, Mississippi.

Joi graduated from the University of Mississippi with a degree in Public Administration/Business Administration and completed the requirements for teacher certification at MTSU.  The unplanned pregnancy of a close friend’s daughter at age 15 brought to light the terrible inaccuracies that exist in the typical high school class/school on the topics of teen pregnancy and the options facing teens in those situations.  In 2002, Joi began an education program aimed at correcting this issue and that program, Decisions, Choices & Options: The Facts about Teen Pregnancy, has grown to serve over 60 high schools in Middle TN, AL, MS, TX and NC.  Joi has served as the Executive Director of DCO since 2002 before assuming the role of State Director of Lifeline TN/DCO Director in January of 2013.  Joi and her husband Bill have been married for 29 years and have one son, Jacob, whom God blessed them through domestic adoption 14 years ago!  He is the joy and delight of their lives, and they have personally been impacted by the amazing sacrificial love of his birthmother to choose them as his parents.  Joi loves to camp, attend her son’s football and basketball games, college football (Roll Tide) games, serve in our church youth ministry, and serve on mission trips to the Dominican Republic.

Emily Riley is originally from Birmingham, Alabama and recently graduated from Auburn University (May 2013) with a degree in Human Development and Family Studies, specializing in Middle-Childhood to Adolescents. Emily felt a calling on her life to work with Lifeline Children Services shortly after gradation and moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to serve with the Decisions, Choices, and Options program. She is humbled and thankful to be a part of Lifeline’s selfless ministry. She is so passionate about sharing with teens how to be and do their very best through finding their identity in Christ.

Katie first joined Lifeline in Birmingham in 2009.  Due to circumstances beyond her understanding at the time, Katie and her family soon returned to her home state of Florida.  Through God’s infinite plan, Katie was delighted to be contacted to work with Lifeline in their newly licensed Florida office in January of 2013.  Katie, who holds a Bachelors in Social Work and a Masters in Counseling, rejoins Lifeline with over ten years’ experience working with all members of the adoption triad.  She feels blessed to be Schyler’s wife and the mother to seven-year-old, Breanna.  Katie is an avid reader of Christian fiction, loves to bake cakes, enjoys spending time with friends and family, and resides in Pensacola, Florida.

Angie Rylands holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education from Liberty University in her hometown of Lynchburg, VA.  After the Rylands family adopted their older sons, Colin and Cameron, from China in 2011, God began to stir in her heart a desire to minister to other families who also desired to follow God’s call for orphan care.  She joined the Lifeline team as the SC State Director in March of 2012.  Angie loves working in such a diverse ministry where she can guide families through domestic and international adoption.  She also has a strong love for older waiting children and those with more significant special needs.  Angie and her husband Tom make their home in Charleston, SC along with their 3 children, Colin, Cameron, and Tommy. They are excited to welcome home their 4^th son from China in early 2013!

Levacy Smith is a master’s level graduate from the University of South Carolina in Social Work and has called the Carolinas her home for all of her life. After graduating in 1999, she felt that God led her to the field of adoptions and she has remained in this field for her entire social work career (over 13 years) and believes wholeheartedly that every child deserves a family. Levacy’s husband, Nathan, is an itinerate Christian speaker and ministers to thousands of teenagers and college aged students here in the US and abroad, as well as, leads short term mission trips to several African countries. Levacy has traveled to many foreign countries and helps with orphan efforts through her local church in Ethiopia and Kenya.  She and her husband, Nathan, have two daughters, Gracie, age 11 and Sophie, age 10. Levacy has worked in foster care adoptions, with domestic birthmother programs, and with conducting adoption home studies.  She officially joined the Lifeline team as a home study social worker in August of 2012, but has conducted home studies for many Lifeline clients for the last several years.