John and Neila were approved as World Baptist Fellowship missionaries to Brazil in 1990.

John was saved at the age of twenty-one at the Bible Baptist Church of Everett, Washington. Neila was saved in 1972 in Manaus, Brazil, where her parents are missionaries.

John and Neila were married at the Trinity Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas in 1988 and graduated from Bible College in 1991 and 1987 respectively.

Their sending church is the West Division Street Baptist Church in Springfield, Missouri.

They have three daughters - Joneia, Leila and Katherine