The Good Doctor
Dr. Jill (Aragón) Neely graduated from Nicaragua Christian Academy in 2004, and currently serves as the Global Health Fellowship Director at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Medical Center.
Advancing Christ-Centered Education
We strengthen schools that integrate discipleship into learning and develop Christlike leaders for lasting, generational impact.
Education shapes worldview. It shapes leadership. It shapes the future.
Missionary Ventures partners with Christian schools around the world to strengthen their ability to carry out their Kingdom calling.
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Why School Strengthening?
In many regions, students have limited access to quality, biblically grounded education. Teachers lack training. Vocational pathways are scarce. Leadership pipelines are underdeveloped. Christ-centered schools change that trajectory, not just for individual students, but for families, churches, and entire communities for generations.
Christ-centered education is not simply academics with a chapel service added on. MV works with schools to weave Biblical worldview, discipleship, and character formation into every subject and every interaction — so that faith and formation are inseparable from learning.
Excellent schools are built on equipped teachers. Through the PaSS program and direct coaching, MV provides teacher professional development, leadership training, and practical classroom tools — equipping educators to teach with integrity, skill, and gospel purpose.
Every school has unique strengths and growth areas. MV’s Pathways to School Strengthening (PaSS) program gives school leaders a proven self-evaluation framework, helping them identify where they are, where they’re going, and how to get there — with ongoing coaching support along the way.
School leaders carry enormous responsibility. Too often, they carry it alone. MV provides ongoing coaching and mentoring through trained, bilingual education professionals who walk alongside school leaders in goal-setting, strategy development, and sustained growth. The relationship is the priority.
From South Korea to Tanzania to Guatemala to Honduras, MV-partnered schools are not isolated; they are connected. PaSS schools can share resources, learn from one another, and build the kind of cross-cultural network that sustains growth long after any single initiative ends.
When a school is strengthened, its impact multiplies outward. Students become disciples. Teachers become leaders. Families are influenced. Churches are strengthened. Communities gain skilled, godly servants. Education becomes a discipleship pathway. The fruit is generational.
When Schools Are Strengthened
- Families are influenced by students formed in Christ
- Churches are strengthened by leaders shaped by biblical education
- Communities gain skilled, godly servants
- Poverty cycles are disrupted
- Gospel witness deepens across generations
- Students become the next generation of missionaries, pastors, and leaders
"Education is not just academic — it is generational."
Pathways to School Strengthening (PaSS) is MV’s school strengthening framework: a self-evaluation and coaching program that helps Christian schools identify their strengths, build strategic improvement plans, and receive ongoing mentoring support. Schools in South Korea, Tanzania, Guatemala, Mexico, Ecuador, Malawi, Costa Rica, and Honduras are currently participating.
Meet the School Strengthening Team
MV’s School Strengthening initiative is led by a team of experienced educators, coaches, and missionaries spanning multiple countries and cultures. They are focused on advancing Christ-centered schools that integrate discipleship into daily learning, promote academic excellence rooted in a biblical worldview, and train and empower teachers and students as Christlike leaders.
Sarah Amador
Jackie Lai
Jennifer Pilpe
Obed Zuleta
Don & Mariaelena Steiner
Sarah Amador
PaSS PROGRAM DIRECTOR · MISSIONARY VENTURES
Sarah has been teaching and working with educators since 2007, holding a Bachelor’s in Elementary Education with ESL certification from Kansas State University and a Master’s in Learning and Instructional Design from Wichita State University. She lived and served in Christian education in Nicaragua from 2008 to 2018. Since returning stateside, Sarah developed MV’s Pathways to School Strengthening (PaSS) program, a framework that helps schools identify areas of growth, build strategic plans, and receive ongoing mentoring. She also coaches and trains Christian school leaders in Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua in leadership skills, teacher professional development, and inclusive education practices.
Jackie Lai
MOTIVATE BOARD · ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION
Mei Kuin (Jackie) Lai is originally from Malaysia and now makes her home in Aotearoa, New Zealand, where she serves on the MotiVate Board. She is an Associate Professor of Education whose work spans schooling systems in Asia, Europe, Australia, and North America, giving her a uniquely global perspective on the shared challenges and distinct contexts of different school communities. Her approach centers on listening carefully, learning deeply, and co-designing support that enables organizations to work from their strengths. She brings particular expertise in partnership-based change, leadership development, and navigating diverse cultural contexts in service of sustainable, values-aligned transformation.
Jennifer Pilpe
EDUCATIONAL CONSULTANT · QUITO, ECUADOR
Jennifer and Pablo Pilpe, along with their daughter Ciara, have been serving in Quito, Ecuador since 2022. Drawing on over 20 years in K-12 education, Jennifer founded Raices Educational Solutions in 2024, delivering targeted, practical training to strengthen biblical worldview integration and sharpen instructional practices in Ecuador and across Latin America. Jennifer and Pablo also carry a vision to help launch a Christian university in Ecuador equipping the next generation to impact the region for Christ. As part of the MV family, Jennifer brings her expertise to the PaSS program, providing mentoring and coaching to Christian school leaders throughout the region.
Obed Zuleta
MV MISSIONARY · GUATEMALA
Obed, born and raised in Guatemala, met Cara while she was there in extended missionary service. God stirred in Obed’s heart a deep desire to serve his people, raising up Guatemalan leaders to carry the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world. Obed and Cara joined the Missionary Ventures family in 2013, and together with their four children they are making that vision a living reality. Through personal involvement and intentional discipleship of local leadership, they are strengthening the Church in Guatemala and cultivating the next generation of Christian servants, educators, and leaders.
Don & Mariaelena Steiner
FOUNDERS, WINGS OF EAGLES & PROYECTO ALAS · MEXICO & GUATEMALA
Don and Mariaelena Steiner have spent decades carrying the love of Christ to the world’s most overlooked places. In 1994 they founded Wings of Eagles, a missionary aviation and humanitarian ministry that has served in more than 20 countries through evangelism, medical crusades, disaster relief, and care for children. In Lakeland, Florida, they also founded The Outreach Center of Central Florida and Second Chance Training Center, serving hundreds of families and women coming out of incarceration. At the heart of everything is their passion for impoverished, neglected, and abandoned children. That passion now drives the Proyecto ALAS initiative, which has opened over 60 Christ-centered schools across 14 states of Mexico and Guatemala, bringing faith, character formation, and quality education to hundreds of children in remote and underserved communities.
Life Change Through Education
Real stories of students, teachers, and schools transformed through Christ-centered education.
The Empty Desk
Too often, Lizzy’s school desk was empty.
The teachers would call her name, “Lizzy Paola?” yet there was rarely an answer.
She became known around school as the student who hardly ever showed up at class.
How You Can Be Part of It
Whether you go, send, or pray — there is a place for you in MV’s School Strengthening mission.
Go
Serve at a Christian school as an intern, short-term team member, or long-term missionary educator.
Send
Fund teacher development, sponsor PaSS coaching hours, or give to Core Mission Giving to strengthen MV’s global school network.
Pray
Pray for students, teachers, and school leaders in MV-partnered schools across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Other ways to get involved:
- Vision trips focused on school projects, teacher training, or construction
- Coaching and mentoring opportunities for experienced educators
- Organizational partnerships — bring your training expertise or curriculum resources
- Sponsor a school through the PaSS program