A Dallas native, Stephen’s first significant exposure to cross-cultural missions was through a church mission trip to Jamaica with his family at age 14. His gifts and interest in working with children became evident during high school, especially through his work at Sky Ranch summer camp. After graduating from Trinity Christian Academy in Addison, Stephen studied Biology and was involved in theater at Wheaton College near Chicago. While there, he was further impacted as he and a group of college students put on a weekly Sunday school in a housing project in inner-city Chicago. After college, God used various corporate and teaching jobs to grow Stephen’s skills in leadership, teaching, and facilitation. In 2002, Stephen and some friends from a local church began building into the lives of kids in a local Hispanic apartment community. As God grew the ministry—which came to be called the Hidalgo Ministry--Stephen’s leadership role in it grew as well. In 2008, he answered the call to transition into fulltime ministry. After spending 10 years working as a missionary fulltime, in Fall of 2018, God allowed Stephen to begin an official non-profit organization—Hidalgo Ministries—focused on reflecting Christ’s love and truth in the community. Stephen has a passion to see the Holy Spirit miraculously change lives through relationship-building, prayer, and personal transformation.