Meet our Staff
Dr. Richard Gardner — FFICM Founder & President
Richard grew up in Philadelphia, PA, and received Christ as a 21-year-old through a pastor in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In 1981, he completed his M.Div through the Reformed Episcopal Seminary, and in 2011 he received his doctorate in missiology from Western Seminary. After marrying his wife Janice in 1985, the two moved to Portland, OR, where they learned about Wycliffe Bible Translators. From 1991-2005, Rich and Janice lived in Nigeria as translators with Wycliffe, working on the Izere New Testament and raising their family. Through his various experiences with Wycliffe, The Seed Company (a division of Wycliffe Bible Translators), and studying for his doctorate, Rich saw a deep need to follow up with new believers as they grew in their Christian faith.
Evangelism and follow-up quickly became a passion of Rich, and in September 2013 he took steps to form Firm Foundation In Christ Ministries.
David Moore — Intl. Director of Operations
David grew up in a Christian family in Hillsboro, OR. After high school, he attended Multnomah University in Portland, OR where he got his Bachelor’s Degree in Intercultural Studies. He worked with Wycliffe Bible Translators from 1999 until early 2018. Most of his work with Wycliffe was in Indonesia where he worked with local church denominations and teams to help facilitate and support the work of Bible translation and seeing partnership with the local church in using local language in ministry thrive. When life transition happened and brought David and his family back to the US in 2017, God opened the door for David to come on board with FFICM and to serve as Director of Operations.
Stacey Lloyd — International Director of Multimedia
Stacey is a volunteer with FFICM, who coordinates our multimedia efforts including editing of pictures and videos. He helps with our website, electronic data management, and other projects in the office. He has been a long-time partner with FFICM and went to Nigeria to film the Izere New Testament dedication.
Courtney Zurcher — Communications Specialist
Courtney grew up in Sherwood, Oregon. After graduating high school, she began attending Azusa Pacific University in southern California. Now, she is currently a junior working towards her Bachelor’s Degree in Communication Management and a minor in Psychology. In the spring of 2020, she joined our team as an intern, working primarily on developing FFICM’s social media and website engagement. Now, she is a part of the communications team, working more specifically on connecting people with FFICM through different media platforms and prayer involvement. She is passionate about building relationships with people and the impact that follow-up with new believers has on their lives. Courtney has loved working with FFICM and seeing first-hand the incredible work that God is doing through the ministry!
Susanna Ballard — Director of Outreach
Susanna began partnering with Rich Gardner in the training of new believers in 2012, before FFICM became a formalized non-profit. She has a passion for FFICM’s vision to support new Christians because of her experience of isolation and confusion after becoming a Christian during adolescence. Those early years of choosing to follow Jesus despite significant cultural pressures were deeply formative for Susanna. With a deep desire to live and learn immersed in Christian community, Susanna chose to study for her BA at Houghton College, a liberal arts Wesleyan college in rural NY.
After graduating, she and her husband served a year with AmeriCorps as volunteer teachers in after school programs and summer camps. Susanna and Dan moved to Oregon in 2011 where Susanna received her Masters of Divinity from Portland Seminary. Susanna has been grateful to partner with FFICM over the past 9 years. She and Dan have two young boys and enjoy getting outside as much as possible – rain or shine! Susanna’s favorite FFICM partnership thus far was the trip she and Dan took to Ethiopia to train evangelists in the FFICM Training Booklet and Evangelism tools.
Elle Wisot — Communications Coordinator
Elle is originally from Chester County, Pennsylvania. After high school she moved to Honolulu, Hawaii where she received her undergraduate degree in multimedia from Hawaii Pacific University. Elle is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in School Counseling from George Fox University. Prior to working for FFICM she worked as the Creative Director for Life Community Church and prior to that as a marketing associate at Hanalani Schools. Elle is excited about her new role as the Communications Coordinator for FFICM and is looking forward to how God will use her in this new role.
