Our Story

After serving various churches in New Jersey, California, and Arkansas, the Branstetters moved to Beijing, China in 2006 with their two daughters. There they served at Beijing International Christian Fellowship (BICF), a registered church for internationals from around the world living short-term in Beijing. Despite diverse nationalities, ethnicities, denominations, and political persuasions, the church enjoyed a deep sense of unity. Inspired by the importance of this neglected subject, Chris wrote Make Us One: Christian Unity in Beijing. It soon became clear that biblical unity was to become an enduring passion and calling.

The global pandemic brought the Branstetters back to the USA in 2020, where they have served ever since. They currently live in Northeast Illinois, where Chris teaches at a Christian university, and Julie is working toward a Ph.D. in Transformational Development.** They both have ministerial, public speaking, and cross-cultural experience and are registered evangelists with the Church of the Nazarene. Together they have served throughout the United States, in Europe and Asia through teaching, educational therapy, and compassionate ministries. Together they launched Peniel CrossRoads on January 1, 2023.

In the summer of 2023, the Branstetters served as interim co-pastors of Keystone Church of the Nazarene in Okinawa, Japan, where they ministered to a diverse community of American, Japanese, and Filipino congregants.

Chris and Julie met while attending seminary in Kansas City and married in 1999. Shortly after, they moved to New Jersey, where Chris earned his Ph.D. in Wesleyan Studies from Drew University in 2006.

Chris and Julie share several other passions besides unity and reconciliation: intimacy with God, authentic worship, Christian holiness, their young adult daughters, and roasting their own coffee beans and cooking.

**Transformational Development is a specialization that mobilizes churches to engage with impoverished communities for holistic growth and development.