MEET THE BOARD

Board of Directors

MPE has incorporated as a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization and has adopted official by-laws. Midwest Parent Educators is governed by a board, from which an executive committee of officers is chosen. Husband and wife serve as one member of the board, with each family unit receiving one vote. All members of the Board of Directors must agree to endorse and support MPE’s Mission Statement and Statement of Faith (listed in the official by-laws).

Robert and Jen have been regularly attending Journey Bible Church since August 2015 and became members in April 2017. Since 2017, Robert has served as an inaugural member and Chair of their Finance Committee. Jen has been involved in Sunday School for younger children and women’s ministry, and she was formerly a youth director at First Owasso Presbyterian Church in Owasso, OK. Jen is also active in the local homeschool community including organizing field trips and weekly social events, fostering friendships, and helping homeschool families find connections where needed.

Robert, who was homeschooled himself K-12, is a partner at a local CPA firm, yoked with two other Christian owners doing their best to do business God’s way and helping churches, Christian organizations, and other nonprofits put their best foot forward. Jen and Robert have participated in several MPE-sponsored events including the MPE conference for several years, Women’s Encouragement Day, used curriculum sale, and Trail Life.

Herb and Jenny have been homeschooling their children since 1999 (24 years). Four of their six children have graduated already (their fifth in May 2024). They became members of MPE in 2010 before they moved up to KC in 2013. Wanting to serve their homeschool community, they quickly made connections and started volunteering on the conference committee helping with youth volunteers. They became MPE board members several years later.

Herb is Troop Master for MPE’s Trail Life Troop and MPE’s graduation director. Jenny helps with Mentoring Moms and is a member of the Women’s Encouragement Day committee to organize the day’s giveaways. Also, she has helped with MPE’s Used Curriculum Sale and is helping with MPE’s Silent Auction.

Herb has been the Bursar at MidAmerica Nazarene University since 2010 and is helping students navigate paying for a private Christian university education. Since 2016, Jenny has been driving a school bus for Olathe schools. As a family, they love to volunteer/serve in many roles at church from nursery, children, youth, media and greeting/hospitality.

The office of MPE Vice President is being filled by Herb and Jenny Albertson.

Herb and Jenny have volunteered at the Kauffman Center of Performing Arts and at MNU’s Bell Performing Arts Center as ushers for Fine Arts events. As a family, they love playing disc golf and board games together.

Brian and Martha have been married for 28 years and homeschool their 4 kids. They recently graduated their 3rd child graduate with the MPE Graduation Ceremony, with their youngest just a few years behind. Along the way, their kids have enriched their education through various homeschool programs such as HCA, Southland Academy, Greenleaf Performing Arts, and Worldview Academy.

The Gilleys have enjoyed working together in different ways, such as event planning for Daddy Daughter Dances to raise money for missionaries. Their kids have enjoyed being active leaders at MPEK, and recently they helped their daughter start a ministry called Sowing Seeds which is a Christian based Performance Arts School in Missouri, dedicated to nurturing creativity and faith.

Brian has worked from home for 18 years, in the IT industry and is currently developing new product services for our Cloud Managed Services. He enjoys conceptualizing new ideas and bringing them to life through products and services. He enjoys homesteading/ farm steading their land.

Martha grew up in a small town in north Iowa she married Brian in 1995. Before having kids, she worked for Wausau Insurance Companies for 5 years as a support in the claims department and support team manager while also earning her bachelor’s in human resource management. She has been a stay-at-home mom homeschooling their children for 18+ years. Her interests include gardening, homesteading and natural health advocacy.  She currently uses her administrative skills at The Southland Academy where her kids have all attended during high school.

Yasha and Lian Lange are both homeschool alumna. Yasha worked at U.S. Bank for 6 years before launching his own managing consultant business, Lange Tech Collective, in 2019. Lian worked at Perceptive Software (now a branch of Lexmark) in Shawnee before becoming a full-time mother and homeschool mom in 2016.

Yasha and Lian have been married since 2014 and have three children from 1 to 5. They have served in behind-the-scenes roles with MPE, including the website, event organization, and membership database records. They are active in their church congregation and enjoy mentoring young adults through an interdenominational fellowship, The Mustard Seed.

Robert grew up in Kansas City, KS and graduated from Linwood High School. Susan grew up in Lenexa and graduated from Shawnee Mission High School. They attended Grace Christian Fellowship Church in Shawnee. Susan starting in elementary school and Robert starting in high school. Robert attended Bible school in Tulsa, OK in 1991 and worked with Teen Mania Ministries until 1994. From 1994 to 2011, Robert was youth pastor at GCFC. Susan attended Bible school in 1995 and was youth pastor at Bethel church in Magnolia, AR from 1996-2001. In 2001, Susan returned to Kansas and began working in the church office and volunteering as a youth leader.

We were married on September 6, 2009, in Shawnee, Kansas and have lived in the same home in Shawnee. Our daughter, Olivia, was born in 2010. We officially started homeschooling in 2015. We have been members of MPE and have attended the annual conference since 2014. We are members of HSLDA and have attended our homeschool co-op, Legacy Christian Academy, since 2016, teaching a variety of classes. We have been attending Church of the Harvest in Olathe, KS since 2017. In 2018, we enrolled in their Legacy Training Institute and graduated in 2020. Susan has been on the Women’s Encouragement Day planning team since 2020, gathering and organizing donations and serving the weekend of the event. We have been on the board of Homeschooler Education Network since 2021 mostly in board meetings, volunteering in their hybrid school, and in fundraising.

Robert started in real estate in 2017. Susan has been working with him full time since 2021. We started a coffee company in 2023 to help fund faith-based organizations fighting against human trafficking.

Kelley and Jennifer Ireland have been homeschooling for 14 years, from preschool through graduation of their oldest in 2017. God has blessed them with four daughters and two sons, ages 5 months through 18 years. Kelley helped transition MPE’s youth character development, outdoor adventure and discipleship outreach into the Trail Life USA and American Heritage Girls programs over the last few years. Kelley and Jennifer hope to encourage families to seek God’s will in all things, and in particular the raising and educating of their children. We all struggle at times, and if we are willing, can be mightily blessed through the wisdom and example of fellow Christ followers.

In 2006, Kris and Carissa Jones began homeschooling their oldest daughter, with plans to send her to school the following year, after she missed the kindergarten cutoff by just a few days. What began as an effort to keep her mentally engaged lit a passion for home education that continues today, where they are in their 15th year of homeschooling.

Kris and Carissa have been married for 21 years and have eight children from 3 to 19. Since moving to the Kansas City area in 2008, they have served in behind-the-scenes roles with MPE, including the conference and Women’s Encouragement Day. They are active in their small church congregation and enjoy investing in their children—and other young people—through their roles as Boy Scout and American Heritage Girls adult leaders. 

As Chad wrote in a November 2023 email:

“Please pray for all the MPE leadership regularly, but especially these men and their families [President & Vice President]. The task that they have undertaken is no small thing and they deserve our support.

Also, please be in prayer and consideration for new leaders to join the MPE team. MPE desperately needs additional team members to serve in volunteer roles on the Conference Committee and on the Board.

MPE is God’s organization, and He can lead the right people to serve in His organization. Please pray that He will do so.

I cannot express to you the joy and satisfaction that serving with MPE has brought to me over the last 20+ years. And although that season of life is drawing to a close for me, I still have a passion for MPE and the ministry that God has given to us. I am praying that God will lead some young leaders into our midst to carry this ministry into the future.

I love you all. Thank you for allowing me to serve alongside you for all these years.”

Please join us in praying for the Simmons and Albertson families as they serve in these leadership roles at the helm of our organization!