Our Story
Say yes to Michigan! That’s right, Nino and Tammy are both Michiganders through and through. Here’s a slice of their story.
Nino was raised in Kalamazoo, and lived there for the first 20 years of his life. As a boy, Nino was not raised in the church and did not grow up having a relationship with God. During the teenage years he began to live a life of parties, sexual immorality and violence. However it was also during these tumultuous years that God began to break through in this young man’s life. At the age of 18 years old, Nino read the New Testament for the first time in his life. The person of Jesus Christ became real to Nino in that moment, and he began a relationship with Christ just before his freshmen year of college. During Nino’s junior year, while attending the University of Michigan, he began to sense a call into full time campus missions. Nino began theological training after graduating from UM in 1992.
Quick Fact:
The first time Nino and Tammy kissed was when the pastor said “You may kiss the bride”.
Tammy was raised in Metro Detroit, and was not raised in a church going home. She did however have some neighbors who attended church on a regular basis, and Tammy would join them whenever she could. Not having a family committed to church made it difficult for her to consistently attend, and she began to drift from the Lord during her teenage years. However things began to change during her freshmen year of college at the University of Michigan. Tammy was invited to a Campus Crusade for Christ meeting and began to attend on a regular basis. Through the friendships she formed in this ministry, she gave her heart to Jesus and committed to serving him the rest of her life!
Nino and Tammy met in 1992 and began a two year friendship. Both of them had been in prior dating relationships as teenagers and early twenty somethings. Each of these prior relationships had been marked by emotional pain, sexual sin and bondage like so many of our young people today.
They purposed in their heart to have a pure and spiritually uplifting relationship together, breaking the bondage of the past, and setting an example of hope for the millions of young people who are trying to honor God in their dating relationships. By the grace of God, Nino and Tammy had just such a relationship. Their dating and engagement brought each of them closer to Christ, and the first time they kissed was when the pastor said “You may kiss the bride”.
On April 23, 1994 Nino and Tammy were married. They have four beautiful children; Emma, Jonathan, Alyson and Matthew, whom they love with all their heart!