Shayla started her journey in ministry with a missions trip to Haiti in 2012. There she served at a childcare facility dedicated to creating loving foster families as children waited for a forever home. Here Shayla not only felt a passion for reaching the world for Christ, but also discovered a call to the profession of architecture. The organization was in the process of overhauling their ministry approach, creating smaller architectural environments as opposed to an institution. God used this opportunity to reveal to Shayla the transformative power of architecture, and His desire to use her talents to help restore the world through design.
Shayla spent a summer interning with Engineering Ministries International in Nicaragua. There, she had the opportunity to put the power of architecture to work while pairing it with God’s divine planning. Her project for the term involved a childcare facility, very similar to the facility she experienced in Haiti. God allowed her to leverage that experience, and the principles of their family-oriented approach, to design a facility which addressed the needs of the ministry through design. After her experience at EMI, Shayla knew that God was calling her to use her talents in architecture to build His Kingdom. She started as EMI staff in the Colorado Springs office in August 2020 and will be moving abroad to serve in one of EMI's overseas offices in the summer of 2022. Would you prayerfully consider partnering with Shayla as she answers God’s call to architectural missions at EMI?