Pieces of my Journey

These are small pieces of the journey that have led me to where I am at today….

I grew up a surfer girl in Southern California. I actually considered pursuing a professional bodyboarding career rather than go to university. See me in Baywatch here. Luckily, I decided to stick to the books but I do love hitting the surf at every opportunity. Growing up in Anaheim, California at the Vineyard church there, I was very blessed to learn all about healing through John Wimber. When I was 17 years old, I started a small woman’s Bible study at our public highschool that met every Wednesday until I graduated and then one year after, a friend took it over. Deciding to stay near home and strategically picking a school near the beach, I graduated from Vanguard University in 2000 with a B.A. in religion with the emphasis in youth leadership studies and pastoral care.

Less than a month after graduating, in May of 2000, I jumped on a plane headed for Mozambique, Africa to be a part of Heidi Baker’s ministry to the poor there. I had the opportunity of helping to plant a  church (Camp 2000) in a refuge camp there where we saw bread multiply one time as well as work with some of the teenage prostitutes on the streets, feed the poor, preach, lead outreaches, and spend time with the children at the orphanage there. That was a significant part of my life for sure.


Upon returning home, that next year I worked as a youth ministry developer at my church and designed and implemented an intensive 5 week discipleship program with about 15 youth there called The DIG (Disciples In Groove). That was a very special time for me and I know for several of the others. It’s such a privilege to see where some of those young people are today. As a side note, from around 2001 on, I have been blessed to have Bob Fulton in my life. He is one of the early founders of the Vineyard Movement along with his wonderful wife Penny, and he has acted as a spiritual father to me. His encouragement has helped me tremendously as I have attempted to maneuver through this exciting adventure we call life in the kingdom of God. Realizing that I was not cut out for church work as a job but much more prefer volunteering there instead, I transitioned into Starbucks by 2002. 

It started out as a part time job but then I realized more and more how much I liked the vision and values of the company and I kept getting promoted the longer I stayed there. I ended up managing my own store, becoming a classroom facilitator, designed and implemented various trainings, and got to do some great events like live music and live hip hop dancing one night in one of my stores. I met some really great people who were customers as well as fellow employees through the company. After 5 years at Starbucks I had this stirring inside of me that, while I loved the company and the job, I was meant to do something else with my life beyond that. I had always thought that teaching at a University level was something I would love but the only problem was that it would require further education.

The main thing holding me back from pursing more education was that I did not want to get into debt again. I began to realize if I didn’t pursue higher education soon, I would never do it. So finally, in 2007, I quit my job at Starbucks, sold my car, took out a loan, and packed up my things and moved to England to go back to University. It was pretty amazing how everything came together right away for me over here. While I admit the first year was tough dealing with culture shock and giving up the sunshine and surfing, leaving my family and friends behind, eventually I found my niche. Some of the opportunities I have had over here would have never happened if I had not stepped out to pursue my dream.

I initially came to England because I have always wanted to study revivals and there is such rich church history here. I didn’t necessarily set out to study revivals so that I could figure out how to start them, but I wanted to study them so that I could develop a theology of living effectively through revivals long term. I have seen too many people get all excited in the midst of a revival but then not too long after they burn out and/or compromise their character and integrity. Through my general reading on revivals I came across Carrie Judd Montgomery. She was the most influential woman involved in the Divine Healing Movement in America in the late 1800s and had been overlooked. Immediately, I knew that she was meant to the topic of my PhD here at the University of Birmingham. Click on her picture to learn more.

While in England, I had the opportunity to be a project coordinator in charge of leading a team of 50 international students to welcome over 1,000 international students during Welcome Week International. I also had the opportunity to head up Healing on the Streets right in the city center of Birmingham outside of a beautiful Cathedral where we have seen many people touched and healed through the love of Jesus. After "HOTS," we started a Bible study at a Starbucks with some of the youth that hang out near the Cathedral. While in the UK I also released 2 books (Silver to Gold and Spirit Flood).

Click picture to see more photos of the night

I graduated from the University of Birmingham, UK with my PhD in revival history July of 2011 and have recently relocated to Redding, CA where I got ordained with Iris Ministries by Heidi Baker New Years 2011 at her home. Such a blessing and a night I will never forget!

I am also releasing 2 new books in 2012. Water to Wine is the first one about my own spiritual journey and experiences and the other is based on my thesis and is called Life on Wings: The Forgotten Life and Theology of Carrie Judd Montgomery. I am investing all my time into the Silver to Gold, Carrie Judd Montgomery, and other Projects as well as doing Destiny/Catalyst coaching, healing and revival retreats at Carrie Judd Montgomery's healing home in Oakland (the Home of Peace), and helping people to write and publish their first book. JenMiskov.com is the best place to get an overview of what I am currently working on.

So from California to England and now back to California, that has been a few pieces of my journey thus far. The reason I mention specific people above is they have influenced me in one way or another and because of God working in and through them, I am who I am today. Without the special people God brings into my life at different times, I wouldn’t be the same. Enjoying beautiful friends from around the world is a true blessing and something which I am very grateful for. I hope that provided you with a little context of where I come from :) See some of the topics I enjoy speaking on here or feel free to connect with me at JenMiskov@silvertogold.com.