Gateway Team

Bonita is our beloved director, and has been serving in this role since 2017. Prior to that, she served as an assistant director for 2 years, and served on the Board of Directors from Gateway’s beginning in 2005. In Gateway’s early days, Bonita led a Tuesday Night Watch (12-4am) for 7 years— even as she raised a young family! She is most definitely one who leads by example in passionate devotion to Jesus, and for her, this deep love for God began at 18 years old when she served in Youth Evangelism Service (YES) just out of high school. She encountered the tangible presence of God in times of prayer and worship during 4 months of training before going on outreach to the Honduras, and her life was forever changed!

Some of Bonita’s favorite things to do as director of the House are facilitating corporate times in His Presence, taking part in the PA Prayer Network, meeting with those who desire prayer ministry, connecting with other prayer leaders, and especially pouring into the young Gateway staff team. She is passionate about raising up a generation fueled by the fire of God’s presence, and mobilizing them in intercession in order to shift culture.

Bonita is married to the love of her life, Brent Keener, who was both her junior high and high school sweetheart. They have 4 amazing children, 4 precious granddaughters, and a wonderful grandson. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, exploring new places, reading books that stir her faith, and meeting friends for coffee. Fun fact: Her favorite food is ice cream, and her favorite flavor is a good Colombian coffee.

Lori, our Assistant Director, is incredibly grateful to be in a community of people who love God’s Presence. She loves to soak in the quiet moments of reading the Word and hearing His voice... and she also loves the times of uninhibited freedom in childlike worship! She finds so much joy in praying with others, and hearing the ways God makes Himself known through their testimonies. You can often find Lori connecting with other moms in the Prayer Room, and singing worship songs with their children!

Lori and her husband, Jonathan, got involved at Gateway with Embark School of Prayer starting in 2018, and have recently started serving as Directors for the school. They also have been leading our Family Watch on Monday nights for the past 4 years. Lori has a beautiful call on her life to pray for families, and she loves the color and joy that her own family adds to her life! She has been married to Jonathan for over 20 years, and they have three daughters and a son. They love hosting people in their home, hiking, traveling, and enjoying a good cup of coffee every morning.

Trivia: Lori has over a hundred houseplants in her home, and North Dakota is the only state she hasn’t visited yet!

Judah is our worship coordinator, and if you were to ask him why he’s here, his answer would simply be: to love Jesus. However, he is also working with sound and tech in order to make it easier for the different worship teams from around the region to all come in and lead live worship at Gateway. Judah’s passion is for every worship leader to not just “fill the time slot” with prayer and worship, but to truly worship God in spirit and in truth!

Judah remembers experiencing the tangible presence of the Holy Spirit from a young age, but it was towards the end of high school when he truly became passionate about worship. After high school, he went on a Youth With A Mission (YWAM) outreach to Peru, and it was up in the mountains with just God’s people and a ukulele that he felt stirred toward worship leading. Fast forward to a few years later, and Judah officially joined our staff team in the summer of 2021 in order to help build up teams of live worship in the House of Prayer. We are so blessed to have him on the team! He brings diligence, excellence, and technical skills to our team, all while remembering what truly matters most: Jesus.

In his spare time, Judah enjoys bicycling, snowboarding, hiking, and anything else outside and active! He also loves spending time with his family, and says that his brothers and his nephew are the coolest. Fun fact: Judah genuinely enjoys a wide variety of weather, not just the “nice” days.

Bio Coming!

Faith is our creative arts coordinator and has been involved with Gateway since 2020 when she did our Embark Internship. According to Faith, “I believed in the existence of God my whole life, but I had a truly personal revelation of Jesus’ love in a quiet little corner of the prayer room, and my life has been transformed ever since.”

Faith started attending Gateway’s Arts Watch on Friday nights, where she began worshipping Jesus through drawing and painting. She soon discovered that she loved expressing His heart through the arts, and that God often reveals Himself in ways that can’t be put into words— which is one of Faith’s favorite things about God. Around the prayer room, you may find Faith painting, designing the prayer boards, and worshipping her heart out. She has a true gift for bringing creativity and beauty into Gateway, and we are so thankful for her!

Trivia: Faith studied under the classical realism artist, Neilson Carlin, for 3 years; she works as a groundskeeper; and some of her favorite things include: hot tea, houseplants, backpacking, kayaking, and reading.

Shawna serves as our ministry support, tackling all the fun behind-the-scenes office stuff around Gateway-- an integral player in keeping 24/7 prayer and worship rolling! She has been a part of Gateway since 2019 when she attended her first Tuesday night equipping service and has been a regular in the prayer room ever since. In 2022, she completed our Embark School of Prayer, and it was during these hours in the prayer room that she encountered God deeply as Father, Friend, Rock, and the One who speaks sweetly into every detail of our lives. To this day, Shawna’s favorite part about Gateway is the tangible presence of God that she senses as soon as she walks into the house, serving as a place that she is privileged to hear the voice of the Lord, to worship Him for who He is, and partner with Him in intercession.

Fun facts: Shawna’s happy place is anywhere she is creating something with her hands or anywhere outside (ideally without cell reception)—taking absurdly long walks, hiking, paddleboarding, or climbing to the top of a mountain with friends.

Bio Coming!