Mackenzie Ten Napel

students women’s coordinator

Originally from Nebraska (Go Big Red!), my family and I moved to Texas in 2010. I grew up in a chaotic home and silently struggled with perfectionism, performance, and abuse from a high school boyfriend. I didn't know it at the time, but the Lord would use these hurts to help me become a beacon of hope for children and students like me, the true outworking of Genesis 50:20. I graduated from Texas Woman's University having studied Child Development and Public Policy seeking to reform family policies through working in Child Advocacy.

While COVID was life-changing for many, it became the means by which the Lord used to call me to Him. I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior in April 2020 after desperately googling "Who is God?". After two years of walking with the Lord and under the discipleship of leaders at Watermark, it became clear that the best way for me to love children and students through hard circumstances would be to teach them about Christ.

I had expressed interest in attending seminary to better my ability to teach children about their Savior, and a friend mentioned the Citybridge Institute to me. I was accepted into the 2023 class and had the joy of working with the kid's midweek team and the special needs ministry, getting to grow in my giftings, and receiving hands-on ministry experience. I am now so excited to work alongside students and to have the opportunity to help them navigate what were the hardest years of my own life with the truth and love of the Lord.