Speaking with intensity, urgency, and passionate stories, Charlie Marquis challenges Christians to fully engage in God’s heart and world-wide mission: whether across the street or across the sea.

Through discipleship-focused and missionally-oriented messages, Charlie equips diverse groups of listeners to surrender to the deep love of Jesus, daily seek to hear His voice, and then radically and lovingly obey Christ—no matter the place, no matter the people, no matter the cost!

He is passionate about seeing the Kingdom of God advanced among the unreached, unengaged, and frontier regions of the world. Charlie’s heartbeat is Romans 15:20: “to preach the gospel where Christ is not known.” And so, he has put his feet to his faith, traveling extensively to unreached people groups as a participant, leader, and even on his own.

Currently, Charlie and his wife Dara reside in Denver, Colorado. Dara serves as an anointed worship leader and occasionally joins him to play music during itinerant speaking ventures—she is often available to join upon request. Charlie is a former youth pastor, graduate of Colorado Christian University and an Ordained Minister of the Gospel.

Travels from: Colorado

David and Agnes Robertson are passionate about shepherding the Forge staff in prayer, encouragement, and counsel in such a way that the entire staff’s intimacy with Jesus Christ daily shines forth in everything they do.

The Robertson’s, after pastoring churches in Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Michigan for 39 years, said “yes, Lord” to a call to “Go West!” and have served as Pastors to the Forge Office Staff for twenty years. Dave’s four decades of pastoral ministry and Agnes’s real estate sales and brokering experience have served them well in loving and leading the staff in everyday, practical laborership.

Dave and Agnes, who live in Denver, have been married for over 60 years, have three adult children, Marcia, Dwight, and David, four grandchildren, and two great grandchildren.

If you’re looking for David, you might want to check in the gym before you stop by the church office. He’s not shirking responsibility. Quite the contrary. He’s engaging in life-on-life ministry! David is passionate about meeting people in their everyday places and connecting them to God’s transformative work and power in their life.

Originally from Ethiopia, David moved to the U.S. when he was six. A significant portion of his life, education, and ministry has been spent in Oklahoma, Texas, and Colorado. From those home base locations, David has traveled abroad to such places as London, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Addis Abba, and Canada to share the gospel with youth and college students. His biblical training and degree in marketing has made him God-wise and street savvy as a pastor, discipler, and speaker.

Along with speaking, David served for ten years in two different church settings (Dallas and Denver) as a youth and young adults pastor. Now, he and his wife, Essey, along with their daughter and son, live in Denver as they continue their family mission of “knowing God and making Him known” through David’s current Kingdom assignment as Associate Pastor at Church in the City.

And one more thing. If you can’t find David at the church or gym, you may want to try an online gaming platform later in the evening. Rumor has it, sports video games are one of his downtime enjoyments after the kids have been snugly tucked in bed.

David travels from Denver, Colorado

Partner with David Yirdaw

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Forge’s Founder and President Dwight Robertson is known nationally as a dynamic and gifted communicator. His life calling and mission—to challenge Christians to the role of laborership—is shared passionately as Dwight communicates with evident excitement and urgency. The goal of his message is to see individuals moving toward deeper levels of spiritual intimacy and to gain a world-changing vision while assuming their role as laborers for God’s Kingdom.

Jaaziel knows the power and purpose of a name. His name, traced back to the musicians who accompanied the Ark of the Covenant with song and celebration, means “whom God strengthens.” Jaaziel knows firsthand the God who gives him strength. Trials and events along Jaaziel’s relatively short journey have taught him to depend on God’s power and provision. What’s more, like the Apostle Paul before him, Jaaziel is discovering daily that all things are possible through Christ who gives him strength (Phil 4:13).

With great joy, tenacity, and single-minded purpose, Jaaziel continues to grow in His love for God and others. Helping to lead The Newness of Life Youth Group in Aurora, Colorado is just one of many ways Jaaziel is putting his faith into action.

Jaaziel is brother to three siblings and enjoys all kinds of sports, especially basketball. Other interests include hiking, camping, cooking, photography, videography, and cars. Add family and a little laughter to the mix, and Jaaziel thinks life gets even better!

John Boyd is a writer, teacher, equipper, and mentor who longs to lead those hungering and thirsting for “more” to places of greater depth and intimacy with Jesus. John is married to Shannon and they have three adult children.

John’s has twenty-five plus years of pastoral and campus ministry experience. Add the life-perspective gained from having lived in seven states across the U.S. and it’s easy to see why others say of John, “He has a knack for connecting the real God to the heart and needs of real people.”

John and Shannon live in Kentucky along with their faithful Lab, Journey. They enjoy welcoming others into their off-the-beaten-path home for rest, retreat, nuanced conversation, and joyful celebration of all that is good, right, beautiful, and difficult about life and living.

Josh Lin is an incredible Kingdom networker and proclaimer of God’s word. As a former pastor, Josh has been immersed in the Asian community of Denver working with families and individuals, offering the best he can as a cultural exegete.

Josh grew up in Houston, TX and attended the University of Texas at Austin for undergrad, studying Speech Communications. After graduation, he worked for a few years as a stock broker in Austin. He went on to spend 4 years on staff with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship working with a large Asian-American campus ministry. Josh then moved to Chicago to work at a Chinese immigrant church, first as the youth director, and later the English pastor for 5 years. Afterwards he studied at North Park Seminary pursuing his Masters of Divinity. From 2010-2019, Josh came to the call of being the English Pastor at Chinese Evangelical Church of Denver, a Chinese immigrant church in the Denver metro area.

Joyelle Naomi is a proud Denver native. She loves the Lord and is honored to serve Him wherever He leads. She holds a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology, is a home-based educator and a former ESL teacher. Joyelle has immense expertise navigating the education ecosystem within and beyond schools and customizing learning for home-based learners. Prior to joining the Forge team, Joyelle’s passion for home-based education led her to realize that many underrepresented groups like POC and students with special needs experience many barriers that block equitable access to the resources needed to sustainably teach and learn from home. As a result, she founded a nonprofit that seeks to provide educational, cultural and financial solutions to those barriers.  

​Joyelle is the mother of two wonderful children, loves the Colorado outdoors, and is a Trekkie for life!

Lorene Klopfenstein is so much more than a “sandwich artist.” While Lorene uses her many years of culinary and catering experiences to “feed the multitudes” at Forge events year-round, she has a passion to bless and encourage people in all walks of life through food and art. Meals may be the medium, but deeper kitchen conversations, bodies fueled for energized Kingdom service, and days filled with a little more encouragement and beauty is always her goal.

Lorene and her husband, Ron (also on staff with Forge) live in Conifer, Colorado. The “Klops” have two children, both married – son, Reid, and daughter, Kirsten, along with their darling granddaughter, Ella.

Melissa Motschenbacher is passionate about serving God and people and lives to advance the Kingdom of God at home, locally and globally. She lives by the scripture, “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord!” Melissa is the Director of Deep Camp and Connections here at Forge Kingdom Building Ministries where she loves to create an atmosphere through events and connections for people to encounter the very heartbeat of God and lock arms with us to pursue our mission of “Forging Kingdom Laborers with Hearts on Fire and Lives on Purpose”.

Melissa is married to her amazing husband, Scott, and together they have three incredible, God-loving children: Makenzie, Peyton and Makayla. When not a Forge, her family seeks to find ways they can advance God’s Kingdom. They have had the honor of traveling to many nations to share the Gospel, helping to open a children’s orphanage, opening a water well and opening a soup kitchen. They are working on establishing a non-profit organization to help feed hungry children around the world. In their free time, which they have learned to prioritize through the years, they love traveling anywhere around the world graced with palm trees, sand and saltwater to enjoy scuba diving, snorkeling and sailing! One more fun little fact…”sparkle” is Melissa’s favorite color!

When you say the phrase ‘Missionary to the Unreached’, Nathan is not the person you picture in your mind. He is not particularly boisterous, gritty or adventurous. In fact, for most of his life you would have been far more likely to see his picture next to words like homebody, awkward, or cautious. Jesus changed everything for him though.

He may not be the stereotypical risk taker, but he has seen God move in some crazy ways around the world.

His love for Jesus and passion for people to know Him has taken Nathan to numerous remote and difficult locations. Places he never thought he would go to. Places where the road ends but the Spirit of the Lord says, “keep going”. He has seen God move mightily, drawing people to himself. He has seen tribal people meet the living Jesus and be changed. He has seen Muslims open to hearing the message of Jesus and respond. He has seen God open doors among people groups who are guarded under lock and key. He has seen as the good news and presence of the living Jesus utterly changes lives.

Nathan is a follower, missionary, teacher, encourager, and Kingdom equipper who, along with his wife, Taylor, longs to see God’s Church fully alive and beating in rhythm with His heartbeat and mission. He also longs for more people in more places to encounter the living Jesus.

Nathan lives in Colorado and is a graduate of Colorado Christian University with a bachelor’s degree in theology. He currently serves as a youth and missions pastor at his local church and travels as an itinerant missionary.

Partner with Nathan Burdick

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Todd Bright helps grow people and things for the glory of God. His passion is to help fuel God’s Kingdom by handling well the people and resources entrusted to him and to help others do the same. In many ways, Todd lives the title “Stewardship Evangelist” as he guides people and resources toward God’s Kingdom agenda and goals. Todd’s 20 years of extensive business leadership and management experience enables him to carry out his calling at a high level.

Todd is married to Heather, and they have six children, Daniel, Lauren, Noah, Seth, Hannah, and Samuel. Todd and his family, formerly from Florida, reside in Parker, Colorado.