focusone.com

Taka Iguchi

Director

First Year on Staff: 1998
Favorite Quote: “He that is good at making excuses is seldom good for anything else.” – Benjamin Franklin
Favorite Book: Around the Wicket Gate by CH Spurgeon
Why Focus? I never tire of seeing a powerful, living God change a willing heart.
Countries Visited: Mexico, Haiti, Swaziland, Bahamas, Kosovo, Denmark, Canada, China, India, Morocco, Kenya, Bosnia, Ecuador, South Africa

Dan Matlock

Assistant Director

First Year on Staff: 2002
Favorite Quote: “If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” – Henry David Thoreau
Favorite Book: Choose the Life by Bill Hull
Why Focus? I think one of the greatest things is to see people find / realize the reason why they were created. I love watching students discover this each year.
Countries Visited: Mexico, Canada, India, Nepal, Italy, Thailand, Denmark, South Korea, Japan, Egypt, Israel, China, Guatemala

Steve Cochran

Student Life Pastor

First Year on Staff: 2008
Favorite Quote: “Every man dies, but not every man lives.” – William Wallace (Braveheart),“Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.” – William Carney
Favorite Book: My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers, The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns
Why Focus? I love being part of God changing students lives.
Countries Visited: Sri Lanka, Dubai, Haiti, Argentina, Bahamas, Canada

Liz Reed

Class Pastor/Admissions

First Year on Staff: 2006
Favorite Quote: “Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them to become what they are capable of being”
Favorite Book: Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges
Why Focus? It is my honor to journey alongside students who are hungry for God, to teach, mentor them and watch them grow, to push and challenge them in ways they wouldn’t otherwise experience. I love the risk that focus students take to spend a year like this, and the results are amazing. The life change that happens in an environment like this is unlike anything I’ve seen elsewhere. I wouldn’t want to spend my life doing anything else!
Countries Visited: India, Mexico, Canada, Romania

Jenny Ostrowski

Personal Assistant to Director

First Year on Staff: 2010
Favorite Quote: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” – Maryanne Williamson
Favorite Book: Bravehearts by Sharon Hersh
Why Focus? I get to see the relentless, powerful, undeserving love of God completely wreck young people so that they can be effective for the Kingdom of God….and there is NOTHING that compares to that journey!!
Countries Visited: Dominican Republic, Swaziland, Scotland

Brooke Ezzo

Admissions & Promotions

First Year on Staff: 2010
Favorite Quote: “Extravagant love is really more a matter of the heart. It is an accumulation of moments marked by persistence, vulnerability, and discipline. It is found in rare and daily expressions of love, the speaking of truth, and the forgiveness of wrong-doing.” – Sharon A. Hersh
Favorite Book: DNA of Relationships by Gary Smalley
Why Focus? The students inspire me. Throughout the three years I’ve been here I’ve never seen someone choose to truly chase after God and not find Him; I’m blessed to see so many sprinters come through this place.
Countries Visited: Ecuador, China

Katie Martinez

Admissions & Promotions

First Year on Staff: 2009
Favorite Quote: “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive and go and do that; because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” -Gil Bailie
Favorite Book: In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson
Why Focus? I love life-change. I love seeing the Lord show students who they were truly created to be.
Countries Visited: None just yet! But I have visited close to 20 states while a student and on staff with the program.