Anne Coleman was 12 years old when her parents took her out for a special dinner. They planned to disclose a secret they'd kept from her for her entire life.

She grew up in Communist Poland, and later West Germany, because her dad, Larry Thompson, owned a business in both places...or so she thought.

That's what this dinner was all about—to tell her the real reason they lived in Europe.

"You mean you are Christian spies? she asked, after her parents explained that they were actually missionaries in Communist Europe, where Christian activities were restricted. The business was a guise so that her parents, who served with Campus Crusade for Christ, could have access into a spiritually controlled country and teach the people about Jesus.

"Yes," they confirmed to their eldest of three children.

Although shocked, Anne Coleman liked the idea. She settled in her heart that she, too, would like to be a missionary someday.

But Anne Coleman's story would not be that of a typical missionary.

When she was old enough, she moved to the United States to attend Wheaton College in Illinois. An athlete by nature, she played on the competitive volleyball team there. She also skied in the winters, a sport she learned in the Alps when she was 4.

After she graduated with a Christian education degree, she heard about a trip to Macedonia where she could spend a year telling students about Jesus. Naturally, Anne Coleman was intrigued—perhaps this was her missionary opportunity. However, as she prayed, she didn't feel peace. She told God, "Here I am willing to serve You overseas, but You're not telling me to go." So, she accepted a job at her alma mater and put her missionary plans on hold.

That next year, two major things happened, and she understood why God didn't send her overseas. First, she started dating another Wheaton alumnus and co-worker, Matt Kavgian. Then, while the two were jogging, she noticed numbness in her feet. Anne Coleman dismissed it as bad shoes, but after she bought a new pair, the problem persisted.

She began stumbling, too, and visited a podiatrist, who suspected a neurological problem. She scheduled an MRI.

	Matt and Anne Coleman enjoy the time they get to spend together going on "walks" in which she rides a special bike.

"You think you're on top of the world when you're 23," she says. But the test revealed multiple sclerosis, a disease in which the body's immune system attacks itself and hardens the nerve endings.

MS jeopardized not only her love of athletics, but also her hopes of becoming a missionary to somewhere exotic.

"I felt like everything that was good was being taken from me," she says.

In the meantime, her relationship with Matt escalated. He had quit his job, and was recruited by Anne Coleman's dad, Larry, who was now directing Campus Crusade throughout Eastern Europe, to assist with a conference. Matt helped, and upon returning, told her that he wanted to join the staff of Campus Crusade.

"Do you know that has been a dream of mine?" Anne Coleman asked, excited that God gave them the same desire.

Soon, Matt requested Larry's permission to marry his daughter. Larry cautioned him that Anne Coleman's MS would only get worse, but gave Matt his blessing.

After they married, the couple moved to Campus Crusade's world headquarters. Matt's first assignment was assisting the late Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade.

Anne Coleman started giving tours at headquarters and explaining to visitors the worldwide impact of what God was doing through Campus Crusade.

Then, though, her MS symptoms worsened. Sometimes she couldn't feel a few fingers. At times she couldn't move her leg. Consequently she started working from home assisting a Campus Crusade leader in Europe. "It was great for me physically," she says, "but I felt incredibly isolated and lonely."

Soon, someone who remembered her athletic prowess at Wheaton told her about an availalbe coaching position with a girls' junior-varsity volleyball team at Timber Creek High School, just down the street.

Anne Coleman's knowledge of volleyball and love for people make her more than a coach to these girls. She invests in their lives.

"It was like a prayer request that I hadn't asked for was answered," says Anne Coleman.

It had been five years since she had stepped into a gym. But she easily slid into her new role. "When she is with her volleyball girls," says Matt, "she is in her element. She is social, funny, vibrant and alive."

As a volunteer coach she developed credibility and "opened doors" at Timber Creek for Campus Crusade's high school branch, Student Venture.

Last year she helped them with an outreach for the volleyball teams. Twenty of the 30 players attended, and 10 invited Christ to be their Savior. "I was out-of-my-mind excited," she says.

Two Christians, Elise Meiner and Allie Osterloh, started a follow-up Bible study with their teammates, which Anne Coleman taught them how to lead.

"Before every Bible study," says Elise, 16, "she'd pray together with us, go over the Bible and talk about stuff in our lives. She'll tell stories of how God works in her life and how she overcomes the MS. She's always encouraging us."

She easily encourages others, but sometimes gets discouraged by her MS. Occasionally she prays for healing, but admits, "I wouldn't want to lose what I've learned spiritually." She uses those valuable lessons when interacting with students, talking with peers or training new staff members.

"She's one of the most authentic people I've ever met," says Virginia Wear, whom Anne Coleman mentored when she was a new staff member.

Although Anne Coleman doesn't necessarily fit the mold of a typical missionary, she is a missionary nonetheless. She still remembers the time when her mom taught her that a missionary is any Christian who tells others about Jesus. After she learned this, she almost blew her parents' cover by announcing to her first-grade class in Communist Poland that her parents were missionaries.

It's not the "missionary" title that's important, but the lifestyle. And Anne Coleman demonstrates that by the way she lives her life for Christ.

You can contact the writer at Jennifer.Abegg@ccci.org.