Board of Directors & Staff -

Board of Directors & Staff

Jesus said, “To him who is given much, much is expected in return.” The Lord has entrusted us with this ministry for His glory and the redemption of others. He has entrusted us with resources, opportunities, and lives. We take this seriously. In September of 2014, R.A.M. received official notification from the IRS that it is registered as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

We firmly believe accountability begins with God, but extends to one another in open and transparent relationships, both individually and corporately. Consequently, R.A.M.’s Board of Directors is composed of a diverse and uniquely gifted body of Christ-followers who passionately share R.A.M.’s vision to reach the rural communities of America with the life-transforming truth and grace of Jesus Christ. We are deeply grateful for their continued support, wisdom, and the spiritual accountability they provide our ministry!

Anna Jane Perrey

PRESIDENT

Anna Jane Perrey grew up in Edmond, Oklahoma. Her rural roots run deep as her family has owned and farmed on the same land in Tipton, OK for over 100 years. She, along with her family, also lived in Cordell, Oklahoma where they spent five years living with and ministering to the wonderful people of rural Oklahoma. She has a Bachelor’s in Organizational Communication from Oklahoma Christian University and a Master’s in Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation from Abilene Christian University. She has worked as a real estate associate with Prudential Alliance, a missionary in Morley, England, and as the Ministry Events Coordinator at Abilene Christian University. Currently, she and her family live in Wichita, Kansas where she spends her days working full time as a mother, minister’s wife, and schnoodle owner. Anna Jane is passionate about service, food, travel, and various forms of entertainment.

Maria Rosales-Lambert, is currently the Program Director and the Bi-lingual Forensic Interviewer at Oklahoma Interviewing Services, INC (OIS) where she provides forensic interviews in English and Spanish and trainings for law enforcement agencies, Department of Human Services (DHS) and Child Advocacy Centers (CAC) throughout the state of Oklahoma. She has been a forensic interviewer for 20 years, during which time she has conducted thousands of interviews with child victims. She has trained hundreds of professionals working in the child maltreatment field and has conducted many recognizing and reporting trainings for community partners. She also provides forensic interviewing supervision and mentoring, peer review and case consultation. Ms. Rosales-Lambert currently serves as a faculty member with ChildFirst/Finding Words Oklahoma, Oklahoma Commission on Children & Youth (OCCY) and Zero Abuse Project. She has previously trained for the National Children’s Advocacy Center (NCAC), Oklahoma Child Abuse Training & Coordination (CATC) and the American Professional Society on Child Abuse (APSAC). She has also trained nationally and in Canada and Guatemala on interviewing children, interpreting and culture issues. She previously worked for more than two years with a CAC in Oklahoma City, OK as the Bi-lingual Forensic Interviewer. Before becoming a Forensic Interviewer, she was a Police Officer for over five years with the Ft Smith Police Department in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Ms. Rosales-Lambert previously served as a board member of the Oklahoma Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Association and Catholic Charities of Oklahoma City. She serves on R.A.M.’s Board of Directors as Secretary.

Maria Rosales-Lambert

SECRETARY

Ted Merritt

BOARD MEMBER & TREASURER

Originally from Alabama, Ted attended Oklahoma Christian University where he met and married Margaret Dowdy of Broken Arrow. They have been married 47 years. They have 5 children (four boys and one girl) and 9 grandchildren. Ted taught at Living Word Academy for 5 years, then worked for 30 years at Beam’s Seatbelts. Ted and Margaret served 9 years with the West Main Mission church in downtown Oklahoma City, 6 years at the Ninth St. Church of Christ in Edmond, 20 years in the International Church of Christ discipling ministry and for the past 12 years at Oakcrest Church of Christ where he serves as a Shepherd. Ted has a passion for teaching and loves to serve people. He enjoys travel, music, photography and fishing with his grandkids. We are very grateful to have Ted serving alongside us as one of our directors.

Kurt Siebold has been married to Marilyn for 37 years and they have 4 children and 2 grandchildren. Kurt has worked in education for most of his career. Currently, he is in his fifteenth year as the Principal of Slavens K-8 School in Denver. Kurt grew up in Indiana and attended Oklahoma Christian University where he obtained a degree in Bible and Physical Education and met Marilyn. Kurt and Marilyn have been personally involved in local and foreign missions and ministry since college. Their experience includes Let’s Start Talking campaigns to Germany, being members of a church plant in Tomsk, Russia in 1994, and working with local and foreign missions at Littleton Church of Christ. Kurt served as an elder for the Littleton Church of Christ in Centennial, CO where he and Marilyn have been involved for several years. Their youngest, Hannah, is recent graduate (2021) of Oklahoma Christian University. Ben, their second youngest, is a Lipscomb University graduate (2015) and is a data analyst. He is married to Kirby and has two children. Jordan is 29 years old and spent his first year after high school in Ghana, West Africa. He previously worked with Dry Bones, a Christian ministry to the street kids of Denver and is currently working in construction. Hailey, their oldest served in Africa for 4 years with Mercy Project. She then worked in social work in Arapahoe County Colorado and she is currently taking time off to explore her options. Kurt’s years of ministry experience combined with a very successful career in education brings a unique blend of godly wisdom, talent and experience to our team.

Kurt Siebold

VICE-PRESIDENT

Jim Weaver

FOUNDER / DIRECTOR

Jim Weaver brings over 30 years of combined experience in domestic and foreign ministry. Jim has been married for 40 years to Ashley (Harrell) Weaver. They have 5 children, Jacob who is married to Hailey (Waugh) Weaver, daughter Micah who is married to Forrest Faulconer, Joseph, Elijah who is married to Kayce (Jones) Weaver and Seth, married to Mekayla (Gentry) Weaver. They are the proud grandparents of Silas, Everly, and Olive Weaver, children of Jacob and Hailey and Ismaela and Lenora, children of Micah & Forrest.

Jim and Ashley met at Oklahoma Christian where he graduated with a B.S. in Pre-law/American Studies. He has a Masters in English Literature from Pepperdine University. Ashley graduated from Pepperdine with her B.S. in Psychology and her M.S. in Counseling from Southern Nazarene University. She is a licensed professional counselor.

An evangelist at heart and having grown up in a family closely connected to the land, Jim has a special love for rural America. Recognizing the burgeoning spiritual needs of the greatly over-looked, yet very open rural mission field, he has long been a vocal recruiter and promoter for the church to turn its focus to the roads less traveled of rural America. These roads lead to the 50,000,000 plus souls he often refers to as the new “Nazareth,” the modern counter-part to the original Nazareth of Jesus’ day – hardly known , very rural (pop. appx. 500), and called home by God Incarnate, Jesus Christ.

The plea of R.A.M. is that God can still be found in Nazareth (Rural America); in the faces of those who live there, and the love of those Christians who will go there as missionaries. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Absolutely! R.A.M.’s mission is to be a ministry of the Holy Spirit to see that it does.

Rural America Ministries

We provide for the evangelization and revitalization of rural communities in America.