LFTI’s Virtual Lantern Gala will be live-streaming Thursday, April 22, at 7:00 PM MST. You’ll hear the stories of two women rescued through LFTI and be able to make real-time donations on your mobile device. Sign up today https://bit.ly/LFTI2021Gala!
Thank you to Andrew at Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation for being a $10,000 Spotlight Sponsor. This support is crucial to raising funds for LFTI kids through the gala. Learn a little more about Andrew and why he supports Life for the Innocent:
Please share about Fairway, how you started with them, and the services you offer.
We are a residential mortgage company. I started with Fairway back in 2015, and their core values were one of the reasons I was drawn to the company. Our #1 core value is “humility first”. In some corporate cultures, humility is almost seen as a weakness. Fairway is very different in that regard. “Humility first” really stuck out to me. We live it out, our CEO quotes Proverbs 18:12 often in meetings – “Before a downfall, the heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor.” Our society teaches the opposite.
Many people don’t know that Fairway is one of the largest mortgage companies in America, but we’ve taken a very localized approach to meeting each market’s needs.
What have you learned in doing business this last year through the pandemic?
I learned that I had some assumptions that were wrong – I used to think that people couldn’t work remotely but now, even though most of our staff are in Northern Colorado and Wyoming, we have several team members doing a great job, who are now based out of Los Angeles, Florida and North Carolina. I’ve also learned it’s challenging to train people over Zoom!
Please tell where you’re from, where you attended school and about your family.
I grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I studied business administration and political science at Calvin University. My wife Heather got her PhD here in Fort Collins at CSU in environmental engineering and we have 3 kids – Lydia, Noelle, and Peter. My two oldest children go to Christian Core Academy and that is where I first heard Chris, the founder of LFTI speak about the ministry.
How has being a parent impacted your view of LFTI’s mission to serve children?
I love my kids to death – to think there are other children enduring the horrors of slavery is absolutely heartbreaking. We’re called to love each other and take care of each other so even if it’s not my kids, I want to do something. LFTI has shared at our office a couple times about young boys and girls being trafficked – it’s hard to fathom. As a father, part of your role is to protect your children, and the thought of what those kids were not protected from, and what LFTI is saving them out of, is hard to take in. There’s this part of you that changes when you become a parent and it makes me want to do whatever I can for LFTI kids.
What would you tell someone considering watching and supporting LFTI’s Virtual Gala on 4/22?
It’s an opportunity to step out of your own life to hear some things that are happening in the world that we all want to believe that aren’t happening. But they are real and we have an opportunity to help through LFTI – an opportunity to jump online in the comfort of your own home to hear the story and make a difference.
And just for fun: if you were not a branch manager/loan officer, what would you want to be doing?
My mom always wanted me to be a pastor, but I always wanted to be a baseball manager. I loved baseball as a kid – play it, watch it, listen to it – it’s been a passion since I was young. So I’d love to manage the Rockies!
