Jesse’s journey began right where he grew up—on the football field, at his home church, and in the streets of his community, but it didn’t stay there. Jesse uprooted his life, traveled the world, traversed war zones, and witnessed horrific violence. Yet, the most infuriating and painful moments weren’t in the war zones or refugee camps…

“I grew up in a diverse suburb of Minnesota but then went to a Christian college that was anything but diverse, and I just felt stuck,” Jesse began.

That ‘stuck’ feeling is one we hear a lot from Everyday Peacemakers. For Jesse, it meant a growing sense of anger, betrayal, and resentment toward the Christianity of his youth. A star football player, Jesse’s anger at the hypocrisy and tribalism he saw around him manifested itself around his teammates, other students, and his family and friends.

“As a way to escape the stuck feeling, I got connected with an org helping resettled refugees. Through volunteering, I learned that the world’s largest Karen diaspora community were my neighbors. The Karen are a persecuted and oppressed ethnic minority in Myanmar. To be honest, I went into the relationships with refugees holding a lot of wrong ideas, like I was going to be the welcomer. Turns out, I became the welcomed in my own city as this Karen family loved me so well. That grew to hanging out several times a week, and at some point, we moved from friendship to kinship.”

Jesse went on to write his senior thesis on the conflict in Myanmar. After college, he bought a one-way ticket to Thailand and lived on the border to continue to learn about the Karen refugee reality firsthand. Jesse built friendships with a number of Karen refugees, and over time, he and his new friends smuggled themselves into Myanmar so Jesse could visit their villages.

After the violent 2021 military coup, Jesse returned with supplies for the displaced. He and his Karen friends again smuggled themselves across the border, but this time a Karen soldier put a machine gun into his hands, saying he would need it. As the caravan cut a path through the jungle, Jesse and his friends had several brushes with the Burmese military.

At one point, they were caught in the crossfire as the Burmese military shelled the village where Jesse and his friends were staying.

“It was absolutely terrifying. I probably should have felt relief when we finally escaped the fighting, but it just sucked. It was so terrible. We knew that our group had shot and killed one of the Myanmar military soldiers, but there were no clapping hands in celebration; it was a somber experience. We were there to help the Karen, a marginalized, oppressed ethnic group, but the truth is those Burmese soldiers were also oppressed and under the boot of people in power. It was terrifying and terrible.”

Jesse spent time processing and working through this stage of the journey with Jer Swigert, co-founder of Global Immersion.

“Jesse is the ultimate example of the kind of leader we’re looking to coach,” Jer said. “He’s teachable, passionate, and he sees his need to grow. I mean, here’s a guy who was angry, disoriented, frustrated, had built enemy narratives in his mind, who had hurt people…but he asked for help. He stayed teachable when many just don’t.”

Alongside Jer, Jesse spent time processing carrying a gun on that first trip—he didn’t carry one again—and his deeper understanding of the pain his Karen friends in Minnesota felt at being wrenched from home. But Jer also shepherded Jesse towards something powerful, something many people never realize: