Our Story

Nick Derington grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio and later spent time in Washington, DC. Traci Derington was born (to American parents) in Mae Hong Son, Thailand and moved to the US at the age of 9. It seemed unlikely we would cross paths in life but we did, and ten years into our marriage we are pursing our hearts to see the Kingdom advanced in SE Asia.

We met when our paths crossed serving with Adventures in Missions (AIM) on a trip called the World Race – an 11 country, 11 month mission trip to share the love of Jesus and serve others around the world. Traci had just returned from the World Race and was serving on staff with AIM and Nick was preparing to launch on his own trip. We chose to begin dating, despite knowing we would be apart for the next 11 months.

At seven months into Nick’s race our paths crossed for one week in eSwatini, Africa (formerly Swaziland) and we got engaged. We were married later that same year–less than a week after Nick returned from his race–and we moved to Cincinnati to participate in a growing community of believers. Traci remained on staff with AIM, remotely, and we began discussing plans to move overseas long-term to serve.

The birth of our first child–Elam Atticus Derington.

Just before the birth of our second son–Greyson Fierce Derington–we, along with our son Elam, traveled to Thailand to survey various ministries taking place. We were confident the Lord was calling us to Southeast Asia but lacked a sending church and an organization to partner with, and felt the Lord asking us to wait.

We welcomed our first daughter–Moriah Cosette Derington. In that same year we began attending Grace Fellowship Church, which quickly became our church home. We also joined a team they were preparing to send to Southeast Asia. We studied and trained as a team in preparation to go to the field.

Our fourth child–Arcadia Wren Derington–came into our lives. After almost three years of starts and stops the whole SE Asia endeavor with our home church was placed on an indefinite pause. We bought a house, we rested, we grew as husband and wife, we connected on a deep level with our four kids, and we prayed for guidance and direction.

Through lots of prayer and a series of confirmations from the Lord we felt Him say, “Now is the time to go!” We reached out to our remaining contacts in Thailand and started to pursue a missions organization.

We joined staff with Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) and were commissioned as full time missionaries. We have since been in the process of building a ministry partnership team in preparation to launch.

We plan to relocate to Chiang Mai, Thailand in the summer of 2020 and step into on-going ministry with Cru.