discipleship in modern times
Meet Kathleen and Anders Skaar
discipleship in modern times
Meet Kathleen and Anders Skaar.
a little something
about US
We were married in 1984. We have 3 children and 9 grandchildren. Skaar is a Norwegian name and is pronounced “score”.
The seed was planted for In Jesus Steps in 1996 when Kathleen read “In His Steps” by Charles Sheldon. The story follows a small group of Christians who answer their pastor’s call to truly live their lives for Jesus by following in His steps. They met weekly to share how the Lord was leading and how their lives were changing.
Although this novel was written in 1896, the principles of following Jesus are still true today as they were 2,000 years ago when Jesus called His first disciples.
Discipleship in modern times still follows the same teachings and commands of Jesus Christ but may look a little differently than it did 2,000 years ago. For example, instead of going village to village sharing the gospel, we may go from neighborhood to neighborhood.
After serving 25 years for the prison ministry they founded, Kathleen and Anders felt led to retire and move from Raleigh to Opelika to be near family. Once the decision was made, the Lord impressed upon Kathleen that now was the time to start a discipleship team. The seed for In Jesus Steps spouted.
The result is a program that focuses on small teams with an emphasis on accountability, obedience, transparency and much prayer. Our goal is to passionately obey the great commission and to make disciples of all nations. We hope you will join us!
executive director // board member
Kathleen Skaar
Kathleen Skaar is the Founder and Executive Director of In Jesus Steps. She is the author of the program, and also serves on the Board of Directors.
After trusting Jesus as her Lord and Savior in 1995 at a women’s retreat, she grew in her relationship with God through Christian books and Bible Study. In 1996 she founded Prison Alliance and served as Executive Director for 25 years.
Kathleen has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Florida, a Master of Business Administration from Meredith College, and a Master of Divinity from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
technical director // board member
Anders Skaar
Anders serves as the technical director at In Jesus Steps. His responsibilities include the website, database, and Canvas LMS.
For 25 years, Anders led several departments at Prison Alliance including shipping, volunteers, and programs; this included a team of about 140.
Before joining Prison Alliance full time in 2003, Anders had a successful consulting firm which he led for 21 years. His field was microelectronics, or just about everything in a smart phone.
Anders is a native of Chicago and studied engineering at the University of Illinois. He traveled extensively in Europe and South America and lived in several countries. He is fluent in Spanish.
board members
Julia hutchinson
Julia graduated from the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a BS degree in nursing in 1977. She and her husband Mike have 3 children and 2 grandchildren.
She became a follower of Christ at the age of 23. In her church, she taught in children’s ministry and AWANA groups for many years.
Julia is excited to serve on the IJS Board because she loves learning and teaching others what she has learned.
Mary Musser
Mary graduated from Appalachian State University with a BS in early childhood education and taught first grade. She and her husband Gary have 4 children and 5 grandchildren.
Discipleship, learning to follow Christ for herself was important to her when she first believed.
Mary says, “This is why I am so excited about IJS, a great discipling tool, as a way to help others fulfill the great commission.”