Bonnie Ferris

I was privileged to be born into a Christian family. I have an older sister and brother and a younger sister. I always say I wasn't the spoiled one because I wasn't the oldest, the youngest, or the only boy. When I was only 14 months old my family moved to Brazil as missionaries. That is where I spent most of my life before I returned to the US for college in 1981. I could write pages and pages about those years and I wouldn't trade them for the world. The Brazilian culture is very warm and open and I benefited from that. I also developed a larger world view by living in a third world country and I learned that Americans are so blessed and they don't always truly realize or appreciate that.

I learned early on about Jesus Christ and the price He had paid for my sin on the cross of Calvary. When I was 3 years old I realized that I was a sinner and needed to ask forgiveness and that I wanted to live my live in service to Him. At the age of 5, I was baptized by my father in a river not far from our house since we hadn't built the baptismal tank in our church yet.

The Brazilians love to sing and they sing with all of their heart so that's what I learned to do. I never had any formal singing lessons but we always had opportunities to sing whether in our church or school in Brazil, special music programs, choirs, Gospel Team, in meetings with my parents while in the US on furloughs, or in the women's chorus in college. I also had many other opportunities for ministry such as teaching Sunday School, evangelism, church planting, and teaching English as a second language.

Ray and I met at Grand Rapids Baptist College. I guess you could almost say it was love first sight – close anyway! We were married in 1984 and our daughter, Jesika, was born prematurely that same year. It was tough but God had plans to strengthen our character and our faith in Him even further. In 1986 our son Jared was born also prematurely. I had to be at bed rest much of the time and my mom had to come back from Brazil to stay with us so Ray could work. Through testing after he was born we were told that I had contacted the CMV virus during my first trimester. Jared was later diagnosed with hypotonic cerebral palsy and Hyperlexia/Aspergers (under the autism umbrella). Jared is also profoundly deaf and our family communicates through sign language. We have never questioned why God allowed these things into our lives. There have been times when we have struggled, wondering if we had the strength to move on. We have learned to lean on God's promises that He will NEVER give us more than we can handle. In 1992 our third son, Jalen, was born. He also was premature. God is always good and our faith continues to grow even stronger. Our daughter Jesika is now married and we have a new son, Dan Haag and twin grand babies, Brett and Darrin. They are miracles too!!! Jared is almost 22 years old and he travels with us most of the time. He is busy with work, school, and Special Olympics. Our youngest son, Jalen, is still in high school and we are always busy with soccer and other school stuff. All of our kids love the Lord and are living for Him. What more could we ask for?

We started our family in Grand Rapids, Michigan but about 12 years ago we decided to move back to the thumb area to be closer to Ray's parents. We hadn't really done much singing together publicly at that point, but we sang in the car with the kids all the time. We started to sing in church here and there and to make a long story short - about 10 years ago Curt asked us if we would be interested in singing with Not Ashamed. The rest is history. God has been so good. We are humbled to be using the gifts He has given us in this way and continue to marvel as we walk through doors opened to our ministry.

We attend Caro First Baptist Church when we are not "on the road". We appreciate their love and support. Ray continues to work fulltime as an outside sales rep. for a company in Saginaw. Bonnie is employed fulltime taking care of Ray and the boys, Not Ashamed, and the grandkids.

Fun Facts about Bonnie: I love to sing and teach. I speak three languages - English, Portuguese, and American Sign Language. I love soccer, basketball and volleyball. I also love to camp and spend time with my family and friends. I love to mess around in my flower garden but my new favorite thing is being with my grandbabies - being a grandma is the BEST!!!

Get to know Not Ashamed using the following links.
Bonnie Ferris | Ray Ferris | Curt Landrith | Dave Pickering | Don Scott