Recent personnel changes at the Central Kansas Dream Center will help the nonprofit organization expand its faith-based purpose of “reaching hurting people, restoring families, and realizing dreams,” said Kimberly Becker, CKDC founder.

Angela Chill is the new administrative director, Mark Stones is the operational director and Elizabeth Pearson is the program manager for the Adult Discipleship and Thrive programs.

Becker said she has stepped down from the role of director and chief executive officer but continues as an advocate who is happy to talk to any interested in learning more about the Dream Center and how they can get involved in its mission.

She started her own coaching and consulting practice, “Move Your Mountain Coaching and Consulting,” in 2019.

“Part of what I realized as a leader was that as long as I was super involved in the daily stuff, it was preventing me from being able to connect donors and partners,” she said.

“My (new) role is to continue building partnerships, recruit students and staff, and provide information to donors and the communities across central Kansas and beyond through speaking engagements, civic organizations and churches. I will also continue to provide training and coaching for the CKDC. I am excited to be out in the community more to build relationships that, as the organization has grown, became harder to do but that are so important to me and the organization.”

Residential Programs

The CK Dream Center has two residential programs. The Adult Discipleship Program is for individuals trying to overcome any kind of life-controlling issue from dysfunction to addictions, and the Thrive Program focuses mainly on adopted girls ages 16-18 who are struggling with abandonment and rejection issues.

Angela Chill

“I’m actually a graduate of the Discipleship Program,” Chill said. She and her husband graduated from the program in 2018.

After receiving a kidney transplant and being diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, she struggled with the use of prescription pain killers until 2017, when she made the life-changing decision to stop everything and enter into the program at the Dream Center. According to her bio on the CKDC website:

“After graduating the program, she gave back to the program that had given her the tools to deal with the trauma of her past and had taught her what a true relationship with her personal Lord and Savior truly meant. She worked at our DC Kitchen and became a house mom over the Dream Center’s women’s program. After about a year of working here, she went back out into the world to work.”

She then spent two years working as a restaurant manager. During that time, she married Michael Chill.

“Angela and her son now have a new life and a new love for the Father. Angela has a deep desire for others to receive the same transformation and restoration experience that she encountered at the Dream Center.”

“I started as a residential assistant in the Thrive Program for teenage girls,” she said. Depending on the program and the student, they live in the CKDC building anywhere from nine to 18 months.

Elizabeth Pearson

One of the newest employees at the Dream Center is Elizabeth Pearson. Becker said she is now the program manager for the residential pieces of the CKDC ministry – the Adult Discipleship Program and the Thrive Program.

“She brings a lot to the table,” Becker said. “She has a history of working with youth, troubled individuals, she used to be a part of Healing Hearts Ranch.” Pearson and her husband have an adopted child. Becker noted that a majority of the girls in the CKDC Thrive program are adopted and Pearson’s experience provides trauma-informed insight into their life experiences.

Mark Stones

Stones came to Great Bend in 1973 to attend Barton Community College and left in 1988. He is a former executive for a major plastics company but has also served in ministries for many years. He and his wife of 44 years, Janet, are graduates of the St. Louis Bible Institute and Rhema Bible College.

About his return to Great Bend, Stones said, “I was asked to come on board alongside Angela and Kimberly with ideas and plans to expand the vision, to reach more people.”

Stones stressed that he’s not talking about expanding the physical building. That’s seen an almost complete makeover since the Dream Center started there in 2013, Becker said.

“We just want to help more people,” Stones said. “This whole ministry is about helping people. It’s not about us, never has been. But there are a lot of hurting people in the world. There’s more in Great Bend than when I left here in 1988.”

He said he wants “to fully maximize this current facility to reach more people and help those that want to get back on their feet to get up and become everything that God created them to be.”

More to come

Becker said CKDC is still looking for a residential manager for the men and a residential manager for the Thrive Program who would help oversee the evening and weekend daily living in the residential areas of the building.

“As we knew we were going to grow, we took the opportunity to add several positions,” she said. “We knew we had to bring on quality leaders to take the Dream Center to the next level.”