Michel and Claudia met in Argentina when they were members of a team starting a ministry in the University of Rosario, Argentina. Michel was one of four people from Colorado and Claudia was one of five locals on the team. They both formed a deep respect and friendship during their time together that eventually bloomed into a long-distance relationship ending in marriage. They have three young adult children whom they have raised bilingually in their home. Their regular trips to Argentina have bridged the cultural distance and produced a deep love for all things Latino. 

Claudia met Jesus in high school through a classmate. She got involved in church, Bible and Mission studies and many types of church planting experiences. She especially had a heart for missions in closed countries. Before moving to the United States, Claudia was a professor of Speech Pathology at the University of Rosario in Argentina where she pioneered a pre professional training track for students to serve inside very low income communities. After marrying Michel, she moved to Boulder, Colorado. In addition to being a mother, she worked for some missions organizations, taught Spanish at the University of Colorado in Boulder and currently teaches at the high school level. She has led Life Model trainings in Spanish in Mexico City and Chile and has co-led the 14-week training to love our enemies based on the book, The Pandora Problem. She has many years of experience facilitating women groups that initiate inner healing and growth.

Michel did not grow up in a Christian family, and he met Jesus when he read the New Testament for the first time. He thought the Bible was a boring book and that it would help him fall asleep one night. Instead he encountered Jesus and has never been the same. He joined a Christian group at the university where he studied and experienced a depth of community that was new to him. He worked for many years as a software engineer. Simultaneously, he attended Denver Seminary where he received an MDiv specializing in spiritual formation. He left the corporate world to become the pastor of spiritual formation at a church in the Boulder area. It was there where he realized that he didn’t know how to do his job. He concluded that he was missing big pieces of the puzzle in trying to help people grow and mature as Christians. God saw Michel’s confusion and led him to a “chance” encounter with Dr. Jim Wilder. Michel immediately knew that this was a divine appointment. Jim and Kitty took Michel and Claudia under their wings and opened their doors to them. He and Claudia have not looked back since jumping into the deep end of the Life Model pool. Michel works for Life Model Works as the Director of Life Model Consulting and is a co-author, with Jim Wilder, of The Other Half of Church: Christian Community, Brain Science, and Overcoming Spiritual Stagnation. He has taught and trained internationally in Argentina, Bolivia, Mexico, Kenya, South Sudan and Uganda.

Michel is the Director of Life Model Consulting with Life Model Works.