Melissa Stock

The daughter of a film and video editor, Melissa Stock grew up in Orange County, California. "I was the 'La Mirada Matador,'" says Stock, drum major for her school's marching band, but also an accomplished musician. "I played percussion with several symphonies and sang with the Pacific Chorale." She spent five years at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago for a bachelor of music in classical piano, then returned and became a music director at the Crystal Cathedral, home of the Hour of Power TV ministry. She met Eugene graphic artist and singer Matthew Stock when he came to perform. Two years later, in 2003, they were married, she moved to Eugene, and was hired to teach at Northwest Christian University. That fall, she and the NCU Concert Choir held the first Candlelight Carols concert for an audience of 50 in the school chapel. Since 2005, when she founded the NCU Community Choir, Candlelight Carols has grown. "This year we had 4500 in attendance for three free concerts at the Willamette Christian Center," she notes. For the past two summers, Melissa and Matthew Stock have traveled to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to work at a non-profit training center for girls rescued from sex trafficking. In February of 2013, they will move to Cambodia for two years to manage a second training center in Siem Reap. Follow their adventure at stockreplugged.org.