Jana Grant Snyder Bio
There are many things that can be said about Jana, but one is for certain - she loves life. Jana accepted Christ into her life at a very young age, understanding even then that the awesome world around her was His creation. Raised in “God’s Country” (Potter County, PA), Jana grew up loving the outdoors, a sentiment that she has never outgrown. Jana feels passionately about spreading God’s love to the people around her. In fact, this is probably what drives her to do what she does - encourage, educate and love.
After graduating from Galeton Area High School, Jana continued her education at Messiah College, where she obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Health and Physical Education. Choosing to pursue a career in teaching, Jana accepted a position at Clearfield High School in Clearfield, PA, where she was the Physical Education/Helath teacher. Always musically inclined, Jana joined/formed a band called "Twitch" with a few of her former students. When school let out for the summers, Jana would head to Madisonburg, PA to work at the Christian camp Krislund. The ministry wound up having a lasting impact on Jana, and she began to hear a calling towards a different path.
In 2002, Jana heard about a church in Lewisburg, PA that was looking for a full time youth director position. Intrigued, she pursued the oppoturnity and shortly thereafter, was offered the job at First Presbyterian Church. Her time as a youth minister with the church only fueld her desire to help others. In 2007, Jana received her Master’s Degree in Human Relations/Counseling from Liberty University, an education that has become invaluable in her work with youth.
Jana’s personal life has undergone big changes as well. During her ministry in Lewisburg, Jana met a fellow youth director at Richfield Mennonite Church, Joel Snyder, who turned out to be the love of her life. In December of 2008, Jana and Joel were married and currently live in Richfield, PA with their black labrador, Tucker. In September of 2011, a beautiful girl, Ella Lynn was born and has kept the couple busy every day since.
In May of 2009, Jana resigned from her position as Youth Director at First Presbyterian Church to pursue her speaking and counseling ministry full-time and to be a wife and mother.
With sufficient training under her belt, combined with God’s gift of speaking and connecting, Jana felt that she was truly in a position to help others and have a lasting impact on their lives. In the recent years, Jana has been requested to speak at a variety of conferences and camps where she has literally put her talent to work. She has been an emcee and song leader at Group Workcamps, seminar speaker for Central PA Youth Ministries IMPACT conferences, affinity group leader at Simply Youth Ministry/Group National Youth Leaders Conference, and a speaker at numerous youth, families, and women's retreats and conferences.
Jana recently completed Uniquely You DiSC Personality/Spiritual Gift certification training and is now certified as a Human Behavior Specialist to administer and teach/coach people and teams principles of team building, personal personality types and spiritual gifts.