Ben Cheek started to explore ministry and missions as a pre-teen and teen where he grew up in small-town Pennsylvania. Although he was raised in a ministry family that was very involved with church, he always felt drawn to those on the margins or far from the community of Christ. Feeling called to reach these, Ben entered the Biblical Studies program at Ohio Valley University where he focused on missions and peacebuilding. There he met his wife Susan and they received the call to church planting and urban missions in the New York City metro.
Working with the cross-city MetroSoul mission team, Ben employed coaching to support local people to disciple and form micro-churches within their relational networks. This led to varied and vibrant faith communities in the Spanish-speaking working-class, urban youth arts culture, AA/NA recovery community, and Asian-American young professionals.
After full-time ministry, Ben became bi-vocational, also serving in entrepreneurship, web technology, organizational change consulting, educational resourcing and online learning, and global supply chain logistics. During this time, he continued to work on discipling and church planting, especially in Northern NJ. He currently serves as Executive Director at Camp Deerpark, a year-round Camp and retreat center serving the youth, families, and churches of the NYC region.
In 2024, Ben joined GCMI as a regional mobilizer working with churches and individuals throughout the NYC region to more effectively reach people and multiply faith communities. This includes resourcing churches to reach deeper into the human layers around them while also launching out those called to spread the Gospel to new layers and new places.