I was born in London, Kentucky, the oldest of five children.  My father, Rev. Gene Huff, was pastor of the first Pentecostal congregation in the state.  It had been established in 1906 right after the Azuza outpouring on the west coast.  My mother, Ethel Dayberry Huff,  was a stay-at-home mom who basically devoted her life to her family.  My father was also involved in other activities, ministries and outreaches, the most notable being political involvement.  He served in the Kentucky legislature for  twenty-five years, with over twenty of those years in the Kentucky Senate.  His attitudes of Christian activism definitely had an effect on his children.  All my siblings are in active ministry;  my three sisters are married to pastors and my brother, Martin Huff,  is an Assemblies of God pastor.

                I became a Christian at the early age of seven and spent most of my school years trying to find where I belonged.  I attended public school, along with my siblings, and it was difficult to balance the strict upbringing we experienced at home with the more liberal life-style of the other students at school.  But after years of vacillating, at age sixteen I committed my life completely to the Lord.  It was at this time that I received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, with the evidence of speaking in tongues.  From that time onward, my greatest desire was to follow God’s leading in my life.

                After high school, I attended community college and graduated with an Associate Degree in Nursing from Northern Kentucky State University.    I was pleased to be out of school, but that lasted only a few months and that fall  I enrolled in Free Gospel Bible Institute, a small Pentecostal Bible school in western Pennsylvania.  My first year at FGBI was somewhat traumatic.  The living conditions were difficult and after the relative freedom of college, I resented the constant intrusion of  what I considered to be  bizarre rules.  I thought one year was all I could endure.

                 At the end of that year, I made a decision to move in a different direction and, with the encouragement of my parents, volunteered  to go to Nicaragua for a short-term on the mission field.  I worked with a family of  Costa Rican missionaries to Nicaragua in their ministry with orphans.  When I arrived in Managua, the missionary family greeted me with joy; mostly because I was their ticket out.  They had been longing to make an extended trip to the States and couldn’t leave the orphanage without supervision so they were thrilled to see me coming.  I was twenty-one years old and didn’t speak Spanish but that didn’t interfere with the plan and soon I found myself in charge.  It was an exciting time and God was faithful.  I learned passable Spanish because of my unavoidable immersion into the culture and language.  I have always been grateful for the experience. 

                After Nicaragua, FGBI didn’t seem as bad and I decided to return and finish Bible school.  I graduated with a diploma in 1977.  I returned home knowing I had to get a job but nursing no longer seemed to be the focus for my future.  I wanted to teach… to work closely with the developing lives of young people.  So I transferred all of my (transferable) college credits to Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky.  After three strenuous semesters, I graduated with a bachelor degree in university studies…which basically means that I took a wide variety of subjects in college.  This was a way for me to obtain certification for teaching in a private school in Kentucky.  I then began teaching at our local Christian school, London Christian Academy.  Interestingly, my own children now attend the same school. 

                After two years of teaching, I married my Bible school sweetheart, Bill Zawko,  in 1979.  We left immediately for Elmira, New York, Bill’s home town, where he became associate pastor of the Elmira Christian Center.  Our senior pastor was Rev. John Bedzyk, a true man of God and mentor to my husband.  We labored in the church and school, Elmira Christian Academy,  for over seven years.  We then  moved back to Kentucky for a time of living by faith and the exciting life of full-time evangelists.

                Five years of evangelizing passed quickly.  Our family had grown and we now had four children, three boys and one girl.  We had always been actively involved in missions, in a support capacity.  My husband had made several short-term trips to film mission activities on foreign  fields and we worked together to edit the films  into finished tools  for presentation to American congregations.  But in 1989, when so many exciting things were happening in Europe, God was dealing with us about greater involvement in missions.

                 In December 1990, we moved our family to Traiskirchen, Austria to begin what would become five years of ministry in Eastern Europe.  Our youngest child, another son, was born in 1991 and a few months later we took a major step of faith and moved to Timisoara, Romania.  Our ministry involved working closely with the Pentecostal Bible school Timisoara, distribution of humanitarian aid, and the establishment of an English-speaking congregation. 

                To be completely frank, at this time all obvious ministry was done by my husband, Bill.  I was busy home-schooling four children, taking care of a young baby, and basically,  trying to survive in a difficult situation.   During this time, my husband became increasingly dissatisfied with his results in the ministry and seemed to be unfulfilled in his work.  This is when he started to back slide, resulting in his leaving the ministry and our family.

                This devastating time was the beginning of life as I now know it, but it was the end of life as I had known it.  I could (and someday I might) write a book about God’s faithfulness and intervention at this time.  I thought I could save my marriage and began to seriously involve in spiritual warfare in a way I had never before done.  But, rather than see Bill repentant and restored,  I saw myself growing into a better and different kind of woman.  

        After several months of prayer and intercession, God began to open doors for me in ministry.  Bill was necessarily forced out of any ministry involvement by his back-slidden condition.  So I began to assume a more visible role.  I soon began teaching four times weekly in Bible school, Bible studies, women’s meetings, etc.  It was amazing to walk through the doors God opened.  We had remained in Romania….probably a big mistake from Bill’s standpoint.  But it was good for me.  After a year of supposedly following an accountability program, it was clear that our marriage had ended..

                 On Feb 1, 1995, I brought my five children, aged 3-14 back to Kentucky where we  initially lived with my parents.  I still remember the feeling of failure that overwhelmed me as I arrived back home with five little kids, no husband, no plans for my future, no place of our own to live, and really not much hope in my heart. 

                But deep inside I knew that God was in control.  That truth is the mainstay of my life…God is in control.  In God’s providence, my parents, after five years of effort, had just begun a Christian radio station, WYGE, a 24-hour FM station.   Within two weeks, my fourteen-year-old son, Jonathan, and myself were working at the station.  I began with only two hours a day, because I was still home schooling my children.  But very quickly, the Lord enabled me to develop a daily 50-minute broadcast I called “Truth Talk”.  I began to proclaim  the truths that God had been teaching me during my long year of hardship and warfare in Romania. 

                Now, over a decade later,, Truth Talk is still  going on.  It is, and has been since the first year, one of the most listened-to programs on our station, second only to Focus on the Family.  I’m happy to come in second to James Dobson.   God has provided supernaturally for my family.  Every one of my children has attended  private Christian school, with my oldest son a graduate from  Asbury College. The two middle boys have attended community college and the youngest boy is still at London Christian Academy.   By God’s amazing power, I have been enabled to purchase a large home not far from the station where I now work full-time as program director.  My ex-husband lives some distance from here but visits the children occasionally.  Our relationship is friendly but not reconciled, as our lives are on two completely divergent paths.

                God has opened  numerous doors of ministry for me.  A few years ago I was  involved in a women’s ministry in Nigeria and  I have been involved in women’s ministry in many locations here in America.  I feel nothing but anticipation for what God has in store for my family and my future.  As I began this year, I made a list of what I call my “hopes”.  I define “hopes” as positive expectations.  It is my positive expectation that God will open teaching doors in my future.  A few years from now, when my children are all adults and not so dependent on their mom, I have some dreams of possible new ministries.   I want to spend time…maybe a term or a year at a time…teaching in Bible schools both here in America, and on various foreign  mission fields.  For now, it is good for me to be home with my children and I am excited  that this website is a way to reach many without extensive travel.  It is my desire to further encourage  many of my radio listeners and those  who have attended my teaching sessions, through this website.  I want to make materials available for ministry, provide helpful recommendations,  and pass on Truth that can make a difference in lives.