Rooted in Faith, Moved to Action

Audra (Ross) Klinkner ('09) is putting a passion for advocacy that began in high school to work on a national stage. She spends much of her time advocating for people whose voices can easily go unheard.

As executive director of The Action Foundation, Audra works to expand outdoor access for veterans and people with disabilities. Her work takes her to Washington, D.C., where she advocates for greater accessibility in national parks and rural communities, builds bipartisan relationships, and works with policymakers to get resources closer to the people who need them.

She says that in many ways, the roots of that work trace back to Des Moines Christian.

As a DMC student, Audra remembers leaders recognizing in her a strong sense of justice, an interest in government, and a willingness to use her voice. School Counselor Mrs. Cindy Kostek and Superintendent Dr. Bob Stouffer encouraged her to explore those interests, earning Audra an invitation from the DMC development director Mona Yentes to connect with Eric Goranson ('96), a Christian lobbyist and DMC graduate, at the Iowa State Capitol.

Audra spent a day seeing advocacy and government firsthand.

“I love this,” she remembers thinking.

Other opportunities followed. During the 2008 presidential election cycle, Audra gave then-presidential candidate Senator Sam Brownback a tour of DMC and participated in a nationally televised presidential candidate interview with Senator John McCain in the DMC parking lot.  

But what stands out to Audra isn’t simply the experiences she was given. It’s that the adults at DMC knew her well enough to recognize something in her worth developing.

“They were not afraid to say, ‘We see a gifting or a passion in you, and we want to foster that,’” she says.

Years before Audra would work regularly in Washington, D.C., DMC leaders were helping her discover that God had given her a voice. Today, she uses it for others.

“I now get to be a voice for people who can’t have a voice,” Audra says. “I think God calls us to that.”

A Place to Belong

Audra’s journey to DMC began halfway through her sophomore year.

On her first day, Audra recognized girls she had played against in basketball just days earlier. “They just took me in,” she remembers. “They were the kindest people ever. I had friends.” 

Their kindness meant more than they could have known. Audra was navigating difficult circumstances at home as well as the challenges at her previous school. She describes DMC during that season as her safe haven.

An inheritance from her grandmother provided the resources that made attending DMC possible. Looking back, Audra sees God’s provision in the timing. When she considers what made DMC so significant, her answer is simple–the people. 

Known, Loved and Encouraged

At DMC, Audra found adults who took the time to know her personally.

She remembers Dr. Bob telling her, “I’m so proud of you”—words that carried tremendous weight for a teenager who hadn’t often heard them at home. 

Nearly two decades later, she still has the notes of encouragement he wrote to her. Recently, Audra’s daughters discovered them while looking through their mom’s old scrapbooks.

“I’ll cherish those notes forever,” Audra says. “It’s amazing how words spoken into a young person’s life can stay with them decades later.”

Bible Teacher Mr. Don Caves also made a lasting investment in Audra’s life, helping her understand the love of her Heavenly Father and grounding her in biblical truth. One of the most important lessons wasn’t simply something he taught. It was something he modeled.

“I can love people where they’re at, for who they are, even if they don’t love Jesus,” Audra says. “And I saw him do that.”

At the same time, he taught her that understanding God’s Word equipped her to speak truth into the world.

For Audra, those ideas have remained inseparable: love people where they are, stay grounded in truth, and be willing to enter the world with both.

A Faith That Became Her Own

Audra grew up attending church, but during her high school years, faith became deeply personal. The summer before her senior year, she attended a Christian conference in Salt Lake City where she made the decision to fully give her life to Christ.

“In my head I knew,” she says, “but it was in my heart that wasn’t right. Right there at that conference I said, ‘I'm here, Lord. I'm following you.’”

When Audra returned to DMC, she wanted to put her growing faith into action. She and another student asked Dr. Bob about starting a student prayer group.

His response: “I love that. Let’s do it.”

Students began gathering on Monday mornings to pray, and Audra helped lead what she remembers as DMC’s first See You at the Pole prayer gathering.

“I attribute a lot of my own spiritual growth to Des Moines Christian,” she says. “Like 100 percent.”

Carrying It Forward

Today, Audra’s work combines many of the things DMC leaders first saw developing in her as a teenager: leadership, advocacy, faith, and a desire to stand for others.

For Audra, the mission is also personal. She and her husband, Derek, have always enjoyed the outdoors together. After Derek was paralyzed in a ranching accident, their family experienced firsthand how quickly access to the outdoors can change.

“We praise God that Derek is alive today. It truly is a miracle that he survived. We were also told we would never be able to have children, and today we’re incredibly blessed with five amazing kids,” Audra says. “Those experiences have shaped so much of who I am and are a big part of why creating access, opportunity, and freedom for others is so personal to me.”

Through The Action Foundation, Audra works with lawmakers and federal agencies, leads a coalition focused on accessibility in national parks, and founded the National Access Network to bring nonprofit and park leaders together around greater access to outdoor spaces and adaptive resources.

Yet one of the most important ways DMC prepared Audra for this work has little to do with government or policy.

Her work brings her alongside people whose backgrounds, beliefs, and worldviews are very different from her own. Audra credits DMC leaders with showing her how a Christian can enter those relationships with both conviction and genuine love.

“They taught me I can love people where they’re at,” she says. “It’s amazing how God has used just learning that to put me in positions to point people to Christ.  There are so many people that are lost, and they’re just kind of looking for, ‘Where’s the light?’” she says. “I can be that. I get to be that to people.”

It’s a lesson Audra first experienced herself.

She arrived at DMC midway through high school needing a place to belong. Students welcomed her. Families opened their homes. Teachers pointed her toward Christ. Leaders recognized her gifts and encouraged her to use them.

They loved her where she was—and helped her discover who God was calling her to become.

Today, Audra is doing the same for others.

“As I look back, I realize that Des Moines Christian wasn’t simply the school I attended,” Audra says. “It was the place where God met me, surrounded me with people who reflected His love, and forever changed the direction of my life.”

Here am I. Send me. 

Isaiah 6:8—“Here am I. Send me.”—became Audra’s life verse during her time at DMC. She remembers discussing it with Mr. Caves and Mrs. Kostek, and she still has a gift from the school bearing those words.

“Looking back, I don’t think that’s a coincidence,” she says. “So much of the life Derek and I have built has been about living with open hands and asking, ‘Lord, where can we help? Where can we show up for people who need someone in their corner?’”

She could not have imagined then what life would hold: Derek’s accident, their five children, The Action Foundation, or walking the halls of Congress to advocate for people with disabilities and veterans. 

“That willingness to say, ‘Here am I. Send me,’ was stirred in me at DMC by teachers who helped me make my faith my own. That’s pretty incredible to look back on now.”