Who We Are

I am Kent Symanzik, married for 34 awesome years to my lovely wife Anne. We have 2 children who are both in their 20's.

I became a believer in Jesus Christ as a teen after non-stop preaching from my brother Kurt. Graduated from Taylor University with a B.S. in Computer Science in 1989. Living in Michigan I have worked in some capacity for all 3 auto companies as a software developer.

In the mid 90's, while working at Chrysler Financial I had the privilege of meeting Steve Jobs. We were using his NextStep platform to develop financial apps in Objective-C and he stopped in to visit our team on his way to meet with Lee Iacocca.

In 2011, I bought my wife an iPhone and became curious about how the apps were built. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the new Apple was really an extension of the NextStep platform that I had worked on years earlier. I determined at that time to focus on native mobile apps and published my first app that same year.

In 2015, my kids were playing on homeschool basketball teams and I became frustrated trying to get video of them making a basket. It seemed that just when I would stop recording they would finally score. So, I created AfterCam which is an app which enables you to capture video after it happens. The app enables you to wait until your child makes the basket before deciding to save the last 5, 10, 20 seconds of video to your photo library.

Since, then I have continued to work in the mobile app space and have expanded my capabilities to use the latest cross-platform approaches. Currently, my main area of expertise and tech stack of choice is Flutter.

I am Kurt Symanzik and have been married to my wonderful wife for 34 years as well. We have 4 children ranging in ages from 30 to 17.

I accepted Christ as a teen after picking up my Bible and reading. I attended Taylor University and received a B.A. in Biblical Literature in 1987. In the early 90's I taught myself to program computers and started my career as a professional software engineer.

As the years passed I found myself serving as deacon and later elder at our local church. I enjoyed teaching many adult and children Sunday School classes and organized a small group ministry.

In 2006 we moved to the Philippines for 12 years to serve as missionaries with Wycliffe Bible Translators and later with LightSys Technological Services, both Christian mission organizations. With Wycliffe I used my software engineering skills to help design and develop a highly secure collaboration platform for missionaries across mission organizations throughout Asia.

For LightSys I created a custom electronic medical records system for Christian maternity clinics serving the marginalized and poor that is still used in the Philippines to this day. The project required a custom web application that ran 24/7 even when there was no power, was affordable, and highly secure without requiring Internet access. Using IoT devices, I designed and implemented a system with a total server hardware cost of under $300 that ran on batteries when the power went out. It currently supports dozens of staff using tablets, phones, laptops, and desktops to access the web application allowing staff to monitor a pregnancy from the beginning pregnancy through delivery and through postpartum care. Each year over 20,000 prenatal exams and 2,000 babies are delivered using this software which is helping to bring high quality maternity care to those who cannot afford care otherwise.

In 2018 we moved back to Michigan from the Philippines where I continued my career as a software engineer including the roles of team lead and staff software engineer. In 2024 my wife and I became a licensed ministers with the Brethren in Christ denomination and we currently serve as volunteer associate pastors of our local church.

I am Spencer Keeton, my wife and I are recently married, just starting our life together.

I truly accepted Christ in college, after a stagnant faith that I'd had for years was renewed through the loss of my Papa and a good friend from marching band reaching out to start up a small bible study group with the whole trumpet section. I graduated from Grand Valley State University with a B.S. in Computer Science in 2021. I started my software career with software testing for a technical consulting company, soon after finishing college.

That job allowed me to finally start living on my own at 22, where I quickly was plugged into a local church my Aunt & Uncle attended. There, I joined as a leader for the student ministry serving the high schoolers and joined the worship team on bass guitar. I've been serving in our high school ministry for almost 4 years now, with no end in sight!

After moving on from my previous company, I was brought on here at New Kingdom Builders. Bringing in my expertise in software testing, I've been providing testing solutions for our projects. Alongside testing, I've also been given the opportunity to expand my skills in software development. I've been able to learn and gain real proficiency in Flutter development, where my current work now mostly resides.

My name is Ariel Hart. I was born and raised in Costa Rica, where I developed a strong foundation in the Christian faith from an early age. After moving to Detroit, Michigan, I spent more than 15 years building my life and career. During that time, I had the blessing of meeting my wife, and together we have continued to grow in faith and purpose.

Today, I have the privilege of serving as part of the New Kingdom Builders team, my areas of expertise include marketing, social media strategy, branding, and graphic design. I am grateful for every opportunity to use my skills and experience to serve others and contribute to work that makes an eternal difference.