The Jay Cavaiani Family 

Jay Cavaiani grew up in New Berlin, Wisconsin and is the son of Ralph and Diane Cavaiani and the brother of Greg. Jay has been married to his beautiful wife Kelly for 16 years in December. They have three children; Jacob (13), Abby (11) and Caleb (9).

Growing up, Jay went through the motions in a traditional church setting and by the end of high school and college, whatever faith that had existed, was essentially lost. Jay graduated from Nathan Hale High School in 1989. Jay then earned a major in Psychology and a minor in Human Resources at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater where he graduated with honors in 1993. Soon thereafter, Jay began a successful real estate career with Shorewest Realtors. In his first year with Shorewest, he was honored with the Rookie of the Year! In 1994, he began to develop subdivisions in conjunction with the sale of real estate. In 1996 Jay opened his own office with Shorewest Realtors (then Wauwatosa Realty) in Eagle, Wisconsin and began hiring other agents to work on his team. By the late 90's, Jay was one of their top agents and the number one agent in the Kettle Moraine Area.

In 1996, Jay and Kelly were celebrating their first year of marriage and after visiting several churches and that is where they found KMEFC Church (Now called Oakwood Church). A few months later an evangelism explosion team from the church visited Jay and Kelly in their home. It was then, in October of 1996, that Jay and Kelly both trust in Jesus as their Savior and Lord. They immediately were plugged into different ministries of the church and within a few years Jay became a trainer in the Evangelism Explosion ministry, and a member of the Men's Ministry Board at church. During this same time, Jay also started a basketball fellowship, developed a Christian golf league and led a men's small group bible study.

In 2000, Jay attended a Fellowship of Christian Athletes banquet and shortly after became a member of its board. FCA primarily ministers to coaches and students through an athletically based theme on high school and college campuses. As a volunteer, Jay immediately led an FCA group at Palmyra-Eagle High School and Middle School. Jay fell in love with the ministry and in 2003 felt God was calling him to leave his career for full time ministry. In 2004, after raising the funds needed, Jay closed his real estate office to start full time ministry as an area representative for FCA. Within a few months, his brother, Greg decided to revive Jay’s old business. Currently, Greg and his Father Ralph are actively leading the real estate team with many of the same great people Jay had hired many years ago. The business is now called Response Realtors.

After two years with FCA Jay saw a vision for ministering to all students on campuses with an increased emphasis on discipleship. In 2006, Jay left FCA and founded Campus Way. Campus Way ministers to high school and middle school students in the evening with part time ministry staff which the ministry hires and trains. Campus Way's mission is "to disciple students to be followers of Christ and His mission to reach their campus now, and their community for a lifetime." It all started at Kettle Moraine High School with Jay and 4 students. Campus Way, since its inception, has aimed to live out a biblically demonstrated discipleship approach, which has become the heartbeat of the ministry. Over the years Campus Way has touched thousands of lives.

In 2007, after speaking at a family funeral, Jay felt God tugging on his heart to become not only a Pastor of a church but to disciple men and women. He felt God calling him to a discipleship movement that implements biblical principles of discipleship modeled by Jesus and Paul in the bible. The Great Commission and specifically how Jesus reached the world through 12 men has been a consuming passion for Jay ever since the spring of 2007. He describes that season of his life as an enlightening time where the vision of seeing the body of Christ awakened and engaged in fulfilling the Great Commission took root. Shortly after the funeral, Jay enrolled at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and is well along in earning his Master's in Ministry.

In August of 2009, Jay and Kelly were one flesh in the decision to move forward in the planting of Great Mission Church (www.greatmissionchurch.org). Ever since the decision was made to start Great Mission Church, many things have came together showing God's favor in this decision.

Well, it’s been over a year since Great Mission Church was planted. If the church were to write down the journey over the past year, there would be a book on the mistakes, victories, failures and successes. The neatest thing has been to become a family as a church. We have grown in our relationships and faith in Christ and are beginning to see the vision of the church unfold before us. No doubt planting a church has been more challenging than anyone would have ever thought but ......God. Jay is so thankful for God's continued call on his life and the church and he looks forward to building new friendships in 2011 and 2012 and deepening his current friendships with each other and most of all, our Savior.

Interests and Hobbies:
Jay-Golf, outdoors/sportsman, researching/reading, trail running, skiing
Kelly-Tennis, running, golf, reading, skiing

Contact Jay at 262-968-2988 or jay@campusway.org