Emerging Leader Cohort

MULTIPLIERS LEARNING

Leading Beyond Addition

2018-2019

Thursday/Friday

A diverse community of leaders unified on the pursuit of healthy church multiplication.

COMMUNITIES

Cohort 2

ADRIAN CRAWFORDEngage ChurchLead Pastor Adrian Crawford spends his time working as a spiritual and social entrepreneur. The majority of his endeavors are based out of Tallahassee, FL where he resides with his wife, Wendy, and their three children. At the onset of his lifestyle of entrepreneurship, Adrian served for seven years as an Associate Pastor for Every Nation Tallahassee and as the Executive Director of 925 Ath-letic Ministries. Adrian felt called, and with the support of the leaders at Every Nation, began a church plant in 2012. In 2013, from a group of 18 committed people Engage Church was born. Engage is a living example of revolutionary living and racial reconciliation. Through Engage’s mission of Engaging God, people and culture, Adrian has expanded his heart for reaching people in the circles he influences to equipping others to add val-ue to their respective cultures and spaces.

BECKY LAHNAGoodland ChurchPastor Becky Lahna is a graduate of the University of Washing-ton and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. After 17 years of serving in college ministry she moved to San-ta Barbara, CA in June 2016 to plant Goodland Church with the ECO Presbyterian denomination. She’s a loyal Seahawks fan, recovering granola girl, always on the hunt for the world’s best almond croissant, and loves to gather people, especially around the table.

CARLA DAVISWest Ridge ChurchAssimilation Director Carla Davis has been on staff with West Ridge Church since 2014 and currently serves as the Assimilation Director. One of her many functions is overseeing the Assimilation Process connecting attendees to groups, serving teams, and Next Steps classes. Carla is a gradu-ate of Auburn University. She currently resides in Mariet-ta, GA with her husband Chuck, their youngest daughter Lizzy, and Buddy their miniature schnauzer. They also have two adult children, Tyler and Mathieux.

BRIAN RUTHVertical ChurchCreative Art Director

Brian Ruth is a native Georgian. He has been married for 18 yrs to his wife, Erika. They have two boys Brayden, 4, and Bryson, 3. He is the Creative Arts Director for Ver-tical Church in Atlanta. Brian also plays the drums for a couple of churches. He has a bachelors in fine arts with a concentration in Graphic Design from Auburn Univer-sity. He has been working for himself as a graphic de-signer for approximately 10 years. He has been involved in ministry for over 20 years, in various roles. He enjoys hanging out with his family. Also video games, books and music bring him much joy. Anyone that knows him knows that he loves coffee, particularly Starbucks. Which just happens to be his office space.

CHAN KWAKLos Angeles One ChurchLead Pastor Chan Kwak co-planted the Church of Joy in Koreatown, Los Angeles in September of 2009, pastoring the En-glish congregants to be a committed follower of Jesus Christ until March of 2018. In April of 2018, he planted his second church in South Los Angeles, named One Church with the vision of multi-ethnic and multi-generational worship of God. Furthermore, he has been in the archi-tectural industry as a senior project manager at Grace Partnership, Inc. since October of 2008, managing vari-ous residential, commercial, and religious projects. He is a die-hard Dodgers fan and you are sure to find him at good taco trucks near where he resides at Willowbrook, CA (north of Compton) with an amazing godly wife, three energetic sons, and a beautiful daughter.

CHUCK WHITLEYEthnos San Diego - Mid City/Ethnos NetworkElder and church planter Chuck Whitley was raised in the Pacific Northwest where he enjoys many different outdoor activities. He holds an undergraduate degree in Bible and theolo-gy, a graduate degree in theology, and a certificate in transformational leadership. Chuck has spent over 20 years working in the non-profit sector. He has served as a Senior Pastor in a local church and has also worked in non-profit organizations that specialize in reducing youth homelessness and adjudication. Chuck enjoys running and racing through the mountains, parks, and national forests of the Pacific Northwest. His passion is to influence people to become strong leaders who seek to make their communities a better place. He is current-ly the executive director of a non-profit that focuses on leadership development and is planting a church in San Diego, CA. Chuck and his beautiful wife, Karen, live in San Diego with their two awesome children; Jimmy and Trinity.

DARREN DEPAULCornerstoneLead Pastor Darren DePaul has been married to his wife, Jenny, since 2001. They have two daughters and currently reside on the shoreline of Connecticut. They moved to Connecti-cut from South Carolina three years ago to “re-plant” Cornerstone Church. Darren has a Bachelor of Arts in History from Geneva College and a Master of Divinity from Trinity School for Ministry. By God’s grace, he has been serving in full-time ministry since 1997 serving in both church and para-church organizations.

CLIFTON STANTONThe Church of Eleven22/Redline ChurchResident/Lead Pastor Clifton Stantion has been married to Kati for 11 years. They have a 4-year-old daughter (Cait) and an almost 2-year-old son (Kai). He has been in ministry for almost 10 years in Jacksonville, FL as a Student Pastor. He is currently transitioning to planting a church in Encinitas, CA (North of San Diego) in June of 2019!

ELLEN LACROIX FILLETTECentreville United Methodist ChurchAssociate Pastor of Spiritual Formation Raised in a small United Methodist Church in Louisiana, Ellen LaCroix Fillette’s Christian experience has been a journey nurtured through children’s choir, Sunday school, confirmation, youth group, the Wesley Founda-tion at Louisiana State University, seminary, and now as a pastor at Centreville UMC. Her call in ministry is to bring the church outside its own walls into the world and to allow faith to permeate all aspects of life. To move from proclamation alone to proclamation in and through service to those outside of the physical church building. She is a daughter, a sister, a wife, a friend, a good cook, football fan, avid hiker, and a poodle lov-er. Most importantly, she is someone committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ and the mission of the Church.

DERICK SHERFEYThe Oaks ChurchPastor Derick Sherfey serves as the lead planter/pastor of The Oaks Church in the Southeast corner of urban Denver, CO and also serves as the Director of Content Strate-gy for The Upstream Collective — a nonprofit aimed at helping churches send locally and globally. Before re-locating to Denver, Derick served as a strategic pastor of sending & teaching pastor in his hometown in East Tennessee. He and his wife, Cayla, have been together 10 years and have two kiddos, Beau and Adalyn.

GEORGE WILLIAMSCityLight Church and Open Bible EastLead Pastor and Church Planting Director George Williams began ministry at 23 years old as an urban missionary with his wife, Sarah. They founded a neighborhood outreach ministry in the heart of an ur-ban neighborhood of Toledo, OH. As the ministry devel-oped and grew, the need for a life-giving relevant and transformative church for the community they served became apparent. In 2012, George and Sarah set out to plant that church with the help of Open Bible Churches. George currently serves as the lead pastor of CityLight Church. With his passion to see more life giving church-es started, George became the church planting director for Open Bible East.

JAMES LEONARDTrinity Baptist Church Interim Lead Pastor James Leonard is the Interim Lead Pastor at Trinity Bap-tist Church in New York City. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife (Elizabeth) of sixteen years, he has one daugh-ter (Iva), and two fur babies (Tobias and Queen Anne Sassafras). James received his Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary and his Doctorate of Min-istry from Fuller Theological Seminary. He is the author of no books, although he often thinks that maybe he should write one.

JONATHAN SANCHEZCenterSet ChurchDream Team Coach Jonathan Sanchez is a husband, creative, and father to two pups. He has been a follower of Jesus since June 2011, and a church planter and heromaker since 2016.

JEANNINE BUTLERThe Factory ChurchDiscipleship Group Leader

IFIE NATASHA BRANDONAtlanta, Georgia Writer & Creative Consultant Ifie Natasha Brandon is a storyteller with a knack for business and creative strategy. Her passion for business has grown into a developed mission to help others dis-cover their purpose, execute strategic visions and ex-perience growth and fulfillment. She can find the pur-pose of a person, place or thing and transform it into a memoir, business proposal or a series of posts for social media. She believes in living a life you love every single day so when she is not working or helping others, She is writing, sharing her views with the world, working on set of film projects and entertaining (cleaning up after) her husband and two children.

JONATHAN TUCKERVertical ChurchGrow Leader Jonathan Tucker, or simply Tuck(er), as he is affection-ately known, is a licensed marriage and family therapist in the state of Georgia. In addition to being the manag-er of the Behavioral Health Treatment Court of Fulton County, he serves as the associate pastor at Vertical Church. More specifically, he serves as the Grow Pastor and is responsible for creating and sustaining a healthy movement of Biblical discipleship within the church family and in the surrounding community.

NOAH DUNCANBuechel United Methodist Church Youth Leader

Noah Duncan recently graduated from Lindsey Wilson College in May of 2017 with a B.A in Sustainability and a Minor in Christian Ministries. While attending the Lord blessed him with the opportunity to travel to the Do-minican Republic for mission work. This is where Noah truly found God’s love. Now he currently lives in Louis-ville, KY working in several different ministries that the Lord has allowed him to be a part of! His goal is to plant a church that welcomes anyone with an emphasis on outreach! God bless!

KEVIN LEESaddleback ChurchOnline Pastor Kevin Lee was born in South Korea and moved to the United States when he was 11 years old. While he consid-ers the US to be his home now, he has a big heart for Ko-rean-Americans who live in the US. He has a unique role of being a Small Groups Pastor overseeing both home groups and online groups of Online Campus at Saddle-back Church. He currently lives in Orange County, CA and enjoys reading books and learning about leadership.

WES BARRYWaypoint Community Church (ECO)Founding Pastor Having served at two 200 year-old churches and two church plants in Charlotte, N.C., Wes Barry strives to incorporate both innovation and tradition in his role as founding pastor of Waypoint Community Church of E.C.O. (Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians). Whether it’s organizing a new church within a new denomination, running an ultra-marathon with F3 or changing 33 diapers in one day when his triplet boys were first born, Wes embraces intentional challenges as mechanisms for personal and leadership development. He is married to Lindsay and also has a daughter to calm the chaos. He received his bachelor’s from David-son College, Masters of Divinity from Princeton Theolog-ical Seminary, and his Doctorate of Ministry in Christian Leadership from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

PHILIP ABODECrossover Bible ChurchLead Pastor

Philip Abode and his wife, Rondalyn, have been pas-sionate about helping people grow in their relationship with the Lord ever since they committed their lives to Him during their college years at the University of Tul-sa. Shortly after graduation, Philip and Rondalyn moved to Dallas, TX to attend Dallas Theological Seminary in preparation for helping start Crossover Bible Church. After Philip completed a Masters in Christian Education, he and Rondalyn moved back to Tulsa to start the work that God had called them to. They always wanted to be a part of a church whose impact in the community went beyond Sunday mornings. Philip began to see how that might become a reality the first season he coached a 3rd grade tackle football team. This eye-opening experi-ence transformed Philip’s perspective on what it would take to truly make an impact in his community.

XAVIER BRANDONVertical Church ATLGO Leader Xavier Brandon holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Morehouse College and a MDiv with a concentration in Race and Religion from Candler School of Theology at Emory University. X serves as Vertical Church’s Go Lead-er and as the Plugged AUC College Ministry Director of the Atlanta University Center. His nonprofit organiza-tion, Zek’s Dream Center has given him the opportunity to mentor and lead youth and young adults in Atlanta. X is also a prominent hip-hop artist and DJ. He’s married to his wife, Natasha, and they have two children Brook-lyn and Malik, X strives to reconcile the Hip Hop culture with God, demonstrating that it is okay to have a love for the music and be in love with Jesus Christ.