Brian Yu

Brian Yu is the New Canadian Church Planters Coordinator with the Tyndale Intercultural Ministries (TIM) Centre at Tyndale University. Brian has been serving in pastoral ministry for over 9 years. He was a youth pastor at Greenhills Christian Fellowship in the Philippines, a pastor at Chinese Gospel Church in Scarborough, and he currently serves as a church planter in the diverse city of Toronto, Canada.

Erika Mills

Erika is the Co-pastor at Blue Mountain Community Church in Thornbury and a Spiritual Care Provider at the Collingwood Hospital

She holds a BA Religious Studies, UWaterloo, and MTS from Conrad Grebel University College, and is in process of ordination with the FMCiC. Erika finds bi-vocational ministry life-giving for herself and her congregation and notices lots of opportunity for community connection as she ministers outside the church building. She is encouraged that her healthy congregation is embracing the call to share pastoral responsibility and live generously wherever they are.

Amy Bratton

Amy Bratton is the Contributing Editor of the New Leaf Blog, and managed the coordination of the Canadian Multivocational Ministry Project. She lives in Saskatoon, SK with her husband, Tim, and their two sons, Oswald and Ira. She is a lay leader at Riversdale Neighbours church and an online course facilitator with Rocky Mountain College in the area of Spiritual Formation.

Jared Siebert

Jared Siebert, currently serves as the National Director for Church Development for the Free Methodist Church in Canada and author of Gutsy: (Mis)Adventures in Canadian Church Planting. His main responsibility is to prepare the denomination to respond to the massive cultural change that churches are facing.

Natalie Frisk

Natalie Frisk is a lead pastor (Brantford) and the curriculum pastor at The Meeting House Church in Toronto, Canada, where she and a team create kids’ and youth curricula for ages 0–18 used by churches worldwide. She is author of Raising Disciples: How to Make Faith Matter for Our Kids (Herald Press). Frisk has a master’s degree in theological studies, and is continuing her studies as she pursues her Doctorate of Practical Theology. She is married to Sam, mom to Erin, and child of God. She loves Jesus, coffee, and samosas.

Jenn Burnett

Jenn Burnett is lead pastor at The Well church plant in Kelowna, and a doctoral candidate out of Portland seminary. She longs to see the body of Christ empowered by the Holy Spirit and contending for unity across difference. She also loves rugby, the outdoors, the colour orange and the chaos that goes with raising 4 kids.

Jason Tripp

Jason Tripp lives in Sudbury with his beautiful wife Sylvie and their two energetic children Levi and Michaela. He is the Lead Pastor of Valleyview Community Church, an intergenerational, missional faith community exploring what faithfulness to Jesus looks like in post-Christian Canadian suburbia. Read his latest writing, Waking Up With Truman Burbank, posted on the New Leaf Blog.

Brandon Laird

Brandon Laird is an Inclusive Innovation Designer, Spiritual Entrepreneur, and Transformational Coach, interested in working with all types of Christ-followers to co-create the present and future church. This is encapsulated in these 3 areas: celebrations, parties, and releasing the captives.

Christa Hesselink

Christa Hesselink has been guiding individuals and groups as they dig deeper into their spiritual life for her entire twenty year career, working in higher education, non-profit development, and church ministry. She is the founder of SoulPlay, and is a well-respected keynote speaker, workshop facilitator and retreat leader. Her focus content includes: transformation & vulnerability, the inner-life of an effective leader, contemplative spirituality, grief & loss, and soul care. Christa is known for her strategic and collaborative approach to working with individuals and teams and her greatest satisfaction comes when designing compelling experiences for people to slow down so they can wake up to their own soul. She holds a Master’s of Leadership and a Master’s of Theology degree and has been named a “Hero of Children” from World Vision Canada. She is the Canadian best-selling author of Life’s Great Dare and the founder of the Love2Love Project which supports vulnerable children in multiple countries around the world. Christa is a certified coach, certified yoga instructor, and is training to become a spiritual director with the Haden Institute. She has completed the Enneagram Core Program with the Narrative Institute and continues to receive further training. Rooted in the Christian tradition, Christa has found deep meaning and hope, and enjoys companioning others who endeavour to deepen their connection to God – to Spirit, Source and Soul.

Beth Anne Fisher

Beth Anne is the Research Project Manager for the Wellness Project @ Wycliffe, run by Dr. Wanda Malcolm. For the past 5+ years they have been exploring satisfaction and stress in vocational ministry life. Beth Anne is also a PhD student at Emmanuel College, Toronto School of Theology, and is writing her thesis on the relational underpinnings of spiritual leadership.

Steve MacDouell,

when not teaching at Fanshawe College, Steve instigates place-based projects, hosts workshops, and invites everyday citizens to leverage their time, their ideas, and their creativity for the sake of their neighbourhoods. Steve lives, conspires, and drinks coffee in Woodfield—a neighbourhood in Central London

James Kingsley

James is a graphic designer with a background in fine arts and works as a Creative Director. James’ love for communication finds him exploring the ways we spread ideas, foster connections, and become better neighbours. Asking what role aesthetics play in authentic community, James is interested in how the small things add up.

Xenia Chan

was born to two settlers from Hong Kong and grew up in Richmond Hill, a suburb outside of Toronto (in the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Anishinaabe peoples). In the last ten years, she has lived in five cities: Ottawa, Hong Kong, Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto (six, if Richmond Hill is counted!). Xenia has previously worked in politics, journalism, in para-church and church contexts, and is now an academic and discerning church-planting in the GTA.

She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Ottawa (Hon.B.Soc.Sc. in Political Science, Minor in History), is currently completing a master’s degree at Tyndale University (M.Div. in Biblical Studies and Church in the City), and will be a doctoral student (specializing in Old Testament) at Wycliffe College (Toronto School of Theology) in the fall.

Keitha Ogbogu

is the lead pastor at West Springs Church in Calgary, Alberta. A former teacher, she is passionate about the power of mentorship. Her pastoral work has affirmed her love for the nations, her pursuit of justice and, of course, her call to preach. She believes that the church holds the potential to transform neighbourhoods, cities and individuals when we get it right.

Edrice Clermy

is the lead pastor of Église Évangélique Des Mille-Îles in Laval, Quebec, and a church planting coach with the Free Methodist Church in Canada.
Pasteur de l’Église Évangélique des Milles Îles, Ingénieurs Électriques, Diplômé en Technique de Comptabilité et de Gestion, Diplômé en Théologie

Jan Steckley, MTS

Jan is a pastor, spiritual director and transformational coach. She lives on the creative edge and is passionate about creating a supportive space for relationships that are real, honest, authentic and mutual. Jan has a lifetime of experience companioning others through some of life’s most significant threshold moments and in engaging others in the learning and reflection that makes growth possible.

Jeff Steckley, OCT

Jeff is an educator, transformational coach and well-known community initiatives facilitator who has embraced his calling to design and facilitate change-inspiring conversations, develop and equip leaders, and curate transformational space which deeply honours diverse journeys and life experiences. Jeff has an insatiable curiosity and desire to help others learn and grow in ways that lead to whole-hearted engagement.

Cynthia Tam

Cynthia Tam is an ordained minister with the Christian and Missionary Alliance. She is a pastor at The Living Room Church and the national coordinator for disability ministries for the C&MA. Cynthia graduated from University of Aberdeen with a Ph.D. in Theology under the supervision of Prof. John Swinton. She is also involved with Village Eulogia for Families with Special Needs that serves families affected by disabilities.

Jutta Treviranus

Jutta Treviranus is the Director of the Inclusive Design Research Centre (IDRC) and professor in the faculty of Design at OCAD University in Toronto. With its origins in the ATRC, which she launched in 1993, Jutta has established the IDRC as an international center of expertise in the inclusive design of emerging digital systems, networks and practices. Jutta also heads the Inclusive Design Institute, a multi-university regional centre of expertise. Jutta founded and directs an innovative graduate program in inclusive design at OCAD University. Together with Gregg Vanderheiden, she is the co-director of the Raising the Floor Consortium that coordinates the Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure project. She leads many international multi-partner open source research networks that have created broadly implemented innovations that support inclusion e.g., Fluid Project, and Floe Project.

David H Pereyra

David H Pereyra is an architect, doctor in Theology, researcher at the OCAD University in Toronto, and seasonal Professor at the University of St Michael’s College in the University of Toronto, Canada. For over two decades Pereyra’s personal interests and academic focus centres on interdisciplinary aspects of our multicultural society, as expressed through art, music, film, worship, multimedia, technology and sacred spaces. He is particularly interested in sacred spaces as iconic points of reference that provide unique meanings to the collective memory of a culture, and how creative experiences of transmitting information and communication can reach users and vice-versa. His Latin American, European and North American multi-cultural background greatly enrich his experience of the world and his scholarly work. His area of expertise is the trans-disciplinary study and comparison of phenomenological and theological aspects in architecture and ritual, in a multidimensional perspective, across art forms, place and space.

Brandon Laird

Brandon Laird is an Inclusive Innovation Designer, Spiritual Entrepreneur, and Transformational Coach, interested in working with all types of Christ-followers to co-create the present and future church. This is encapsulated in these 3 areas: celebrations, parties, and releasing the captives.

David Schuchardt

David, his wife Sarah, and their three beautiful daughters Cassidy (20), Aislinn (18), and Maeve (13) moved to Regina, Saskatchewan in January 2014. David took up the Lead Pastor role at Northview Community Church (FMCiC) where he has been focused on developing a robust discipleship community committed to the mission of God in Argyle Park and surrounding areas. David has a Masters of Divinity from Tyndale Seminary and is currently working on a D.Min at Northeastern Seminary in
Rochester, NY.

Christa Hesselink

Christa Hesselink has been guiding individuals and groups as they dig deeper into their spiritual life for her entire twenty year career, working in higher education, non-profit development, and church ministry. She is the founder of SoulPlay, and is a well-respected keynote speaker, workshop facilitator and retreat leader. Her focus content includes: transformation & vulnerability, the inner-life of an effective leader, contemplative spirituality, grief & loss, and soul care. Christa is known for her strategic and collaborative approach to working with individuals and teams and her greatest satisfaction comes when designing compelling experiences for people to slow down so they can wake up to their own soul. She holds a Master’s of Leadership and a Master’s of Theology degree and has been named a “Hero of Children” from World Vision Canada. She is the Canadian best-selling author of Life’s Great Dare and the founder of the Love2Love Project which supports vulnerable children in multiple countries around the world. Christa is a certified coach, certified yoga instructor, and is training to become a spiritual director with the Haden Institute. She has completed the Enneagram Core Program with the Narrative Institute and continues to receive further training. Rooted in the Christian tradition, Christa has found deep meaning and hope, and enjoys companioning others who endeavour to deepen their connection to God – to Spirit, Source and Soul.

Dustin Reekie

Dustin Reekie is a Registered Psychologist/therapist. He works out of his practice, Cadence Counseling & Psychology, in Saskatoon, but of course, these days, like yourself, he is working from home. In his practice, he works with individuals who are struggling with anxiety, executive functioning challenges, behavioural addictions and recovery. Before becoming a psychologist, he was a Special Education / Resource Teacher for nearly ten years. Before becoming a teacher, he attended Canadian Bible College (Regina, SK) for two years and worked as a youth pastor for Regina’s Parliament Mennonite Church, and then for Saskatoon Free Methodist Church. He is delighted and inspired to network with New Leaf, as we collectively seek to serve congregations during this time.

Michael Garner

Ordained an Anglican Priest in Fall 2019 Michael Garner is new to full-time ministry but has many years of church leadership experience in a whole range of denominations. He has had the opportunity to participate in and lead three church plants (two with the Free Methodist Church in Canada and one with the Anglican Church of Canada).

From 2006 to 2019 Michael worked as an Infectious Disease Epidemiologist at the Public Health Agency of Canada, beginning as a Field Epidemiologist (think Kate Winslet in Contagion), and working primarily in research and control of emerging infectious diseases - which COVID-19 is one. Michael has a Bachelor of Science degree from Queen’s University, a Master of Science (Epidemiology) degree from the University of Ottawa, and a Master of Divinity degree from the University of Toronto (Wycliffe College).

He loves cooking for people and enjoying the community that can be formed over a good meal. He is passionate about the arts, and how culture, science, and faith intersect. You are as likely to see him in a baseball cap and hoodie as a clerical collar. Michael is married to Rochelle and they live in Ottawa with their two wonderful children - Isaac and Elise