Brigette VanHuisstede is passionate about using her words to encourage others and point people to Jesus. She is wife to Paul, mom to four energetic kids, a home educator, and a cancer-survivor who loves hiking, reading, writing, and sipping Bengal Spice tea. Brigette has her honours degree in English Literature and is actively involved with the Mercy Christian Church plant in downtown Hamilton, ON.

Randy and his wife Darlene are active at Lakeview Church, in Saskatoon, SK. They have four adult children and four grandchildren. Randy works as national Restorative Justice coordinator for Mennonite Central Committee Canada. He will happily chat about the stars, classical music, family history, or the Inklings with anyone who dares to join him.

Jenn Burnett is a Resonate Local Mission Leader for Western Canada and has received her doctorate from 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.

Dan Sheffield is a reflective practitioner who has been involved in church planting, community development and Christian formation in Canada, Egypt, South Africa and a few other spots along the way -- over the past 30 years or so. These days he lives in St Catharines, Ontario, with his wife Kathy, where he is lead pastor of Grapeview Church, a multi-ethnic congregation. He is the author of the books The Multicultural Leader and Conversations that Change Us.

Rohadi is a thought leader on building diverse organizations and communities, church planting, and decolonizing and deconstructing Christianity. He lives in Canada, on Treaty 7 Lands, otherwise known as Calgary. He holds a Business Certificate from Mount Royal College, a BA in Economics from the University of Calgary, and a Master of Divinity from Canadian Theological Seminary.

In the areas of church planting, missional thinking, and church revitalization, he is both a practitioner and thought leader. He has planted two churches including an inner-city multi-ethnic expression called Cypher Church. He has written extensively in the areas of missions and church leadership, calling for new thinking and practices. Some of those ideas can be found in his book, Thrive. Ideas to lead the church in post-Christendom. Discover Rohadi’s latest book, When We Belong. Reclaiming Christianity on the Margins from Herald Press.

His experience includes non-profit work in both governance and organizational development. He is the past-chair of ACT Alberta, one of the largest anti-human trafficking NGOs in Canada. He’s also a director with Mosaic Ministries. Find him online - Website: www.rohadi.com, on Twitter: @rohadi, & Instagram: @rohadi.nagassar

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.

Jon Hand is the Leadership Development Pastor for a multi-site church in southern Ontario called The Meeting House. He also is on the launch team for Jesus Collective a new network of like-minded Anabaptish churches and leaders seeking to keep Jesus at the Centre of theology, church, and practice in Post Christian North America. Jon is founding partner in Transformational Coaching hosted by New Leaf Network and has served on the Advisory Council for New Leaf Network. Jon’s passion is helping leaders lead from their own transformation.

Keitha Ogbogu is the lead pastor at West Springs Church in Calgary, Alberta. A former teacher, she is passionate about the power of mentorship and especially enjoys encouraging young men and women who are called to preach, to speak and to lead. 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 participate in the transformation of neighbourhoods, cities and individuals when we get it right. She is married to Cyril and together they are raising three black princes, Samuel, Emmanuel and Ezra.

Ryan Siemens is executive minister of Mennonite Church Saskatchewan, a community of 27 Mennonite congregations from across the province of Saskatchewan who have covenanted together to be Christ-Centred and Sent. Ryan and his wife Sandra Sinnaeve live in Langham, SK, where they attend Langham Mennonite Fellowship and enjoy life with their three boys, Isaiah (7), Elliott (5), and Bennett (3).

Aaron Gerrard, his wife, and three kids call Ancaster, Ontario, home (Treaty 3 1792, Dish with One Spoon). Aaron is the pastor of Ancaster Village Church, a church which he, his family, and a few other crazy dreamers planted in 2012. He shares the story of that church planting journey in his new book from New Leaf Press, Quit Pastoring Your Church. The story of a small church making Jesus their pastor.

Erik Freiburger is a blogger & podcaster at theinceptionofwonder.com. He & his wife Bonnie live in Calgary, Alberta. They enjoy barbecues with friends, neighbourhood wheels, & deep philosophical conversations about God, religion, spirituality, ethics, & community.

Katie Jamer Jewett lives with her husband and four boys in Douglas NB, on the banks of the beautiful and bountiful Wolastoq River. She is a student, a teacher, and a neighbourhood-builder who is still figuring out what it means to follow God in her corner of the world.

Bernard Tam is a coffee enthusiast, neighbourhood connector and one of the pastors at The Living Room Church in Midtown, Toronto. Regularly you can find Bernard at local specialty coffee shops learning to be present in the neighbourhood while enjoying every sip of local roasted coffee. He is also one of the cohost of the Canadian Asian Missional Podcast - a conversation that engages with the movements of the Canadian Asian Church.

Andrew Stephens-Rennie is a writer, preacher, and church planter now serving as Missioner to Valhalla Parish in the Anglican Diocese of Kootenay. Before moving "temporarily" to the Kootenays in March 2020, Andrew was Director of Ministry Innovation at Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver. Living so closely to family, and falling in love once again with the region, it didn't take them long to decide to stay.

Andrew is co-founder and contributing editor at www.empireremixed.com, and co-editor of "A Sort of Homecoming: Essays Honoring the Academic and Community Work of Brian Walsh" with Marcia Boniferro and Amanda Jagt.

Leanne Friesen has been the Lead Pastor of Mount Hamilton Baptist Church for sixteen years. She is also a writer and a frequent speaker at conferences and retreats around the country. Besides her general work at leannefriesen.com, Leanne also hosts the Instagram page "grieving.room" where she seeks to create space to process loss for grievers and those who want to support them.

Elle Pyke is a dreamer, starter and a community builder who dreams of the church in Canada becoming a place where everyone can find belonging and flourishing. She's one of the founding members and Directors at New Leaf and has served as a Lay Minister and on numerous Boards in the charitable sector.

Elle is completing her MA in Theology and Culture at St. Stephens University in New Brunswick.

When she's not busy starting new things, she can be found planning a good party, playing on the shores of Lake Huron and passionately cheering for the Blue Jays! She lives with her beautiful family in the Waterloo Region in Ontario.

Jared Siebert serves in many capacities in the Canadian Church.  He founded an organization of missionary church leaders called the New Leaf Network and is one of Canada’s leading inter-denominational church planter trainers.  But church planting isn’t the only kind of experience he has garnered.  In his ministry roles Jared has had the opportunity to work with churches of all kinds from all over Canada.  He has acted as a consultant in churches large and small, urban and rural, and new and long established.  He has written a discipleship curriculum, a handbook on church planter training, and a Church Health workbook called the LifePlan.  As a sought after speaker and consultant Jared is uniquely able to draw insight and inspiration from a variety of sources and bring that to the table as he helps churches move toward unity and the mission of God.  

Amy Bratton is the Director of Operations & Publishing for the New Leaf Network and the project manager for 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 Adjunct Professor with Rocky Mountain College in the area of Spiritual Formation. She writes and speaks about the history of Christian spirituality, with a focus on the early Methodist understanding of Christian maturity known as “perfect love.” Read more from her in her book Witnesses of Perfect Love: Narratives of Christian Perfection in Early Methodism.