SHAILA VISSER
Alpha Canada
Shaila Visser is the National Director of Alpha Canada and the Global Senior Vice-President for Alpha International. Shaila has a heart for people coming to know Jesus and is passionate about helping the local church flourish. She is a gifted communicator who is known for her strategic leadership as well as her ability to bring people together. Shaila is recognized as one of the Top 100 Most Influential Christian Women in Canada. Shaila lives in Vancouver BC with her husband, Ryan Visser, a Vancouver Police Officer, and their four-legged family members, Talon and Benny. You can reach Shaila on Twitter or Instagram @shailavisser.
MARK CLIFTON
Southern Baptist Convention
Mark Clifton is the Senior Director of Replanting at the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. Mark has served as a pastor, church planter, church revitalizer, mission strategist, coach, and mentor to young leaders. He has planted and replanted numerous churches and has also served as a national and regional leader for church planting and missions.
Bill Markham
Central Community Church, ON
Bill has served as Lead Pastor of Central Community Church in Niagara-on-the-Lake, a growing multi-generational church in the Niagara Region, since 2008. (He has been on Central’s staff since 2001.) He is a dynamic communicator who harnesses the ability to translate the timeless truth of God’s Word in such a way as to connect with both the growing believer and the first-time seeker. He is passionate about seeing people discover their God-given potential and live it out passionately by serving others. Bill always engages in honest conversation about leadership, creativity and the church. He will be refreshingly transparent as he discusses lessons he is learning as a Lead Pastor in a growing, multi-staff, multi-generational church.
Bill has been married to his best friend, Karlene, for over 30 years. Together they have three adult children, Reed, Tessa,and Garrett and recently welcomed their first grandson, Myles. If you can’t find him at the church, you will most likely find him on the court where his passion for volleyball is seen in his commitment to coaching for the local high school and city travel teams.
Bill has a Bachelor’s Degree in Theology from Summit Pacific College and a Master’s Degree in Theological Studies from Tyndale Seminary. He loves to read, dream audaciously and inspire others to do the same.
David Arrol Macfarlane
N2N Christian University
David received his passion for reaching lost people with the gospel from the moment of his conversion at 23 in his native South America. Seeing people come to Christ and become disciples has been the hallmark of his ministry while as a businessman and then as a pastor of congregations in Ontario and British Columbia.
David has addressed thousands of people at evangelistic events, conferences, and in churches around the world and across Canada. He has appeared on numerous TV shows (the 700 Club, 100 Huntley Street, etc.) and written for or been featured in numerous publications, including Decision Magazine, Christian Week, and Faith Today. He also authored the book, Ignite Your Life: Living for Significance. A former Director of National Initiatives for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association of Canada, he now teaches at N2N Christian University, where his courses are offered to church leaders in four languages in over fifty developing countries with many thousands of graduates.
David and his wife, Diana, live in Waterloo, Ontario, and have three married daughters and eight grandchildren.
FINU IYPE
Village Church, ON
Finu serves as the Regional Director for Church Planting for Village Church in Ontario. Village Church is a multisite church with a mission to see people transformed into fully devoted followers of Jesus! Finu has been involved in global evangelism, and church development ministry, and has held Pastor’s conferences and mass evangelism campaigns in over 20 nations. Finu has coached and consulted on church revitalization and led annual gospel training events like GO Conference, GO United YA Conference, and GO Lead Pastor workshops in the Greater Toronto Area. Finu is married to Tresha and together they have two young daughters, Lauren and Catherine.
GARY TAITINGER
Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada
Gary led a growing metro church for 36 years, then transitioned to be the District Superintendent for the ABNWT District of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada in 2017. His hope is that the ABNWT District team will be the single most helpful resource in leading and growing your church. His goal is that 80% of our churches will be experiencing incremental growth across the region.
bill hogg
Message Canada
Bill Hogg is Message Canada’s National Director. Originally from Scotland, Bill spent much of his childhood in the US, and it was here in one camp that he met and responded to Jesus. In his final year of school, having drifted from that camp encounter, he fully surrendered to Jesus and sensed a call to use his life to advance the Gospel.
Bill dreams of seeing a new generation of Canadian evangelists raised up by God and released into the harvest fields and longs to see teams of downwardly mobile urban missionaries put roots down deep in broken postal codes to share their lives, the Gospel, and bless and elevate the poor. Bill is a dynamic evangelist and communicator who is available for outreach an events, training, and church gatherings.
Bill is a published author and former radio talk show host and has served as a pastor, professor, evangelist, and a movie extra. He was involved in pioneer evangelism in Scotland, developing Youth for Christ in his role as National Evangelist, he served as part of the Arrow Leadership Ministries faculty offering congregational and para-church leaders training in evangelism and he served as National Missiologist with a Canadian interdenominational church planting network. Bill has also been involved in assessing, coaching, training, and supporting church planters for several years and is part of the SEND Institute Missiologists Council, drafting the church planting manifesto. He also serves on the Church Planting Canada leadership team and his doctoral research focused on the missional renewal of the church.
DAVID WELLS
Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada
Dave Wells has served as general superintendent of The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC) since May 2008. He was appointed general superintendent at General Conference 2008 after serving as the district superintendent of the BC/Yukon District. The PAOC has over 1,100 affiliated churches and 3,500 credentialed ministers with a constituency of close to 250,000 people across Canada. Internationally, the organization has over 300 global workers serving in more than 50 nations.
Dave serves as the vice-chair of the Pentecostal World Fellowship and on the executives of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship and the Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches of North America. He served on the board of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada from 1999-2013, and served as chair of that board from 2007-2013.
Dave completed his undergraduate studies in theology at Vanguard College in Edmonton, Alberta, and has a Master of Arts in Christian Ministry from Briercrest Seminary, Saskatchewan. In May 2013, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree by McMaster Divinity College. In April 2014, he was also awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree by Briercrest College and Seminary.
Dave and his wife, Susan, live in Burlington, Ontario. They have three children—Shannon (Eric), Jonathan (Melissa) and Jordan (Justine)—and seven grandchildren, one of whom is in heaven.
Mike Freake
Evangel Community Church, NL
Mike is originally from Newfoundland and Labrador, and he currently serves as Lead Pastor of Evangel Community Church in Gander, Newfoundland. He has been pastoring for 27 years, 21 of which have been in Gander. Mike is passionate about empowering people to creatively serve and reach people outside the church. He serves as Executive Producer and contributor for the Heart Matters television program. His other passion is riding his Harley Davidson.
Connie Jakab
Certified Flourishing Coaching
Connie is an author, speaker, and marketplace minister. She has been working with people on the fringes of society and in schools for the past 25 years. Starting with her work as a pastor in East Vancouver and then as the Children’s Ministry Director for the PAOC BC/Yukon District, Connie has a heart to see church leaders equipped to be mentally and emotionally healthy, with tools to reach the hurting and broken in our world.
Tony denBok
Clearview Community Church, ON
Tony is the lead pastor of Clearview Community Church, a multi-site church serving the communities of the Georgian Triangle in Southwestern Ontario. He has been in pastoral ministry for over 40 years, most of which he has spent in the same area. His congregation has expanded from 2 to 4 sites over the course of the last 3 years, helping to revitalize churches that were struggling to survive. Tony is passionate about the Kingdom of God and seeing the church reach its full redemptive potential. Tony has been married to his wife Marnita for over 40 years. He has three grown sons; two incredible daughters-in-law and six beautiful grandchildren.
Wendy Payne
Cedarview Church, ON
Wendy has been in ministry for over 30 years. She is a church planter, author of three books, podcaster (“Coffee Date With Purpose”), section pastor of the Hamilton Section of PAOC, and the lead pastor at Cedarview Church in Paris, Ontario. Wendy is extremely passionate for Jesus and counts each opportunity to share the word of God to others an incredible blessing! She has spoken all over Canada in different churches, conferences, retreats, and camps. Wendy had been married to her husband Darrel for over 30 years, they have 3 daughters, 2 son-in-laws, and 3 incredibly adorable grandchildren!
Sharon Witton
Toronto City Church, ON
Sharon is the co-pastor of Toronto City Church with her husband Brendan. Toronto City Church is an intercultural, intergenerational church with a passion to impact the city of Toronto and the nation of Canada. Sharon serves in a number of organizations and movements including the Canadian Leaders Prophetic Network, Ministers Network Canada, and she is the Next Gen North American Regional Co-Chair for Empowered 21.
She also sits on the Board of I am Compelled, an educational charity and the Culture Changers, a non-profit organization that focuses on tackling critical cultural issues that affect the church and the next generation. Sharon's passions include empowering women, raising next generation leaders and seeing believers grow in the prophetic. She and Brendan have two awesome kids, Micah and Shiloh.
Jeremy Norton
Lead Biblically Ministries
Jeremy is a pastor and author from Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. His desire is to help you navigate the life and leadership God has called you to. It’s his conviction that Jesus is the compass and the Bible is the map needed to direct you to God’s plan for your future. This is why embracing a biblical life and leadership is so critical and why he started Lead Biblically Ministries.
Jeremy currently serves as lead pastor with Mountainview Church and is a published author with Ambassador International. Prior to his ministry career, Jeremy served in hospitality management. God has meshed these two paths to aid in his ability to understand and lead people and help the local church become a welcome home for those who need community. In his downtime, Jeremy is an avid outdoorsman, enjoying a subsistence life of hunting and fishing with his family, wife (Nicole), and his three sons (Jude, Luke and Mark).
Dr. David Guretzki
Evangelical Fellowship of Canada
Effective Jan. 31, 2023, Dr. David Guretzki became the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada’s CEO and President. He previously served the executive vice-president and resident theologian (2017-2023). Before that, he served on the EFC Board for nine years. From 1993-2017 he worked at Briercrest Seminary, mainly as professor of theology and public life. He has a PhD in Western Christian thought and has published three books and many other writings. He has regularly preached and taught in various church contexts across Canada. David has been married to Maureen since 1989. They have three adult children, two of them married.
Michael Voll
North Pointe Community Church, AB
Michael is the lead pastor at North Pointe Community Church and an adjunct faculty member at Vanguard College in Edmonton, where he teaches the Intermediate Pastoral Practicum class. Michael’s passion in life is to communicate for change in everyday living through sharing his story and creative teaching of Bible principles. He is a speaker, teacher and writer on issues of faith, leadership and family.
David Baker
SouthPort Church, ON
Pastor David has been serving at SouthPort Church for 11 years. He has a passion for not only SouthPort Church but for the town of Saugeen Shores as a whole, to be spiritually healthy and flourishing in reaching the lost. His favourite topic of conversation is Jesus. Pastor David has the incredible ability to reach out and make anyone smile, and he often does.
Raphael Anzenberger
Baptist Union of Canada
Raphael is Executive Director of the French-speaking Baptist Union of Canada, the president for imagoDei, an adjunct professor of intercultural studies (CIU, FLTE), and a scholar in residence for the Lausanne Church Planting Issue Group.
MICHAeL FISCHER
Calvary Temple, MB
Michael Fisher, pastors at Calvary temple in Brandon, Manitoba, with his wife, Amberly. As a church planter with a heart for the community, Michael is passionate about creating opportunities for the church to engage the community with the Good News of the Gospel.
James Tripp
Motion Church, ON
James is the lead Pastora at Motion Church in Morrisburg Ontario. He has been leading the Church for the past ten years. Pastor James has over 20 years ministry experience. During his time in Morrisburg, he has guided the leadership and congregation through massive changes to create a church that unchurched people love to attend. This sparked a desire to help other small church leaders go through the process of change within their churches.
JOHN ALBISTON
Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada
John is a turn-around specialist and a District Effectiveness Coach with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. He has had a track record of leading churches both small and large to dramatic conversion growth.
KATHY ZELMAN
Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada
Kathy has worked with kids and families for over 30 years in church settings (small, medium, crosscultural, large, and mega-sized churches), school settings, and early childhood settings. She is presently the Children and Family Ministries specialist at the ABNWT District Resource Centre, as well as working in Care Ministries at Hope City Church in Edmonton. She thrives on collaborating and coaching leaders, helping them thrive.
JEREMIAH RAIBLE
Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada
Jeremiah is one of the District Effectiveness Coaches and worship specialists for the PAOC ABNWT District Office. He is a seasoned worship pastor, tech director, and community outreach pastor. Jeremiah constantly proves the naysayers wrong about how even the smallest church can thrive.
Bob Jones
Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada
Bob Jones is the founder of REVwords.com, an author, blogger, and coach with 39 years of pastoral experience. Bob is also an Advance Coach with the ABNWT Resource Centre.
HAILEY ARMOOGAN
Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada
Hailey is the President of the Sub Arctic Leadership Training College and the Director of Northern Initiatives and Church Partnerships for the ABNWT District of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada.
RYAN PEDDE
Bridge Church
In 2018, Ryan, his wife, Jessica, and their three kids moved to Fort Saskatchewan to start Bridge Church. Previously he had spent 15 years in church ministry in Edmonton. He earned an M.Div with stops at Taylor Seminary & Calvin Seminary. Ryan has a passion for connecting with God and proclaiming the Good News of the Gospel. His hobby is visiting major league baseball stadiums (20/30 so far!).