Alex Robinson

Alex is a fundraising team member for Stadia, give through his campaign here.

Alex is passionate about helping people engage with God by creating experiences and environments which challenge them to see Jesus in a fresh way. You’ve heard of the most interesting man in the world, but Alex describes himself as the most boring man in the world (1 Thess. 4:11-12). He likes spending time with his family, watching documentaries, movies, and the latest Netflix Originals, reading theological books, and is curious about the art and science of coffee and beer brewing.

Amber Craft

Amber is a fundraising team member of Stadia; give through her campaign here.

Amber originally hails from sunny Sarasota, Florida, but found her home in Kissimmee, Florida after graduating from Johnson University Florida with a B.A. in Humanities and Biblical Studies in 2017. Amber is married to her best friend and college sweetheart, with whom she shares a love of the arts, binge-watching Netflix originals, collecting postcards, and experimenting in the kitchen with plant-based foods. In the Spring of 2023, Devon and Amber joined the launch team at Kissimmee Fellowship. Devon serves on the worship team, while Amber helps with Kissimmee Fellowship’s administrative needs. Both through the impact at Stadia and at Kissimmee Fellowship, Amber is eager to be a part of the Church’s work to reach people who are far from God.

Andrea Wells

Andrea is a fundraising team member for Stadia, give through her campaign here.

Passionate about the church and the people she’s been called to serve, Andrea has spent the entirety of her professional career in ministry, specifically with church planting. She spent a residency at Community Christian Church in Baltimore focused on global missions and outreach events. She then served for 9 years as a director at Mosaic Christian Church, where she and developed the Kids Ministry into a thriving environment for children to encounter Jesus and built the global mission’s program into a sustainable, focused endeavor. She has served as Global Development Director and Director of Households Relationships for Stadia and now as Northeast Regional and International Director, using her relational giftings to partner with others to see more churches planted. From leading trips across the world to leading pre-k volunteers, Andrea has seen the very real impact of the local church on a given community, and it has only stoked her passion to see God’s lost children come home. Andrea is married to Christopher and became “bonus mom” to 3 when she gained children with marriage!  If she’s not at her favorite local coffee shop, you can find her working out, traveling with her husband, exploring Baltimore’s freshest restaurants, or hanging with friends or family.

Angela Smith

Angela is a fundraising team member for Stadia, give through her campaign here.

Angela is an entrepreneurial business leader with a breadth of experience in areas of product development, sales, operations, marketing, and administration in Fortune 500, small business, and startup environments.  She is passionate about the intersection of business and social impact and feels blessed to have the opportunity to use her experience and talents as part of the Stadia team to help every child have a church.  Angela and her husband Michael live in the hill country outside of Austin Texas with their four children where they actively worship and serve in the local church and catalyze Christian community.

Ashley Stegeman

Ashley is a fundraising team member for Stadia, give through her campaign here.

After teaching for several years and being heavily involved in her local church since she was a kid, Ashley’s heart for ministry has continued to grow. Ashley not only serves locally in her community but has also served globally in Poland and Haiti alongside her husband. Ashley understands the importance of the church in a child’s life. If she is not at church or serving in the community, she’s hanging out with girlfriends or with her husband and four children in Cincinnati, OH.

Belinda Knight

Belinda Knight comes to the Stadia team with over 15 years of bookkeeping experience. After employment at a Fortune 500 company for 9 years, Belinda started providing freelance bookkeeping and project management services which allowed time flexibility for her to support her husband’s church planting efforts in Morgantown, WV, and then again in Olympia, WA. With her primary church planting role historically focusing on children’s ministry, Belinda is excited to be a part of the Stadia team and shares her passion for reaching kids with the good news of Jesus!

Ben Cachiaras

Ben Cachiaras is from Minnesota, ministered in Tennessee, and has served since 1997 as Lead Pastor with Mountain Christian Church near Baltimore, Maryland.  A graduate of Minnesota Bible College (renamed Crossroads College), he has studied at Bethel Theological Seminary and Fuller Theological Seminary, and graduated with the Master of Divinity degree from Emmanuel Christian Seminary where he is currently working on his Doctor of Ministry final project.  Ben has served on Boards for Emmanuel Christian Seminary, Milligan College, Standard Publishing as well Contributing Editor with Christian Standard and President of the North American Christian Convention. He is the co-founder of MOVE Northeast, a church planting network.

With its beginnings in 1824, the story of the Mountain Church is remarkable. The Northeast is a vital mission field with a high concentration of unchurched people, and God is using Mountain to make a regional and global impact. With a mission to make disciples who love God, love people, and serve the world, Mountain is known for its impact in the local community and as a multi-ethnic, multi-site church of over 6000 that gathers in four locations. One campus is also a community center with a focus on changing the trajectory of under-resourced children.

Ben and his wife Karla, have three awesome children, Nathan, Andrew, and Ellie. He has an irrational devotion to his Minnesota Vikings, bats around a lot of tennis balls, gets a kick out of skiing on water and snow, and remembers when he did more rock climbing. Most of all, he loves his family, has a passion for preaching and leadership, and wants to build Jesus-shaped communities that draw people to the love of God.

Brandon Grant

Brandon Grant is the lead pastor of Rise City Church in Lakeside, CA (East County San Diego). He and his wife, Jamie, moved out west from IL to plant the church through Stadia in 2013. Since its launch, Rise City has been used by God to see over 350 people baptized, the planting of 9 new churches (6 in SD, 2 in Bolivia, 1 in Peru), and an average weekly attendance of over 1,000, Brandon and Jamie have four children—Elyse, Shepherd, Hope, and Connor.

Chuck Mingo

Chuck is the founder of Courageous Love, an organization built to unite and ignite people for racial justice through programming that takes participants through life-changing moments of racial healing. Through his passion for justice and racial reconciliation, Chuck has transformed a congregational training into a national movement with hub cities emerging throughout the country. Chuck’s leadership through Courageous Love has inspired and mobilized thousands from diverse backgrounds around the nation and even the world.

In addition to leading Courageous Love, Chuck teaches and consults for churches and organizations around the country on a variety of topics related to race relations and racial justice.

For 13 years, Chuck has served as a teaching pastor at one of the largest churches in America, Crossroads Church. Prior to being a pastor, Chuck spent nine years in the corporate world at Procter & Gamble. He earned his Bachelors in Business Administration at Duquesne University. Chuck is married with three children and calls Cincinnati, Ohio home.

Courtney Wright

With a degree in business, Courtney spent almost 30 years in corporate America and has held many officer and managerial-level positions. She worked for a Fortune 100 company, for 26 years and for a Georgia-based domestic insurance company, where she held the positions of Vice President of Sales and President for several years. Her list of accomplishments is numerous and her performance stellar, in her field.  She was ranked in the top 2% of all Managers and Leaders for over 20 years.

After much deliberation, Courtney made the pivotal decision to leave corporate America to work with her husband in their family-owned business, the Wright Financial Group, LLC as a licensed Principal, Stockbroker, and Financial Advisor. The Wright Financial Group offers financial counseling, retirement planning, and investment advising to consumers and small to mid-size corporations.

Courtney has always served in ministry, in her local church. In 2012, Courtney began to follow her life’s purpose and became the Pastor of Apostolic Ministries at Word of Faith Family Worship Cathedral and the Chief Operating Officer of Christian Alliance of Pastors, Inc. (CAP).  In this capacity, she is responsible for providing strategic oversight and creating organizational programming and structure for CAP which supports Church Planters and incumbent Pastors of churches. She is the Dean of the Dale C. Bronner Institute of Ministry and Leadership Development, which provides theological and spiritual formation education to Pastors, Ministers, and Church Leaders. She is also a Certified Life-forming Leadership Coach, who does Executive Coaching with selected clients.

Daniel Escobar

Daniel Escobar was born and raised in Baja California, Mexico.  He relocated to Virginia in 2002, two years after getting married.  He first planted Iglesia La Red in Williamsburg, Virginia in 2005.  Seven years later he and his family moved to Washington DC to plant the second church in 2015. In 2017, he and his wife founded La Red Network, which is a church planting network in the US and Latin America that he is the director of.  This is now his main focus in ministry. La Red Network has taken him many places around the world and allowed him to live in Mexico and Argentina. He is currently a business owner in different industries in the private and government sectors. He is residing in Williamsburg, Virginia with his wife Misty and their three kids, Michelle, Samuel and Julian.

Daniel Yang

Daniel is the Director of the Send Institute, leading and overseeing all of its initiatives. Prior to directing the institute, he planted a church in Toronto where he also helped recruit, assess, and train church planters through the Send Network and the Release Initiative. Daniel has served on various church staff including Northwood Church, led by Bob Roberts Jr., where he was trained as a church planter and involved in global and multi-faith engagement. Prior to church planting, Daniel was an engineer for eighty ears. He earned an M.Div. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Michigan, and is currently a Ph.D.Intercultural Studies student at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is also the co-author of the upcoming book Inalienable: How Marginalized Kingdom Voices Can Help Save the American Church (InterVarsity, May 2022).

Doug Foltz

Doug is a fundraising team member for Stadia, give through his campaign here.

Doug is a self-proclaimed church planting junkie and has been involved with church planting most of his adult life. He helped plant LifePointe Christian Church in Charlotte, NC in 2004 and has served as a Startup Coach since 2008. His passion is to help church planters accelerate their vision to reach the lost. In his spare time, Doug enjoys gardening, traveling, Illinois basketball, and coaching his kids’ sports teams. His greatest supporter is his wife, Amanda. Together, they live in Illinois, where they have two kids, Will and Kate.

Emily Diaz

Emily is a fundraising team member for Stadia, give through her campaign here.

After years of preparing, planning, and praying, Emily and her husband, Abiel, planted Ciudad de Gracia, a Spanish-speaking Stadia church in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in January of 2017. Having first-hand experience of starting churches, Emily’s desire is to partner with church planters to help them be the very best for their community. Her other full-time job is being mom to the very best four kids: Gabriel, Lucas, Liliana and Marco.

Ethan Magness

Ethan is the Senior Pastor at First Christian of Johnson City, Tennessee. Ethan is originally from Elizabethton, Tennessee, and graduated from Swarthmore College. He received his Master of Divinity from Emmanuel Christian Seminary and served for 10 years at Mountain Christian Church in Joppa, Maryland.

Ethan founded and directs the Semester in Ministry program at Milligan College where he serves as an adjunct professor.

Greg Nettle

Devoted to a God-given passion for The Church and its responsibility to start new churches—churches specifically designed to reach out to children at physical and spiritual risk—Greg Nettle serves as President of Stadia Church Planting. As a visionary and catalytic leader, Greg has led Stadia from planting a handful of churches to planting more than 350 churches around the globe in 2020. Under his leadership, Stadia has developed strategic partnerships with like-minded organizations such as Compassion International and has refined its portfolio of unique and highly effective church planting services, positioning the organization for continued exponential growth.

Prior to his time at Stadia, Greg served as leader of the RiverTree Movement in Ohio for 25 years. His sense of adventure has taken him around the world as he has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, Cotopaxi, and Whitney (among others) to raise funds to bless children on the margins of society.

Greg’s most important partner in life is his wife, Julie, as they lead their children, Tabitha and Elijah, to fall deeply in love with Jesus. He is an author, speaker, and consultant as an agent of change in the global church and has co-authored three books: Small Matters, in collaboration with Compassion International President Jimmy Mellado, One Of, and Disciples Who Make Disciples.

Heidy Tandy

Heidy is a fundraising team member for Stadia, give through her campaign here.

Heidy Tandy serves on the Stadia Team as the Senior Director of Discovery. Through her experiences in 18 years in higher education and church leadership, Heidy helps guide leaders to discern, in the context of community, their calling, competencies, readiness and role in starting a new church. She also is passionate about empowering women to thrive on the journey of starting a new church. Heidy has been married to her husband Josh for 17 years and they have 2 rambunctious and awesome children.

Hoon Kim

Hoon is the lead pastor of Anthem Church, which he launched with his wife Shelly in September 2021 in Metuchen, NJ. Hoon and Shelly have been married for 18 years and are the proud parents of three sons; Sean, Liam, and Colin. Hoon graduated with an Industrial Engineering degree from Lehigh University and received his Masters of Divinity from Westminster Theological Seminar in Glenside, PA. He has been in ministry for 25 years as a speaker, writer, and church planter and is the author of Creative Bible Lessons in Genesis (Zondervan), 365 Meditations for Teens, and has written for Youth Worker Journal, and the Journal of Student Ministries. Growing up in Italy, Hoon developed a love for cooking and (European) football and enjoys fly fishing and spending time with his family.

Janie Mehaffey

Janie is a fundraising team member for Stadia, give through her campaign here.

Champion of People. Advocate for Clarity. Celebrator of God’s work through starting thriving, growing, multiplying churches for the next generation. Janie serves the Stadia team to create a relationship-focused, high-impact culture that moves us all toward a world where Every Child Has a Church. With over 30 years of experience, Janie has served as Communications Director of Traders Point Christian Church in Indianapolis and as a Communications Strategist with Fishhook, an innovative creative services company that consults with churches of all sizes across the country. She has worked with church planting teams in Manchester, CT, and Miami, FL, and a wide spectrum of non-profit organizations, including Exponential Network, the American Diabetes Association and Kappa Delta Sorority. She and her husband, Matt, live in Pittsburgh, PA, with their two sons, who are originally from Taiwan.

Jason Lantz

Jason and Suzi Lantz and their kids Caris and JJ live in Canton, Ohio. The Lantzes have spent over 20 years in the Canton area helping people live a sent life with Jesus. Jason started a church in 2008 called LoveCanton focused on missional disciple-making and in 2014 became the Vision Leader of RiverTree Christian Church. RiverTree is a growing movement of churches on mission to send 20,000 people who wake up for the light of Jesus. Most days you can find Jason and Suzi coaching area leaders to help them dream and grow in maximum health and influence: Suzi as a Partner with GiANT (giantworldwide.com), and Jason through the One Center for Leadership (onecentercanton.com) in Canton. They love living in and serving Stark County where God is clearly up to something bigger than themselves.

Jeff Bennett

Jeff is a fundraising team member for Stadia, give through his campaign here.

Jeff’s role is focused on increasing Stadia’s capacity to make a greater impact in U.S. church planting. He has partnered in planting churches in Georgia, across the U.S. and globally. Jeff lives in the Atlanta area with his wife, Lisa, and two daughters, Madison and Macy.

John Wasem

John has been engaged in the starting of new churches since 1983 as a strategist, coach, professor, and concept pioneer. He has filled a variety of roles with Stadia since 2004. John is approaching 50 years of ordained ministry having led churches in 5 locations – one of which he planted in 1994. He and his wife, Leslie, live in Candler, NC, and have 3 married children and 6 grandchildren.

José William Portillo

Pastor en Vive Charlotte Church.

Joshua Chavez

Joshua is a fundraising team member of Stadia, give through his campaign here.

Joshua Chavez serves as the Lead Pastor of Revive Church, a rapidly growing multi-ethnic, multi-generational, multi–site church in Los Angeles, CA. In addition to leading this church community, Joshua has also served as a traveling Worship Leader and has led worship nationwide with organizations such as Promise Keepers, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Urban Youth Workers Institute, Maranatha Music, and others. Joshua is passionate about serving the local church. He is dedicated to partnering with local churches, church planters, and church planting teams to strengthen and train them in creating healthy Gospel-Centered, Community Engaging, Kingdom Advancing Churches and Ministries. Joshua his wife Noemi and two boys live in Long Beach, CA. They are passionate Jesus freaks and live on mission to make Jesus more famous everywhere they go.

Julie Bullock Earp

Julie Bullock Earp is a senior generosity consultant with Generis, a team of professionals who influence churches and other faith-based organizations across the country in generosity development. She has led over 250 major giving initiatives for churches and organizations of all sizes and worship styles all across the country. Prior to joining Generis in 2009, Julie was the pastor for stewardship and generosity at Community Christian Church, a multisite church with 10 campus locations in the Chicagoland area. While on staff at Community, Julie also served as the director of development for the NewThing church planting network as a generosity and fundraising coach for churches desiring to go multisite. In addition, Julie has previously served as the director of development for Wheaton College, leading a team of advancement professionals in a $160 million capital campaign and has strong experience in gift planning and charitable estate planning. Julie, her husband Jud, and their children Jayma and Jace reside in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area, where Jud raises beef cattle and where they are involved in their church. They enjoy both the calm setting of life on the ranch as well as the bustling adventure of life on the road. They are passionate about church planting and are grateful to be aiding to advance the mission of Stadia to ensure every child has a church!

Katelynn Batts

Katelynn is a fundraising team member for Stadia, give through her campaign here.

Katelynn lives outside of Raleigh, NC with her husband, Travis, and their two pets. Katelynn has served in the youth ministry of a local church plant for the past 6 years and is passionate about investing the in next generation. Katelynn graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in 2022 which has equipped her to leverage her skills of strategy and execution for the greatest Kingdom Impact. In her free time, Katelynn loves to read, play board games, and visit her family in Wilmington, NC.

Kristin Scates

Kristin is a fundraising team member for Stadia, give through her campaign here.

Kristin lives with her husband and two children in De Soto, KS. Kristin has been with Stadia since September 2020 but before joining the Stadia team, Kristin held various roles and spent several years serving at Calvary Christian Church in Bellevue, NE. Kristin’s first experience with church planting was when her family helped launch a church in Fishhawk, FL that became the church she grew up in!

Laura Pedroni

Laura is a fundraising team member for Stadia, give through her campaign here.

Laura served her community as a former high school German teacher for 12 years before joining Stadia’s Advancement Team. Her and her husband, Guillermo, reside in Bolingbrook, Illinois, and have two children, Karmina and Gabriel. With this being her first experience in church planting, she feels so blessed to have been given the opportunity to advance God’s Kingdom through her work with Stadia. When Laura and her family are not visiting relatives, they enjoy traveling to various destinations throughout the United States.

Lauren Hart

Lauren is a fundraising team member for Stadia, give through her campaign here.

Before joining Stadia, Lauren spent several years as a Creative Director and Student Ministry Coordinator at a mega-church. She’s a Graphic Designer and User Experience Designer, but her years working with students make her really fun at dance parties…and slightly addicted to candy. Lauren loves the next generation and loves being able to help start new healthy churches where they can know Jesus. Lauren and her husband currently live in Kansas City, where she enjoys spending time with her dogs, thrifting, and making tacos!

Leilani Sizemore

Leilani lives with her husband and two children in Dallas, GA. Leilani is a former Stadia employee, as well as a church planter. She and her husband planted Creekside Church in September 2019, and she currently serves on staff as Executive Pastor. In her spare time, she loves to run and listen to podcasts!

Lisa Bennett

Story lover who grew up a Preacher’s Kid. Fell in love with and married her college crush, then set off for the following 8 years of ministry. Enter Church Planting: which led her to this current spot on the timeline—another 17 years down the road with lots more stories to tell.  PanCan survivor who fully understands the weight of that statement.  Partner to husband, Jeff, on the Bennett Front of Global Engagement (i.e. Life and all it demands), Hosting Stadia’s Plant Strong Podcast, and treasuring the fact that her favorite people ever, Madi and Macy, call me mom.

Lungz Makaula

Lungz is a fundraising team member for Stadia, give through his campaign here.

Lungz Makaula is the Founder and Lead Pastor of SOZO City Church in Chicago. Having been in ministry for 15 years in South Africa, Australia & the US, Lungz brings a global perspective to his passion for building the Church and building people’s lives. Lungz has been married to Kristin since 2013 and together they are brilliant thinkers, strategists, leaders, and dynamic communicators, who deeply love Jesus, their sons & the local church.

Maia Mastoridis

Maia is a fundraising team member for Stadia, give through her campaign here.

Prior to joining the Stadia team, Maia worked in community mental health. Having grown up as a child in the church herself, Maia is passionate about people meeting Jesus and having an enriching community within a local church. As a systems-builder, lifelong learner, and empathetic Enneagram 2, Maia enjoys using her skills and strengths to support the Stadia team in starting new thriving, growing, and multiplying churches for the next generation. Maia and her husband live in the Tennessee mountains and enjoy exploring new trails with their pup, rewatching their favorite shows, and trying almost every new product from Trader Joe’s.

Mapi Byler

Mapi was born and raised in Lima, Peru.  At age 23, she moved to Akron, Ohio to pursue her MBA at the University of Akron, where she met her now husband, Chris. Together they have 3 girls, Alexa, Camila, and Ellie Rose. Chris was who introduced Mapi to Christ. Ever since then, Mapi has pursued knowing more about Jesus, his unending love and grace.

After she finished her MBA, Mapi worked for a company that specialized in fundraising, managing the overall direction of specific nonprofit organization’s accounts.  After the birth of her third child, she became a full-time mom and a health and wellness coach.  Mapi felt a call to seek the Lord in 2016 and she was introduced to a youth center in the area of Kenmore, called First Glance, whose mission is to connect students to Christ and the church through real, loving, and non-threatening avenues.  She became a regular volunteer at First Glance and learned it is our job to love people and the Holy Spirit’s job to convict, the importance of making disciples, saturating the city with the word of God and being obedient to the next step while surrendering it all to Jesus.  In connecting with students, Mapi realized she has a fire inside to serve God while growing His kingdom on earth.  In response to God’s calling, in 2020 Mapi and her family moved from the suburbs (Uniontown) to the city of Kenmore and started homeschooling her kids, while working with Stadia and continued volunteering at First Glance.

Mapi’s heart beats for sharing Jesus with anyone that she comes in contact with and loves people like Jesus would.  Her favorite part of the day is the time she spends with Jesus, whether it is sitting on her favorite chair at home with a hot cup of coffee and His word on her hands, or worshipping Jesus while she drives through the city.   Prayer and worship have become her favorite things.  And Jesus is her favorite to be with!

Mary Kamau

Co-founder and Executive Director of Institutional Development and Strategy at Missions of Hope International (MOHI) based in Nairobi, Kenya. MOHI is a leader in holistic ministry among the most vulnerable communities in Kenya and beyond. Currently working in 30 locations with nearly 23,000 children getting quality Christian education and 26 church plants.
Married to Dr. Wallace Kamau and mother of 3 biological children and one foster daughter.

Matt Murphy

Matt is a fundraising team member for Stadia, give through his campaign here.

Matt lives in North Beach, MD and is married to Becky Murphy with two kids, Ariella & Rex, and one dog: Ravenclaw. Matt has been a part of four church plants in the DC/Baltimore metro area. Matt was previously the Executive Pastor for Revolution Church in Annapolis, MD, and before that, was the Project Manager for the Siemens Center for Applied Medical Imaging MRI R&D group at Johns Hopkins University.

Mo Hofman

With heavy hearts, we share the passing of our treasured teammate, Mo Hofman. We are so fortunate to have known Mo and will forever be changed by the ways she loved Jesus and valued people. As a Stadia Project Manager, Mo was instrumental in starting many new churches. Her influence and impact on those works continue, and her example and legacy are to be celebrated. We trust that she was met with, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

Mo Hofman has over 15 years’ experience in organizational planning, team development, and maximizing project goals, with  6+ years specifically in church planting, multisite, and church logistics. She loves the church and enjoys the behind-the-scenes work in sharing the gospel.  In her spare time, you will find her walking her dog Shadow, crocheting blankets, working out with friends, and on the field cheering for her kids at their sports events.  Mo and Aaron have been married since 2001 and have two teenagers Maddie and Austin.

Mozart Dixon Jr.

Mo is a fundraising team member for Stadia, give through his campaign here.

Mozart Dixon has been in vocational ministry for 14 years in various capacities from college ministry to church planting. In 2016 Mozart co-planted a church in Lincoln, NE to reach college students and the surrounding community. That church multiplied into 3 more church plants before Mozart and his family moved to NYC to see the multiethnic Kingdom multiplied through directing church planting in the Northeast for the Christian and Missionary Alliance.  He holds a Master’s in Christian Studies and is currently working on his D.Min. through Alliance Theological Seminary. Mozart enjoys his family, friends, basketball, and eating good food. He lives in the Harlem neighborhood of NYC with his wife, Colleen, their daughters (Evangeline and Misha), and sons (Uriah and Hayes).

Nanci Ricks

Trained as a Pediatric Physical Therapist, worked as an Associate Pastor of a church plant in Denver, Colorado as well as the President of an International Non-Profit, Nanci is a woman with many talents and interests. She began her professional life working with burn survivors at Children’s Hospital and then decided to focus on her own children full time as a homeschooling mother of 4. With a strong desire to see the world transformed, Nanci has mentored and mobilized many young leaders to look beyond their circumstances and make positive changes in the world. For 30 years she has developed the young adult burn survivors as potential future leaders. Nanci also co-founded and directed the Dalit Freedom Network (DFN), a nonprofit organization dedicated to the emancipation of India’s Dalit. Then, as Associate Pastor, Nanci directed the small groups program, outreach, pastoral care, finances, and spoke on a regular basis.

Currently, Nanci is the President of Empart USA, a global non-profit that aims to transform 100,000 communities in South Asia by 2030. While many years have passed since her first journey to the subcontinent of India, her passion for India has continued as Nanci has made dozens of trips to all parts of India. She has testified before the US Congress as well as presented to large and small Indian and American audiences, interest groups, universities, and churches. Nanci is the author of a photographic devotional book, To Love the Slumdog. Through her heartfelt presentations, thousands have been stirred to action.

She is a passionate leader, developer, visionary strategist, and facilitator. As an engaging communicator, Nanci is the consummate storyteller. As an avid photographer, creative, cyclist, reader, and adventurer; she is never without somewhere to engage in life. Most importantly, she is the mother of 4 grown children, 3 children-in-law, and “Gigi” to three beautiful babies with two more “on the way”!

Nick Boring

Before arriving as Stadia’s Collaboration Catalyst, Nick served 20 years in corporate America as a Sales & Marketing executive at Fortune 500 companies. He left the corporate arena in 2003 and joined the staff of Kensington Community Church, in Troy, MI, where he served as their Director of Church Planting. Most recently, Nick served as the U.S. Catalyst for Vision360 and led a team of 12 City Catalysts across the U.S. focused on collaborative church planting. Nick travels extensively throughout the U.S., networking, connecting and empowering collaboration between churches of many tribes, networks, church planters and church planting teams.

Sam Chacko

Sam is a fundraising team member of Stadia, give through his campaign here.

Sam Chacko serves as the Lead Pastor at LOFT City Church in Richardson, TX. He helped plant the church in 2011 and has seen the church become a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural church community. Sam is a second-generation Indian American and a third-generation pastor. He’s also been a bi-vocational church planter, having served 15 years on staff at Marketplace Ministries. Church planting is something near and dear to Sam and his family. He has a heart to see more minority-led multi-ethnic church plants and to see bi-vocational pastors flourish in ministry.

He serves on the board of the Ethnos Network (a decentralized, global church planting network that catalyzes multiethnic church plants in urban spaces around universities), Advance Initiative (a ministry that exists to see a movement of gospel-centered, multiethnic churches planted by or among Indian Americans) and Threaded (a ministry committed to inspiring relationships, reconciliation, and collaborative action among the diverse body of Christ).

Sam has been married to Ann since 2003, and God has blessed them with three incredible children—Nicole, Timothy, & Micah. In his free time, he enjoys reading, traveling and enjoying all sports connected to Philadelphia (Eagles, Sixers, Phillies).  Yes, he is an Eagles fan in Cowboys territory!

Steve Porter

Steve Porter has been married for 36 years to Pam. They have three married children and five grandchildren. He has a BS in Business Administration from Youngstown State University with degrees in Accounting and Business Management. He started his career at Central Coated Products, Inc. in Alliance Ohio in August 1982 and currently he is a Board Member, Vice President, and Treasurer. He owns the business with a business partner, his wife, and his two sons. Steve currently serves as Board President for Christian Children’s Home of Ohio and has been on the board since 2000. Steve is an avid golfer, fisherman and enjoys anything that involves his family.

Tabitha Tuccillo

Tabitha is a fundraising team member for Stadia; give through her campaign here.

Tabitha resides in Milledgeville, GA with her husband, Joey, and son, Luke! But don’t let that fool you, she was born in Ohio and claims all their sports’ teams. From being involved in the church her whole life, Tabitha knows the impact and importance the church has on the next generation. You can find Tabby at a coffee shop, shopping at TJMaxx, serving in student ministry with Joey, or hanging out with her family on any day. She finds her passion in connecting and forming relationships to help people understand the hope that Jesus has for their lives.

Tim Celek

Tim is a fundraising team member for Stadia, give through his campaign here.

Tim lives in Costa Mesa, CA with his wife of 40+ years, Sue. In 1988, Tim planted The Crossing Church, and over 30 years had the opportunity to see the Crossing grow, reflect, and impact the coastal community of Orange County. On the church’s 30th birthday, Tim intentionally handed off leadership of The Crossing Church. During Tim’s tenure, The Crossing Church resourced 5 new churches, which makes Tim’s role of Senior Director of New Church Growth with Stadia the perfect fit for this Harley-loving church planter. Tim also enjoys sailboat racing, and when he isn’t on boats or motorcycles, he loves to spend time biking and building Legos with his grandsons (and their moms, who happen to be Tim’s daughters!)

Valarie Grimes

Valarie Grimes is a Pastor of the church plant Radiant Church Savannah, in Savannah, GA. She is an international speaker, a Registered Nurse, and currently pursuing her Doctorate in Ministry from South University. Her most important roles, however, are the ones she holds in her family as a wife, mother, sister, and grandmother. She is married to Rahman Grimes, mother of two, and grandmother of two. Her goal is to influence others to become Christ’s followers and live out their purpose.

Yucan Chiu

Born in Chicago to parents of Chinese descent, Yucan came to understand and experience Jesus in his teenage years while in California. His first experiences in planting new faith communities informally began in his teenage years, growing into more “formal” planting in his early twenties; his latest church plant is in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Yucan is also the founding director of the Ethnos Network, a decentralized, global church planting network that catalyzes multiethnic church plants in urban spaces around universities. Additionally, Yucan serves as a chaplain at Rutgers University for graduate students and faculty (through the ministry of Intervarsity), and a church plant trainer for City to City, New York region. He holds bachelor’s degrees in sociology and biology (University of California, San Diego), and graduate degrees in theology, urban Studies, and missiology (M.Div, Talbot School of Theology, D.Min. Bakke Graduate University).  He has been married for twenty years to Dr. Yen-Yen Chiu, and has two wonderful teenage daughters. In his free time, Yucan enjoys photography, food tours, running, art museums, and extended family.