Our team of experienced pastors and church leaders make the difference
Chemistry Staffing is made up of a group of church professionals that are passionate about helping churches and candidates make great long-term fits.
Co-Founders
Todd has invested over 30 years in serving churches, having served as a worship pastor for over 15 years, a church elder for more than a decade, and in various ministry leadership roles in both the business and non-profit sectors. As the original founder and developer of ChurchStaffing.com, Todd fundamentally changed the way thousands of churches search for pastors and staff on the internet. Most recently, Todd’s work with Leadership Network has provided him exposure to the innovative trends in today’s church and inside knowledge of how healthy churches operate and uses it to help churches find a healthy, long-term fit for their next team member. A graduate of Cedarville University, Todd lives in Bryan, OH with his wife, Dawn.
Matt has served the local church for over two decades as a youth pastor, church planter, and executive pastor. Originally from Baltimore, Matt currently lives in the Orlando, FL area with his wife Theresa, and has a B.S. in Youth Ministry from Nyack College and an M.Div. and MBA from Baylor University. Certified as an Urban Church Planter Coach by Redeemer City to City and as a StratOp facilitator by the Paterson Center, Matt has made a career of helping churches thrive through intentionality, clarity, and creating healthy cultures. He is convinced that a healthy church is led by a healthy team with great chemistry, and loves partnering with Chemistry’s churches to do great things for the Kingdom.
Church Coaches
Jason is an insightful, strategic leader with more than twenty-four years of experience in leading churches from the second chair. He has served churches in Middle Tennessee, South Mississippi, and North Texas. Jason is a synergist, who works to weave the strengths of the team together to achieve the church’s agreed-upon purpose. He brings a diverse set of business acumen and talents in leadership, management, analysis, and execution. Jason has earned Masters’ degrees in business, marriage and family counseling, and Christian education, as well as a Ph.D. in Human Capital Development. He recently received certifications in church consulting and church revitalization. Jason enjoys helping churches navigate the complexities inherent in growing staff teams. Currently, Jason lives in Midlothian, TX with his wife Sabra and four teenage children.
Allan has been involved in church ministry for the past 30 years in a variety of roles and settings: church planter, Pastor of Disciple Making and Adult Ministries, Executive Pastor and Coach/Consultant. Allan has experienced many transitions in ministry from a variety of different perspectives. He understands that as painful and stressful transitions can be, they have the potential to transform you more than most things can! Allan, along with his wife of 33 years, Gloria, young adult daughter, and Luna (family Lhasa Apso), lives in Jacksonville, Florida. His son serves as a pastor in Virginia Beach with his wife and daughter. Allan and his family are originally from Canada, where he earned his Master’s in Biblical Studies (Regent College) and Doctorate in Missional Leadership (Carey). Additionally, he is certified as an MBTI, CPI 260 and StratOp Practitioner, and as a Church Unique and God Dreams Navigator. He is an avid runner who loves to hang out with family and friends and is committed to serving pastors and local churches to help them to live out their unique calling.
Mark Maestas
church coach
Mark Maestas is an innovated and passionate Pastor with over 20 years of experience leading at a high level. He is known for both building and bringing teams to their full potential with his passionate vision and collaborative leadership. In 2002, Mark and his wife, Jamie, founded Maestas Consulting that specializes in helping both Churches and Non-profits. Mark has worked on Executive Teams at several churches to include Sagebrush, Southeast Christian (Denver), and Journey Church. Mark graduated from Howard Payne University (summa cum laude) and Denver Seminary (magna cum laude). He currently lives in Bloomington, IL with his wife and three sons.
Greg Moore
Church Coach
Greg is passionate about coming alongside the local church at large to help it revitalize, move forward, gain momentum, and thrive despite the challenges of today’s world. He graduated with a B.S. in Business from Eastern Illinois University, an M.B.A. from Lewis University and a Master of Divinity from Michigan Theological Seminary (Now Moody Seminary). After 22 years in the corporate world, Greg answered the call to full-time ministry and left his career to become the small groups pastor at a church in metro Detroit where he had the opportunity to build a small group ministry from scratch and see it grow over his 13-year tenure to include thousands of people being led by hundreds of small group leaders. Most recently, Greg served six years as an executive pastor at a church located in suburban Indianapolis where he focused on putting the right strategies, people, plans, processes, and systems in place to accomplish the vision of the church while at the same time shepherding the staff. Greg and his wife Paula currently live in Avon, Indiana. They have three grown children and eight grandchildren.
Tim Nations serves as a Church Coach at Chemistry. He most recently served as the Director of Facilitation and Leadership Community Director at Leadership Network. Tim has served in full-time ministry in churches across the north Texas area for over 15 years. He brings with him broad experience in communication, organization, planning, and facilitation.
Dan Navarra has over fifteen years of experience in vocational ministry in sunny California. He received his undergraduate degree from CSU East Bay in Philosophy with a Religious Emphasis before going on to finish his Masters of Divinity at Fuller Theological Seminary in 2015. In addition to being a pastor, Dan has expertise specializing in church finances, HR, and Youth Pastor compensation; having run the largest-ever national compensation survey of over 4,000 Youth Pastors to-date. His work with Youth Pastors has been featured at Church Law & Tax, the National Network of Youth Ministries, and he’s held coaching calls all over the country to help Youth Pastors turn their calling into a sustainable career. He and his family of five reside in the Central Valley of California where they can access the ocean, ski slopes, lake cabin, and desert all within a two-hour drive.
Kelly Norris has nearly 30 years of experience in Children’s, Operations, Communications, Church Planting, Creative Arts, Associate, and Executive Pastoral positions. She is also the owner of Kelability, LLC, a Kingdom-minded company supporting and developing ministries and leaders. She and her family of five reside in central Ohio. Her work with Chemistry Staffing allows Kelly the opportunity to use her diverse coaching and ministry background to help candidates navigate their journey of finding the right position and to help churches find the right candidate for a long-term, healthy fit.
Dave Ronne
CHURCH Coach
Dave Ronne has been leading churches in the areas of worship, arts, and communication for over 30 years. He has served in several roles, including senior leader, teaching pastor, worship leader, and next gen mentor. For the past 26 years he has served as Creative Arts Lead at 12Stone Church outside of Atlanta. Dave has extensive experience, from serving churches as small as 120 people to presently serving at one of the largest multisite churches in Atlanta. He has led churches through all the changes that have come over the past three decades, from different worship styles to navigating advances in technology and more. Dave loves helping churches think through and problem solve the frequent complexities of communicating, worship, and spotting and developing talent.
Julie has always had a passion for growing healthy organizations, and she has dedicated much of the last 24 years to that very task. After spending many years focused on growing her own successful business in mortgage lending and real estate in California, Julie began her service in ministry in 2007. Working at Saddleback Church enabled her to use her gifts to help lead the church, training ministry leaders and staff at all 19 campuses and as well as 1000s of churches through the Purpose Driven network. Julie has helped develop and supervise small and large church staff and has helped churches from many denominations, from all over the world, with the setting and execution of strategic goals. Her latest role being called to serve as Executive Pastor in a local Colorado church. Julie’s infectious passion for Jesus and His Bride comes across just as much as her knowledge and excitement for building strong, long-lasting teams.
Lee Stephenson has served the local church for nearly 25 years as a youth pastor, young adults pastor, and church planter. Most recently, he has spent the last seven years leading Converge as the National Vice-President of Church Planting. Currently, Lee resides in Orlando, Florida, with his wife Melissa and three kids where he leads a multi-congregational church he planted in 2018. Lee also operates as the owner of The Church Guru, a pastoral coaching company. Lee holds both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Christian/pastoral ministry along with certifications in DISC personality instruments, StratOp, Auxano (God Dreams and Church Unique Navigator), and in non-profit transformational leadership from the University of Notre Dame. Lee has made a career of helping the local church stay on mission and loves helping churches find the right staffing fit to increase Kingdom impact.
Jen has served small, medium, large, and multi-site congregations and has nearly 25 years of ministry experience. She is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) through the International Coaching Federation and has over 1000 hours of coaching staff and church members which makes her uniquely qualified to supervise staff and coach churches to their next steps in ministry. Jennifer’s long-term goal is simply to serve The church. She is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church and met her husband, Warren, at Duke Divinity School. They are the proud parents of Theadora, an elementary student in Hershey, PA.
Steve VanPoolen
Church Coach
Steve is currently helping churches thrive as organizations, pursuing his PhD in Organizational Leadership from Concordia University (24′ candidate), and running two coffee-related family businesses with his wife and daughters! Growing up in a Christian household, God instilled in Steve a love for people, place, and organizations. After getting his B.A. in Business Administration from Calvin University and working in several businesses, Steve was called to serve as Executive Pastor at Crossroads Bible Church, where he spent nearly 11 years watching God move and the church grow. During that time Steve earned his M.A. in Ministry Leadership from Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, developing a love for the church as an organization, for para-church ministries, and for the health of the people that serve them.
Operations
Gwendolyn Hays
Chemistry
Coordinator
Gwendolyn Hays has served the local church as Children’s Minister, Administrative Staff, Youth Minister, and various other roles for the past 28 years. Having a parent in ministry, she’s been involved in her local church since childhood. She is passionate about supporting ministry leaders and helping them thrive. As an empty nester, she enjoys gardening, travel, and community involvement.
Kate Lincoln
Operations
Manager
Kate was born and raised in South Carolina, growing up in Summerton before heading off to the bright lights of Columbia to attend the University of South Carolina where she received her Bachelor’s in Communications and Public Relations. She continued on to earn a Master’s in Healthcare Administration and served in that field for six years. Kate and her husband, Stephen, have been married for 18 years, have 3 children, and are active in their church’s student ministry. Kate serves as Chemistry’s Operations Manager, coordinating schedules, herding cats, and making sure that the details get handled and deadlines are met. Her favorite part of working at Chemistry is helping both the candidates and Chemistry staff, watching the process work as people find their place.
Chris Mattix
Chemistry
Coordinator
Over the past 20 years, Chris has had the privilege to partner with leaders ranging from executives of large companies to pastors of small local churches. She knows that each leader needs a partner to encourage their leadership, help them focus their time and energy on the things only they could do, and stay organized, efficient, and effective all at the same time. Chris has previously served as a Director of Senior Pastors at Leadership Network, a Leadership Development Coordinator for her local church, as well as an Internal Operations Manager for a coaching and consulting organization. She lives in Coastal Virginia with her husband and two rescue labs. Her greatest leadership moments, though, have come from being a mom to their three fabulous daughters as they all navigate life together trusting in the One who holds it all together.
Candidate Relations
Kim Bobb
Candidate
Advancement
Coach
Kim has served in the local church for 20 years as both a Kids Pastor and a Family Pastor. She is passionate about building teams, coaching, mentoring other leaders and helping the church come alongside families to help them grow. Kim is exceptionally creative and loves to help churches discover how to best use their facilities for the kind of ministry they feel called to do. Additionally, Kim shepherds a team of Kids & Family Leaders from all across Central Ohio and empowers them to lead well. Kim & her husband of 18 years, Nick, live in central Ohio with their 2 daughters. In her free time, Kim enjoys riding her horses and teaching others to ride.
Holli Lehman
Recruitment
Manager
From a young age, Holli has served in the local church, first as a pianist/vocalist and most recently as a Human Resources Manager. With a background in Marketing, Recruitment, and Human Resources, as well as a love for Jesus and the church, Holli supports Chemistry Staffing as the Recruitment Manager. She aids the team in developing new strategies to find great candidates and then support them as they navigate their search process. Holli lives in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, PA with her husband, Shawn, who is a pastor, their two daughters Ruthie and Emma, and their faithful dog, Fynnigan. She loves reading, weight-lifting, spending time in nature, and can almost always be found with a cup of coffee in hand!
Joy McBurney
Position Marketing
Coordinator
Joy has an extensive background in varied ministry roles within the church, as well as more than a decade of experience in communications and graphic design for churches, non-profits, and businesses around the country. Her passion is seeing people healthy and fulfilling God’s call. She loves the sometimes surprising ways that God works and enjoys watching Him unfold His plan. Joy lives in central Ohio with her husband, two kids, and two cats. Some of her favorite things are dark roast coffee and hanging out with family and friends.
Trevin Rhoades
Candidate Research
& Development
Trevin’s helps Chemistry by identifying and connecting the right people with current opportunities. He is currently the Production Manager at Christian Life Center in Dayton, OH, and is a graduate of Cedarville University with dual degrees in Worship and Digital Media. Trevin’s passion is church leadership and creating healthy cultures.
Candidate Coaches
Eric Bergen
Candidate Coach
Eric provides business and executive coaching to churches and non-profit teams, helping them leverage their ministries and teams for expanded impact in their communities. He recently retired as Executive Pastor of Rolling Hills Church in El Dorado Hills, CA. In addition to the 5 years he served as an executive pastor, Eric has 20+ years of experience as an executive leader at several large health insurance companies, has been a business coach, and serves on several non-profit boards. Over his career, Eric has built and lead teams in a collaborative and successful way which achieved their goals and grew their businesses and ministries. Eric graduated from Westmont College with a history degree and received his Master’s in Health Administration from the University of Colorado. Over the past decade, he has received additional training on coaching, facilitating and team building. He is an avid reader/listener of leadership books and podcasts. Eric and his wife Debbie live in Folsom, CA and have four grown children. Debbie works as a bookkeeper for a Folsom-based company. They enjoy cycling, pickleball and travel.
Brent Brooks
Candidate Coach
Brent has spent over 4 decades serving in a wide variety of ministry roles. For 39 years he has served four local churches as a church planting founding pastor or senior lead pastor. These churches have ranged in age from brand new to 50 years old and in size from 7 couples meeting in a living room to 1,200 people meeting In a brand new building on 50 acres in a church with no majority race. His ministry has taken him from the East Coast to the West Coast. In addition, he has served as the mentor/coach of 8 additional church plants and has served as a church consultant, seminary professor at 4 seminaries, and a leader in both citywide and national multicultural, prayer, and revival ministries. Currently he serves as the President and Executive Director of Partner4Pastors, providing pro bono mentoring, coaching, and consulting ministry to small and ethnic churches in the Reno, Nevada area that otherwise could not afford such ministry. Brent is also a former trial attorney and has lived with a kidney transplant for 38 years. In all of this, Brent’s continued passion is to serve pastors, the local church, and the greater church.
Jaime Castañer-Weiss
Candidate Coach
Jaime loves helping people find their sweet spot and seeing them thrive there. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, he served in local and national leadership for church and para-church organizations before moving to the mainland US in 2008. Since then, he’s transition from a career in engineering into full-time ministry, spending eight years with a campus ministry organization, leading students and staff along with being an associate pastor at Christian and Missionary Alliance church in NY. Since 2018, he’s been on staff as a Campus Teaching Pastor at Chatham Community Church in North Carolina. In addition to an engineering degree, Jaime holds an M.Div. and is pursuing a D. Min. from Alliance Theological Seminary.
Tyler Cone
CANDIDATE Coach
Tyler has 16 years of local church ministry experience spanning a wide-array of different roles. He has experience with Kids, Youth, Worship, Education and Connections pastoral positions and is currently serving as Campus Pastor at Ignite Church in Greenville, NC. He has a passion for reaching the lost, coaching others, and leading the local body of believers. Tyler is passionate about Chemistry Staffing’s mission as he believes it is crucial to find the right fit in a ministry position to be most effective for the Kingdom. Tyler loves doing ministry with his wife and is currently working on his Master’s in Leadership.
Nick Dalgardno
candidate Coach
Nick has been in full-time church ministry for over 18 years on the West Coast. He has served the church in various pastoral roles including youth pastor, teaching pastor, small groups pastor, and being a catalyst for growth as the Executive Pastor of a large multi-site church in the Seattle area. He is currently the Lead Pastor of a church in Reno, Nevada. He is highly committed to partnering with churches, teams, and individuals to bring health, simplicity, and increased kingdom effectiveness.
Nicholas Dunn
CANDIDATE Coach
Nick has served for close to 15 years in local church ministry in the North East. The son of a church planter, Nick looked to go into Education following his completion of undergrad at Cedarville University before God redirected him into the serving in the local church. He currently serves as the Lead Pastor at New Hope Fellowship in Westminster Maryland. Prior to coming to Maryland, Nick served for over 11 years at a church in upstate NY in a variety roles and leadership positions. Starting ministries from scratch, revitalizing other ministries, and creating a collaborative network of pastors in the area he lives, is a passion and heartbeat of Nick’s. During his time in NY Nick completed his Masters of Divinity in Pastoral Leadership at Liberty University.
Doug Ferguson
CANDIDATE Coach
Doug is originally from Charleston, SC and after earning a Master of Architecture from Clemson University, spent a decade practicing architecture in Orlando, Florida. During those years Doug and his wife Kim were part of a church plant which God used to ignite a love for the local church and a call to fulltime ministry. Doug received a Master of Divinity from Columbia Theological Seminary and for more than two decades has served churches from the Carolinas to California (and places in between) as an executive and senior pastor. Doug and Kim currently live in Davidson, NC and have three grown daughters, two son-in-laws, three grandkids and one very needy labradoodle. Doug’s continuing deep love for the local church is expressed by helping connect candidates to calls that result in thriving ministry.
Daniel Howard
Candidate Coach
Danny has served in student ministry for the past 11 years. He is currently part of the student ministries team at LCBC Church in Pennsylvania. He is passionate about seeing students’ lives changed by Jesus, and empowering leaders as they pour into students helping them take their next steps. He’s a husband, a dad to 3 girls, and a huge sports fan.
Josh Howard
Candidate Coach
Josh is a church planter in Raleigh North Carolina, along with his wife Christy and their three kids. For over fifteen years, Josh has served the local church in a variety of roles that vary from student ministry to campus pastor. His true passion in life is seeing people take their next step spiritually and then watching them help others do the same! He is a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan, so heartache and pain is never too far away.
Joey Jernigan
Candidate Coach
Two words can summarize what Joey is most passionate about as a pastor: life change. He loves leading someone to Jesus or seeing a follower of Jesus take their next step of obedience to Jesus; and he loves hearing the stories of those who lead another person to Jesus. Joey currently serves as Lead Pastor of Bear Valley Church in Lakewood, Colorado.
Lindsay Jernigan
Pastors' Wives
Coach
Lindsay has served in various ministry roles within churches in Georgia and Colorado for over 15 years alongside her husband, Joey. She is currently serving as the Director of Elementary Ministries at Bear Valley Church in the metro-Denver area. Lindsay has a heart for pastors’ wives and loves to use her triumphs and trials to encourage and sympathize with others who are going through similar situations. Lindsay graduated from Liberty University with a degree in health promotion and a minor in women’s ministry. During her studies at Liberty, Lindsay served on teams that led weekend retreats and discipleship events for students in local churches, and this helped shape her passion for church ministry. Lindsay enjoys spending free time on hikes, bike rides, or walks with her family, and she loves being a mom to her four daughters, Ella, Eden, Emma, and Everly.
Alex Kirk
Candidate Coach
Alex spent sixteen years in campus parachurch ministry with InterVarsity before jumping to Chatham Community Church in 2012, a thriving medium-small multi-site church community. He loves coming alongside leaders at critical times in their lives and helping to discern calling, emotional and spiritual health, and gift-match. He lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina with his wife Kelly, four teenagers, and Buzz the dog who is sometimes the only one talking to him. He is the general editor of The Small Group Leaders Handbook (IVP) and loves good coffee, a good conversation, starting new things, and nerdy podcasts and books.
Chet Klope
Candidate Coach
A graduate of Springfield College, Chet served as a navy helicopter pilot, flying off of the back of frigates and destroyers in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. During the last four years of his 10 on active duty, Chet sensed a growing call to ministry that led him to leave active duty for the Naval Reserve and attend Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. After graduating with a Master of Divinity, Chet served at a non-denominational church in New Jersey for 25 years serving as the youth pastor, associate pastor, and senior pastor. Chet and Margot have been married for 40 years, have three children and four grandchildren. Having retired from the navy and the church, Chet currently resides in New Jersey and serves as a Candidate Coach with Chemistry Staffing where he enjoys the opportunity to come alongside the next generation of church leaders and help them find their next place of service.
Jeff Kossack
Candidate Coach
Jeff is the lead pastor of Trilogy Community Church that he and his wife, Melissa, planted in Dallas, TX in 2016. He has previously worked at Church on the Journey and the Assembly of God District Offices. He has 20 years of leadership experience. Jeff and Melissa have been married for 16 years and have six children. Jeff works with Next Generation Pastors that Leadership Network serves.
Lisa Lewis
Candidate Coach
Lisa is a worship pastor, strategic thinker, and intentional people developer with 10 years of ministry experience and a unique perspective on church and leadership. Lisa’s passion is for every person in pastoral ministry to experience the greatest fruitfulness by growing in spiritual and leadership health in the exact environment God wants for them. She cares about seeing the next generation of pastors thrive in the local church. Her experience includes a two-year leadership development residency at 12Stone Church, serving as a Pastor in the Elbow Cay, Bahamas, and six years in various roles at a multi-site church in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Kip Nanninga
candidate Coach
With over 26 years of full-time ministry in the local church in Next Gen, Executive, and Teaching Pastor roles, Kip Nanninga has played a crucial role in the continued success of equipping leaders, pastors, and organizations becoming healthy in all areas of ministry . His exceptional skill set, true passion for leaders and pastors and creativity for ministry has inspired massive growth in the ministries where he has served. Kip coaches leaders and organizations and is a sought after speaker at conferences and events.
Brandon Reed
Candidate Coach
Brandon has served over 18 years in local churches across America. From new church plants, to established and influential churches like Saddleback Church in California, his experience as a pastor, communicator, coach, and developer of leaders, Brandon loves investing in leaders in the church. He currently serves as the Lead Pastor at Vista Church in Orlando, Florida. Born and raised in Tennessee, Brandon attended the University of Tennessee, where he studied biology and chemistry in pursuit of becoming a dentist before sensing God’s call to ministry. He has a Doctorate in Leadership and Master of Divinity degree in Theology from Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Brandon is a passionate fan of the Tennessee Volunteers and an avid college football enthusiast. He and his wife, Kara, have two kids, Addy and Bauer. Their family loves all things Disney, hanging out together at the beach, and going on fun adventures.
Ian Rock
Candidate Coach
Ian’s favorite leadership moments are when he’s witnessed others find opportunities for impact that match their natural wiring and gifting. He has two decades of ministry experience, serving as a student pastor, campus pastor, and in executive leadership. His sweet spot is helping churches and ministries identify the right balance of effective strategy and caring well for staff teams. His joy comes from spending time with his bride, Gina, their son, Sawyer, and daughter, Tyler. He loves stand-up comedy, gaming, cooking, and all things related to Texas A&M.
Caleb Smith
Candidate Coach
Along with being a Pastor’s Kid, Caleb has been in vocational ministry for over 20 years. From family ministries to executive leadership, from church mergers to multi-site to church planting, Caleb brings the experience of multiplicative ministry in a variety of cultures and contexts. Caleb and his family live in Rochester, MN where he serves as Executive Pastor of Strategy & Culture at Autumn Ridge Church. He is also a certified coach and facilitator for both Auxano and Ministry Insights. Caleb’s passion in ministry is helping people and local churches maximize their Gospel impact.
Tisha Smith
Candidate Coach
Tisha knows firsthand how exhilarating and anxiety-ridden it can be in a season of transition; she’s navigated and nurtured her family through eight job transitions in eight different states (eight congregations, eight towns, eight school districts, eight dentists, eight DMVs, etc.). Tisha has been embedded in ministry over the past 20 years since graduating from Cedarville University with a degree in Organizational Communications. Her husband, Caleb, is a Pastor and Church Coach. They and their two sons, Jackson and Tucker, live in Rochester, Minnesota.
Carey Sumner
Candidate Coach
Carey is passionate about Jesus, people getting to know Jesus and people helping other people get to know Jesus. He and his wife, Kimberly, have served the church in various roles over the past 20 years. They love to see people come alive to new life in Jesus and find their place in the kingdom. Currently Carey serves as the Executive Pastor at Beach Church in Jacksonville Beach, FL where his job is to bring the vision of Beach Church to life. In his free time, Carey loves to travel, cook, surf, run, kayak, all sports (especially baseball) and pretty much anything else you can do outside. You can usually find Carey and Kimberly either on some kind of adventure or planning for the next adventure.
Chris Surratt
Candidate Coach
Chris Surratt is a ministry consultant and coach with more than twenty years of experience serving the local church. Chris served on the Executive Teams at Cross Point Church in Nashville, TN., and Seacoast Church in Charleston, S.C., prior to becoming the Discipleship and Small Groups Specialist for Lifeway Christian Resources. He is the author of Small Groups for the Rest of Us, Gospel-Centered Small Groups and Leading Small Groups: How To Gather, Launch, Lead, and Multiply Your Small Group.
Scott Tinman
Candidate Coach
Scott has been in full time ministry for the past 29 years serving in churches throughout the Midwest in Minnesota, Illinois and Ohio. He has served the church in various pastoral roles including youth pastor, family ministry pastor, small groups, and disciple-making ministries. Currently he is serving at Living Hope Church in Findlay, OH as Student Ministry and Family Group Pastor overseeing the disciple-making ministries from birth – adult. He is married to Terri and they have 3 sons.
Matthew VanGent
Candidate Coach
Matt has been serving the local church in a variety of roles for all of his professional career, from youth ministry, to church planting, to his current role as Executive Pastor at CrossWinds Church in Livermore, CA. On the side, he is also the founder of Beyond Seminary, providing leadership coaching to pastors (seminary teaches you how to study the Bible, it doesn’t always teach you how to manage a staff!). Matt lives in the Bay Area with is wife and two daughters. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Youth Ministry from Azusa Pacific University and a Master’s degree in Theology from Fuller Seminary. When he’s not with his family or serving the church, you can find Matt out on the trails training for an ultramarathon.
Josh Whitehead
Candidate Coach
Josh Whitehead is Executive Pastor of Ministries at Faith Promise Church in Knoxville, Tennessee – serving on staff since 2003. Josh’s goal is to lead by implementing the vision and values of the church through the staff and ministries. Most importantly, he loves the global Church and desires to equip church leaders to effectively impact the world for Christ. Josh has a degree in Business Administration from Louisiana State University, a Masters of Divinity degree with Languages from Southwestern Seminary and a Doctorate of Ministry in Leadership, and Administration from New Orleans Seminary.
Shay Wood
Candidate Coach
Shay has been serving in the local church for over a decade as a student pastor, campus pastor, teaching pastor, multisite director, and church planter. A West Texas boy who grew up in Midland/Odessa, Shay is now living in Fort Worth, TX with his wife Robyn and their three sons. They are currently planting Mercyhill Church, with a vision to echo God’s mercy across the world. Shay has a B.S. in Youth Ministry, an M.A. in Evangelism & Church Planting, and an M.Div in biblical studies from Liberty University. He is currently working on his dissertation for a Ph.D. in Leadership Studies through the Cook School of Leadership at Dallas Baptist University. Shay’s ministry experience in building teams and restructuring church staff for long-term health and vision alignment informs his work with Chemistry in helping candidates navigate their next steps and find a church where they can both fit in and stand out.