SGN - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Adam Workman / California / Hawaii Regional Leader / Hawaii
Adam is the Small Groups Pastor at Sandals Church in Riverside, CA. He oversees the California and Hawaii Region of the SGN.
Job Titles:
- United States Regional Leader / United States of America
- United States Spanish Regional Leader
Salvadoran American citizen. 32 years of marriage. Three children. Pastor grazing in the City of Los Angeles. California South Central for 20 years. We have been working in the city for 27 years with Alinzas pastorales. We have known the Saddleback minister for 10 years and we are working together with the team, focused on the welfare of the churches.
Over 25 years of ministry to small group leaders and staff, and a deep love of her personal small groups led Andrea Minor to SGN to help build and envision leaders and teams to grow and experience life change together. Leadership is Andrea's first love and watching good leaders become great leaders of small groups ministries is the best part of her job. Serving under Steve and Derek at Saddleback Central is a joy and pleasure and sitting under Rick Warren's visionary leadership is such a blessing. Andrea has been married to Rex for 37 years and they have 3 married adult children and two darling grandkids.
Ben is a native of Southern California and loves his wife, family, and the ocean. Ben has been blessed with the gift of innovation and the spirit of a connector. He & his wife have been involved with various ministry projects in Germany since 2015 and are passionate about serving the global church. He has a heart for communities seeking healthy relationships with Jesus and is excited to help build & support small group leaders in Europe.
Job Titles:
- South Central Regional Leader
Brian serves as an Operations Pastor for Small Groups at Parkway Fellowship Church, TX and an adjunct professor at the Bible Seminary in Katy, TX. As the South-Central Region Leader, he serves Texas and Louisiana state area. In his spare time, Brian enjoys spending time with his wife and three daugthers, traveling, and enjoying the outdoors hunting and fishing.
Brian and his wife Sarah have three children (10, 12, and 15). They enjoy day trips, camping, and spending time with family and friends. Brian serves as the small groups pastor at Violet Baptist Church in Pickerington, Ohio. He loves small groups because he enjoys connecting people to community.
Job Titles:
- North Andina Regional Leader
Camilo Fonseca lives in Barranquilla, Colombia, where he resides with his wife Mary and their children Juan Camilo (18) and Ana (15). He loves serving God and others and enjoys spending time with his family. He has specialized in Marketing Management and has completed diplomas in coaching, project management, innovation Leadership courses, and is certified in Coaching, speaker and leadership at The John Maxwell Team. He has completed theological studies at the IBLI-FACTER Bible Institute, in which he has also served as a teacher for more than 20 years.
He has developed professionally in different organizations in the field of consulting and has accompanied more than 200 volunteer leaders in the church that he has lead for 17 years. He believes in the premise of growing the church by making it smaller through small groups.
Job Titles:
- New Huddle Specialist
- Pinterest Manager & New Huddle Specialist
Cynthia serves as the Small Groups Coordinator at Grace Community Church in Fulton, Maryland. Cynthia serves the SGN by managing the Pinterest page, leading the Central MD Huddle and serving as the Atlantic Coast Regional Leader supporting the states of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Cynthia lives in Baltimore, Maryland with her husband Darin and their puggle Hemingway
Job Titles:
- Global Strategic Initiatives Director
As the Global Strategic Initiatives Director, Dan will be connecting with each Global Director; making sure we stay aligned, share learnings with each other and help maintain our Mission goals in each region of the globe. Dan comes with a wealth of Global Team experience in ministry, sales and strategic operations.
Daniel (Dan) Gunadi came to the US when he was 14 years old and turned away from both the church and his family. He felt shameful, rejected, and lacking a purpose. But then through the work of the Lord, the Lord met him where he was at and transformed his heart. He now lives in California with his wife (Win), and two sons (Gregory and Phillip). Upon receiving Christ in 1986, Dan studied Christian Apologetics at Simon Greenleaf University, California. His life has been revolved around and has been directly impacted by Small Group. He hosted his first small group over 32 years ago with his college friends. Dan has been actively serving with Saddleback church since 2004 in various capacities, including Small Group Community Leader, Membership/Connection Champion (Lay Pastoral), Ministry Champion, SHAPE Guide, and wherever God calls him to serve. Dan is a founding member with the John Maxwell Team - an elite, global community of certified leadership development coaches, trainers and speakers. Dan is a serial entrepreneur, and serves as managing partners in several global technology companies and international educational organizations.
Daniel is serving as an international community leader in Saddleback Church, California. He has been involved in small group for almost 20 years. He found his extended spiritual family and met his wife through small group. Being a small group host also brings him more connection to the church family. He's also serving as a children leader in Bible Study Fellowship. He has a heart to serve for singles, marriage couple and children. His life purpose is to bring more young generations to experience and have personal relationship with God. Daniel and his wife, Anny, are both business owners and entrepreneurs. His family lives in Orange County, California.
David Serves as the Adult Group Life Associate at Ellerslie Road Baptist Church in Edmonton, Alberta. Up in the Great White Canadian North. He provides Leadership to Small Groups, Semester Groups, Young Adults, Social Media and Production Teams. He is a member of the Edmonton Area SGN Huddle. David is Passionate about Connecting people into relationship with one another, and into communities and teams. He believes in the life changing power of a strong authentic community of believers. David and his Wife Madi enjoy trying as many new restaurants as they can, and when not hitting up the latest spot David Enjoys Long-boarding and Boards Games.
Job Titles:
- Associate at Ellerslie Road Baptist Church
Job Titles:
- Eastern Canada Regional Leader
Dennis serves as the Director of Ministry Resources & Small Groups Network for The Navigators of Canada. He oversees the Ontario, Quebec and the Maritime provinces.
Derek loves coffee, photography and being in the outdoors. He has been actively involved in building community and leading small groups for over 15 years.
Pastor Dharshan Fernando has been in full time ministry for over 30 years at People's Church Assembly of God, Colombo Sri Lanka and currently serves as the Deputy Senior Pastor. Small Groups are synonymous with The People's Church which has over 700 groups that meet weekly. As a missionary, he has been involved in church planting and missions both locally and overseas. He is also on the Council of Colombo Theological Seminary from where he obtained his Bachelor of Theology and Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies. He is married to Deepika who is also a pastor at People's Church and leads Kidz Klubz - a community based children's programme for those in the 4-14 window. They have two sons Dhilhan (22) and Dhanuk (20).
Job Titles:
- South Korea Regional Leader
Do Youl Kim is a church choir member, teaches high school students at Seoul Church, and serves as Elder and the head of the Church school. He was born and raised in a third-generation Christian family and serves as President of Hansung CBMC in Korea. He previously served as a Governor of Rotary club in South Korea as President of Hana Laser.
Job Titles:
- North America Spanish Director / United States of America and Mexico
Gerardo has been married for 30 years to Rosy & they have 2 adult children. Gerardo has served as a pastor with different positions in 1 single church for more than 25 years and is now senior pastor of Iglesia Para Todos. Gerardo asl serves as president of Zona Alternativa AC, a civil association with the vision of motivating, equipping and edifying the church. He has more than 20 years in organizing mass events for the church & non-profits. Gerardo has served as director of marketing and technology since 1990 of Acuario Fitness Center, one of the largest sports companies in the northwest of the country. He is also Lic. Marketing, M. Pastoral Ministries, Dr. Theology, Certified as speaker in John Maxwell Team.
Fernando Mewengkang was the Senior Pastor of an Indonesian church in Seoul, Korea (2000-2014), before deciding to return to Indonesia with a call to train and equip church leaders. He completed a Master of Theology (Th.M) in the field of Mission from Chongsin University. At present, he is pastoring the Galilee Church in Jakarta, and is also entrusted with the position of PDC Indonesia Coordinator.
Job Titles:
- East Africa Regional Representative
Job Titles:
- Southeast Regional Leader
Greg currently serves as the Pastor of Community Life at Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale. He and his wife Joannie have been enjoying life together since 1987. While raising three awesome kids, they have been blessed to serve together to support small group ministry in their local churches. Greg also served in the development of Celebrate Recovery's national network from 2001 - 2006. When not hanging out with his grandkids, he most enjoys coaching football and building cool stuff in his garage.
Job Titles:
- Pastor of Small Group Network Development
James has been leading small groups for over ten years & recently came from Harper Collins Christian Publishing where he led marketing for Spanish language Bibles, academic, and reference books. He has an MDiv from Talbot School of Theology and is married to Hannah Browning. They have two daughters: Eliza age 5 and Eleanor age 3.
Jeff and his wife Tracy have a daughter Christy and son-in-law Kyle and 3 grandchildren; Cruz (4), Knox (2) and newborn Kinsley (6-4-19). Their adult son Brandon entered heaven in November 2013 (He died from a deadly infection). Jeff has served as the small group point person/small group pastor at 2 churches in Tucson, Arizona. He has a Master of Ministry Leadership Degree from Rockbridge University. Jeff is also a Michigan State graduate; Tracy and he are avid Spartan basketball and football fans.
Job Titles:
- Mid Atlantic Regional Leader
John Mozingo is the Connect Group Pastor at Park Valley Church in Haymarket, Virginia. He has served for many years as both and educator and pastor in music and discipleship. He possesses a passion for connecting people to the church through small groups and loves coaching other churches to do the same. John lives in Warrenton, Virginia with his wife, Melinda, and their five children.
Job Titles:
- Pastor
- Brazil Regional Leader / Brazil
José Alves is Pastor at the Assembléia de Deus Church in Gramado in the state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, where he resides with his wife Analice and their children Quemuel, Filipe and Valentina.
Since he was 16 years old, he has been related to different ministries that include evangelistic crusades, church planting, radio and television communication, the founding of a missionary training school and training of pastors and leaders in Brazil, Uruguay, Europe and Africa.
His church is part of the PEACE initiative, and José has worked supporting churches in Mozambique.
José is a researcher in the urban mission area, a subject on which he has also written a book.
Kiersten Telzerow lives in the Washington, D.C area with her husband, Matt, and their goldendoodle named Luna! Kiersten serves as the Small Group Director at one of the campuses at National Community Church and is a Master of Divinity student at Wesley Sem inary through Indiana Wesleyan University. She loves being in community with people and learning about their stories. When Kiersten is not studying, her favorite thing to do is spending time with family and friends, trying new coffees, attending leadership conferences, or reading a new book. She loves all things small groups and believes that we were never meant to exist alone - community is always better!
Job Titles:
- Southern Africa Regional Leader
Manie is leading the Lyttelton East Church on the southern side of the capitol, Pretoria, in South Africa. As the Country Leader for South Africa, Manie helps small group point leaders throughout the country to get excited about small group ministry in the ir respective churches, helps leaders to start new huddles and to get connected to one another for mutual support and sharing from their meaningful experiences around small group ministry.
Job Titles:
- Mexico Regional Leader / Mexico
A Mexican & married to Laura, they have 2 Children. Manuel has been in ministry as a Senior Pastor for many years & is a National Councilor for the Global Leadership Summit, a Senior Master in Training for the DCPI Dynamic Church Planting International, a Certified Instructor Saddlerback's PD Paradigm, & a Facilitator of the Pastors team.
Job Titles:
- North Central Regional Leader
As North Central Region Leader, Mark serves Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
Job Titles:
- Director of Group Life at Hillside Chapel
- Facebook Group Admin & Instagram Manager
Matt is the Director of Group Life at Hillside Chapel in New Albany, IN. He is responsible for the Small Group Network Instagram account.
Job Titles:
- Small Group Coordinator
- Small Group Network Coordinator
Nely Donis is a Southern California native. That at the age of 13 her life changed as she accepted Christ in her life.
God has allowed her to evolve in leadership and ministry. As she held positions as Youth and Discipleship Director, Lead Pastor, and currently Local/Global Outreach Coordinator at her local church, Saddleback. In her drive to continue to help the church she was led to pursue her education and obtain a B.S. in Organizational Leadership from Azusa Pacific University. Throughout her many ministerial experiences she credits the importance and value of her small group community. Understanding the importance of worshiping as one body. Nely is a wife to Joel since 2002. A mother to two children, Jacob age 16 and Zoey age 9.
Nick has served as Small Groups pastor at Third City Christian Church (Grand Island, NE) since 2007. He and his wife, November, have been married since 2006 and have one daughter. They stay busy with family activities, traveling both domestic and internationally and playing with their golden retrievers. In his spare time, Nick enjoys woodworking, genealogy, kayaking and enjoying the outdoors.
Job Titles:
- West Africa Regional Leader
Joseph Kolawole is the lead pastor of the island branch of Global Harvest Church and also serves as the executive assistant to the senior pastor of Global Harvest Church. He is passionate about serving his gift to ensure that's God's people attain their highest potential. He teaches the word with so much clarity and simplicity and this has endeared many of the parishioners to him. In addition to his work as a full time minister of the gospel in the last 13 years, he also sit on the board of a few businesses because of his drive for entrepreneurship. He believes that we as believers should never be trapped by our titles as we give expression to all God has placed in us. His passion for small groups spans from how he was raised spiritually through small groups and intimate fellowship. He's taught and trained several small group leaders and point persons within the ministry he serves.
He's married to Opeyemi who is also a co laborer in the work of the ministry and their union is blessed with a son.
Job Titles:
- Northeast Regional Leader
Job Titles:
- Founder and Managing Director of Peter Mang Company Limited
- Northern Regional Leader
Peter T. Mang is the founder and Managing Director of Peter Mang Company Limited, a private family enterprise that is a growing business as mission founded in March 2018. The Company seeks to provide services in livelihoods improvement and family empowerment, family healthcare and caregiver education, executive coaching and leadership development, executive education and professional development, professional psychotherapy and counseling, business solutions and management consulting, missional entrepreneurship ecosystem development, micro and small business development, professional web design and development solutions, and freelance services marketplace.
Philip is the Executive Pastor at Historic church in Dallas, Texas where he pastors the small group ministry. God used small groups to greatly change his life. His greatest passion is to help people discover their identity and calling in Jesus and then liv e it out!
Roman is married and has one daughter. He is the pastor of discipleship and small group ministry at his local church. He loves small groups because believes that God can use them to change people's hearts.
Job Titles:
- Southern Cone Regional Leader
Rubén is the Connections' Pastor at Saddleback Church in Buenos Aires since 2016. He is accompanying people to understand the meaning of local Church Membership and serves as a leader of the Small Group Campus team. Passionate about the Lord and his Church, he has trained and served as a professional Librarian for much of his life. He is currently pursuing a Master of Theological Studies at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Forth Worth, Texas. He is also passionate about teaching and for this reason he is a professor in Technologies applied to Libraries in a Higher Training Institute for Libraries and also in the Advanced Leadership Seminar of La Alameda on the subject "Creating Community", thus reaching Pastors and Leaders from Argentina, Chile and other Latin American countries. His family is made up of his wife Cecilia, his 2-year-old daughter Ailén and their dog Theo, who make every day of his life happy.
Job Titles:
- Northwest Regional Leader
Originally from Los Angeles, CA, Ryan now serves as the Pastor of Discipleship at Crossroads Community Church in Vancouver, WA. He's passionate about seeing hearts and lives transformed through authentic biblical community. When not spending time with his wife Bethany and three kids RJ, Ella, and Alex and puppy Scout, Ryan can be found rolling Brazilian Jiu Jitzu, golfing, hiking, or reading and writing while sipping delicious Northwest coffee.
Scott is an experienced and multi-faceted Chaplain, Disciplemaker, Missionary, and Small Group Leader who loves Jesus more than anything in the world!
As a former Small Groups Community Leader at Saddleback Church, he spent more than 10 years teaching and leading small groups, identifying and developing leaders, as well as conducting training, seminars, and retreats. As a current Air National Guard hospital and police chaplain, he has extensive experience in counseling, pastoral care, advising commanders and leaders on religious matters, developing religious education programs, providing combat and emergency service stress intervention, and accompanying service members and emergency response teams into combat.
Recently, he founded the non-profit organization The Jerusalem Project, an extension of his overall ministry, aimed at advancing the gospel through small groups and resourcing ministry partners in Jerusalem.
When he is not doing ministry you can find him training others in boxing and kickboxing, scuba diving, or possibly flying an airplane
Sean Lee, PH.D & MBA, has over 25 years' experience specializing in global strategy and management, board advisement and C-level executive roles for multinational business enterprise, tech ventures and startups. He has been making devotional efforts to integrate Christian faith into business and work disciplines and for Great commissions. He has been making devotional efforts to integrate Christian faith into business and work disciplines and for Great commissions. He organized international seminars and business missions by working with missionaries around the world including Russia and Indonesia, China, Vietnam and Turkey, served a church mission committee developing policies and procedures and bi-annual mission conventions to mobilize Christian missions, participated in global leadership training of Global PEACE program at Saddleback church, served as a board member of Faith and Worklife, and has advised and mentored to MBA and business school program at Crowell school of Business of Biol University
Job Titles:
- Community Leader at Saddleback Church
Job Titles:
- Western Europe Regional Leader
Stefan spent 6 years with his family in Congo DRC as a missionary pilot and preacher, then after having lived through a forced evacuation due to the war, he invested himself body and soul in the Geneva Bible Society at the headquarters in Switzerland, first as marketing and sales manager for almost 20 years, and since then as export sales manager. At the same time, since 2003, his passion having always been the development of churches that have an impact in today's society and in having an intentional process of discipleship training, he started the ministry Motivé par l'Essentiel that translates and publishes the French products of the Purpose Driven movement. His passion is to challenge people to get into a small group and to be balanced in their Christian lives. He likes to travel for leisure but also to do seminars in the French world (Europe and Africa). He is actively participating in Church life in Lausanne and also with his wife in a small group. He is speaking French, German, English and Dutch. He lives near Lausanne in Switzerland and is married to Nelly for 32 years who is Dutch and has 2 grown up sons who follow the Lord and a terrific daughter in law. His married son is just starting to pastor a church.
Steve is the Global Pastor of Small Groups at Saddleback Church since 1998. He oversees the strategic launch and development of over 7,000 adult small groups on multiple campuses. He has authored Small Groups With Purpose, which has been translated into ei ght languages to date, and Leading Small Groups With Purpose. He frequently speaks at conferences and consults with church leaders both in the United States and around the world. He has a driving passion to see each church attendee connected to a qualified shepherd and become an integral part of their church body, living purposefully for Christ. Steve is also the Founder of the Small Group Network (SGN) giving influence and oversight to all the SGN initiatives. He earned a Masters of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary in 1985, and a B.A. in Biblical Studies, with minors in Greek and Philosophy in 1982, from Evangel University. Steve and Lisa have been married since 1989 and have two children, Erika and Ethan.
Job Titles:
- Eastern Europe Regional Leader
Tihomir Tenev was born and grew up in a pastors' family. He graduated Bible collage in 1991 in England after which he joined a team in Bulgaria for a mass evangelism. In 1993 he started his ministry as a pastor in his native city - Sliven. In 1995 for the first time he heard about the cell church structure through small groups ministry and recognizes it as the strategy God gives for the church today. Tihomir's heart is to see the Church of Christ today strong and functioning in its full potential. He believes that a healthy church should be growing fathers and disciples who make other disciples and through whom the next generation will be able to receive at least a double portion. Tihomir also serves as Eastern Europe Regional Leader for the Small Group Network and he has started a movement of small groups all over Bulgaria with the heart of planting more and more churches through fathering and making disciples through the life of small groups ministry!
Job Titles:
- North America Associate Director