Register for The Alpha Conference 2024

Seth Bazacas serves as the Lead Pastor of Wellspring Church, and the Alpha USA City Director in New York City, where he lives and serves alongside his wife, Jenavene, and two energetic sons. His heart is to live a life that makes no sense outside the love and power of God. He is a builder/creative at heart, whatever it takes to spread the love of God to the world. He has founded a local community center in NY, called Renew Queens, helped open various businesses, theaters, start-ups & prayer rooms across the east coast, and is the creator of rhythms.me, and the Cares.Network. He is committed to adapt creatively in whatever ways seem good to the Lord to spread His love to all the world.

Jordan Biere, based in Holland, Michigan, has been working with youth for 15 years and currently serves as the National Director of Alpha Youth in the USA. Alongside his wife Amy and their four children, Jordan loves the outdoor and activities like mountain biking, boating, hiking, fishing, and rock climbing are his thing. He’s keen for great coffee, and remains a devoted Chicago Bears fan. His only claim to fame was being invited to be an opening act on a tour featuring the one hit wonder “Plain White T’s”, to which he said no.

Renée serves as the Community Engagement Director at West Shore Free Church in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. She works to mobilize the church in prayer and evangelism and enjoys building relationships that promote unity and partnership among churches. Renée is passionate for people to encounter Jesus and experience the life of love, freedom, and empowerment He welcomes them into.

Mauri leads our Alpha and Care ministry at Denver United and comes alive when people discover Jesus, find meaning in their stories and embrace their authentic selves. Before coming to Denver Mauri received her Psychology degree from Oral Roberts University, worked in mental health and served on pastoral staff at New Life Church in Colorado Springs. At Denver United she established United Kids, True Women, along with various prayer engagements and has recently been accepted in to a Masters of Counseling Psychology program at The Seattle School. She is passionate about people, engaging in soulful community and growing the local church here in Denver. On a free day she’ll always opt for quality time with her family, time in the mountains and any historic city she can get to in her lifetime.

Madison is currently the Alpha Launch Director for new Youth and University Alphas and previously served as the regional director for Colorado and Utah at Alpha USA. She holds a Masters of Divinity and has worked at churches in Colorado and Washington giving her a passion and desire to see the power of the Gospel move through the local body of believers. This has led to a deep commitment to equip and learn from churches and organizations so that many more may be transformed for God’s Kingdom and glory. Madison and her husband, Elliot live outside Denver and are currently enjoying the best adventure of their lives – raising their daughters, Audrey and Beatrice.

In Angela’s 18 years serving on staff, she has witnessed the transforming power of Alpha as ordinary people, empowered by the Holy Spirit, share the Good News of Jesus with people outside the Church—a movement of God transcending denominational, racial, and ethnic boundaries. Seeing people meet Jesus is her greatest joy and is why she continues serving Alpha with unwavering passion.

Pastor Josh has been serving as the Cambridge Campus English Pastor here at CEBC for the past 4 years and been a pastor for 10 years and worship leader and choir director for over 15 years. His passion is to create spaces for people to encounter Jesus’ love and use their gifts and talents to build the Kingdom of God. Josh loves worshipping the Lord through music, food, and photography!

Rev. Moses Chen has been serving as the Mandarin speaking Pastor here at CEBC since 2001 and has been pastoring for more than forty years in the Bay Area and Asia as well. You may often see him jumping up and down for Jesus getting people to passionately worship God! In his free time, Moses loves his hobbies of music, fixing computers, and cooking!

Fr. Brenton Cordeiro is the associate pastor at St. Timothy Parish, Toronto. Originally from Goa, India, Fr. Brenton previously worked as a reporter for several years, but feeling a strong call to be a part of evangelization efforts in North America as a Catholic priest, he left his job and homeland and moved to North America to join the Companions of the Cross (a community of Catholic priests from Ottawa, Canada). He was ordained a priest with the Companions of the Cross in May 2021.

Christian is in his ninth year of serving on Alpha USA staff. He is currently the national training director and previously was the network director for Washington State and Hawaii. He came back to faith on Alpha in 2012 after a dark period in his life and has a passion to see others invited into that same opportunity. He met his wife of 9 years at Alpha and they both actively serve in their local church on Alpha and prayer teams. He loves seeing church culture shift through intentional efforts of invitation, hospitality, listening, and dependence on the Holy Spirit.

Jenna Gaeddert serves as the Alpha USA Associate Director of Volunteers. Prior to Alpha, Jenna served on the pastoral staff at a multi-site church in Kansas City where she was introduced to Alpha and helped launch it at all of their locations. She is passionate about seeing local churches thrive by creating cultures of prayer and hospitality. In addition to coaching and hosting Alpha courses, she enjoys facilitating conversations about emotional and spiritual health, spiritual disciplines, and healthy leadership. Jenna calls Kansas City home where her husband, Bubba, and their three boys cheer on the Chiefs, KC Current (women’s soccer), and eat the best barbeque.

Jonathan Glendenning is the Facilities Pastor at Substance Church in the Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN metropolitan area. Along with managing Substance’s physical campuses, he and his wife of 29 years, Tami, coordinate Substance Church’s marriage ministries. Jonathan is also a certified Prepare/Enrich Facilitator, and he and his wife lead their church’s Alpha Marriage and Alpha Pre-Marriage courses. His heart is to aid and equip people with the necessary skills to begin, maintain, improve, and restore every season of their marriage.

At 14 years of age, Christian discovered his passion for building up the Catholic church which was the fruit of attending a Steubenville Youth Conference. Although raised Catholic, it wasn’t until this encounter with Christ that his life took on a new purpose. At the age of 16, Christian was drafted into the Canadian Hockey League, taking him halfway across the country and away from his family and faith community for the next five years. Being a hockey player and living out the childhood dream of most young Canadians wasn’t always in alignment with becoming the man that he knew God was calling him to be. However, knowing his identity was rooted in his relationship with Jesus, he made it his goal to live a Christ-centered life and help others to do the same. This led him to run Youth Alpha in the cities where he played, lead faith studies with his university hockey teammates, and go on mission at World Youth Day in Portugal this past summer. He currently leads worship and Alpha for young adults in his parish and is a Leadership Team Member at Huntley Leadership where he works alongside his father, Ron, to help Catholic communities worldwide experience cultural renewal and increase their impact as they live out God’s calling.

Drew Hyun is the Founder and Pastor of Hope Church NYC, a family of diverse churches in and around NYC. Drew is also the Co-Founder of the New City Network, a network of urban churches that value multi-ethnicity, Spirit-filled ministry, emotional health, and mission. Drew is also part of the Emotionally Healthy Discipleship team, a movement that is dedicated to transforming church culture through the multiplication of deeply changed leaders and disciples. Drew loves cities, ESPN, and naps, and finds it a restful Sabbath when all three come together. He resides in New York City with his wife Christina and their son David and daughter Avery.

Leading from the heart of a servant, Pastor Brandon has been a constant for years with our children, youth, and young adults. Today he leads a vibrant prayer ministry, disciples those newest to the faith, and connecting and enriching our church family to create friendship and belonging. Since his licensing in 2018 and ordination in 2023 Pastor Brandon has continued to grow, teaching with humor and cultural relevance to meet the hearer where they are, and bringing truth whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, CA, Benny encountered the love and power of Jesus as he was literally raised back to life from an overdose of meth and cocaine. Benny has over 20 years serving the local church and various correctional facilities from CA, TX, and NE. He now serves as the National Prison Coordinator for Alpha USA and is also the Nebraska Prison Coordinator for Alpha USA. His passion is to reach the broken, and forgotten behind prison walls through Alpha as they experience the love and power of the Holy Spirit unto a new life and to inspire and equip the body of Christ in running Alpha at correctional facilities in their cities. Benny lives in Lincoln, NE with his wife Isela and two daughters Bella and Brisa.

Happily married for 29 years, with 2 sons, Rafael David and Gabriel Felipe who will be married in 2024. With my husband, we have been the leaders of the catholic
community of families, “Familia Domini” in Bogota Colombia, for more than 25 years. I have been working for Alpha for 15 years, I started as a national catholic coordinator in 2008, 4 years later I moved to the regional catholic team as a regional catholic trainer and since 2018 I am the national director for Alpha Colombia and responsible for the development of Alpha in the countries that do not have an office in Latin America (20 countries) I am part of the executive team in Latin America as Ministry Development Director.

Born in Texas but raised in Nigeria, Craig moved to Jersey City in 2017 with his wife Kaitlyn to plant Hope Jersey City. With a background in worship ministry and a Master of Divinity, Craig continues to fulfill his calling to build a vibrant and diverse church.

Josh Penwell is the National Associate Alpha Youth Director. He has been married to his wife Brittany for 12 years and lives near Ann Arbor, MI. He has spent over a decade in vocational youth ministry and currently enjoys filling his time traveling with his wife, drinking cold brew coffee, running marathons, and watching reality tv.

Shauna, along with her husband, Ben, coleads Epic Church, a multiethnic congregation in the heart of San Francisco. They have 4 wonderful children. She serves on the teaching team at Epic and strategic church and city team for Alpha USA. Shauna is the author of the missional book, Love Where You Live: How to Live Sent in the Place You Call Home and evangelism book, Translating Jesus: How to Share Your Faith in Language Today’s Culture Can Understand. She writes for “everyday evangelists” on her blog. Learn more at shaunapilgreen.com.

Todd serves on the Executive Leadership Team of Alpha USA, helping strategic pastors and communities across the nation explore the Alpha course and culture. He was a long-time Lead Pastor of Rockharbor in Orange County, CA – pioneering through a season of multiplication that birthed many new campuses and church plants across Orange County. Todd is a co-founder of the “Searock Sessions” cohort, now a growing global family of hundreds of emerging church leaders. He loves any chance to convene table conversations and encounter moments that encourage and envision those who will lead the Church into the future.

Diego Profita junto a su esposa Sandra, son líderes del Ministerio de Adolescentes y Jóvenes “Somos SER” de la Iglesia “Unidos para Servir” en Buenos Aires, Argentina, hace más de 25 años. Es Analista Superior en Marketing Estratégico recibido en el año 2006 y también tiene el título de Ministerio Juvenil de la Escuela de Especialidades 625 Argentina, Director Regional de Alpha para Adolescentes para América Latina.

“Alpha” es una herramienta de evangelización que consta de una serie de sesiones que exploran la fe cristiana. Cada tema mira a una pregunta diferente sobre la fe y está diseñado para alentar a la conversación. Alpha es también una organización con más de 35 años y con oficinas en 50 países en los 5 continentes.

Diego y Sandra tienen 2 mellizos llamados Tomás y Delfina.

Nicky & Sila have been married for 46 years and have four children and ten grandchildren. In 1987, they joined the staff at Holy Trinity Brompton Church in London where they developed The Marriage Course, The Pre-Marriage Course, The Parenting Children Course, and The Parenting Teenagers Course and authored The Marriage Book and The Parenting Book. Over the last 37 years, their ministry and courses have reached over four million people in more than 120 countries and over 40 languages, equipping them with practical resources to strengthen their marriages and family life.

Bud Simon is an author and speaker currently living in the United States. He teaches and trains prayer ministry teams at churches and conferences, recently training more than 800 people during the Asbury Outpouring. In 2021, he co-authored Effective Intercultural Evangelism and completed his PhD at Asbury Theological Seminary. Bud has been the founding board president for 10 non-profits organizations, severed as a church planter in Brazil for 20 years, and is an entrepreneur. Bud and his wife have been married for more than 30 years and he enjoys hiking, woodworking, and writing.

Jacob Stange is a Catholic husband and father. He spent 10 years in the defense industry before his call to start Galilee: an exercise in developing skills for deeper, personal prayer. He is the founder of Go To Galilee, which promotes the growth of disciples, strengthening culture in the Church, and building Christian Unity.

Russo works for an engineering company in Swansea. He is from South Africa, grew up in the Middle East and now lives in Swansea with his wife Chloe. Russo helps lead the men’s ministry at his local church Cornerstone as well as on the team which oversees the student and young adult’s ministry. He is also part of the New Wine Cymru (Wales) prophetic and healing team which travels across Wales helping local Churches to develop in the ministry of healing and prophetic gifts.

Jalen Taylor is a member of Alpha USA’s National Events team, where he gets to curate spaces for others to explore Alpha and experience moments of meaningful encounter with God. After serving for several years at Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas, TX, Jalen joined Alpha USA to be a part of a movement giving people the opportunity to come and know Jesus on a week-to-week basis here in the U.S. and around the world. Jalen has a passion for people and is excited to partner with God as he continues transforming lives through Alpha and the Holy Spirit at work in these days.

Michelle has two decades of experience helping skeptics engage and move past their biggest obstacles to faith in Christ and training Christians to be evangelistically positioned in their everyday lives. She lives in central Florida with her husband Peter and daughters Sophia and Zipporah. They lead a church a church in New Smyrna Beach.

Michelle’s Alpha story began when she was studying abroad in Oxford, England. She was recruited as an Alpha helper at the church she was attending. Over the course of the next few weeks, she saw many Oxford students move past their objections and have a real encounter with Jesus. She was immediately hooked. She and Peter have run Alpha in every church they have ministered at ever since.