Afternoon Sessions

Jay Pathak is the National Director of Vineyard USA, starting in January 2022. He also serves as the Lead Pastor of the Mile High Vineyard, a family of neighborhood churches in Denver, that he, Danielle and a small team planted in 2001.
Jay co-wrote the book, The Art of Neighboring, with Dave Runyon. His passion for sharing his faith with the people around him is at the center of his calling. He is a humble, empowering leader who is passionate about raising up leaders around him. His strengths, in particular, lie in strategically placing people on teams where they thrive. Additionally, he regularly thinks of ministry in context of culture and developing relationships and partnerships in the city, government, and across denominational lines.
Jay has lead in various contexts throughout the Vineyard starting as an intern for Rich Nathan at the Columbus Vineyard in his early ministry days, and stretching into various positions of translocal leadership including serving on the Vineyard USA Executive Team for many years. He is a sought after speaker and coach, while keeping strong ties to the local community.
Jay has a BA in Philosophy from The Ohio State University and is a graduate of the Vineyard Leadership Institute.
Danielle Pathak is the Interim Associate National Director for Pastoral Care & Formation. Danielle grew up in Columbus, Ohio and started attending the Columbus Vineyard as a young teenager. It was there that she learned to love the Church and started to gain invaluable experience in loving and serving the people around her. It was also in this season that a pastoral ministry call began to develop for Danielle.
Danielle attended Ohio State University and graduated with a BA in Human Development and Family Studies. She attended Vineyard Leadership Institute in Columbus, Ohio for theological training before church planting in Denver with her husband Jay and a small team in 2001. After several years of building and developing the Arvada Vineyard and also having her daughters, she became the Staff and Spiritual Formation Pastor for the Mile High Vineyard, a family of neighborhood churches in the Denver area which includes the original Arvada Vineyard. She formed a deep conviction that a pastor’s life must be cultivated and intentionally tended to, with a contemplative, wholistic yet mission-oriented framework. This conviction has shaped her leadership and calling.
She completed a certificate in Spiritual Direction in 2013 from Sustainable Faith, took on additional training in Family Systems work, and most recently added a certificate in Spiritual Formation and Leadership in 2020 from the Transforming Center in Chicago, IL.
Her true joy in this life outside of her faith is her family, her husband of 23 years, Jay, and her daughters Jasmine (age 17) and Sofia (age 14). They thrive when traveling the world exploring new places, cheering on the sidelines of a soccer game, or spending a weekend in the beautiful Rocky Mountains!

Josh Williams is the Associate National Director for Evangelism and Justice. Josh grew up in Iowa, with strong family ties in Indianapolis, IN.
In 2004, he headed to the East Coast to study at Yale University in New Haven, CT where he majored in American Studies and Ethnicity, Race and Migration. During his time in undergrad, he was involved in connecting his faith to justice issues on the campus and in the city. That integration continued as he went to Divinity School and got plugged into Elm City Vineyard (ECV), then an eight-month-old church plant in the heart of the city.
During his time at grad school and in the first years of ECV, Josh started several evangelistic prayer groups on Yale’s campus, established an outdoor church for the housed and unhoused, and launched an incarnational inner-city neighborhood ministry that included a sidewalk Sunday school where many kids (now twenty somethings) made first-time commitments for Jesus. Josh saw the connection between the Vineyard’s emphasis of John 5:19 and L-shaped listening and wanted to apply not only in the sanctuary, but also to the streets of his city. As a result, he saw gang members and university students alike follow Jesus for the first time. Right before he graduated with an M.Div in 2011, Josh was ordained as a pastor in the Vineyard. Weeks later, he happily married his wife, Tina (ECV’s Worship Pastor and a regular presence in Vineyard Worship recording projects), in a very musical service followed by a reception with much dancing. In 2014, Josh became ECV’s first full-time Lead Pastor, and he has enjoyed seeing Jesus grow the church in multi-ethnicity, justice, evangelism, spiritual formation, and Holy Spirit ministry over the last seven years. ECV is a sending church, and it has sent out several missionaries (Taiwan, the Middle East, Uganda, and more), one church plant (Princeton, NJ), and countless leaders over its fourteen years.
In the Vineyard, Josh has served as an Area Leader and an Executive Team member since 2017. He has also been on the Vineyard Ethnic Diversity task force since 2019. One of Josh’s favorite Vineyard memories is helping to lead a Diverse Leaders Gathering in 2019 for leaders of color to connect with one another, be refreshed, and be inspired by God’s Spirit to thrive, not just survive in our movement.
Josh and Tina recently celebrated ten years of marriage and are also parents of two adorable little ones, Zoe and Joy. Their favorite family activities are going to waterfalls and beaches in Connecticut, eating ice cream, and singing loudly together.

Nicky Gumbel is the pioneer of Alpha, an introduction to the Christian faith running in churches of all denominations in 140 countries.
He has written several best-selling books including Why Jesus?, Questions of Life, and The Jesus Lifestyle. Having initially trained as a barrister, Nicky went on to be Vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton – a large central London church – for 17 years.
Married to Pippa, they now work to support Alpha globally. They are also the authors of a daily Bible commentary called the ‘Bible in One Year’ which has over two million global subscribers.

Seth Bazacas serves as the Lead Pastor of Wellspring Church, and as the Alpha USA Network 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, with a heart to see the church awakened to the fullness of the Holy Spirit to, in turn, transform their local communities.
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
He is committed to adapt creatively in whatever ways seem good to the Lord to spread His love to all the world.

Christina Lowery is the Associate National Director for Church Health and Development.
Early in her ministry career, Christina served as the Events Director for a large student internship at Teen Mania Ministries (Acquire the Fire) in Tyler, TX. In 2001, she and her husband Joel joined a local Vineyard Church there, and served on the pastoral team for several years until they were called to move back to Virginia and plant Crossroads Church.
Christina and Joel have co-pastored Crossroads Church in Fredericksburg, VA since 2008. As a Lead Pastor, Christina has been a big-picture thinker and creative visionary, responsible for communicating and driving the vision and mission of the church forward. She finds great joy in preaching and teaching, leadership development, and building systems that foster church health and growth.
In addition to her local leadership at Crossroads Church, she has served in other leadership roles with the Vineyard, such as an Area Leader in Northern and Central Virginia for ten years (2009-2019) and on the Vineyard Women in Leadership Team for the past three years (2018-2021).
Joel and Christina have been married for 23 years and have 3 amazing kids. The Lowery family loves to travel and so far, their favorite destination is Maui, with its warm sun and beautiful island beaches.

Dave Ferguson is the lead pastor of Community Christian Church, a multisite missional community that is passionate about “helping people find their way back to God.” Community has grown from a few college friends to thousands and has been recognized as one of America’s most influential churches.
Dave also provides visionary leadership for the international church-planting movement NewThing and is chairman of the board and president of the Exponential conference.
He is an award-winning author of books that include The Big Idea, Exponential, On The Verge, Finding Your Way Back To God, Starting Over, Hero Maker and most recently B.L.E.S.S. 5 Everyday Ways to Love Your Neighbor and Change the World.
Dave and his best friend Sue have three terrific children Amy, Josh and Caleb.

Corey Garris is the Lead Pastor of the Arvada Vineyard and helps lead the Mile High Vineyard family of neighborhood churches. He joined the staff in January 2014 because he had a desire to work with a passionate team committed to building a network of churches to spiritually influence the city of Denver. Prior to working at MHV, Corey oversaw the development of campuses at Vineyard Columbus, and in his former life was a child welfare caseworker.
Corey knows firsthand the impact that the Gospel, good leadership, consistent discipleship, and living life in community can have on someone. He’s passionate about seeing Jesus transform lives in our city and neighborhood churches being life-giving communities that profoundly impact their neighborhoods and communities. Corey is fortunate to be a part of the Multiply Vineyard team serving Vineyard USA’s vision to release dozens of healthy church plants every year.
Corey is a graduate of the University of Nebraska with a degree in Criminal Justice. He and Cyndia have been married since 2003 and have three daughters, Ava, Rylee and Linda. In their free time they love to travel as well as obsess over anything related to NBA basketball and the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Elgie “Bubba” Justice is the Missions Coordinator and Chief Financial Officer for Vineyard USA. In his capacity as the Missions Coordinator, he gives leadership to VUSA Missions by overseeing mobilization, training, partnership development, and coordinating US activity with Vineyard associations internationally. As CFO, he oversees the financial and human resource systems for the Vineyard Movement in the United States.
Prior to this role, Bubba served as the National Coordinator for Vineyard USA for four years, starting in 2017 under the leadership of Phil Strout. Over the years, Bubba has served in Vineyard Leadership on the Executive Team, Vineyard Resources Board, Vineyard Worship Board, and on the Multiply Vineyard Advisory Team.
After working in the financial world as a C.P.A., a financial manager, and a chief financial officer, Bubba was the senior pastor of the Inverness Vineyard Church (IVC) for 23 years. Before planting IVC, Bubba served in many roles as a volunteer pastor in the Birmingham Vineyard from 1983 until 1993. Some of the ministries Bubba led included youth, children, nursery, intercession, small groups, and ministry team.
Bubba and his wife Melany live in Houston, TX, and have two married daughters and one grandchild.

A Time magazine cover article named Rick Warren the most influential spiritual leader in America and one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Tens of millions of copies of Pastor Rick’s books have been published in 200 languages. His best known books, The Purpose Driven Life and The Purpose Driven Church, were named three times in national surveys of pastors (by Gallup, Barna, and Lifeway) as the two most helpful books in print.
Rick and his wife Kay founded Saddleback Church, the Purpose Driven Network, the PEACE Plan and Hope for Mental Health. He is cofounder of Celebrate Recovery with John Baker.
Pastor Rick has spoken in 165 nations. He has spoken at the United Nations, US Congress, numerous parliaments, the World Economic Forum, TED, Aspen Institute, and lectured at Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, and other universities.
Rick is executive director of Finishing the Task, a global movement of denominations, organizations, churches, and individuals working together on the Great Commission goals of ensuring that everyone everywhere has access to a Bible, a believer and a local body of Christ.

Charlyn Gambe is a Co-Pastor of the Metro Davao Vineyard Ipil Beach, a 6year old church plant. Vineyard Ipil Beach was planted by Charlyn and her husband Gaddiel in 2017 together with Amy, their Assistant Pastor. She is also a Co-Founder and the Executive Director of MDV’s nonprofit, Family Care and Community Development Initiatives, Inc. (2012-present), which was created to expand the influence of the Metro Davao Vineyard by serving beyond its walls, advancing its church planting efforts, and strengthening its church plants.
Charlyn currently represents FCCDI as the Vice-Chair of the Davao City Council for the Protection of Children, which is chaired by the City Mayor of Davao. As the Vice Chair of DCCPC, she also sits as a member of the Technical Working Group (TWG) formed to formulate and review all child policies and programs in Davao City. She finished her Master of Science in Social Work in 2019 and her studies highlight serving under an international nonprofit in Thailand and working among the Thai hilltribe and the Burmese refugees at the Thai-Myanmar border.
Charlyn helped in the planting of the very first Metro Davao Vineyard Christian Family Fellowship in 2000 under the leadership of its founding pastor, Alex Chua. She has served the church in various capacities throughout the years as a children’s ministry teacher, youth pastor, outreach coordinator, and later tag-teamed as Lead Pastors until she and her husband moved out to pastor the Ipil Beach church in 2017.
She helps provide leadership to the Metro Davao Vineyard church planting movement that has grown to the planting of 11 churches among the Ata Tribe in the mountains, and 2 churches among the animistic/moro Badjaos in the urban poor coastal communities, a total of 15 churches in all so far. In March of 2023, Charlyn was chosen to lead Vineyard Philippines as its National Coordinator.
She and Gaddiel have 2 children: Gabie (14) and Caleb (11).
