Preston Pouteaux is a beekeeper, neighbourhood enthusiast, pastor at Lake Ridge Community Church and the director of Plesion Studio. He is the award-winning author of The Bees of Rainbow Falls: Finding Faith, Imagination, and Delight in Your Neighbourhood, and of The Neighbours Are Real and Other Beautiful Things. Preston lives in Chestermere, Alberta, with his wife Kelly, their daughters Scotia and Ivy, and a few thousand honeybees.
Michael Garner is an Anglican Priest and the Associate Incumbent of St. Thomas the Apostle Anglican Church. He lives with his wife (Rochelle) and kids (Isaac and Elise) in Ottawa. He anticipates the end of the pandemic and the work to come.
John Bowen taught evangelism, church planting, and C.S.Lewis at Wycliffe College in Toronto for nearly twenty years. In retirement, he is writing, teaching, mentoring young leaders, and enjoying his grandchildren. He has two new books coming out in 2021, and is beginning research into why people in Canada are becoming Christians.
Read MoreTabitha Mui resides in Treaty 13A, on the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee, Anishinabewaki, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Mississauga, and Attiwonderonk. As a child of immigrants, she identifies as ethnically Chinese, and credits her love for food to this beautiful culture. In this season of life, she is learning to pay attention to rhythms of rest and play. Tabitha serves on the New Leaf Advisory Team and New Leaf Financial Team.
Read MoreFollower of Jesus, lover of his local neighbourhood, and nacho connoisseur. With a passion for social justice and building community, he has travelled to and lived in cities all across Canada. Most recently Yellowknife is home, for now. Andrew enjoys outdoor adventures and partying with both friends and strangers which has resulted in him being the founder of two social enterprises; The Joyful Project and Concert for Socks.
Read MoreDavid H Pereyra is an architect, doctor in Theology, researcher at the OCAD University in Toronto, and seasonal Professor at the University of St Michael’s College in the University of Toronto, Canada. For over two decades Pereyra’s personal interests and academic focus centres on interdisciplinary aspects of our multicultural society, as expressed through art, music, film, worship, multimedia, technology and sacred spaces. He is particularly interested in sacred spaces as iconic points of reference that provide unique meanings to the collective memory of a culture, and how creative experiences of transmitting information and communication can reach users and vice-versa. His Latin American, European and North American multi-cultural background greatly enrich his experience of the world and his scholarly work. His area of expertise is the trans-disciplinary study and comparison of phenomenological and theological aspects in architecture and ritual, in a multidimensional perspective, across art forms, place and space.
Read MoreBrian Yu is the New Canadian Church Planters Coordinator with the Tyndale Intercultural Ministries (TIM) Centre at Tyndale University. Brian has been serving in pastoral ministry for over 12 years. He was a youth pastor at Greenhills Christian Fellowship in the Philippines, a pastor at Chinese Gospel Church in Scarborough, and he currently serves as a church planter in the diverse city of Toronto, Canada.
Read MoreDiane Clifford currently resides in Fort Frances, Ontario, a small town in Northwestern Ontario surrounded by lakes, streams, rocks and trees to the east and fields to the west. The family in faith where she pastors is a group of people who believe that the Holy Spirit has called them into the world to share the love of Jesus in their everyday lives. Diane has always intentionally functioned in a bi-vocational capacity which provides plenty of opportunity to be active in the community, to meet people and to be engaged in the neighbourhood. Diane serves as a member of the New Leaf Network Board.
Read MoreCynthia Tam is an ordained pastor and the national coordinator for disability ministries of the Alliance Canada. She has a professional background of occupational therapy and a Ph.D. in practical theology. Cynthia is also involved with Village Eulogia for Families with Special Needs, an organization that focuses on supporting families raising children with disabilities.
Read MoreHeather lives in Barrie with lots of disabilities shared between herself, her husband and her two incredible young adult kids. She is a disability advocate and life coach with a focus on supporting families and individuals with disabilities. In September, Heather started her Master’s of Divinity at Emmanuel College at the University of Toronto, where she hopes to focus on Disability Theology.
Read MoreA curious and inquisitive storyteller at heart, Devon Cornelius is a professional writer based in London, ON. He has spent the last decade bringing inspiration and his imaginative spirit to the non-profit sector. He is bringing hope to life at the intersection of ideas, storytelling and brand. Read more at devoncornelius.com.
Read MoreDustin spends his time exploring the far reaches of space, understand the ancient ways of might and magic, and wandering the post-apocalyptic wastes. If it has a reasonably open world, a crafting system and some way to sneak around he'll be there. When not gaming he's probably planning his next D&D character (because his DM keeps killing off the old ones). He is a competent bass player and guitarist, mediocre mid laner and outright awful FPS player. He is the father of 2, husband of 1, a sometimes theologian, and all-times pastor of Crestview Park Free Methodist church in Winnipeg, MB.
Read MoreJenn Burnett is lead pastor at The Well church plant in Kelowna, and has received her doctorate from Portland Seminary. She longs to see the body of Christ empowered by the Holy Spirit and contending for unity across difference. She also loves rugby, the outdoors, the colour orange and the chaos that goes with raising 4 kids.
Read MoreWhen Steve's not teaching history at Fanshawe College or pastoring with The Meeting House, he's instigating place-based projects, hosting workshops, and inviting everyday citizens to leverage their time, their ideas, and their creativity for the sake of their neighbourhoods. He's the co-founder of Good City Co., a civic organization that creates projects, platforms, and activations to help citizens take greater ownership over the places that they call home. He also writes on the intersection of place, community, and praxis for Strong Towns. He lives, dreams, and conspires in Little Portugal—a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario.
Read MoreRyan Dueck lives in southern Alberta, Canada with his wife Naomi and twins Claire and Nicholas. He blogs at Rumblings, and is currently helping to lead a small Mennonite church that seeks to embody the peace, simplicity, and hope of the gospel of Christ in a noisy and conflicted culture. As all good Canadians must, he loves ice hockey, as well as soccer, good books, good coffee, motorcycles, and mountains.
Read MoreVivian Ketchem is from the Wauzhushk Onigum Nation in Treaty 3 territory. A residential school survivor, writer, photographer, and occasional speaker, Viv is an Ikwe woman with a calling to share her Indigenous and Christian belief on a road of healing and reconciliation.
Read MoreJacqui is a Co-Pastor at The Road Church and works as a chaplain at Mount Royal University in Calgary, AB. She is a spiritual director and retreat facilitator with a focus on both contemplative prayer and embodied faith practices. As a native Albertan, she enjoys time exploring the foothills and mountains near Calgary with her husband Brad, their two daughters, and the (way too many) pets they love.
Read MoreXenia Chan Ling-Yee 陳靈兒 is a Ph.D. Candidate (Hebrew Bible/Old Testament) at Regis-St. Michael's College, Toronto School of Theology, University of Toronto. As a former pastor, her scholarly work is informed by the present condition of the Canadian evangelical church, particularly the churches within the Sinophone revivalist tradition in Canada. Her work at present deals with Jeremiah's Confessions.
Read MoreEmily Summach serves as the Pastor of Langham Mennonite Fellowship in Langham, SK. She enjoys conversation, good coffee and checking out new playgrounds with her husband, Taylor, and their two young children.
Read MoreDan Sheffield is a reflective practitioner who has been involved in church planting, community development and Christian formation in Canada, Egypt, South Africa and a few other spots along the way -- over the past 30 years or so. These days he lives in St Catharines, Ontario, with his wife Kathy, where he is lead pastor of Grapeview Church, a multi-ethnic congregation. He is the author of the books The Multicultural Leader and Conversations that Change Us.
Read More