Our Team

Board Member

Albert Tate

Albert Tate is the founder and lead pastor of Fellowship Monrovia. From Sweet Home Church of Christ Holiness USA in Pearl, Mississippi to Lake Avenue Church in Pasadena, California, Albert Tate has been preaching the Gospel to people of all ages and races. Hearing the call from God, Albert and his wife LaRosa planted Fellowship Monrovia a Gospel-Centered, Multi-Ethnic and Intergenerational church in January 2012. Albert is married to the love of his life LaRosa Tate who he calls God’s gift of amazing grace in his life. Together they have four beautiful children, Zoe, Bethany, Isaac, and Micah. Albert serves on the Board of Trustees at Azusa Pacific University & Fuller Youth Institute. He was recently published in Letters to a Birmingham Jail: A Response to the Words and Dreams of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Board Member

Ben Cachiaras

Ben Cachiaras is from Minnesota, ministered in Tennessee, and has served since 1997 as Lead Pastor with Mountain Christian Church near Baltimore, Maryland.  A graduate of Minnesota Bible College (renamed Crossroads College), he has studied at Bethel Theological Seminary and Fuller Theological Seminary, and graduated with the Master of Divinity degree from Emmanuel Christian Seminary where he is currently working on his Doctor of Ministry final project.  Ben has served on Boards for Emmanuel Christian Seminary, Milligan College, Standard Publishing as well Contributing Editor with Christian Standard and President of the North American Christian Convention. He is the co-founder of MOVE Northeast, a church planting network.

With its beginnings in 1824, the story of the Mountain Church is remarkable. The Northeast is a vital mission field with a high concentration of unchurched people, and God is using Mountain to make a regional and global impact. With a mission to make disciples who love God, love people, and serve the world, Mountain is known for its impact in the local community and as a multi-ethnic, multi-site church of over 6000 that gathers in four locations. One campus is also a community center with a focus on changing the trajectory of under-resourced children.

Ben and his wife Karla, have three awesome children, Nathan, Andrew, and Ellie. He has an irrational devotion to his Minnesota Vikings, bats around a lot of tennis balls, gets a kick out of skiing on water and snow, and remembers when he did more rock climbing. Most of all, he loves his family, has a passion for preaching and leadership, and wants to build Jesus-shaped communities that draw people to the love of God.

Board Member

Courtney Wright

With a degree in business, Courtney spent almost 30 years in corporate America and has held many officer and managerial level positions. She worked for a fortune 100 company, for 26 years and for a Georgia-based domestic insurance company, where she held the positions of Vice President of Sales and President for several years. Her list of accomplishments are numerous and her performance stellar, in her field.  She was ranked in the top 2% of all Managers and Leaders for over 20 years.  

After much deliberation, Courtney made the pivotal decision to leave corporate America to work with her husband in their family-owned business, the Wright Financial Group, LLC as a licensed Principal, Stockbroker, and Financial Advisor. The Wright Financial Group offers financial counseling, retirement planning, and investment advising to consumers and small to mid size corporations. 

Courtney has always served in ministry, in her local church. In 2012, Courtney began to follow her life’s purpose and became the Pastor of Apostolic Ministries at Word of Faith Family Worship Cathedral and the Chief Operating Officer of Christian Alliance of Pastors, Inc. (CAP).  In this capacity, she is responsible for providing strategic oversight and creating organizational programming and structure for CAP which supports Church Planters and incumbent Pastors of churches. She is the Dean of the Dale C. Bronner Institute of Ministry and Leadership Development, which provides theological and spiritual formation education to Pastors, Ministers, and Church Leaders. She is also a Certified Life-forming Leadership Coach, who does Executive Coaching with selected clients.

President

Greg Nettle

Devoted to a God-given passion for The Church and its responsibility to plant new churches – churches specifically designed to reach out to children at physical and spiritual risk – Greg Nettle serves as President of Stadia Church Planting. As a visionary and catalytic leader, Greg has led Stadia from planting a handful of churches to planting more than 350 churches around the globe in 2020. Under his leadership, Stadia has developed strategic partnerships with like-minded organizations such as Compassion International and has refined its portfolio of unique and highly effective church planting services, positioning the organization for continued exponential growth.

Prior to his time at Stadia, Greg served as leader of the RiverTree Movement in Ohio for 25 years. His sense of adventure has taken him around the world as he has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, Cotopaxi and Whitney (among others) to raise funds to bless children on the margins of society.

Greg’s most important partner in life is his wife, Julie, as they lead their children, Tabitha and Elijah, to fall deeply in love with Jesus. He is an author, speaker and consultant as an agent of change in the global church and has co-authored three books: Small Matters, in collaboration with Compassion International President Jimmy Mellado, One Of and Disciples Who Make Disciples.

Board Member

Julie Bullock Earp

Julie Bullock Earp is a senior generosity consultant with Generis, a team of professionals who influence churches and other faith-based organizations across the country in generosity development. She has led over 250 major giving initiatives for churches and organizations of all sizes and worship styles all across the country. Prior to joining Generis in 2009, Julie was the pastor for stewardship and generosity at Community Christian Church, a multisite church with 10 campus locations in the Chicagoland area. While on staff at Community, Julie also served as the director of development for the NewThing church planting network as a generosity and fundraising coach for churches desiring to go multisite. In addition, Julie has previously served as the director of development for Wheaton College, leading a team of advancement professionals in a $160 million capital campaign and has strong experience in gift planning and charitable estate planning. Julie, her husband Jud, and their children Jayma and Jace reside in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area, where Jud raises beef cattle and where they are involved in their church. They enjoy both the calm setting of life on the ranch as well as the bustling adventure of life on the road. They are passionate about church planting and are grateful to be aiding to advance the mission of Stadia to ensure every child has a church!

Board Member

Steve Porter

Steve Porter has been married for 36 years to Pam. They have three married children and five grandchildren. He has a BS in Business Administration from Youngstown State University with degrees in Accounting and Business Management. He started his career at Central Coated Products, Inc. in Alliance Ohio in August 1982 and currently he is a Board Member, Vice President, and Treasurer. He owns the business with a business partner, his wife, and his two sons. Steve currently serves as Board President for Christian Children’s Home of Ohio and has been on the board since 2000. Steve is an avid golfer, fisherman and enjoys anything that involves his family.

Advisory Team Member

Bart Stone

Bart is originally from Louisville, KY and graduated from Cincinnati Christian University.  Bart spent 13 years on staff at Northeast Christian Church in Louisville, KY.   In January 2006 he and a team of people moved to Henry County to plant Momentum Christian Church.  He serves as the lead pastor for Momentum.  Momentum has two campuses: McDonough GA & Forsyth GA. 

Bart is married to his beautiful wife, Jodi who is a Physical Therapist.  They have son, Keaton, who’s 20.  Their daughter Addison is 16 Lexi is their youngest is 10.  Bart loves sports, especially college basketball, is a sneaker head and loves Start Wars. 

Advisory Team Member

Brandon Grant

Brandon Grant is the lead pastor of Rise City Church in Lakeside, CA (east county San Diego). He and his wife, Jamie, moved out west from IL to plant the church through Stadia in 2013. Since its launch, Rise City has been used by God to see over 350 people baptized, the planting of 9 new churches (6 in SD, 2 in Bolivia, 1 in Peru), and an average weekly attendance of over 1,000, Brandon and Jamie have four children -Elyse (9), Shepherd (7), Hope (5) and Connor (3).

Advisory Team Member

Chuck Mingo

Chuck is the founder of Courageous Love, an organization built to unite and ignite people for racial justice through programming that takes participants through life-changing moments of racial healing. Through his passion for justice and racial reconciliation, Chuck has transformed a congregational training into a national movement with hub cities emerging throughout the country. Chuck’s leadership through Courageous Love has inspired and mobilized thousands from diverse backgrounds around the nation and even the world. 

In addition to leading Courageous Love, Chuck teaches and consults for churches and organizations around the country on a variety of topics related to race relations and racial justice. 

For 13 years, Chuck has served as a teaching pastor at one of the largest churches in America, Crossroads Church. Prior to being a pastor, Chuck spent nine years in the corporate world at Procter & Gamble. He earned his Bachelors in Business Administration at Duquesne University. Chuck is married with three children and calls Cincinnati, Ohio home.

Advisory Team Member

Daniel Escobar

Daniel Escobar was born and raised in Baja California, Mexico.  He relocated to Virginia in 2002, two years after getting married.  He first planted Iglesia La Red in Williamsburg, Virginia in 2005.  Seven years later he and his family moved to Washington DC to plant the second church in 2015. In 2017, he and his wife founded La Red Network, which is a church planting network in the US and Latin America that he is the director of.  This is now his main focus in ministry. La Red Network has taken him many places around the world and allowed him to live in Mexico and Argentina. He is currently a business owner in different industries in the private and government sectors. He is residing in Williamsburg, Virginia with his wife Misty and their three kids, Michelle, Samuel and Julian.

Advisory Team Member

Daniel Yang

Daniel is the Director of the Send Institute, leading and overseeing all of its initiatives. Prior to directing the institute, he planted a church inToronto where he also helped recruit, assess, and train church planters through the Send Network and the Release Initiative. Daniel has served on various church staffs including Northwood Church, led by Bob Roberts Jr., where he was trained as a church planter and involved in global and multi-faith engagement. Prior to church planting, Daniel was an engineer for eighty ears. He earned an M.Div. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, a B.S.in Computer Science from the University of Michigan, and is currently a Ph.D.Intercultural Studies student at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is also the co-author of the upcoming book Inalienable: How Marginalized Kingdom Voices CanHelp Save the American Church (InterVarsity, May 2022).

Advisory Team Member

Ethan Magness

Ethan is the Senior Pastor at First Christian of Johnson City, Tennessee.

Ethan is originally from Elizabethton, Tennessee, and graduated from Swarthmore College. He received his Master of Divinity from Emmanuel Christian Seminary and served for 10 years at Mountain Christian Church in Joppa, Maryland.

Ethan founded and directs the Semester in Ministry program at Milligan College where he serves as an adjunct professor.

Advisory Team Member

Hoon Kim

Hoon is the lead pastor of Anthem Church, which he launched with his wife Shelly in September 2021 in Metuchen, NJ. Hoon and Shelly have been married for 18 years and are the proud parents of three sons; Sean, Liam, and Colin.
Hoon graduated with an Industrial Engineering degree from Lehigh University and received his Masters of Divinity from Westminster Theological Seminar in Glenside, PA. He has been in ministry for 25 years as a speaker, writer and church planter and is the author of Creative Bible Lessons in Genesis (Zondervan), 365 Meditations for Teens, and has written for Youth Worker Journal, and the Journal of Student Ministries.
Growing up in Italy, Hoon developed a love for cooking and (European) football, and enjoys fly fishing and spending time with his family.

Advisory Team Member

Jason Lantz

Jason and Suzi Lantz and their kids Caris and JJ live in Canton, Ohio. The Lantzes have spent over 20 years in the Canton area helping people live a sent life with Jesus. Jason started a church in 2008 called LoveCanton focused around missional disciple making and in 2014 became Vision Leader of RiverTree Christian Church. RiverTree is a growing movement of churches on mission to send 20,000 people who wake up for the light of Jesus. Most days you can find Jason and Suzi coaching area leaders to help them dream and grow in maximum health and influence. Suzi as a Partner with GiANT (giantworldwide.com), and Jason through the One Center for Leadership (onecentercanton.com) in Canton. They love living in and serving Stark County where God is clearly up to something bigger than themselves.

Advisory Team Member

José William Portillo

Pastor en Vive Charlotte Church

Advisory Team Member

Mary Kamau

Co founder and Executive Director of Institutional Development and Strategy at Missions of Hope International (MOHI) based in Nairobi, Kenya. MOHI is a leader in holistic ministry among the most vulnerable communities in Kenya and beyond. Currently working in 30 locations with nearly 23,000 children getting quality Christian education and 26 church plants.
Married to Dr. Wallace Kamau and mother of 3 biological children and one foster daughter.

Advisory Team Member

Nanci Ricks

Trained as a Pediatric Physical Therapist, worked as an Associate Pastor of a church plant in Denver, Colorado as well as the President of an International Non-Profit, Nanci is a woman with many talents and interests. She began her professional life working with burn survivors at Children’s Hospital and then decided to focus on her own children full time as a homeschooling mother of 4. With a strong desire to see the world transformed, Nanci has mentored and mobilized many young leaders to look beyond their circumstances and make positive changes in the world.For 30 years she has developed the young adult burn survivors as potential future leaders. Nanci also co-founded and directed the Dalit Freedom Network (DFN), a nonprofit organization dedicated to the emancipation of India’s Dalit. Then, as Associate Pastor, Nanci directed the small groups program, outreach, pastoral care, finances, and spoke on a regular basis.

Currently, Nanci is the President of Empart USA, a global non-profit that aims to transform 100,000 communities in South Asia by 2030. While many years have passed since her first journey to the subcontinent of India, her passion for India has continued as Nanci has made dozens of trips to all parts of India. She has testified before the US Congress as well as presented to large and small Indian and American audiences, interest groups, universities, and churches. Nanci is the author of a photographic devotional book, To Love the Slumdog. Through her heartfelt presentations, thousands have been stirred to action.

She is a passionate leader, developer, visionary strategist, and facilitator. As an engaging communicator, Nanci is the consummate storyteller. As an avid photographer, creative, cyclist, reader, and adventurer; she is never without somewhere to engage in life.Most importantly, she is the mother of 4 grown children, 3 children-in-law and “Gigi” to three beautiful babies with two more “on the way”!

Advisory Team Member

Valarie Grimes

Valarie Grimes is a Pastor of the church plant Radiant Church Savannah, in Savannah, GA. She is an international speaker, a Registered Nurse, and currently pursuing her Doctorate in Ministry from South University. Her most important roles, however, are the ones she hold in her family as a wife, mother, sister, and grandmother. She is married to Rahman Grimes, mother of two, and grandmother of two. Her goal is to influence others to become Christ followers and live out their purpose.

Mission Advancement Coordinator

Katelynn Batts

Katelynn and her husband Travis live outside of Raleigh, NC and passionately serve in the youth ministry of their local church plant, Lifepointe, for the past 3 years. Katelynn has been a part of the Stadia team for the last 18 months and is currently pursuing a degree in Business Administration with a focus in Communications at Liberty University. Before serving with Stadia, Katelynn worked as a Lead Teller at Wells Fargo for 3 years and as a communications and next steps intern at Lifepointe church. In her free time, Katelynn loves to read, play board games with her small group, visit her family in Wilmington, NC, and rock climb with her husband.

VP of Church Multiplication

Jeff Bennett

Jeff’s role is focused on increasing Stadia’s capacity to make a greater impact in U.S. church planting. He has partnered in planting churches in Georgia, across the U.S. and globally. Jeff lives in the Atlanta area with his wife, Lisa, and two daughters, Madison and Macy.

Bloom Specialist

Lisa Bennett

Story lover who grew up a Preacher’s Kid. Fell in love with and married my college crush, then set off for the following 8 years of ministry.  Enter Church Planting, which led me to this current spot on the timeline – another 17 years down the road with lots more stories to tell.  PanCan survivor who fully understands the weight of that statement.  Partner with my husband, Jeff, on the Bennett Front of Global Engagement (i.e. Life and all it demands), overseeing the on-line ed of our youngest, Hosting the Stadia Bloom: Plant Strong Podcast, and treasuring the fact that my favorite people ever, Madi and Macy, call me mom.

Collaboration Catalyst

Nick Boring

Project Bookkeeper

Karen Brown

Karen and her family moved to Boston in 2005 to help plant REUNION Christian Church, where she led the Family Ministry and served as the bookkeeper. Previously, Karen served on staff as a Children’s Ministry Director at Community Christian Church in the Chicagoland area. Loving and encouraging families through the church or local community makes her heart beat fast. Her passions lie in caring for children from hard places as both a foster parent, and as co-founder of The Foster Box, a non-profit equipping foster families. Karen lives in the Boston metro area with her husband Mike and their three kids: Aiden, Miles & Owen and is grateful for the ever-growing number of children who call her mom through foster care.

Finance Assistant

Mapi Byler

Mapi was born and raised in Lima, Peru.  At age 23, she moved to Akron, Ohio to pursue her MBA at the University of Akron, where she met her now husband, Chris.  Together they have 3 girls, Alexa (12), Camila (10) and Ellie Rose (8).   Chris was who introduced Mapi to Christ.  Ever since then, Mapi has pursued knowing more about Jesus, his unending love and grace.

After she finished her MBA, Mapi worked for a company that specialized in fundraising, managing the overall direction of specific nonprofit organization’s accounts.  After the birth of her third child, she became a stay home mom and a health and wellness coach.  Mapi felt a call to seek the Lord in 2016 and she was introduced to a youth center in the area of Kenmore, called First Glance, whose mission is to connect students to Christ and the church through real, loving and non-threatening avenues.  She became a regular volunteer at First Glance and learned it is our job to love people and the Holy Spirit’s job to convict, the importance of making disciples, saturate the city with the word of God and be obedient to the next step while surrendering it all to Jesus.  In connecting with students, Mapi realized she has a fire inside to serve God while growing His kingdom on earth.  In response to God’s calling, in 2020 Mapi and her family moved from the suburbs (Uniontown) to the city of Kenmore and started homeschooling her kids, while working with Stadia and continued volunteering at First Glance.

Mapi’s heart beats for sharing Jesus with anyone that she comes in contact with and love people like Jesus would.  Her favorite part of the day, is the time she spends with Jesus, whether it is seating on her favorite chair at home with a hot cup of coffee and His word on her hands, or worshipping Jesus while she drives through the city.   Prayer and worship have become her favorite things.  And Jesus is her favorite to be with!

Director of Bookkeeping

Alyssa Candelaria

Project Bookkeeper

Wendy Carpenter

Wendy Carpenter is a life-long resident of Independence and Blue Springs, MO. She is married to Kevin, with 2 children, Cady 20 and Logan 18. She is a bookkeeper and administrative assistant by trade, but a volunteer by choice. She has enjoyed being a Girl Scout leader for the last 13 years as well as a member of Blue Springs Christian Church for 17 years. As a current member of Revive Church in Northwest Independence, she has volunteered in many capacities including worship leading, women’s ministries, missions and she is currently serving as the Worship Director. She has a heart for women and runs a clothing closet at Hope House, a domestic violence emergency shelter. She is an avid student of the Bible and her passion lies in loving people to Jesus and discipleship.

Platform Administrator

Ammy Carralero

As a child, Ammy was deeply impacted by a church plant in her local community. It was at that church where she first gave her life to the Lord at the sweet age of five. It is because of her love for Jesus, her passion for seeing lives transformed by the power of the Gospel, and the impact that church had in her life, that she is moved to see every child have a church.

Ammy was in the medical field for many years but God very clearly called her into ministry one day and for over 15 years she served at Christ Fellowship church in several roles including Worship and Production Admin, Arts and Communications Admin, Communications and Weekend Experience Coordinator and Project Manager, Digital Strategy Project Manager, and Creative Team Project Manager. She and her children, Arturo and Catalina, live in sunny/moody weather Florida. In her down time, Ammy enjoys nature walks, finding cool animals/bugs/plants with her kids, watching home updating or food shows and/or documentaries, and definitely loves cooking and eating delicious food.

Senior Director of New Church Growth

Tim Celek

Tim lives in Costa Mesa, CA with his wife of 40+ years, Sue. In 1988, Tim planted The Crossing Church, and over 30 years had the opportunity to see the Crossing grow, reflect, and impact the coastal community of Orange County. On the church’s 30th birthday, Tim intentionally handed off leadership of The Crossing Church. During Tim’s tenure, The Crossing Church resourced 5 new churches, which makes Tim’s role of Senior Director of New Church Growth with Stadia the perfect fit for this Harley-loving church planter. Tim also enjoys sail boat racing, and when he isn’t on boats or motorcycles, he loves to spend time biking and building Legos with grandsons (and their moms, who happen to be Tim’s daughters!)

Project Manager

Sam Chacko

Sam Chacko serves as the Lead Pastor at LOFT City Church in Richardson, TX.  He helped plant the church in 2011 and has seen the church become a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural church community.  Sam is a second-generation Indian American and a third-generation pastor. He’s also been a bi-vocational church planter, having served 15 years on staff at Marketplace Ministries.  Church planting is something near and dear for Sam and his family. He has a heart to see more minority-led multi-ethnic church plants and to see bi-vocational pastors flourish in ministry.

He serves on the board of the Ethnos Network (a decentralized, global church planting network that catalyzes multiethnic church plants in urban spaces around universities), Advance Initiative (a ministry that exists to see a movement of gospel-centered, multiethnic churches planted by or among Indian Americans) and Threaded (a ministry committed to inspiring relationships, reconciliation, and collaborative action among the diverse body of Christ).

Sam has been married to Ann since 2003, and God has blessed them with three incredible children – Nicole, Timothy, & Micah.  In his free time, he enjoys reading, traveling and enjoying all sports connected to Philadelphia (Eagles, Sixers, Phillies).  Yes, he is an Eagles fan in Cowboys territory!

West Regional Director

Joshua Chavez

Joshua Chavez serves as the Lead Pastor of Revive Church, a rapidly growing mutli-ethnic, multi-generational, multi–site church in Los Angeles, CA. In addition to leading this church community, Joshua has also served as a traveling Worship Leader and has led worship nationwide with organizations such as Promise Keepers, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Urban Youth Workers Institute, Maranatha Music and others.

Joshua is passionate about serving the local church. He is dedicated to partnering with local churches, church planters and church planting teams to strengthen and train them in creating healthy Gospel-Centered, Community Engaging, Kingdom Advancing Churches and Ministries.

Joshua his wife Noemi and two boys live in Long Beach, CA. They are passionate Jesus freaks and live on mission to make Jesus more famous everywhere they go.

Catalyst for Kingdom Diversity

Yucan Chiu

Born in Chicago to parents of Chinese descent, Yucan came to understand and experience Jesus in his teenage years while in California. His first experiences in planting new faith communities informally began in his teenage years, growing into more “formal” planting in his early twenties; his latest church plant is in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Yucan is also the founding director of the Ethnos Network, a decentralized, global church planting network that catalyzes multiethnic church plants in urban spaces around universities (http://ethnos.network). Additionally, Yucan serves as a chaplain at Rutgers University for graduate students and faculty (through the ministry of Intervarsity), and a church plant trainer for City to City, New York region. He holds bachelor degrees in sociology and biology (University of California, San Diego), and graduate degrees in theology, urban Studies, and missiology (M.Div, Talbot School of Theology, D.Min. Bakke Graduate University).  He has been married for twenty years to Dr. Yen-Yen Chiu, and has two wonderful teenage daughters. In his free time, Yucan enjoys photography, food tours, running, art museums, and extended family.

Project Management Team Administrator

Zack Clark

Zack experienced a church plant for the first time during college, and immediately knew it was something he wanted to be a part of. After graduating, he and his wife Abbie moved to Cleveland, OH (yes, on purpose) to be a part of Velocity Church, a multi-site 12-year-old church plant. While he was there, Zack gained experience in leading each area of a church plant. In his free time, Zack loves to watch soccer, drink good coffee, play video games, and spend time with his wife and 2 kids, Amelia and Josiah. The Clark family now resides outside of Indianapolis, Indiana.

Director of Culture and Team Development

Amber Craft

Amber originally hails from sunny Sarasota, Florida but found her home in Kissimmee, Florida after graduating from Johnson University Florida with a B.A. in Humanities and Biblical Studies in 2017. Amber is married to her best friend and college sweetheart, with whom she shares a love of the arts, binge watching Netflix originals, collecting postcards, and experimenting in the kitchen with plant-based foods.

Project Bookkeeper

Frances Davis

Frances lives in the small town, Sparta, TN. She is the wife of a farmer and the mother to 3 beautiful children. She graduated from Tennessee Tech with a degree in Finance. She is happy to work in a field where she can use her education to help reach people for Jesus. Frances and her husband are actively involved in their church, serving on the Board of Directors among other service opportunities. Frances has been a bookkeeper for nearly a decade. When she’s not doing bookkeeping, she enjoys spending time with her family and reading.

Project Manager

Emily Diaz

VP of Church Multiplication Lab

Mozart Dixon Jr.

Mozart Dixon has been in vocational ministry for 14 years in various capacities from college ministry to church planting. In 2016 Mozart co-planted a church in Lincoln, NE to reach college students and the surrounding community. That church multiplied into 3 more church plants before Mozart and his family moved to NYC to see the multiethnic Kingdom multiplied through directing church planting in the Northeast for the Christian and Missionary Alliance.  He holds a Master’s in Christian Studies and is currently working on his D.Min. through Alliance Theological Seminary. Mozart enjoys his family, friends, basketball, and eating good food. He lives in the Harlem neighborhood of NYC with his wife, Colleen, their daughters (Evangeline and Misha), and sons (Uriah and Hayes).

Senior Director of Project Development

Doug Foltz

Designer & Marketing Coordinator

Lauren Hart

Before joining Stadia, Lauren spent several years as a Creative Director and staff leader in Student Ministries. She is a Graphic Designer and User Experience Designer, but her years working with youth make her really fun at dance parties…and slightly addicted to candy. Lauren loves the next generation and loves being able to help start new healthy churches where they can know Jesus. Lauren and her husband currently live in Kansas City, where she enjoys spending time with her dogs, thrifting, and making tacos! 

Project Bookkeeper

Tashea Hartpence

Tashea’s heart beats for family. But that heartbeat isn’t limited to her husband and three incredible kids. It extends out to her global family, the church. For most of her life, Tashea has been serving and loving God’s family in any way possible. She attended Ozark Christian College where she met her husband. Over the years, as a pastor’s wife, she has served in many capacities: running children’s ministries, directing a preschool, leading women’s groups, and serving on multiple mission trips to Africa. Her family currently serves at Northwest Hills Christian Church in San Antonio, TX. Tashea is excited to be a part of the team at Stadia, and use her experience in ministry, bookkeeping, and her keen eye for detail to help the church grow God’s Kingdom.

Project Bookkeeper

Fernando Hernandez

Fernando Hernandez is originally from Mexico and has lived in Arizona for 16 years. He earned a master’s degree in Business Administration and is excited to work in a capacity that combines his love for finance and passion for ministry. Fernando loves to travel, read, drink coffee, and spend time with friends.

In Loving Memory of

Mo Hofman

With heavy hearts, we share the passing of our treasured teammate, Mo Hofman. We are so fortunate to have known Mo and will forever be changed by the ways she loved Jesus and valued people. As a Stadia Project Manager, Mo was instrumental in starting many new churches. Her influence and impact on those works continue, and her example and legacy are to be celebrated. We trust that she was met with, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

Mo Hofman has over 15 years’ experience in organizational planning, team development, and maximizing project goals, with  6+ years specifically in church planting, multisite, and church logistics. She loves the church and enjoys the behind the scenes work in sharing the gospel.  In her spare time you will find her walking her dog Shadow, crocheting blankets, working out with friends, and on the field cheering for her kids at their sport events.  Mo and Aaron have been married since 2001 and have two teenagers Maddie and Austin.

Senior Project Bookkeeper

Belinda Knight

Belinda Knight comes to the Stadia team with over 15 years bookkeeping experience. After employment at a Fortune 500 company for 9 years, Belinda started providing freelance bookkeeping and project management services which allowed time flexibility for her to support her husband’s church planting efforts in Morgantown, WV and then again in Olympia, WA. With her primary church planting role historically focusing on children’s ministry, Belinda is excited to be a part of the Stadia team who shares her passion for reaching kids with the good news of Jesus!

Project Bookkeeper

Wilna Lebrun

I am a Florida native and a devoted mother of 1. Who is happily married and loves spending time with her family. When I am not busy caring for my loved ones, I can often immerse myself in the gym to stay fit and healthy. In addition to loving cooking and exercise, I have a deep passion for Jesus and regularly spend time in the word.

Discovery Coordinator

Lungz Makaula

Lungz Makaula is the Founder and Lead Pastor of SOZO City Church in Chicago. Having been in ministry for 15years in South Africa, Australia & the US, Lungz brings a global perspective to his passion for building the Church and building people’s lives.

Lungz has been married to Kristin since 2013 and together they are brilliant thinkers, strategists, leaders and dynamic communicators, who deeply love Jesus, their sons & the local church.

Mission Advancement Administrator

Maia Mastoridis

Having grown up as a child in the church, Maia is eager to join the Stadia team in advancing their mission of planting churches so that every child may have one. After graduating from Johnson University Florida in 2018 with a dual degree in Human Services and Bible and Theology, Maia worked in community mental health for four years serving at-risk youth and those navigating life with mental illness. In her free time, Maia likes to support local coffee shops, make clay jewelry, and explore Tennessee state parks with her husband and dog.

Project Bookkeeper

Kelly McNamara

Kelly’s role is to come alongside church planters and support them with encouragement, as well as provide accounting/financial services. Her heart is to serve and connect women, which she does by leading a women’s small group and by coordinating women’s events at her home church, RiverTree-Lake, in Uniontown, Ohio. Kelly and her husband John have been married since 2000, and love raising their blended family of 4 children – elementary aged through adult.

VP of Culture and Team Development

Janie Mehaffey

Champion of People. Advocate for Clarity. Celebrator of God’s work through starting thriving, growing, multiplying churches for the next generation. Janie serves the Stadia team to create a relationship-focused, high impact culture that moves us all toward a world where Every Child Has a Church. With over 30 years of experience, Janie has served as Communications Director of Traders Point Christian Church in Indianapolis and as a Communications Strategist with Fishhook, an innovative creative services company that consults with churches of all sizes across the country. She has worked with church planting teams in Manchester, CT, and Miami, FL, and a wide-spectrum of non-profit organizations, including Exponential Network, the American Diabetes Association and Kappa Delta Sorority. She and her husband, Matt, live in Pittsburgh, PA, with their two sons, who are originally from Taiwan.

VP of Mission Advancement

Justin Moxley

Justin has served for years as a strategist, consultants and coach for churches, non-for-profits and businesses.  His experience in serving in a mega church and leading a new church are what brought him to his role as Vice President of Advancement for Stadia.  He is on the teaching team of his local church, has served as an adjunct professor and has served on the board of a number of non-for-profits.  He has been married to his wife Tiffany for over 25 years, has a son Zane, daughter-in-law Taylor, daughter Savannah and son-in-law Jacob. He loves the beach, Kansas City BBQ, and watching his kids play college soccer.

VP of Mission Support

Matt Murphy

Matt lives in North Beach, MD and is married to Becky Murphy with two kids, Ariella & Rex, and one dog: Ravenclaw. Matt has been a part of four church plants in the DC/Baltimore metro area. Matt was previously the Executive Pastor for Revolution Church in Annapolis, MD, and before that, was the Project Manager for the Siemens Center for Applied Medical Imaging MRI R&D group at Johns Hopkins University.

Project Bookkeeper

Kaitlyn Nelson

Kaitlyn is a native of Lake Wales, Florida. She grew up in the ministry of Christian Camping at Lake Aurora Christian Camp. She has extensive experience in faith-based non-profits in the finance, marketing, and donor relations sectors. She graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Marketing from the University of Florida and a Master’s in Business Administration from Florida Southern College. She currently lives in Lake Wales with her husband, Aaron, and their son, Rhett. She loves all things outdoors, running, traveling, great food, and being with family and friends.

President

Greg Nettle

Devoted to a God-given passion for The Church and its responsibility to plant new churches – churches specifically designed to reach out to children at physical and spiritual risk – Greg Nettle serves as President of Stadia Church Planting. As a visionary and catalytic leader, Greg has led Stadia from planting a handful of churches to planting more than 350 churches around the globe in 2020. Under his leadership, Stadia has developed strategic partnerships with like-minded organizations such as Compassion International and has refined its portfolio of unique and highly effective church planting services, positioning the organization for continued exponential growth.

Prior to his time at Stadia, Greg served as leader of the RiverTree Movement in Ohio for 25 years. His sense of adventure has taken him around the world as he has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, Cotopaxi and Whitney (among others) to raise funds to bless children on the margins of society.

Greg’s most important partner in life is his wife, Julie, as they lead their children, Tabitha and Elijah, to fall deeply in love with Jesus. He is an author, speaker and consultant as an agent of change in the global church and has co-authored three books: Small Matters, in collaboration with Compassion International President Jimmy Mellado, One Of and Disciples Who Make Disciples.

Team Celebration Catalyst

Tabitha Nettle-Gross

Tabitha lives in Akron, Ohio where she serves as a worship leader at a church Stadia helped plant. When she’s not leading worship, Tabitha is hanging with her husband Hunter and their dog, cat, and bunny. Tabitha is also a licensed mixologist and attended the Cleveland Institute of Art.

Director of Information Technology

Laura Pedroni

Laura served her community as a former high school German teacher for 12 years before joining Stadia’s Advancement Team. Her and her husband, Guillermo, reside in Bolingbrook, Illinois, and have two children, Karmina and Gabriel. With this being her first experience in church planting, she feels so blessed to have been given the opportunity to advance God’s Kingdom through her work with Stadia. When Laura and her family are not visiting relatives, they enjoy traveling to various destinations throughout the United States.

Director of Marketing

Alex Robinson

Alex is passionate about helping people engage with God by creating experiences and environments which challenge them to see Jesus in a fresh way. You’ve heard of the most interesting man in the world, but Alex describes himself as the most boring man in the world (1 Thess. 4:11-12). He likes spending time with his family, watching documentaries, movies, and the latest Netflix Originals, reading theological books, and is curious about the art and science of coffee and beer brewing.

Mission Support Executive Assistant

Kristin Scates

Kristin and her husband Drew live in De Soto, KS. They recently moved to the Kansas City area to serve at Restore Community Church where her husband works as the Creative Arts Director at their Shawnee Campus. Kristin enjoys serving alongside her husband on the Creative Arts team by playing piano and singing. Kristin recently started with Stadia in September but before joining the Stadia team, Kristin held various roles at Calvary Christian Church in Bellevue, NE over the past 7 years from Weekend Service Coordinator, to Communications Assistant, to an Administrative Assistant for two Executive Level Staff. Kristin’s first experience with church planting was when her family helped launch a church in Fishhawk, FL that became the church she grew up in!

Church Multiplication Catalyst

Leilani Sizemore

Leilani lives with her husband and two children in Dallas, GA. Leilani is a former Stadia employee, as well as a church planter. She and her husband planted Creekside Church in September of 2019, and she currently serves on staff as Executive Pastor. In her spare time, she loves to run and listen to podcasts!

Chief of Staff to the Office to the President

Angela Smith

Angela is an entrepreneurial business leader with a breadth of experience in areas of product development, sales, operations, marketing, and administration in Fortune 500, small business, and startup environments.  She is passionate about the intersection of business and social impact and feels blessed to have the opportunity to use her experience and talents as part of the Stadia team to help every child have a church.  Angela and her husband Michael live in the hill country outside of Austin Texas with their four children where they actively worship and serve in the local church and catalyze Christian community.

Director of Church Relationships

Ashley Stegeman

After teaching for several years and being heavily involved in her local church, Ashley’s heart for ministry has continued to grow. Ashley serves locally in her community and her and her husband have traveled globally to serve in Poland and Haiti. Ashley understands the importance of the church in a child’s life. If she is not at church, she’s hanging out with girlfriends or with her husband and three boys in Cincinnati, OH.

Project Bookkeeper

Kris Stevens

Kris lives just outside of Kansas City in Grain Valley, MO. She is married to Brian, with whom she has two awesome kids, Kellen and Olivia. The family also has a dog, Morgan, and a guinea pig, Katie.  She loves supporting the planters she works with!

Project and Events Manager

Ashley Stewart

Ashley has been with Stadia since January 2019 and has the opportunity to work with several teams throughout Stadia on a day to day basis. Before working at Stadia, Ashley worked at a local church plant as the Executive Director leading ministry leaders, running the Sunday program, and anything else that was needed of her. Ashley & her husband Chris live in Davidsonville, MD (about 20 minutes outside of Annapolis) with their dog Opie and cat Albus.

Senior Director of Discovery

Heidy Tandy

Project Bookkeeper

Layna Tapia

Layna and her husband, Jair served on the launch team at Engage Church in Memphis, TN in 2014 and have been volunteering ever since. They love their pup, Simba even more than they love Marvel movies. Before coming to Stadia, Layna worked as the Director of Student Recruitment at Mid-South Christian College.

Investor Care Catalyst

John Wasem

John has been engaged in the starting of new churches since 1983 as a strategist, coach, professor, and concept pioneer. He has filled a variety of roles with Stadia since 2004. John is approaching 50 years of ordained ministry having led churches in 5 locations – one of which he planted in 1994. He and his wife, Leslie, live in Candler, NC and have 3 married children and 6 grandchildren.

Director of Household Relationships

Andrea Wells

VP of Church Planting Strategy

Craig Whitney

Craig is a strategist, leader, teacher, and coach. Having started a church himself, he is passionate about multiplying churches. He lives in Sacramento, California with the cutest girl in his 4th Grade Sunday School class who he has now been married to for over 35 years. When he is not reading, writing or talking about ideas for multiplication, he likes to spend time roasting and drinking coffee, cycling in the Sierra Foothills, and cheering on his favorite Formula 1 driver.

Platform Content Creator

Nicole Winston