Our Cohort
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Meet the cohort you’ll be journeying with through the LYN Hub Accelerator.
Who’s taking part?
Our 2023 Cohort
Duncan Kidd - Hillsong Newcastle
Info.
Jason Gardner - St Luke's Blackburn
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Passionate christian and evangelist, wife and extrovert. Loves being with people, serving and always goes the extra mile. She inspires joy and laughter everywhere she goes.
Ashley Bolton - Lisburn City Church, Belfast
Passionate christian and worship leader. Always learning and just completed another degree in theology just for fun. Erin enjoys gather data and evidence to help bring about positive change in the community. She also has a degree in psychology and helps with our wellbeing projects.
Erin Gardiner - Lisburn City Church, Belfast
James has been a Vicar in Bishopston and St Andrews since 2010. Prior to that he was trained for ministry in Bristol, worked at a church in Guildford and spent three years working in Executive Search. In those years before B&A, James had the privilege of travelling to East Africa where he learned a lot about discipleship and mission.
James Stevenson - B&A Bristol
Katie stepped into the role of Social Action Manager after volunteering in various projects at St Nicks. With a background in fashion and personal styling, Katie entered the role with a passion for 'making people feel good in themselves'.
Katie Eastwood - St Nicholas Bristol
Ruth May - KXC, North London
Info.
Kola is the Community Action Officer for Jesus House for all the Nations. He oversees all community-focused initiatives including the foodbank and our Christmas outreach tagged - Christmas Lunch on Jesus. He is a member of the Service management team that ensure all church organised events run smoothly. Kola has extensive experience in operations, healthcare, project management, training, and policy design. Kola is on the steering group for the delivery of housing for the homeless via partnership with a charitable organisation who are looking to address the issue of homelessness.
Kola Oshin - Jesus House, North London
Liz recently joined the Harbour Church staff team as the Love Your Neighbour Coordinator after feeling God calling me to do more with my skills! I now oversee the running of our community meal (Safe Harbour), Food Bank and support our women focussed outreach projects.
Previously I have worked as a Paramedic for the Ambulance Service and as Health & Safety Manager and hope to bring compassion, practicality and H&S compliance to our projects, but above all demonstrate the love of God to the least, the lost and the lonely in our community.
Liz Hurrell - Harbour Church Portsmouth
Pasionate christian, wife, mum and charity CEO who wakes up everyday excited to help people find hope and fulfil their potential.
Lynsey Agnew - Lisburn City Church, Belfast
Matthew is the Foundation Operations Lead and Foodbank Strategic Lead at The King's Community Foundation. He has a background in Computer Science but took a job running the Foodbank in 2021. Since then he has also taken on the day to day general Foundation finance and administration.
Matthew and his wife Claire recently bought a house, which takes up most of their time, but when he has free time, he enjoys watching football and walking.
Matthew McArthur - King's Church, Aberdeen
As KingsGate's Head of Community Action, Sharon Keogh leads the social transformation work across the KingsGate centres in Peterborough, Cambridge and Leicester. Sharon is also a member of the KingsGate Strategy team, safeguarding review panel and leadership development team. Sharon has been on staff at KingsGate for 10 years and has been a member of the congregation for 23 years. Outside KingsGate, Sharon chairs the Peterborough Food Poverty Forum, is on the steering group launching a Peterborough Poverty Truth Commission later this year and sits on several statutory authority groups that address poverty, cost of living crisis and resilience. In her spare time, Sharon is a trustee of a local infrastructure charity and loves to volunteer at local community events. Sharon started her career as a qualified social worker, has worked for several faith based organisations in different roles including outreach work and volunteer management, most recently working for The Salvation Army managing community programmes for older people. Sharon received a degree and Certificate of Qualification in Social Work from Nottingham Trent Polytechnic and completed her Master of Science in Voluntary Sector Management at Bayes Business School, London.
Sharon Keogh - KingsGate, Peterborough
Originally from Wigan, Tom has spent the last decade serving in pastoral ministry in North America, after studying for his undergrad and postgrad degrees in Pastoral Ministry. Until recently Tom was serving in University Chaplaincy at Trinity Western University, in British Columbia, Canada, but has joined the team at Blackpool Church eager to join in the work God is doing in one of the UK's most deprived communities. Tom’s key motivations are a passion for discipleship and social action, paired with a love for coffee, theology, and long conversations with friends.
Tom Goodfellow - Blackpool Church
Trudi is a brilliant combination of creativity and administration. She combined motherhood with a career as an artist. She has run church outreach ministries and has long been frustrated that they aren’t being run properly! In April 2022, Trudi pioneered the Bristol response to the Ukraine refugee crisis and has since worked with the Good Faith Partnership in facilitating the city wide response offered by the church.
Trudi Murray - B&A Bristol
Zach currently oversee KXC’s work in the community. This ranges from the day to day running of the community centre aspect of Kings House, to the Refugee Support ministry amongst other things.
He has been part of KXC for 9 years and on team for 3 years, first coming onboard during the pandemic to manage their Food bank.
Zach lives in Islington with his wife Jess. You can usually find him watching sports or with Jess at the local with a pint of Guinness in hand.”
Zach Gain - KXC, North London
Leanne is the Manager of our Flourish project. She and her husband Tom moved to Aberdeen in 2013 and took up pastoral roles at Kings Church Aberdeen.
She first ran our Youth programme, and has since gone on to pilot and run the Flourish Project over the last 2 years.
Leanne has 3 children with Tom, and enjoys baking, reading and hanging out with people.
Leanne Seal, Kings Church, Aberdeen
Alan was born and raised in Belfast, Northern Ireland and worked as a youth worker since leaving university until he trained for ordination 12 years later. He moved to London in 2012 and worked in Tower Hamlets before switching jobs to work for an HTB plant in North-West London - The Lighthouse, formally known as Holy Trinity Swiss Cottage. He then trained for ordination in Cambridge before becoming curate at St Luke’s Blackburn. Alan is married to Beth, they have a 5 year old daughter called Ruby and a newborn son called Zeph.
Alan Gault, St Luke’s Blackburn
Sarah is a speaker and preaches regularly. She is part of the Activate Your Life Leadership team and is a member of the leadership board. With a desire to promote authentic faith, she serves and leads in church and the wider community. She enjoys listening to The Archers when she is on long walks with her dog Peggy and has 2 Boer goats called Ina and Mary.
Sarah McKerney, St Luke’s Blackburn
Ayo Adedoyin is the community action lead at Jesus House and has worked across several sectors, though primarily centring himself in the not-for-profit world. Ayo is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of an International Human Rights and Social Justice charity, PSJ UK, which mobilises African diaspora communities into a cohesive voice to advocate against escalating insecurity and injustice throughout sub-Saharan Africa. PSJ UK’s current focus is on Nigeria, a country perplexed by multiple threats to societal stability and prosperity.
Ayo Adedoyin, Jesus House
As KingsGate's Community Action Coordinator, Leanne Waterman brings nearly 20 years of customer service experience to her role. No stranger to picking up new skills and systems on a tight schedule, Leanne also works with statistics and data to plan for future growth and optimise both internal and client-facing systems. Leanne has served as an integral part of the the Community Action team over the last 5 years and is passionate about demonstrating God's love in practical ways. A proven communicator both face-to-face and over the telephone, Leanne brings those people skills to her role when training colleagues or new team members. Leanne grew up in Peterborough and has been part of the KingsGate congregation for most of her life. When not working for Community Action, Leanne has quietly developed a reputation for being one of the best face painters in town and is often found at communtiy events surrounded by children lining up to be a fierce lion or the next Spiderman!
Leanne Waterman, KingsGaate Church
Stephanie grew up in Peterborough and after completing a University Degree in Modern Languages returned to her home city to work for KingsGate Community Church. Five years later, she moved to London to work for HTB as an Executive Assistant and Event Organiser. Although never officially using her language skills in the workplace, they led to her meeting and marrying a French man who joined her in London and later followed her back to Peterborough. Stephanie returned to Peterborough in 2018 to work for KingsGate Conference Centre and during lockdown also started working for KingsGate's Community Action team, setting up and coordinating the Debt Advice project through the Love Your Neighbour initiative. Stephanie has two young daughters who keep her too busy for any hobbies!
Stephanie Fons, KingsGate Peterborough
Tom is the Chair of the Board of Trustees of The Kings Community Foundation. He and his wife Leanne moved to Aberdeen in 2013 and took up pastoral roles at Kings Church Aberdeen.
Tom has been the Assistant Pastor of King's Church for a number of years, and has been involved in The King's Community Foundation for almost 5 years, taking on his role as Chair of the Board in early 2021.
Tom has 3 children with Leanne, and enjoys gardening, reading whodunnits and going for a jog every now and again!
Tom Seal, King’s Church Aberdeen
Genevieve is the C3 Impact Lead, developing and growing the community arm of The C3 Church across 3 locations. Passionate for people, Genevieve believes in empower the church to be Jesus hands and feet within their areas of influence. Alongside strategy and team leadership of over 130 weekly volunteers, she has launched and developed 4 thriving community hubs across East Anglia that target the root causes of poverty, created a social supermarket called the Community Market serving 3 locations, developed an app, ran a food truck serving over 150 guests a week, runs large scale community events and a leadership programme for team. Genevieve cares deeply for holistic well-being and is a Psychotherapist with a private practice.
Gevevieve Drury, The C3 Cambridge
Our 2022 Cohort
Ricky Wright, Chief Executive of Vineyard Compassion
I'm married to Karen, and we have 3 kids - 17yr old twins Ethan & Kaitlin, and 15yr old Erin. I'm originally from Belfast but have lived in Coleraine for 25yrs. l've been a Pastor at Causeway Coast Vineyard for 20yrs and lead Vineyard Compassion, our charity that tackles poverty and social need. When I'm not in work or with family, I can be found repairing and working on an old sailing boat, or attempting to sail it along the North Coast of N. Ireland.
Miriam McAlister, Programme Manager at Vineyard Compassion
Having spent 18 years working in a youth and community setting in inner city Belfast, developing services to support young people and families impacted by deprivation, I then moved into my current role as Programme Manager within Vineyard Compassion. Vineyard Compassion exists to empower people to thrive, by walking alongside them to overcome obstacles created by poverty, providing support along the journey and hope for a better future.
My role is to oversee our staff who manage a range of services aimed and tackling poverty and help set the direction of the organisation. I love to see people step past barriers and embrace all that they were created to be.
When not working I love to be in or on the sea, planning my next adventure and making memories with family and friends.
Hannah Seekings, Head of Lighthouse at SAINT
Hannah Seekings has been a part of the team at SAINT in East London for the last three years. She has seen the expansion of the work of Lighthouse across four different sites, responding practically in times of crisis, serving the variety of needs within the community.
From working as an empowerment worker for people who have been homeless, Hannah has always had a passion for people who have been marginalised and overlooked by society. She has a heart for building relationships and seeing people loved and known by Jesus, living hope-filled lives.
When not in East London, you can find Hannah going on long runs (she’s doing her first marathon in June!), heading out to the countryside (or any green space) and grabbing a flat white and catching up with friends.
Patty Dhar, Head of Social Transformation at HTB
Mrs Patty Dhar is Head of Social Transformation at HTB and champions several ministries, including the Love Your Neighbour Food Hub/Social Supermarket, Love Christmas, the HTB Refugee Response (Afghan, Ukraine and Asylum Seekers), Re-Work and Spear Employability Programmes, HTB Shelter, and Caring for Prison Leavers. She started her career in investment banking, became an entrepreneur and branched out in the education space.
Suzanne Day, Love Your Neighbour Manager at HTB
Suzanne Day manages the HTB LYN Food Hub / Social Supermarket. In addition, she helps to manage the HTB Refugee Response for Afghan and Ukrainian evacuees. She also has helped to manage the HTB Love Christmas campaign, providing 17,000 bags of kindness from HTB across London, including to food bank partners, prisoners, asylum-seekers, elderly, and Afghan evacuee kids in the local borough.
Vanessa Suarez, Love Your Neighbour Co-ordinator at HTB
I am the HTB Love Your Neighbour Coordinator and among other things, I also oversee some of the LYN programmes that HTB has started as a response to the Afghan and Ukraine refugee crisis.
Settled in the UK 10 years ago and for the past 7 years I've been a born again Christian, HTB has been my home for the past 6. Being part of the Social Transformation | LYN HTB team is an amazing privilege as we get to make transformational changes face to face with the community, God has put it in my heart to work and help those that have been affected by war conflict and destitution, I have seen first-hand the effect of war and it is with great passion that I can be part of this amazing team.
Jayne Franklin, Restore Team Leader at Network Church Sheffield
I am an experienced social worker, have worked in the charity sector and served as an overseas missionary for several years. Since 2013 I have worked for Network Church Sheffield, initially part-time leading their debt services (whilst continuing work in social services). In 2016 I joined the senior staff team at Network Church Sheffield as “Restore Project Leader”; where my focus has been to grow and pioneer the church’s wider social transformation work. Within this role, alongside a staff team of 4 and volunteer team of over 200 we run multiple foodbanks, a city-wide debt service, drop-in support sessions and café projects for the homeless and/or isolated. During the Covid-19 pandemic we saw explosive growth in our foodbank, debt and employment operations reaching over 1000 people weekly and partnering with upward of 50 external partners to ensure that, not only people did not go hungry, but that we effectively alleviated some of the contributing factors to people’s hardship. It has also been fantastic to see these projects result in real kingdom growth during our Alpha Course with participants now worshipping on a Sunday and being part of ongoing community groups.
Steph Abiva, Administrator at Network Church Sheffield
I have been working at Network Church Sheffield since 2011 in multiple roles. Prior to this I have worked as an electrician, breast feeding mentor and taught in the middle east. My current role is as Office Administrator and has encompassed a wide range of responsibilities. During the Covid- 19 Pandemic I took on the responsibility for the administration of the charity's finances, I have relished this challenge alongside leading on the DCMS funding impact reports. In the last 2 years I have been working increasingly closely with our social transformation team at Restore where we have grown our foodbank, debt and employment work, assisting with operations and financial management. During the Covid-19 pandemic we saw explosive growth in our foodbank, debt and employment operations reaching over 1000 people weekly and partnering with upward of 50 external partners to ensure that, not only people did not go hungry, but that we effectively alleviated some of the contributing factors to people’s hardship. It has also been fantastic to see these projects result in real kingdom growth during our Alpha Course with participants now worshipping on a Sunday and being part of ongoing community groups.
Barry Nicholson, Social Action Pastor/ Southside District Pastor at Destiny Church Glasgow
Barry Nicholson, married to Kathy, father of 4 children. Background in Sports Coaching and Lecturing. Have been in Glasgow since 1990. Part of the Senior Leadership Team at Destiny Church. Have a heart to disciple people from crisis to Christ, enabling and empowering them to fulfil their God given destiny. To see the church at the heart of every community showing and expressing the love of Christ.
Kathy Nicholson, Social Action Manager / Southside District Pastor at Destiny Church Glasgow
Kathy Nicholson, married for 28 years, mother of 4 wonderful children, Daniel, Abigail, Sarah and Timothy. Music and Primary School Teaching Background, now working for the church as part of the leadership team here in Glasgow. Am passionate about serving within the church, equipping others to fulfil their God-given role and seeing the church take it's much needed place in the local community.
Ali Delaney, Senior Ministry Pastor at Trent Vineyard
Ali is the Senior Ministry Pastor of Trent Compassion, which has a large staff and volunteer team, and has a range of ministries to bless the city, which include money advice, employability, outreach, prisons, community, practical provision, overseas and refugees.
John Pagdin, Business Manager for Trent Compassion
John is responsible for practical provision and business development at Trent Compassion.
Catherine Rogers, Hub Operator at Hillsong Liverpool
My name is Catherine, my background is Art Psychotherapy in secure and community services. I've also worked for multiple charities in a clinical and group sessional worker capacity. I am currently overseeing the wonderful LYN team and project at Liverpool whilst Fiona McGlynn is on maternity leave.
Andrew Gallagher, Hub Operator at Hillsong Newcastle
I've been part of Hillsong Newcastle now for over 14 years and have served in a variety of roles however mainly on worship team and social justice. Over the past 5 years Jesus has really stirred my heart for the poor and marginalised in society. Our LYN hub currently provides weekly ambient food support to individuals, families and charities around the North East. We are however looking at transitioning in the next couple of months to a Community Grocery setup working with The Message Trust.
Liz Burston, Lead Pastor at St. John’s Crawley
I have been on the leadership team at St Johns since we planted there from St Peters, Brighton in 2017. I am currently the social mission lead, overseeing various projects, including Love Your Neighbour. My husband Steve is the vicar and we have 3 daughters and 2 dogs. My passion is for people to be seen, heard and loved, particularly those on the margins. Our Hub is in the town of Crawley. Being close to Gatwick airport it is known to be one of the most hard hit following the pandemic due to job losses.
Will Kane, Ordinand at St John’s Crawley
Hi my name is Will, I am married to my lovely wife Jeanne and we live in Crawley. I am the ordinand at St Johns Crawley and also staying for curacy, which is so exciting! I am the Young Adults Pastor at St John's pastoring and discipling the 18-30's, which is such amazing fun!
I love all things cars and am a devoted petrolhead. My Sunday evenings after church can often be spent catching up on the F1. Now I'm working for the church that dream of owning a Ferrari has come crashing down....
Hazel Swan, Operations Director at St. John’s Crawley
I oversee the operations at St John's. I am passionate about justice and international development and spent some time living and working overseas. The LYN hub in Crawley is a partnership of over 20 churches across Crawley. We recently acquired a building where people can drop in and receive support and advice about different services available across Crawley. We share the hub with the local foodbank.
Miriam Hargreaves, Leader of Vista at Harbour Church Portsmouth
I have worked with women experiencing domestic abuse and sexual exploitation over the past 20 years and have seen God transform people's lives over and again. It is a glorious, challenging, and often untidy privilege to be there when Jesus meets people who have been through trauma and to join in with what he is doing to demonstrate his love. In Portsmouth, the sex industry is all off street and there was no project reaching out specifically to the women. As we at Harbour were already engaging with women through our 'Spa 61' pamper events and through 'Safe Harbour' our weekly meal for the vulnerably housed, we had the context for 'Vista' to grow. Our team visits massage parlours and strip clubs and we support women one to one and at our weekly drop in, offering a listening ear, advocacy and support with accessing other services. We pray with women when they wish and some are now finding belonging in church.
Johanna Swales, Head of Finance at Harbour Church Portsmouth
I was part of the team that planted Harbour Church in 2016 and have been working within the Central Services team for the last six years. The parishes Harbour Church is located in are some of the poorest in the country. We serve the needs of the local community through running a food bank, debt counselling service, work with vulnerable women and the homeless.
Sam Milchem, General Manager of SOUL Foundation Norwich
Sam has recently taken on leadership of SOUL Foundation having previously been involved in leading the age group ministries of SOUL Church.
SF is the extension of the church’s mission to show love in action. We have 9 global initiatives and 5 local, having focused heavily for the past 24months feeding those in our community, we successfully delivered 3.4million meals before transitioning to a Social Supermarket which opened mid-April 2022.
Richard Nash, Director of Soul Foundation Norwich
My background is in business. Soul Foundation has recently transitioned its food delivery service (over 3,000,000 meals delivered in two years) to a social supermarket model. This has transformed the operation. We are already seeing strong relationships forming between our staff/volunteers and our clients and also between clients. We anticipate that this will result in a considerable increase in uptake of the wrap-around services which we provide.
Sophie-Rose Fanner, Saints in the City Lead, Saint Mary’s Southampton
Hi, I'm Sophie and run the Saints in the City Department at Saint Marys Church Southampton. I have a background in anti-trafficking research and industry experience, programme management, sales and marketing. I am driven by a passion for everyone to know they are capable and that they can be transformed from the place they are in to where they want to be. Saints is the City seeks to provide transformative projects that make connections, build community and see growth.
Rich Grant, Church Leader, Alive Church Gateshead
I have been the leader of Alive Church, Gateshead since 2016 when we planted as part of the HTB Network. Gateshead is a diverse place with high levels of deprivation. We are planted in the heart of Gateshead with a vision to serve the young and the vulnerable, and see our community Come Alive in Jesus name.
Sarah Rutter, Operations Lead, Alive Church, Gateshead
Sarah is the Operations Lead for Alive Church as well as playing a central role in our Social Transformation ministries.
Laura Howard, Program Director at Audacious Foundation
Audacious Church has been my home for a number of years and I am passionate about reaching people in our communities. The Audacious Foundation was established to see Lives Changed and Communities Transformed. We support those who are most vulnerable with practical help, as well as emotional support. It is a privilege to work alongside staff and volunteers who are making such a positive difference in the lives of people in need.
Julian Wolstencroft, Community Pastor at Audacious Church
My name is Julian Wolstencroft, happily married to Kathryn with three grown up children (all boys) and one grumpy dog called Rosie. I have been the Community Pastor at Audacious Church in Manchester since the church started some 14 years ago. I would say for the last 20 years or so my passion has been to see the local church make a difference in its community across all walks of life from those who have very little to those who seem to have it all. Over this time my main focus has been working with those who are homeless and those at the risk of homelessness. We do this through our weekly drop-ins and our street teams going into the city centre.
Fiona McGlynn, Hub Operator at Hillsong, Liverpool
I am the Hub Operator at Hillsong Liverpool. I've been a part of this project for over a year, and it's been amazing to be a part of providing support for families across Liverpool through our services. We hope to open our very own Community Grocery in partnership with The Message Trust and we're excited by the difference it will make to our community in our church building.
Hannah Buck, Senior Ministry Pastor at Trent Vineyard Church for Compassion
I (re)joined Trent staff to lead our large compassion staff and volunteer team in Sept 2022 having been the Chief Officer of Transforming Notts Together for the last 8 years inspiring, equipping and connecting Notts churches as they help people break free from poverty. Here we have a range of ministries to bless the city, which include money advice, debt support, employability, outreach, prisons, community, practical provision, overseas connections, being a member of Nottingham Citizens and working with refugees.
I am passionate about justice, partnering with others, not doing things for people when we can do it with them (doesn’t always go down well with my children..) and being in it for the long haul. When I’m not working or with my wonderful family you can normally find me either trying to master a new skill, cooking or just being with good friends.
Tracey Radvan, Curate at Lovechurch Bournemouth
Johannes Radvan, Curate at Lovechurch Bournemouth