Gymea Baptist | empower / love / engage

Senior Pastor - Karl Faase
  
Karl Faase has been the Senior Pastor of Gymea Baptist since 1996.  Karl also has had wider leadership experience including being part of the inception and leadership of the Australian Arrow Leadership Development Program, and also co founding the Media Project, “Jesus – all about life”. Karl’s major wider ministries now are through Olive Tree Media (www.olivetreemedia.com.au ) which produces radio spots played around Australia and TV programs such as “Face to Face” and “The Men’s Series” also played around Australia and internationally. Karl speaks regularly across Australia and also sits on several boards. Karl is married to Jane and has three adult children - Timothy, Ainsley and Ellie.

Associate Pastor - Marc Rader

Marc has been on staff at Gymea since 1997 (when he was hired as the youth pastor!).  He has ministered in a variety of roles since and is currently the Preaching & Teaching pastor (part-time).  The other part of his time is taken up as a faculty member at Morling College, the Baptist theological college of NSW & ACT where he teaches in Biblical Studies and Preaching.  Originally from Canada, Marc is married to Nicole (an Aussie) and they have three daughters, Amaris, Amelia and Lucy.

Associate Pastor - Angelo Giovas

Angelo is the Pastoral Care minster of our church. He is married to Anne and has three children. His role includes the oversight of the Adult Life Groups and the Welcoming and Integration of new people to our church. His passion is to see people living and loving one another as Jesus lived and loved his disciples.

  




Grays Point Community Church - Andrew Harrison

Andrew  (Drew) is working alongside of the other leaders of GPCC to maintain and grow the church as an active and viable Christian witness in Grays Point with a focus on building relationships with key community groups and facilitating Sunday morning services. To also connect GBC and GPCC ministries to see the broad range of ministries at GBC expressed with the same focus and vision, just from a different location.

 


H30 Church - Jamie Freeman

Jamie has been on staff at Gymea since 2007.  At the beginning of 2011, Jamie and his wife Ainsley moved with a team to Sydney’s Northern Beaches to follow God’s call to plant a church. This was done in partnership with GBC and the Baptist Union of NSW/ACT.  His passion is to mobilise communities of believers to live for Jesus and influence culture for Christ.  Alongside his leadership at H3O Church, Jamie is the co-founder of OneWorship - a worship ministry movement of the Baptist Union.





Worship Coordinator - Ryan Day

Ryan has a passion to see communities transformed to think, speak and act like Jesus Christ. He coordinates the music ministry at Gymea Baptist Church. Ryan has been worship leading for 15 years and has a heart for developing others in the areas of leadership, music, song writing and the arts. He believes that regular community worship is an important spiritual rhythm in the Christian life. Ryan is married to Julie and has two young sons, Joshua and Caleb. 





Children's Ministry Coordinator - Narelle Batterham

Narelle is new to the team this year and is passionate about reaching today's children in a way that speaks to them, so that they desire to learn more of God's love and can grow to become the youth leaders of tomorrow.  Narelle sees children as an integral part of the church community in ministering and serving others.  She has learnt that sunday school is a great place to learn (at any age) and to never underestimate children and how God can use them. 
Narelle is married to Ian.  They have 3 children: Brianna, Jacinda and Milayna (who love coming to KidzZone with Mum and Dad!)



Children's Ministry Trainee - Corinne Beckmann

Corinne grew up in Gymea Baptist Church with her family (Paul, Jenny and older brother Tobias). She has been heavily involved as a leader in Children’s Ministry for the past five years, gradually accepting more responsibility especially through Sunday mornings and Kids Activity Days. She has a great heart for kids and is currently studying at university to be a primary school teacher. Corinne loves that every week she is able to run around like crazy with a bunch of kids and, in doing so, show them the love of God.




Playtime - Leanne Carter

Leanne coordinates the Playtime ministry for parents, kids and grandparents from Gymea Baptist Church and the community. Together with a team of leaders she seeks to provide quality Playtime groups across the week that share their faith and connect with families, providing support in the early years of parenting.

Administration Manager - Karen Russell

Karen has been with the team since early 2010. After a career with Qantas, she jumped at the opportunity to serve God and her community by bringing her skills to the role of Administration Manager where she’s responsible for the day to day administration of GBC.  Karen is married to David.  They have 5 children Kristen, Dean, Scott, Blake and Christiana.

Admin Assistant - Janet Elmes

Janet has been working at GBC for the last ten years assisting Marc with his Advanced Christian Education programme.   Janet has now taken on an additional admin role serving the wider church community at Gymea by helping to ensure services run smoothly and managing church wide communications such as the website and bulletins.  Janet’s passions are education, community and social justice.
  



Bookkeeper - Theny Johnston

Theny joined GBC’s staff in March 2004 as the bookkeeper. Born in Bali, Indonesia Theny migrated to Australia with her family when she was 6 years old. She has been married to Brett since 1992 and has a son, Samuel. 






Assistant Bookkeeper - Jenny Beckmann 

Jenny Beckmann has been a finance volunteer to GBC for more than 13 years.  As the Assistant Bookkeeper she looks after offerings and May Mission Month donations.  Jenny also provides bookkeeping services to Southern Community Welfare and other organisations.