2023 Accelerate Conference breakout sessions now available as podcast episodes on your favorite platforms

DAVID LUDWIG is the associate director of church health and discipleship. He has served on the staff of small, medium, and large churches in Virginia, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania, and has served as an intentional interim pastor (transitional pastor) and now trains other men to serve in this role.

He holds a master of arts degree from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and a bachelor of science degree in religion from Liberty University, Lynchburg, Virginia. David has been providing training and has been consulting churches for nearly twenty years.

He is also a coach and has received coach training from the North American Mission Board, certified as a Leadership Development Coach by Leader Breakthru, and certified as a Spiritual Leadership Coach by Blackaby Ministries International. He is recognized and credentialed as a Certified Professional Christian Life Coach by the International Christian Coaching Institute (ICCI). David is a member of the leadership team for the SBC National Revitalization Network and locally assists pastors and churches in taking their next steps toward revitalization by walking them through the steps of BRN’s Transformation Pathway. David is passionate about disciple-making and leadership development and intentionally seeks opportunities to equip pastors and leaders to develop healthy, disciple-making churches.

DR. BILL WILKS is the lead pastor of NorthPark Church in Trussville, Alabama, where he has served since 1999. He has a doctor of ministry degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and has frequently served as an adjunct professor at the New Orleans Baptist Seminary extension center in Birmingham, Alabama.

Bill is also the founder and author of D-Life, which exists to equip common people to be Christlike disciple makers. He is the author of four D-Life Journals, D-Life Online, and his most recent book, “The Greater Work–Disciple–Making. Anytime. Anywhere.” Bill and his wife, Rondie, have traveled extensively to train thousands of believers how to make disciples who make disciples.

TIM WALKER is the lead pastor of Restored Church in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, an urban church that he planted with a team of friends in 2012. Tim has led Restored to be actively involved and known as a church “In the City, For the City.” Since launching, Restored has never had a Sunday without new people, they have now celebrated 175 baptisms, and they are pursuing a disciple-making movement that saturates their city and region with the gospel.

Tim also serves on the USA National Leadership Team for The Timothy Initiative, a global disciple-making, church-planting movement focused on multiplying disciple makers, leaders, and churches to the 4th generation.

Tim met and married his wife Heather at Restored. They’ve been married for eight years, have two girls, Lucy and Emily, and they love living on mission together as a family in Wilkes-Barre.

STEVE SHELDON of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, serves as BRN’s church health consultant for the South Central region. In addition to other roles, he has served as pastor of churches  in San Diego, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania, most recently at Wrightsdale Baptist Church in Peach Bottom, Pennsylvania, from 2011-2019, and Bux-Mont Baptist Church, Hatboro, Pennsylvania, from 1984-2007.  He also served as director of missions for the South Central Baptist Association in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, from 2007-2011.

Sheldon, who served in the U.S. Navy from 1972-1976, holds a bachelors of arts in Christian studies (Bible) and history degree from Campbellsville (Ky.) College and a master of divinity degree from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He and his wife Kathy have one son and one granddaughter.

BRENNAN COUGHLIN is a church planter and preaching pastor at Fellowship CrossPoint Church in Chesterfield, New Jersey. After eleven years teaching history in New Jersey public schools, Brennan felt called to full-time ministry. He earned a master of divinity degree from Biblical Seminary in 2011, and in 2014, he and his wife, Kathleen, moved with their four children to Trenton to start a church in the capital city. The church began with a team of twenty sent out from Fellowship Community Church in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, and they met weekly in the Coughlins’ home for Bible study. In the spring of 2015, worship services began in a living room, and eight months later, the church outgrew the space to worship at the Trenton War Memorial.

Brennan longs to honor the Lord with his life by bringing glory to God through the proclamation of the gospel in his home, in Chesterfield, and in the surrounding communities. He recently received his doctor of ministry degree in expository preaching from The Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Brennan deeply loves his family. Brennan and Kathleen met while supervising seventh period study hall and have been married 11 joyful years. They are blessed with six beautiful children.

RUTH HUEBER serves the Lord in and out of the church, at Fellowship CrossPoint Church in Chesterfield, New Jersey, connecting the community to the love of Jesus. She also oversees KIDS Club and Hunger Stops With Us. Working with the interns, fellow staff members and volunteers to coordinate the growing ministry effort, Hueber said, “I have the privilege of helping kids understand who Jesus is and how they can be connected to Him.”

She said she met Jesus when she was young, and it is really important to her that kids have an opportunity to hear about who Jesus is in a language that they can understand.

BUFF MCNICKLE, who planted Grace Falls Church in the Atlantic County region of southern New Jersey, is BRN’s director of network development and compassion ministries. During the infancy of his new church plant, he and his core team interacted with those who suffer from substance abuse and homelessness, began a ministry of care and compassion to dancers in the local adult entertainment industry, provided afterschool homework help to school children at a local community center for low-income families, built relationships with the workers at a local soup kitchen, and for a small group of believers, encouraged them to break out of their traditions of being mere pew-fillers to be inspired and prepared to carry the gospel into their circle of influence.

Pastor Buff was born and raised in Mobile, Alabama. Since 1992, he has served in full-time ministry as a student pastor, family pastor, and minister to singles and young adults. He also served at the University of Mobile as director of student leadership and Involvement where he helped build and develop leadership among the students throughout various organizations on campus. Buff and his wife Cissy are blessed to be the parents of three beautiful adopted children, twin boys, Jedidiah and Judah, and Arabella. They live in Absecon, New Jersey.

PASTOR DAN NOLD has been married to Lynn for over 30 years. As much as he loves the church, his most significant and enjoyable achievement has been partnering with Lynn to love and develop their four kids and now one kid-in-law: Sarah, Katy (and her husband, Josiah), Jake and Josh. Dan and Lynn came to State College, Pennsylvania, and Calvary in 1994.

Dan earned a bachelor of science in speech communication from Bethel University and a master of divinity from Bethel Seminary. Currently, Dan is working on his doctor of ministry in organic leadership development. Dan loves to preach, develop leaders and strategize about the future of the church in the Centre region. Years ago, Dan read a prayer by A.W. Tozer that he still prays consistently, “Lord make me a man to whom you can entrust Your glory.” That’s Dan’s greatest purpose. “I long to become a man to whom God can entrust His glory—a living display of the gospel of grace—to inflame a passion for Christ in others.”

REVEREND DR. THOMAS DAWSON JR. has served as the senior pastor of the SOAR Church since 1998. For the prior 13 years, Dr. Dawson held a data control analyst title at the Philadelphia Stock Market and various management titles in the Automatic Data Processing Brokerage Division, providing client support to major brokerage firms such as Merrill Lynch, Smith Barney, and Prudential. He successfully managed an entire department with a $1.5 million budget. Under the leadership of Dr. Dawson, the SOAR Church has become multicultural and has grown from a membership of 50 to over 500 and serves residents in three counties. His vision has enabled the SOAR Church to impact its community, assisting in Autism Awareness, providing coats, school supplies and food, sponsored school trips for local schools and provided financial support to families in need. 

Dr. Dawson is a current member of the FBI Citizens Organization, Coalition for a Safe Community, Cape May Regional Health Alliance, Cape May County Mental Health Alcohol & Drug Abuse Board, Cape May County Healthy Community Coalition, and Atlantic/Cape May Vicinage Diversity Inclusion, and Community Engagement Committee. Dr. Dawson has received numerous awards and honors for his industry, leadership, support of philanthropic activities, and community service. His greatest value is spending time strengthening his bond with the Lord, his family, and his community.

DR. ROBERT FONTELL is the BRN church health consultant for Philadelphia and pastor of Calvary Christian Church (formerly Calvary Baptist Church) in Philadelphia, where he has served since June 2008. He graduated from North Carolina Central University with a bachelor’s degree in political science and holds a master of science in Bible degree from Philadelphia Biblical University (now Cairn University). He also earned his doctor of ministry degree from Missio Seminary (formerly Biblical Theological Seminary).

Pastor Fontell serves or has served in numerous community and denominational positions: Baptist Resource Network, church health consultant (current); Greater Philadelphia Baptist Association, moderator; Southern Baptist Convention, Committee on Committees, PA Representative (past); Pennsylvania Eastern Keystone Baptist Association, Finance (past); Catholic Community Services, Executive Board (current). Pastor Fontell is also a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated.

DR. LARRY ANDERSON, BRN director of church health and evangelism, graduated from Philadelphia Biblical University (Cairn Univ.) with a bachelor of science degree in Bible with an emphasis in Christian leadership. He has received his master of divinity and his doctor in ministry degrees from Biblical Theological Seminary (Missio Seminary). Dr. Anderson became the senior pastor of Great Commission Church in September 2004. In his time as pastor, he has been blessed to see the congregation grow spiritually and numerically. One of his noted achievements, to date, has been his ability to follow the voice of God in 2008 by leading GCC from the suburbs of Montgomery County into the city of Philadelphia to impact their new community with a holistic gospel.

Dr. Anderson joined the staff of the Baptist Resource Network in April 2013. He is director of church health and evangelism, overseeing 350 churches throughout Pennsylvania and South Jersey.

Dr. Anderson is the co-author of the book, “Ask Me Why I’m Not In Church,” released in June 2019 on Westbow Press, and the author of “The Pastors’ Diaries,” released in July 2022. Dr. L.A. is the founder and host of “Athens Avenue the Podcast” birthed in spring 2023.

JOSH CRANS, pastor of Providence Church in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, has dedicated much of his life to discipling young men in the urban context. He’s a basketball coach and mentor and leads several youth mentoring programs in public schools, “Ways of Gentlemen” and Pointman Leadership Institute. For the past 18 years, he and his wife, Jordan, have served at The Bridge Academy and Community Center, where they minister to youth and families.

GREG DRAYER’s passion is taking the Word of God and finding its intersection with meaning, context, and application. Growing up in inner-city Erie, Pennsylvania, he has many experiences that led him into a life of ministry and serving his community. Throughout the years, he has attended churches in multiple denominations through his playing drums in a couple of different Christian bands. After God thankfully redirected him from his pursuit for rock-stardom, he began attending college and developed a hunger and passion for learning, especially learning about the story of God’s redemptive work throughout human history. His desire for learning brought him to seminary where he earned a master of divinity degree and in the next few years, he will begin working towards his doctor of ministry degree.

Greg has served as a volunteer in para-church youth organizations, as a youth director and pastor, and now pastors at Rolling Hills Church where for the past eight years he has had the pleasure of leading the congregation through multiple changes to its governance, through a capital campaign, and developed many new ministries and opportunities for reaching out to their community. In addition to serving in the local church, Greg has also had a hand in training new church planters in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and also serves with the Baptist Resource Network, where he is a church health consultant.

JOHN COPE is founder and senior pastor of Keystone Fellowship and Send Network Director of Pennsylvania & South Jersey for the North American Mission Board. Having grown up in Arkansas, John served as a student pastor there for 16 years before taking on an executive pastor role in Lakeland, Florida. A few years later God began drawing him toward church planting, then one phone call from a connection in Pennsylvania opened the door for ministry in the Northeast. As John puts it, “I almost said no, but God said yes.” He and his family moved to Pennsylvania in 2001 and began meeting in a home for Bible study. Since then Keystone Fellowship has continually grown and are currently in the process of planting their eighth church.

John has a bachelor of arts degree in education from Ouachita Baptist University and a masters in religious education from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. John has written and developed a highly effective church-growth, small group development tool titled, “Nothing But Net.” Based on Jesus’ outreach and ministry examples laid out in the book of Acts, this strategy has been used very successfully in every ministry that John has been involved in. He has taught and trained thousands of ministers and lay people in this biblical approach to ministry through empowerment of lay leadership in fruitful small groups. John is married to his wife, Teresa, and they have three adult sons — two of whom are church planters and a third who serves as an international missionary in the Middle East.

MARK WHITE is Campus Pastor at Keystone Fellowship in Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania. He says pastoring is, without question, a passion of his. But, it isn’t the only thing that fuels him. He enjoys traveling, cooking, watching movies and exploring national parks. He has run a couple marathons and is always up for a good adventure if he can get someone to go along.

Mark believes God gave him a relational personality, which has kept him curious about people and their stories. His family is blessed to have similar interests and is often looking for what’s next. They live their life on mission and take very seriously the command to love your neighbor. His wife, Jennifer, is a natural disciple maker who is super smart, kind and has been a secret weapon for this pastor for many many years. His son, Billy, is a high schooler who, like his mom, has a high level of compassion for serving others and like his dad, enjoys being silly and hanging out with people.

Josh Coldren is senior pastor at Cross Creek Community Church in Trucksville, Pennsylvania. Prior to that he was the campus pastor of Crossroads Church in Roanoke, Virginia, a campus of Thomas Road Baptist Church. Josh has 20 years of ministry experience and has served in a variety of roles as student pastor, associate pastor, and senior pastor. He has experience in both urban and rural communities. Josh also is an assistant professor in the School of Divinity at Liberty University.

Josh holds a post-graduate degree in educational leadership, a master of divinity degree in missional studies, a master of religious education degree, and a master of arts in religion degree in evangelism and church planting from Liberty University. He and his wife, Nicole, reside in Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania.

RON LARSON, who has a career in planting and growing new congregations in the mid-Atlantic, stepped back into a lead pastor role helping First Baptist Church, Delaware, once the largest Baptist church in the state, revitalize, after many years of severe decline. This revitalization started just before Covid struck but the church is experiencing renewed growth and unity post-Covid.

Ron’s first plant located in a small-town of 1,200 residents grew to nearly 1,300 attendees while helping to plant seven churches during that season of his ministry. He has served as president of the West Virginia State Convention and served as a member of the SBC Executive Committee as well as many other SBC organizations. Ron has also worked with the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware developing a Parent Church Network across those two states. Ron served as executive director of One Hope Ministries International, a weekend feeding ministry for school-age children. He has written for several publications and is a speaker on Kingdom expansion, church growth, personal renewal, and disciple-making reproduction across the U.S. His morning spiritual devotional called “Daily Jolt” is read by several thousand people daily. Ron also leads “Raw Reality,” a leadership development and deployment think tank.

Since 2016, Dr. Tim Parker has served as senior pastor at Stewartstown Baptist in Stewartstown, Pennsylvania. In 2016, Tim retired from the U.S. Army after 32 years of service and currently volunteers as a firefighter and chaplain of the local fire company. Tim and Vernessa have been married since 1988 and have four children and eight grandchildren.

NOELSON CHERY was born and raised in Haiti. He moved to the United States in 1998 at the age of 27. The third of four children, he became a believer in Christ when he was 13 years old and was baptized at the age of 16. He has been married with his lovely and God-fearing wife Edna Chery since 1997. They have been blessed with three amazing biological children (Noelson II, Jeshua Y and Immanuel K) and Jordy their nephew who has been with them since he was 8 years old. These young men have been serving the Lord since their childhood, and are now among youth ministers in their church, First Haitian Metanoia Baptist Church.

Academically, Noelson has achieved a bachelor’s degree in theology from Philadelphia Biblical University (Cairn University), then a master’s degree in languages and cultures from West Chester University of Pennsylvania. He was ordained as a pastor in 2008. In 2019, in the heat of the pandemic, the Lord called Noelson to start a new church. This congregation is now serving many families in the greater Philadelphia area. Now, God has called him into the position of ethnic church consultant with the Baptist Resource Network. He feels honored and grateful to be able to assist fellow pastors, standing alongside them, and doing this great work of ministry for the advancement of the Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

TODD BEEL grew up in Western Pennsylvania and was a part of Monroeville Baptist Church where he came to faith in Christ, was baptized, and began his walk with the Lord. Like many families in the 70’s, his parents were “transplanted” there, having moved northward for work. Following college, he was married to his wife, Anne, and they moved to seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas.

Then, in 1992, they began to live out their missions calling. Over the past 30 years, they’d call West Chicago; San Jose, Costa Rica; Mexico City; and the Middle East “home” before moving to the Greater Philadelphia area 4 1/2 years ago. For them it has been a joy partnering with brothers and sisters around the world in service for Christ. As a church planting catalyst with the North American Mission Board, Todd loves to serve and encourage church planters. He and Anne actively serve as a part of Providence Church, Coatesville. When they have downtime, you can find Todd and his wife enjoying kids and grandkids or in the woods training their puppy, a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon, named Tula.

VIJAY ALLAMPALLI currently serves as the Northeast lead church planting catalyst for internationals with the North American Mission Board (NAMB). Before serving in this role, he was the church planting catalyst with Send Network, and former evangelism and church planting missionary with the Baptist Convention of New York. He also planted a church in Charlotte, N.C., and worked on contract with Baptist Convention of North Carolina and NAMB for church planting and evangelism. He also worked as adjunct professor in Queens City Bible College in Charlotte, N.C., for a period of five years. 

Vijay preaches in revivals, leadership workshops, seminars, and conferences on church planting, evangelism, strategic planning and leadership development for churches and other organizations. Vijay received education in India, obtaining master of divinity and doctoral degrees. He served for over 20 years in various ministry, church, and denominational capacities.

Born in Iran, Farshid came to know about Christ when one popular Iranian newspaper surprisingly published the “Sermon on the Mount.” That half a page changed his life and was the only “Bible” he had for years. He did his bachelor of arts and master of arts in English literature. Once he read an article on “Paradise Lost,” which argued that for God to be just and merciful at the same time, He had to pay the penalty for humans’ sins! Farshid’s heart changed but he had to hide his faith for years. Leaving his job as a lecturer, he moved to Malaysia where he lived as a refugee for 12 years and taught apologetics and preached at churches, camps and universities. In August 2022, he was resettled in Pittsburgh where God led him to PRISM, a welcoming community for international students and scholars in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Farshid is passionate about evangelism and apologetics and tries to use the God-given gift of being a super extrovert to talk to international students. He loves coming up with puns!

STANLEY WILLIAMS, BRN’s Next Gen director, oversees BRN’s ministries to the next generation (youth and young adults) with a principle focus on the collegiate ministry. He has served as a collegiate missionary for the North American Mission Board since 2001. Stanley’s background in collegiate ministry dates back to his college years where, as an undergraduate at Howard University (class of 1987), he grew deeper and stronger in Christian faith and spiritual disciplines. “Had it not been for the pivotal role of Rev. Eugene Burrell and the Navigator’s Christian Fellowship of Howard University, I do not know where I would be or how I would have avoided a mediocre experience as a Christian and an undergraduate,” he said.

Stanley has an abiding visceral sense of calling to engage the next generation. For the course of over 35 years of vocational Christian ministry, he has served campus ministries and congregations in Alaska, Texas, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Stanley, who holds a master of divinity degree in Great Commission studies from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, says his ministry passions are impacting lostness and multiplying apostolic leaders for the sake of Kingdom advancement. He and his wife Trina have four adult children, and a host of adopted grandchildren from the several years of being integrally involved in the lives of former students in an extended family capacity.

Ralph Rodriguez is a regional alliance director for Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) Church and Ministry Alliance. He works with ministry and denominational leaders across the country on religious liberty issues to ensure that the body of Christ understands the current cultural and legal climate and knows how to respond via the resources available to them through ADF’s membership programs. His heart is to see the Church boldly proclaim the truth of the gospel in our day!

Before joining the ADF Church and Ministry Alliance team, Ralph served as legal counsel at the United Nations for ADF International. Before that, Ralph worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, providing administrative and tactical support for investigators in the counterterrorism division. While with the FBI, he earned his juris doctor degree at New York School. He also received a bachelor of arts degree in international studies from The City College of New York. He is admitted to the bar in New York.