| Elim Fellowship Elders |
 |
 |
|
The Leadership of Elim Fellowship is composed of its Officers, Ministry directors and Council of Elders. The officers are nominated by the Council of Elders and elected by the members of Elim Fellowship. The Ministry Directors are nominated by the President and approved by the Council of Elders. The Elders are appointed by the Council of Elders and affirmed by the members of Elim Fellowship annually. Any credential holder is considered a member of Elim Fellowship. The President gives visionary and spiritual leadership to the Fellowship and oversees the Ministry Directors and Officers as they work together to execute the approved direction of the Council of Elders. The heart of all Elim Fellowship Leaders is to seek spiritual care, guidance and encouragement for all Elim Members and to provide excellence in leadership for the organization. Administrative Elders RON BURGIO is the President of Elim Fellowship. He is an alumnus of Elim Bible Institute and a graduate of Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, New York. He is ordained through Elim Fellowship and has an earned Doctorate of Ministry from the School of Bible Theology in San Jacinto, California. He has been in full time ministry since 1978 and is the senior pastor of Love Joy Gospel Church in Lancaster, New York. He was appointed to the Council of Elders in 1992. Ron and his wife, Judy, have four children. MICHAEL CAVANAUGH is the Vice President of Elim Fellowship and has served on the Council of Elders since 1998. He is also on staff at Elim Gospel Church in Lima, NY as Teaching Pastor. Mike is the author of the book, The Power and Purpose of Singleness and has appeared on Christian television. He has founded several ministries including Mobilized to Serve (MTS), a national ministry to single adults; Brothers and Sisters In Christ (BASIC), A charismatic College ministry that mobilizes local churches to reach out to college students; and Pastor's Study Break, intensive workshops to strengthen those in Pastoral Ministry. A graduate of Elim Bible Institute, and Roberts Wesleyan College. He and his wife, Terri, have three adult children who are all in full time ministry. CHRIS BALL is a graduate of Elim Bible Institute in Lima, NY and has been pastoring Lighthouse Community Fellowship in South Butler, NY since 1988. Chris and his wife, Carol, have watched their church grow from 35 to over 350 in Sunday morning attendance. He has been serving since 1998 as the Syracuse Area Elim Representative. In May 2006 Chris was appointed General Secretary of Elim Fellowship and in December 2007 the COE appointed him as an Elder of the Fellowship. Because of his heart for leadership, Chris has been instrumental in facilitating conferences here in the Central New York region for such leaders as John Maxwell, Bill Hybels, and Jack Hayford. He and his wife have ministered together in marriage retreats and leadership retreats in both the US and around the world in such places as Sri Lanka, Ukraine, Romania, and the Czech Republic. Second only to his own church, Chris has a tremendous love for pastors and their ministries and endeavors to be a resource that encourages leaders in the body of Christ to become all they can be in the will of God. Chris and Carol have 3 children and live in Conquest, NY.
 RALPH BYMA serves as President of Elim Fellowship Canada. He has been the Senior Pastor of Grand Valley Christian Centre in Brantford, Ont. for the past 9 years and prior to that, was the Associate Pastor at Flamborough Christian Fellowship in Millgrove, Ont. for the previous 5 years. Credentialed with Elim since 1990, he was appointed to the Board of Directors in 2001 and is presently on the Council of Elders. Ralph and his wife Debbie, have one child. Ralph has ministered in Canada, United States, Mexico, Jamaica, Kenya and Tanzania. JEFF CLARK became the President of Elim Bible Institute in June of 2006, after serving in a number of capacities at the school since 1996. Jeff & his wife Nancy and their 3 daughters came to Elim after spending many years as a family planting and pastoring churches, and developing workers and leaders for harvest ministry in the local church. Jeff studied at International Bible College, San Antonio, TX and is a graduate of Elim Bible Institute. He received a master’s degree in Leadership and Organizational D evelopment from Regent University, VA in 2006. Jeff’s burden and vision for Elim is to continue to see the Lord’s Prayer answered, “That the Lord of harvest would send forth laborers into His harvest.” Jeff was appointed to the Council of Elders in 1999. Jeff and his wife, Nancy, have three daughters. PETER DEARRUDA is an ordained minister in New York City where he and his wife, Darleen, have served as urban missionaries for the past 20 years. Rev. DeArruda has been the Executive Vice President of the New York School Of Urban Ministry since 1994. He has studied at Zion Bible Institute, is a graduate of Elim Bible Institute and earned his B.A. degree in religion & philosophy from Houghton College. He has served the body of Christ for over 25 years in diverse ministry capacities such as: youth pastor, pastor, and evangelist and presently, an urban missionary. Peter is married to his wife, Darleen, of 28 years and has two daughters. BERNARD J. EVANS came to Elim in 1959 as a student and continued as a member of the Elim Bible Institute staff until 1966. He has had credentials with Elim Fellowship since 1965. His pastoral assignments included those at Newark, NJ, Brooklyn, NY, Lima, NY and New York Mills, NY. He has served Elim Fellowship in many capacities: as the Director of U.S. Ministries, as General Secretary, as Assistant General Overseer and as President. Bernard was appointed to the Council of Elders in 1973. Bernard and his wife, Sharon, have four children. GARY E. HAM is a graduate of the University of Virginia and a former U.S. Army officer. After his military service, he attended Elim Bible Institute, graduating in 1980. Gary has pastored and served as a missionary to Nigeria. Gary co-founded Operation Breaking Through (OBT), a Christian community development ministry which was designated by former President Bush as a “Daily Point of Light.” He was appointed to the Council of Elders in 1997. From 2001 to 2008 Gary served as Director of Elim Fellowship's International Department. Gary and his wife, Harriet, have three sons. PAUL JOHANSSON, past president of Elim Bible Institue (1994-2006) currently serves as its Chancellor. He has been with Elim since graduating from the Bible school in 1956. Paul earned a Master's Degree from New York University. Prior to coming to EBI he served as President of New York School of Urban Ministry, a school he started in 1984. He has pastored in North America and has served as a missionary in East Africa where he co-founded The Nairobi Pentecostal Bible College. He has also been on the staff of Elim Bible Institute as instructor, Dean of Men, Dean of Students and Vice-president. Paul was appointed to the Council of Elders in 1971. He and his wife, Gloria, have two children. PHILIP MCNEILL was born in Northern Ireland and immigrated with his parents to Canada at the age of four. He graduated from EBI in 1987 and a year later founded and directed "Highest Call", a full-time music and Word ministry, which touched thousands for Christ each year. Phil has been pastor of Word of Life Christian Fellowship in Henrietta, NY since 1994 and has also served as an area rep for Elim Fellowship from 2000 till 2006. He and his wife, Sheryl have four daughters. Phil was appointed to the Council of Elders in December, 2004. ERIC SCOTT has been the Senior Pastor of Celebrate! Family Church in Leicester, NY (formerly Elim Gospel Church of Mt. Morris, NY) since 1992. He is a graduate of EBI (1992) and Northwest Graduate School of the Ministry (Masters in Applied Theology). In conjunction with his pastoral responsibilities, Eric also serves Elim Fellowship's U.S. Ministries Department as the Regional Director of Western NY. He was also appointed an elder of Elim Fellowship in 2007. Eric has a sense of humor, zest for life, and passion for God's people. Visionary insight and an entrepreneurial spirit compliment his strong administration abilities and anointed preaching and teaching gifts. He enjoys many seasonal hobbies including snow-skiing, hunting and riding his Harley. CARLTON SPENCER, the son of the founder of Elim, is General Chairman Emeritus of Elim Fellowship, and President Emeritus of Elim Bible Institute. He has been with the Fellowship long before it was incorporated in 1947 and has served on the Council of Elders since that time. In 1986 he was appointed as an lifetime member of the COE. He is semi-retired and residing in Florida with his wife, Margaret. Carlton and his late wife, Elizabeth had three children. ANDRÉS SPYKER is a third generation missionary in Morelia, Mexico. A graduate of Elim Bible Institute, Andrés has a heart and passion to see Latin America transformed by the Gospel. He served under his father as youth pastor and co-pastor for 6 years, and in 2005, at age 28 became the senior pastor at Vida Abundante, a vibrant, rapidly growing church, the congregation of which nearly doubled to 3,000 in the first three years he pastored it. Andrés is a dynamic preacher, pastor and songwriter. He is also seen weekly on several Spanish television channels that are broadcast all over Latin America. He and his wife Kelly reside in Morelia with their two sons.
 JOHN SPYKER, Elim Fellowship credential holder since 1975, lives and ministers in Mexico with his wife, Marla. They planted and pastored churches for over thirty years and in 2005 they turned over the pastorate of the main church in Mexico to their son, Andrew, and his wife, Kelly. John, along with his wife Marla, presently serves as President of the Alianza Vida Abundante Fellowship of Churches in Mexico, writes books for pastors and leaders as well as articles for newspapers and spearheads projects like the Christian University- "Universid ad Libertad"- in Morelia, which is now in its initial phase. John also works with politicians, with a state-wide pastor's association and he ministers in other countries to missionaries sent out by the Mexican church. His wife teaches courses in Logos Christian University (by extension), speaks at conferences, writes books and is very involved in the work of the Fellowship of churches in Mexico.Non-Administrative Elders 2009The Following Elders have faithfully served on Elim Fellowship's Council of Elders for many years but have chosen to retire or resign from regular Administrative duties of that office. It is the spirit and attitude of the Council of Elders that we honor all Elders who have been appointed to this office. It is also the desire of the Council to give a place of honor to all Elders who retire or resign. While these Elders are not ruling or administrative Elders, they are still Elders of Elim Fellowship. Therefore, we endeavor to bring honor to these Elders by (1) publicly validating them before the constituency, (2) releasing them to serve throughout the constituency, and (3) making ourselves available to receive their wisdom and counsel.
 PAUL ANDERSON graduated from Elim Bible Institute in 1957 and earned an M.A. degree in Spanish from the University of Rochester in 1985. He has served as a missionary in Cuba, Colombia and Spain and has taught Bible, missions courses and Spanish at Elim Bible Institute. He was appointed to the Council of Elders of Elim Fellowship in 1998 and has served as Missions Director and as General Secretary. He continues to travel, to serve as an elder and on the International Ministries Committee. Paul and his wife, Doris, have three children and seven grandchildren. He is an elder at Greece Assembly of God. FORREST DODGE graduated from Elim Bible Institute in 1951. He continued in pastoral ministry for 18 years before serving as a missionary in Colombia, S.A. There he developed a training course for future pastors. In 1986, Forrest was appointed to the Elim Eldership while serving as Missions Director. He also continued as field representative and US Minsistries Director until his retirement in 1997. Forrest and his wife, Faith, have 4 children, 9 grandchildren, and 6 great grandchildren. Presently, he is serving as an elder at the Vineyard church in Orlando, FL. H. DAVID EDWARDS, a native of Wales, pastored in Britain for several years before coming to Elim Bible Institute as an instructor in 1964. He has been associated with the Fellowship since 1968. Having also served in the capacity of Academic Dean and Executive Vice-president, and then President of the Bible Institute, he is now retired and living in Lima, NY and serving the Body of Christ at large. David was appointed to the Council of Elders in 1969. David and his wife, Mefus, have three children.
 RALPH MAHONEY JOHN MEGAW BOB MUMFORD JOSEPH NETTLETON - COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENTJoe served over twenty years as Elim Fellowship Youth Director, General Secretary, and US Ministries Director. Joe founded and directed Teen World Outreach and directed summer youth camps from Florida to Canada. Joe also founded and directed WINGS, a three year training program for emerging leaders. Joe is a graduate of Elim Bible Institute and Roberts Wesleyan College. Joe and his wife, Donna, have three adult daughters and seven grandchildren. Joe is presently retired but continues to serve on several ministry boards of directors and as elder of his local church.  GEORGE VEACH HARRY VELLEKOOP is a graduate of Elim Bible Institute and Roberts Wesleyan College. He has pastored, and for 14 years served in missions in Argentina and Paraguay. A former Director of Elim Fellowship's International Ministries, he currently serves Elim Bible Institute as Dean of Administration and is an instructor in missions and Bible Courses. He was first appointed to the Council of Elders in 1991 and again in 2001 after a time away from the Council. Harry and his wife, Connie, have two children.
|
JOE JANSEN has pastored New Life Church in Herkimer, NY for that last 18 years and has been affiliated with Elim Fellowship since 1978. He served as an Area Representative for 5 years, and Regional Director for 2 years. He is now the full time Director of US Ministries and was appointed to the Council of Elders in 2010. Because of Joe’s passion for fellow pastors and the local church, he provides guidance, advice and counseling to pastors throughout Central New York on strategies for church growth, maintaining a healthy congregation, and personal transformation. Joe received his BA from SUNY Oswego and later went to Elim Bible Institute, where he met his wife, Joann. They have three adult children.
THOMAS BRAZELL began his association with the Fellowship in 1978. Since then he pioneered and pastored Love Joy Gospel Church in Buffalo, NY and served as a missionary in Zaire from 1985 to 1989. After returning from Africa, he became pastor of Community Gospel Church in Pasadena, MD. Tom filled the position of Director of the World Missions Department of Elim Fellowship from 1996 to 2001 and has returned to fill that role again under its new name of International Ministries. Tom was appointed to the Council of Elders in December 1994. He and his wife, Judy, have three adult children and live in Lima.