7 Questions with Church leaders

Name: Rob Furlong

Current title: Senior Pastor

Current organisation: Woodvale Baptist Church (Perth, Australia)

Rob Furlong has served in pastoral ministry for over 36 years in Queensland and Western Australia, including 20 years as Senior Pastor of Thornlie Church of Christ, (Perth, WA) before transitioning to a role as Pastoral Consultant with Baptist Churches WA for 2 and a half years.

In 2017 Rob returned to local church ministry as Senior Pastor of Woodvale Baptist Church and is enjoying building into the life of a local congregation.

In his time at Thornlie he either led or was a member of a number of Short Term Mission teams that saw him travel to Vietnam, Thailand, India and Zimbabwe. He has also had extensive experience in teaching, training and preaching to leaders and church members in order to better equip them for the ministry they have been called to. While at Thornlie the church grew missionally and resulted in a number of people travelling overseas on short term missions to build orphanages, assist the poor and provide medical aid.

He is passionate about Leadership Development, Mission and teaching the Word of God and completed his Masters studies at Vose, including a thesis on ‘Pastoral Burnout and Recovery’. He has a desire to be a part of assisting the next generation of leaders to emerge in the local church in Western Australia.

Rob is married to Karen and together they have four adult children and 15 grandchildren! He is the chaplain to the Western Australian/Scorchers Cricket Teams, supports the Fremantle Dockers, enjoys reading, bike riding with Karen and is a budding master chef.

Name: Tim Kurth

Current title: President

Current organisation: The Shepherd Fund

Tim is the husband of Elizabeth and together parents of two and grandparents of two. He began his career as a Christian school teacher then served as Director of Christian Education for over 20 years. For the last 20 years he has worked in national and international missions, disaster response work, donor relations, and consulting on Christian leadership and governance. He continues to lead short term mission teams and recently published the book "What If Everyone Is Saved: What the Church isn't Telling You About Jesus." Available on Amazon.

Name: Michael Jensen

Current title: Rector

Current organisation: St Mark's Darling Point Anglican Church

Michael Jensen is the Rector of St Mark's Anglican Church Darling Point in Sydney. Before that he was a lecturer in Doctrine at Moore College. He has his doctorate from Oxford University, and has published several books including 'Theological Anthropology and the Great Literary Genres'.

Name: Colleen Geyer

Current title: General Secretary

Current organisation: National Assembly, Uniting Church in Australia

Colleen serves as General Secretary of the Uniting Church in Australia offering leadership and vision to the life of the Assembly.

Colleen's work for the Uniting Church and its agencies since 1995 has deepened her sense of call to the role of General Secretary, while embracing the uniqueness of the Uniting Church as an authentic movement of God.

She has held a range of significant positions at a state and national level of the Uniting Church, including Director of Mission at UnitingCare Queensland, Director of Mission at BlueCare, Associate Director at UnitingCare Australia, Registrar of Coolamon College and National Consultant for the Assembly Gospel and Gender Unit.

Colleen believes we have a collective responsibility to look to the future with the hope that is from God, and the realism that calls us to think about the new.

Name: Olwyn Harris

Current title: Pastor

Current organisation: Liberty Church Whitsundays

A Bi-vocational pastor in a small regional congregation who also works as a Relationship Counsellor.

Name: Karl Faase

Current title: CEO

Current organisation: Olive Tree Media

Karl Faase is a well known Australian Christian communicator, media presenter, leader and social commentator. He is the CEO of Olive Tree Media, the organisation through which he produces programs of excellence for Christian media and local church use internationally.

Previous to his role in Olive Tree Media Karl was the senior pastor of Gymea Baptist church for almost 20 years. Olive Tree Media’s latest production which Karl hosts is the documentary series, Jesus the Game Changer Season 1 (2016) and Season 2 (2019). Karl's radio spots, The Daily Nudge are heard across Australia and New Zealand. In the past year Karl also authored the book The Stuff of Life. He is the chair of the Australian boards of Samaritans Purse and BGEA.

Name: Ken Lee

Current title: Senior Pastor

Current organisation: Nations Church

Ken Lee is the Senior Pastor of Nations Church. Ken and his wife Chrissy were sent to plant the church 16 years ago by his then Senior Pastor David Storer, with a small core of people. Today the church is thousands strong with 4 physical locations in Perth (Australia), 1 in Phnom Penh (Cambodia) and 1 in Cork (Republic of Ireland). Ken was a Certified Practicing Accountant in his past life but is now a credentialed minister with the Australian Christian Churches. Ken and Chrissy have two boys, Jentezen (16 years old) and Isaiah (14 years old).

Name: Jonathan Gullo

Current title: Lead Pastor

Current organisation: Suncoast Church & Impact Church

Have been leading Suncoast Church for 6 years, and in 2020 have taken on the leadership of Impact Church in Canberra as well. Married to Chloe for 9 years and have two daughters. Prior to current position was a youth and young adult pastor for 10 years.

Name: Steve Dixon

Current title: Facilitator of Youth and Young Adult Ministry

Current organisation: Baptist Association of Churches (NSW and ACT)

Baptist Pastor with a focus on the equipping of Christian leaders - specifically in their work with teens and young adults. I have the joy of leading a team who serve local Baptist churches across NSW and ACT and provide opportunities for networking, training, and combined experiences for young people to encounter Jesus.

I am a learner and a lecturer. I am a dream-er and a do-er.

Name: Mark Dean

Current title: Worship Pastor

Current organisation: Gateway Baptist Church

Married to Eden and dad to Harrison (10), Luca (7) and Joey (1), Mark is the Worship Pastor at Gateway Baptist Church in Brisbane. Mark was a carpenter in a previous life and still enjoys hitting things with a hammer when he needs to. He loves watching sport and a good buffet.

Name: Mark Ramsey

Current title: Global Senior Pastor

Current organisation: Citipointe Church

Mark is passionate about the influence of the local church in the world - equipping leaders and investing into the next generation. Mark is a major sports fan and avid surfer - you’ll probably find him checking scoreboards or waiting for the perfect wave, wherever he is in the world.

Name: Mark Conner

Current title: Speaker, Coach, and Author.

Current organisation: Conner Ministries Ltd (www.markconner.com.au).

I am currently engaged in freelance work as a speaker, coach, and author. I have had over 30 years of experience in the church and not-for-profit world. I enjoy helping people grow and change.