7 Questions with Church leaders

Name: Lauren Lucas

Current title: Young Adults Pastor

Current organisation: Gateway Baptist Church

Lauren is married to Tim and they have three kids. She has been involved in pastoral ministry for 13 years mostly working with Youth and Young Adults. She loves walking alongside young people as they navigate the ups and downs of adolescence and young adulthood - pointing them to Jesus and speaking words of hope and truth.

Name: Gary Hourigan

Current title: National Director of Church Health and Growth, Network Leader, Company Director

Current organisation: International Network of Churches

Gary Hourigan, together with his wife Terri, are currently Network 75 leaders for International Network of Churches. Gary is also a member of the INC National Executive, responsible for the development and implementation of church health, church growth and church planting strategies.

Gary and Terri have been married for 41 years; have 3 children and 4 grandchildren. They have been in ministry for over 27 years, and Gary has experience as a senior pastor, ministry trainer, bible college lecturer and church health consultant, trainer and coach.

In addition to his work within INC, Gary has consulted extensively with numerous other Organisations over the past 10 years to develop church multiplication strategies which include health and growth, coaching of pastors and church planters, development of leadership training systems for a churches, assessment of potential church planters etc.

Gary had dedicated his life to the development and resourcing of Christian movements, churches and individuals in pursuit of fulfilling the call of God on their lives. He has a passion to see the great commission fulfilled and is committed to the strategy of multiplying healthy reproducing disciples, leaders, churches and movements.

Name: Joel Bagnall

Current title: Pastor

Current organisation: Lyngby & Københavns Frikirke (Copenhagen Apostolic Church)

Joel is based in Copenhagen, Denmark, with his beautiful wife, Helena and two sons Mattias and Elliot where they are passionately serving in their local church and building Christian leadership development organisation “Lift Leaders”.

Originally from the southern suburbs of Brisbane, Australia, Joel "fell into" Youth Ministry while pursuing a fledgling music career. After some powerful encounters with God, Joel found himself on a leadership journey over the next 10 years which eventually resulted in him running one of the most significant Youth Ministries in the State of Queensland.

Joel has a passion for seeing young and promising leaders grow and influence the world through the local church, especially in Europe. He firmly believes that people don't just change through skilful preaching and pastoring but through encountering the presence of God.

Name: James Kozina

Current title: Church Engagement Manager

Current organisation: Open Doors Australia

James Kozina is a Church Engagement Manager for Open Doors, and found a passion for the persecuted church after serving as a worship pastor for over ten years. He has recently returned from the Middle East and shares stories of faith amidst intense suffering by Christian refugees fleeing the terror of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

Name: Peter Carolane

Current title: Lead Minister, Merri Creek Anglican

Current organisation: Merri Creek Anglican in Australia

My name is Peter Carolane, I am married to Jo Knight, and father of two boys Leo and Ezra. Since the age of three I’ve immersed myself in music – having trained as a classical violist, and for the past 25 years have performed and produced records in the Melbourne band scene. I am the founding minister at Merri Creek Anglican, a church planted in Clifton Hill, Melbourne in 2013. My background was in youth ministry: I am the founding director of Mustard schools ministry, and I led the youth and young adults ministry team at St Hilary's Church Kew. I was awarded PhD in 2009 from the University of Melbourne in colonial mission history. I have a large record collection, I love classic films, and enjoy working out.

Name: Michael Frost

Current title: Founding Director

Current organisation: Tinsley Institute at Morling College

Michael Frost is an internationally recognised Australian missiologist and one of the leading voices in the missional church movement. His books are required reading in colleges and seminaries around the world and he is much sought after as an international conference speaker. Dr Frost has been the founding director of the Tinsley Institute, a mission study centre located at Morling College in Sydney, Australia, since 1999. He has also been an adjunct lecturer at various seminaries in the United States.

He is the author or editor of sixteen theological books, the best known of which are the popular and award-winning, The Shaping of Things to Come (2003), Exiles (2006), The Road to Missional (2011) and Surprise the World! (2016). Frost’s work has been translated into German, Korean, Swedish, Portuguese and Spanish.

He was one of the founders of the Forge Mission Training Network, an international learning community for missional Christians. Michael Frost blogs at mikefrost.net

Name: Ross Piper

Current title: CEO

Current organisation: Christian Super

Ross Piper is the Chief Executive Officer of Christian Super. He has over 25 years of leadership and management experience in corporate and non-profit contexts. Prior to Ross’ appointment as Christian Super CEO in January 2018, he was Chief Operating Officer with World Vision Australia and also served with World Vision International for several years in the Middle East and various countries of the former Yugoslavia.

During his career Ross has held a number of positions in the corporate sector, primarily in investment banking and mining. He was Head of Corporate Risk for Macquarie Group for several years, and his early professional experience was gained in Indigenous communities and the mining sector, where he worked in the area of Native Title and community enterprise development. He has served on several boards, including six years as a Director and Board Chair of AgroInvest Foundation, a large microfinance bank serving rural families in Serbia and Montenegro. He currently sits on the Boards of the Responsible Investment Association Australasia (www.responsibleinvestment.org), the Fund Executive Association Limited (www.feal.asn.au), Cinnamon Network Australia (www.cinnamonnetwork.com) and SEED (www.seed.org.au).

Ross’ formal qualifications include a BSc (Geophysics), GradDipEd, and MBA (Deakin University).

Name: Tom Harper

Current title: CEO

Current organisation: Networld Media Group

Tom Harper is publisher of BiblicalLeadership.com and CEO of Networld Media Group, the site's parent company. He has written four books, including Servant Leader Strong: Uniting Biblical Wisdom and High-Performance Leadership (DeepWater Books, 2019), Through Colored Glasses: How Great Leaders Reveal Reality (DeepWater, 2018), Leading from the Lions’ Den: Leadership Principles from Every Book of the Bible (B&H, 2010), and Career Crossover: Leaving the Marketplace for Ministry. Tom serves as a lay leader at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Ky., where he attends with his wife and three children.