Our Church Planters

These are the stories of our active church planters. Consider adding them to your personal or church prayer list/rotation, and how you might be able to encourage and support them.

Gabriel & Elaina Roman
Gulf Atlantic Diocese

Roman Family

Gabriel and Elaina Roman came to our diocesan church planting assessment in 2023. We loved their obvious passion for Jesus and their desire to reach the lost and the broken. After a year of prayer and discernment following the assessment, and finishing seminary, the Romans decided to move to Florida to join our church planting efforts. They will complete their curacy at The Table St. Johns—a church plant already preparing to birth another church! Please pray for them, including their two boys, Enoch and Mateo, as they raise funds, transition to Florida, and learn and discern next steps.

Rev. Peter & Naomi Lebhar
Tampa, FL

Image
Peter and Naomi have served together on InterVarsity staff for 10 years in Tallahassee, Florida. They have been involved with Incarnation Tallahassee since it was planted and were grateful to experience all the stages of the church plant. Now Incarnation is their sending parish as they prepare to plant a church in Tampa, Florida. Peter loves raising up leaders, teaching scripture, and welcoming people into the sacramental life of the Church. He graduated from Gordon-Conwell Theological seminary in 2022. Peter enjoys fishing (especially in the surf) and playing drums. Naomi danced professionally at the Tallahassee ballet and loves to garden.

Rev. Nick & Sofia Audas
Adoration Church, Orlando, FL

Nick Audas and family
After serving on staff with Cru (a global Christian nonprofit focused on evangelism and discipleship on college campuses) for a decade in Tampa and New York City, Nick and Sofia are carrying their passion for helping others encounter Jesus and follow Him into the local church. Now living and serving in Orlando, FL., they are planting Adoration Church alongside the MacMillan family and in partnership with the Greenhouse movement. Their vision is to plant an Anglican expression of the historic Christian faith that sees lovers of Jesus formed and sees those near and far brought to God's table, "that His house may be full" (Luke 14:23).
Learn More

Rev. Cameron & Hannah MacMillan
Adoration Church, Orlando, FL

Image
The MacMillan family has served the Lord in parish ministry for the last 6 years in north Orlando. Sensing a vision from the Lord, they launched out in faith to plant Adoration Church—an Anglican worship community committed to embodying the biblical marriage of Spirit and Sacrament. Adoration believes in training the saints to make disciples in the power of the Holy Spirit; feeding God’s people at his Communion Table; and living our lives from a posture of adoration at the feet of Jesus. Fr. Cameron attended Nashotah House Theological Seminary (‘16) and has a passion for teaching, evangelism, Colombian coffee, and West African hand drums. Hannah loves singing, baking homemade bread, and squeezing in crossword puzzles between her adventures with three young children.
Learn More

REV. DR. BOB AYRES
DeafChurch Together

Image

Dr. Bob and Kathy Ayres have been involved in Deaf ministry since the middle 1980s and in 2000, established Deaf Teen Quest (DTQ), now a national ministry model of Youth For Christ USA. They have six adult children who came to them through adoption (two of whom are Deaf) and a dozen delightful grandchildren!

God stirred up a vision in Fr. Bob’s heart for establishing DEAFCHURCH TOGETHER, a Deaf Liturgical Church movement, based on the model of multiple home and community congregations as part of a regional parish connected by online weekly liturgical services in American Sign Language. He is the founding pastor/priest of DEAFCHURCH TOGETHER and has published two books on Deaf ministry: Deaf Diaspora: The Third Wave of Deaf Ministry and DEAFCHURCH 21: Vision for a New Generation.

Learn More

REV. PAUL & KIM HASSELL
Jacksonville, FL

Image

Prior to coming to Jacksonville in 2019, Paul spent 25 years in ministry with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in OH, WV, and PA. Paul graduated from Ohio State University with a degree in Biology Education and later completed a Masters of Arts in Religion from Trinity School for Ministry. Paul co-planted Redeemer North Boroughs in Pittsburgh, PA. Paul and his wife, Kim, and five adult children.

Paul and Kim started a house church in Springfield where they live. Incarnation Jax, which is part of the Greenhouse church planting movement, meets Thursday evenings in the Hassells’ home. Paul is also the Outreach pastor, with an emphasis on cross-cultural ministry, at Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church. Collaboration, prayer, and equipping God’s people for kingdom life and ministry are the Hassells’ passions. They are prayerfully working to grow a house church network of interconnected communities in Duval county that will be able to do much more together than any one could do alone.

Learn More

Rev. LENNY & CALY KONSCHEWITZ
The Table Church, Saint Johns, FL

Image

Lenny and Caly Konschewitz, former missionaries and church planters in Europe, heard a call from the Lord to plant a church in Florida, in particular St. Johns County. Lenny writes, "Our desire is to reach more people with the Gospel, and planting new churches is a great way of doing so."

The name of the new church will be "The Table." They chose this name because their church will focus on Encountering God, Uniting Believers, and Inviting the World. These three dimensions of relationship are based on the conviction that the Kingdom of God is in relationships.

Learn More

REV. DAN & CARRIE WOLF
Rise Church, Portland, ME

Dan and Carrie Wolf

After serving for 6 years at Grace Anglican on Fleming Island, Dan and Carrie have been sent to plant church in Portland, Maine, the second most post-Christian city in America in cooperation with the Anglican Diocese of New England. Their desire is to join Jesus to plant a church-planting church there.

They are planting a church that exists to “invite all people to explore, follow, and join Jesus to bring life to the brokenness in ourselves, our city, and the world.”  Rather than launching with a service, they started by hosting Alphas throughout the city to give people a chance to explore Jesus in a conversational way. As people encounter Jesus, they will form missional communities that will disciple people to follow Jesus and establish Jesus-shaped rhythms of life in community.

Learn More

Laity-Led Missional Community Plants

Our diocese employs two models of church planting. Under the traditional model, a plant is usually led by an ordained person (or one in the ordination process) and centers around the launch of the Sunday service. Under the Greenhouse model, Lay Missioners plant Missional Communities under the umbrella and oversight of one of our local parishes (called a Hub Church).

Incarnation East
Hub Parish: Incarnation Tallahassee
Rector: The Rev. Jon Hall
Lay Missioners: John & Krista Bump

Roman Family

John and Krista Bump are serving as Greenhouse Lay Missioners, planting Incarnation East under Incarnation Tallahassee’s umbrella and oversight. Incarnation East endeavors to be an urban simple church that is biblically charismatic, simply Anglican, and urban facing. They are trusting Jesus to help them reach the 30 percent of Tallahassee who are unchurched or de-churched that might never pass through a church building's front door but would come to someone's home for dinner and a spiritual conversation.

They have served families in the urban core as foster parents and with lay ministries for thirteen years and the last seven years with Cru Inner City. Cru Inner City lives out the Greatest Commandment and the Great Commission with churches in the inner city. The real poverty in urban spaces is the poverty of relationships: relationship with God, the family of God, ourselves, others, and creation. They love worshiping, healing prayer, prayer walking, studying Scriptures and seeing the Body of Christ come alive in the ministry of reconciliation. They have been married 31 years, with 2 adult children, 1 son in law, 6 younger children, and 2 foster children.

Learn More