Meet Our Team
Pastor Wayne Kent
LEAD PASTOR
Wayne has been the lead pastor of First Christian Church since January 1994. He has seen the church evolve from a small congregation with big dreams to a thriving ministry with a passion to share the Gospel in our community and around the world. He also is the host of DirectLine on WSOY 1340AM which is on the air every Wednesday from 5-7pm.
Born in Katoomba, Australia, Wayne moved to Vancouver, BC with his family at a young age. He and his wife, Leslie, met while attending Oral Roberts University where he got a degree in business administration. Wayne also has his Master of Divinity from Phillips Graduate Seminary in Tulsa and obtained his Doctor of Ministry from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary in Boston. He and Leslie have two children, Jacqueline (Eric) and Ben (Courtney), and four grandchildren.
Pastoral Team
WAYNE KENT
Lead Pastor
wayne@firstdecatur.org
BRIAN TALTY
Associate Pastor
btalty@firstdecatur.org
BJ LEONARD
Missions Pastor
bleonard@firstdecatur.org
JONATHAN GRUNDEN
Discipleship Pastor
jgrunden@firstdecatur.org
TIM REVIS
Care Ministries Pastor
trevis@firstdecatur.org
ROBERT HENDERSON
Pastor of Community Care
rhenderson@firstdecatur.org
THOMAS HAGAN
Young Adult Pastor
thagan@firstdecatur.org
Families@First
HEATHER VANCE
Family Ministries Director
hvance@firstdecatur.org
NIC MAYBERRY
High School Director
nmayberry@firstdecatur.org
JANIE KANE
Elementary Director
jkane@firstdecatur.org
WENDY DEMENT
Elementary Asst. Director
wdement@firstdecatur.org
BRANDY RAY
Pre-K Director
bray@firstdecatur.org
MELISSA PETERSEN
Pre-K Asst. Director
mpetersen@firstdecatur.org
Outreach
LORI PUTNAM
Dir. of Ministry Development
lputnam@firstdecatur.org
MORGAN ARSENEAU
Discipleship Assistant
marseneau@firstdecatur.org
ANDREA GRUNDEN
Arts Academy
agrunden@firstdecatur.org
HANNAH BEERY
Hospitality
hbeery@firstdecatur.org
CAROL SMITH
Parish Nurse
csmith@firstdecatur.org
LISA WEATHERFORD
Mosaic Café
lweatherford@firstdecatur.org
DR. RICK GRACE
DHF Church Liaison
rgrace@discipleheritage.org
DON DOTSON
Chaplain
ddotson@firstdecatur.org
DEE FRANZ
Chaplain
dfranz@firstdecatur.org
SUSAN LIU
Chaplain
sliu@firstdecatur.org
DEE PULLIAM
Chaplain
dpulliam@firstdecatur.org
JEFFREY RUFFIN
Chaplain
jruffin@firstdecatur.org
CHRIS VIETH
Chaplain
cveith@firstdecatur.org
Creative
LACEY PHILLIPS
Worship Arts Director
lphillips@firstdecatur.org
Stephanie Campbell
Choir Director
scampbell@firstdecatur.org
CRYSTAL KIRKMAN
Communications Director
ckirkman@firstdecatur.org
Bill Cunningham
Music Director
bcunningham@firstdecatur.org
FRED SAURMANN
Technical Director
fsaurmann@firstdecatur.org
Brandon Kane
Production
bkane@firstdecatur.org
JEREMY SHULL
Video Production
jshull@firstdecatur.org
Administration & Support
DAN STEFFENY
Director of Operations
dsteffeny@firstdecatur.org
PEGGY ANDERSON
Office Manager
panderson@firstdecatur.org
ROBYN EVANS
Secretary
revans@firstdecatur.org
LEANNE KUHN
Office
lkuhn@firstdecatur.org
DAWN WENDT
Office
dwendt@firstdecatur.org
TOM HOWARD
Maintenance
thoward@firstdecatur.org
Elders
Jared Collier
Ann Eaton
Nolan Gillett
Bradley Grant
Wayne Kent
Rick McKibben
Kathy Mueller
Russ Reimer
Mark Reynolds
Carroll Ringelestein
Administrative Team
Russ Reimer / CHAIR
Todd Banning / VICE CHAIR
Jared Collier / ELDER CHAIR
Sally Hodges / SECRETARY
Michelle Reynolds / TREASURER
David Little
Wayne Kent
Tom Pistorius
Tracy Smithers
Dan Steffeny
Brian Talty
Trustees
Gordon Gregory
Shane Mendenhall
David Zelhart
