Creekside Church - Staff & Elders

Alice Lee Ministry Assistant | x266
Alice joined our staff team in February of 2007. She currently serves in three roles: Elders' Assistant, Finance/HR Assistant and Clerk. Her favourite authors are Francine Rivers, Max Lucado, and John Grisham. She enjoys "geocaching" with her family - which involves using a GPS and multi-billion dollar military satellites to find Tupperware containers filled with trinkets hidden in forests! If you want to have a chat with Alice, don't forget your Earl Grey Tea and Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips. alee@creeksidechurch.ca

Amy Wilson Ministry Assistant | x256
Amy became a part of the Creekside team in October 2009. She works with the Kids, Youth and Young Adults programs - and loves having a job with purpose! She finds comfort in her morning coffee as well as in homemade mac-n-cheese. If you were to drop by her house unexpectedly you'd probably find her cleaning/organizing something - a little bit of an obsession. Amy is a big fan of Survivor (still), and looks forward to weekend getaways with her husband and kids! awilson@creeksidechurch.ca

Dan Murray Executive Pastor | x234
Dan's excited about the chance to provide "common sense support" and enable others to "carry out their ministries with passion". Dan's favourite book is G.K. Chesterton's "Orthodoxy", but anything by C.S. Lewis is not far behind. As for oddities, Dan admits he has a few! In the midst of a snow or rainstorm, Dan opts for the outdoors and takes the family dog for a stroll! dmurray@creeksidechurch.ca

Dave Tower Kids' Pastor | x230
David joined our team in September, 2004. He is passionate about building enthusiastic leaders who are committed to their relationship with God and reaching out with His awesome love to children, their parents and caregivers. Favourite shows? David likes to figure out who 'dunnit' on CSI or Law & Order. When he's not sleuthing, David can often be found enjoying good coffee and cake. But he also runs quite a bit - hey, you need to balance out the cake somehow! dtower@creeksidechurch.ca

Deb Jones Director of Celebrate Recovery | x225
Deb officially joined the team September, 2007. Her passion is seeing the life changing power of Jesus heal and provide freedom from all kinds of hurts, habits and hang ups. She loves serving the God of the impossible and enjoys seeing how he comforts us so that we can provide that same comfort to others. Deb is married to Rick and they have 2 adult sons. She loves to read, spend time with family and build relationships. Deb admits she is a "little" hung up on the colour blue & dark chocolate, but doesn't want to change either. djones@creeksidechurch.ca

Jeff Austen Adults & LifeGroups Pastor | x224
Jeff joined Creekside in this role in February 2000. He loves when others catch the vision that God wants to use them to change lives. Just like when Life Group leaders begin to discover God's plan to use them to effect life change in others! Jeff's favourite TV show is Bugs Bunny and Tweety. Jeff identifies with Bugs - he is witty, funny, brightens others' world and likes carrots! jausten@creeksidechurch.ca

Joe Graham Campus Operations Manager | x228
Joe has been serving in campus operations at Creekside for the past 6 years and gets ramped up with the energy of Sunday services most of all. He is also the Assimilation Coach for Celebrate Recovery here at Creekside and enjoys sharing Gods love for everyone through both Creekside and Celebrate Recovery. One of Joe's most enjoyable pastimes is riding his motorcycle. He enjoys sharing everything life has to offer with his wife, and best friend, Cathy. jgraham@creeksidechurch.ca

Ken Taylor Teaching Pastor | x222
Ken was here "in the beginning" . . . no not that beginning! We're talking about when Creekside began some twenty years ago. And the way he tells it the Creekside experience has been a great ride. He and Carol have five adult children and two grandchildren. Ken is passionate about leading and teaching and is fired up when people begin a relationship with God through Jesus and experience God's power and joy in their lives. His favourite verse in the Bible is Zephaniah 3:17 which reads, ""The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." ktaylor@creeksidechurch.ca

Kyla Arsenault Ministry Assistant | x239
Kyla works with us in the adult ministries department. Kyla loves her LifeGroup, cycling, film festivals, books and reading the newspaper. Her favourite book is 'Severe Mercy'. Her dream vacation would be camping in New Zealand. All the fun of camping with no worry of snakes or bears! karsenault@creeksidechurch.ca

Laura Moyer Ministry Support Office Assistant | x221
Laura is the friendly voice you hear when you call Creekside. Laura loves to hang out with her kids. She enjoys camping and vacationing with her husband (and any kids who might come). Her family recently started offering a loving home to foster children. Her favourite foods are corn on the cob and chocolate. lmoyer@creeksidechurch.ca

Paula McLeod-Smith Weekend Service Pastor | x231
Paula has been involved in Creekside Worship and Arts leadership in various capacities since 1991. Paula oversees our Weekend Service teams and helps them brainstorm, plan and execute highly effective services that enable people to take a step closer to Jesus. Paula is usually up to something but in her spare time she loves to ski, travel with friends and family, and lounge in a hammock on the side of a lake with a new book. She admits that her favourite sandwich, toasted bacon and jam, is a little odd but says it helps her fit in with those artists she spends so much time with. pmcleodsmith@creeksidechurch.ca

Raja Stone Youth & Young Adults Pastor | x227
On staff since December 2008, Raja gets stoked seeing the next generation of the church plugged in and passionately living out "kingdom thinking". In his spare time, Raj enjoys watching Battle Star Galactica or the inspiring movie Shawshank Redemption. His book picks include the Bible, Neil Postman's prophetic "Amusing Ourselves to Death", or the culturally revealing "Fast Food Nation". An avid watcher of all things basketball, Raja has a natural affinity with fellow staffer and basketball fanatic, Ken! rstone@creeksidechurch.ca

Rob Gast Worship Pastor | x260
Rob joined the staff crew in February 2004. Work-wise, he's most passionate about the exciting things happening at Creekside these days that are making a difference not only locally but also around the world. Outside the office, Rob loves spending time with his wife and their two little girls, traveling, reading, movies, hiking, and, oh yeah, music! A Canadian by birth, Rob is an American Civil War buff, speaks fluent Spanish, and dreams of living in Ireland and Greece. How's that for being a multi-cultural kind of guy! rgast@creeksidechurch.ca

Deborah Snider Elder
Deborah joined the elders team in December 2008. One of Deb's desires for Creekside Church is that it will continue to mark a group of Jesus followers that passionately love and follow him in every single aspect of life. Deb and her husband Steve are delightedly parenting their daughter, and sadly watching the last season of LOST. She's not into surprises (strange, considering her love of a tv series that hoards spoilers) so makes a habit of reading first the beginning of a book, then the end, so that she can comfortably enjoy the middle. deborahsnider@gmail.com

Douglas Grant Elder
Douglas joined the Elder Team in June 2005. He's passionate about Creekside strategically expressing God's love and grace so others can enjoy the healing, freedom, purpose and peace found only through Jesus. Douglas loves the adventure of parenting four children (usually!), with his best friend Heather. Though she doesn't share his opinion that peanut butter makes a great topping for pancakes or waffles! douglasmgrant@gmail.com

Jeff Witmer Elder
Jeff joined the Elder Team in January 2004. In his role as a Creekside Elder, Jeff is passionate about building relationships, sharing the truth, and providing opportunities for youth! "Here are a few of his favourite things..." Hockey Night In Canada (Go Leafs!), Oceans Eleven (the first one), "Mere Christianity" (C.S. Lewis), and of course, Annemarie and their three kids! Unique Habits? Listening to 80's music, excessive vacuuming and chip eating with dip of course! jeff_witmer@wrdsb.on.ca

Laurie Starra Elder
Laurie began her role on the elders team in June 2006. Her passion for ministry involves caring for people, and seeing smaller communities blossom within the church. Book-wise, Laurie loves the vulnerability of authors who share from their hearts about their own faith journey. Habit-wise, Laurie admits to a slight Sudoku puzzle addiction. Seems she likes the repetition of filling those nine numbers into all those little boxes! lstarra@creeksidechurch.ca

Richard Magnussen Elder
Richard Magnussen is a family man with 3 children and 9 grandchildren. He runs an international furniture business that takes him around the globe for manufacturing and selling. His hobbies include boating, cars and golf. He enjoys news television to stay abreast of what is happening around the globe. Richard is passionate about people living the fullest life which includes a personal relationship with Jesus at the centre. His life manual is the Bible and he loves the wisdom from the book of Proverbs. Richard has been with Creekside since its inception. rmagnussen@magnussen.com

Jeremy MacDonald Treasurer
Jeremy has been treasurer since September 2000. He is happy to serve in a position where God can use his abilities and gifts and really enjoys seeing God at work at Creekside. He loves watching sports, but for some reason this hasn't really happened much since his two children have come along. That's a trade off he's happy to accept! jmacdonald2@gmail.com

Karen Cheng Director of Missions
Karen Cheng stepped on board as co-director of Missions in February 2006. She has a heart for global missions and wants to share her passion with the people of Creekside. Her aim: to mobilize the church to meet the spiritual needs of others around the world. A loyal fan of the popular television show, "Survivor", Karen also enjoys the board game "Settlers of Catan". Seems she has a competitive streak and loves anything involving strategy! khewitt0815@rogers.com