Leadership

 |  COMMUNITY PASTOR

As our Community Pastor, Mark is responsible for all spheres of outreach at Summit Church – whether it’s running local events like our Community Project, serving a regional partner like Te Whakaora Tangata, supporting a national partner like Willow Park Camp, or leading our global strategy with Project Thailand – he’s passionate about helping all of us Purposefully Love Others. With his technical and design background Mark also responsible for our IT infrastructure, online presence and print design as well as our audio and visual teams. As a founding Trustee of our community trust, he is also part of the team that manages and operates our community centre – Kotahi.

Mark and his wife Steph were married in 1998, and have three awesome kids – Ethan, Joel and Renee. After studying Business Computing at MIT, Mark’s first career was with Carter Holt Harvey, where he worked for 11 years in a variety of roles, but primarily in IT. In early 2006 he and Steph followed God’s call into full-time ministry – joining the Summit Church staff team.

Mark was raised in South Auckland, and having attended church there with his family from the time he was born, Mark came to faith in Christ at a young age whilst he was at a kids camp at Moirs Point in Northland. He often reflects on how God used a few key men in his life at strategic times to shape, encourage & challenge him. Having been on the receiving end of such quality mentoring, Mark is committed to building similar relationships with other young men.

Robin Byrne  |  WORSHIP & GROUPS PASTOR

Robin has led worship for more than 25 years, and is super passionate about us giving God our best individually, as well as corporately on a Sunday morning. He is also responsible for approximately 20 community groups that we have going at Summit Church. Robin is directly involved with the care of our groups, whilst seeking to start new groups and encourage everyone to be part of a community group and “do life together”.

Robin is originally from Herne Bay in the United Kingdom, where he met Sonia while she was on her OE. He followed her back “down under”, and they have now been happily married for over 25 years. Robin and Sonia have three children, Bjorn, Jai and Milla.

At a young age, Robin got involved with the Boys' Brigade, which at the time was run by some very godly and caring leaders. Over a period of a few years, Robin was impacted by God’s grace and gave his heart to the Lord at a Boys' Brigade camp when he was 17.

Amelia Smith |  YOUTH PASTOR

Amelia joined the Summit Church team in January 2019. She oversees our youth ministries for both high-schoolers and intermediates. She is passionate about young people and would love to see all the Summit Church youth connecting in and living for Jesus. Amelia also spends 2 days a week at Pakuranga College as a Youth Worker with the 24/7 programme, building relationships with young people in our community and supporting them through a pretty tough age.

Amelia loves people, water-sport, and our amazing Aotearoa. She also loves being surprised with free coffee throughout the day…

Amelia’s life all comes down to the faithfulness of God. Growing up in an amazing home with parents who loved Jesus and loved her, meant that Amelia realised the truth of the gospel within the first 6 years of her life. As she reached her teenage years, though, Amelia realised that knowing about God was not the same thing as living her life for Him. She learnt that the freedom of a life lived for Jesus is the only life that truly fulfils. Through our faithful God, many amazing mentors, a great youth group, a year of Bible college and loads of cool opportunities, Amelia has, and will, continue on her journey to be more like Jesus.

Leah Wetherall  |  CHILDREN'S PASTOR

Leah is responsible for the Summit Kids programme at Summit Church. This includes Discovery Den for the 0-3 year olds, Wonder Woods 4-5 year olds, Pioneer Point and Ranger Rapids for the primary aged kids. Leah is passionate about kids finding their identity in Jesus and discovering his great joy and love for them, she loves young families and working alongside parents connecting them with the tools they need to grow a passionate love for Jesus in their kid’s hearts. Her heart’s desire is for kids to understand how excited God is about them and to get them excited about being in relationship with him.

Leah is married to Tim, and mother to four incredible daughters - Portia, Indigo, Adaya and Yakirah. Indigo has Autism and through her journey with a special needs child, Leah has learnt new depths about the love of God and his grace in all journeys. Being a stay-at-home mother for the last 10 years has given her an appreciation of this vital role in families and how often it is an isolated and lonely one. Before becoming a mother, Leah worked as a motivational speaker for Attitude, teaching valuable life skills to high schoolers. She has also studied counselling and biblical theology at Bible College and has been a youth pastor in Christchurch - the city where she grew up and married Tim.

Leah grew up in a Christian household with three siblings and gave her heart to the Lord when she was 3 years old at some traffic lights. Her father has been a senior pastor throughout her youth, and church has been a fundamental part of her growth and development as a Christian, and as a person. She adores the fellowship that being a part of a Christian community brings.

Mel Dunford  |  MINISTRY SUPPORT - SERVICES & NEXT GEN

Mel is responsible for Sunday administration and organisation, and provides valuable support to our kids & youth ministries.

She grew up in Shropshire, England. She has been living in New Zealand since the late 90s, and has two children: Ella and Josh.

Mel came to faith at 8, around the same time as her mother and two older sisters. She renewed her faith in her later adult years after an Alpha course, and was baptised soon after. She is now committed to going deeper with God and following His path for her life.

Jo Wilson  |  OFFICE MANAGER

Jo is responsible for church communications, graphics and making sure newcomers are well catered for.

She is married to Nigel and they have two children, Nathan and Sophie. In her spare time, Jo enjoys swimming at the beach, going to the gym and baking up a storm!

She has been a Christian for most of her life and has served in churches over the years on worship teams and kids' programme teams. Her relationship to God is very important to her and she seeks to follow His will for her life.

 

Stuart Jones

Stuart is married to Ianthe and they have three children; Callahan, Brooklyn and Xavier. He is a Respiratory and Sleep Physician working out of Middlemore Hospital. In his free-time he enjoys playing and watching sport, although these days seems to spend most of the time carting his children to various activities.

In addition to serving as an elder, Stuart and Ianthe run a community group (South Community group). Stuart is also involved in teaching in the Sunday morning service as well as a member of the set-up and pack-down teams. Ianthe serves as the Pastoral Care Director for the church, a volunteer coordination role to ensure people are looked after well during tough times.

Stuart was fortunate enough to grow up in a strong Christian home where his parents were great role models of the faith. Although Stuart became a Christian as a young child, a defining moment in his early Christian walk came when his father died in a car accident – this became a catalyst for deepening his personal walk with God.

Andre Kirstein

Andre is one of the founding members of Summit and has been extensively involved in most aspects of the church since it’s humble beginnings. As an Elder Andre is responsible for leading and protecting the church by overseeing and caring for the pastoral team and ensuring biblical truths and practices are maintained in accordance with the teachings of Jesus.

He married Christl in 1985 and has two beautiful girls, Carmen and Kasia. Andre and Christl immigrated from South Africa in 1997 and have made New Zealand their home. Andre is a structural engineer and in his spare time is either found chasing a golf ball around the course, digging in the garden or capturing nature on film.

Andre was led to the Lord in 1977 and since then has a passion for learning and soaking up the Word. His and Christl’s heart for people has led them to lead a Homegroup that has been running since around 2005.

KK Leong

John Molloy

John is married to Rochelle and they have three children; Samuel, Hannah and Will. John works at Fisher & Paykel Appliances. When not at work or trying to keep up with the family, he likes to get outside – ideally for a surf or a run – to blow the cobwebs out, and to stay fit enough to keep up with the kids and Rochelle.

Both John and Rochelle have been involved in the Kids Ministry area, or running a community group since joining Summit. Rochelle continues to be involved with the kids, helping out as one of the group leaders.

The Christian faith was not large in John’s life growing up, but through an uncanny sequence of events and people in his life during his mid-20s, he had his world view (and arrogance) challenged to the point that he couldn’t deny what was true, and took the plunge when he was 26. This growth and challenge continues to this day!

Bryn Thompson

 

Steve Young

Steve is happily married to Robyn, who is a Reading Recovery teacher. They have twin sons, Adam and Carl, who are currently at University. Steve works as an accountant and business advisor at RSM, a chartered accounting firm based in Highbrook.

Steve contributes to the Sunday morning teaching. As well as this, he and Robyn lead Explore, a course designed for people wanting to check out Christianity and ask questions about the reality of God, the person of Jesus and what He means to us today. Their aim is to create a safe place for seekers to bring their questions about Jesus, and hopefully discover why so many millions of people have entrusted themselves to Him. Robyn also leads the LOL women’s community group.

Steve was raised as an atheist so never attended church as he grew up. In his first job after school, he had a two year discussion with his boss regarding the existence of God and the claims of Christianity. Through this, he came to discover the evidence for Christianity, as well as the amazing hope that Jesus offers anyone who will consider His claims and put their faith in Him.

If you'd like to contact the Elder team please email [email protected]