Executive Director

Nathan is from Maine and has 9 siblings, one of which is his twin brother, Philip. Nathan attended the New Brunswick Bible Institute and later studied at New England Baptist Bible College in Portland, Maine. He finished his undergraduate at Washington Bible College and his Master of Divinity at Capital Bible Seminary. Nathan served at the Waldorf Grace Church from 1993 to 1997. He was also the executive director of TMSM from 1994-2006 and oversaw 21 international missions projects that built church buildings in partnership with Encompass. Nathan started the Charis Fellowship (formerly Grace Brethren) church planting initiative in Canada and has been leading the movement since 1997. He lives in Mississauga, Ontario, near Toronto, with his wife Jennifer and two sons, Isaiah and Micah.

Director of Church Revitalization

Bart has served in vocational ministry for more than 20 years. He was the Worship Pastor and Creative Arts Director for the first Charis Fellowship church in Canada, what is now Renew Church, from 2002-2010. In 2011 Bart co-planted Grasslands Church and served as the Lead Pastor from 2013-2018. Bart joined the staff of Assist in 2018. He and his wife, Elizabeth, live in Frisco, Texas. They are the parents of Sarah (Friesen), Silas and Ephraim. In addition to his work with Assist, Bart also does church communications and digital marketing consulting.

Church Revitalization Ministry Associate

Ed has been in church ministry for over 30 years serving as a youth pastor, executive pastor, and for the last 16 years as a lead pastor in churches ranging in size from 75 to 1600. Ed has also served as an Advanced Trainer for Son Life Ministries for over twenty years. He earned his B.S. in Pastoral Studies from Lancaster Bible College & an M.Div. from Grace Theological Seminary. Ed is passionate about developing pastors to make maximum impact and desires to see churches become incredibly effective at reaching the Un-churched and developing Christ-followers to resemble Christ in their character and priorities. Ed is married to Carol who he says is not only an amazing ministry partner but is his most trusted ministry advisor. Ed and Carol have three adult children whom they love dearly.

Director of Development

Andy and his wife of 25 years, Tricia, live in Columbus, OH with their four kids, Seth, Silas, Sara, and Samson. While working day-to-day in marketplace ministry as a Realtor with Fathom Realty in Central OH, he will serve part-time with Assist. Andy previously served over 16 years in various roles within Charis Fellowship churches including solo pastor, associate pastor, and church planter. Most recently, Andy and Trish built a team to plant ClearView Church in New Albany, OH from 2007-2012. Andy and Trish met serving as leaders on Operation Barnabas and both grew up in Charis Fellowship Churches (Trish at Grace Polaris and Andy at our churches in York and Dillsburg, PA). Currently the Wirts are part of Grace Fellowship, Jefferson Campus in Blacklick. No stranger to the challenges of pastoring both churches in need of revitalization and new church starts–Andy is incredibly excited about the responsibility to help Assist raise funds to resource churches and ministry leaders at all phases of their life cycle. And yes, if you wondered, Andy is a huge Penn State fan, (happily) enduring life in Columbus, OH with Trish, who happens to be an Ohio State graduate.   Click here to contact Andy.

Director of Assist Adventure Teams + Executive Director of Grace Fellowship Canada

Philip grew up in Maine with 9 siblings, including his twin brother, Nathan. Following a tour with the U.S. Army Reserves, Philip attended Word of Life Bible Institute. As a student at Tennessee Temple University, he pastored a small church before transferring to Washington Bible College where he met his future wife, Beth. Philip served as intern-associate pastor at Waldorf Grace Church from 1994 to 1996. He and Beth became career missionaries with the Grace Brethren in 1997 and moved to an area outside of Toronto to serve in the church planting ministry of GBCanada USA. Philip served as part of the pastoral team that planted the first Charis Fellowship (formerly Grace Brethren) church in Canada in 1998. Several years later, he and Beth helped launch two more churches: Village Community Church in Milton, Ontario (now Renew Milton) and Community of Hope in Surrey, British Columbia. Starting in 2024, Philip serves primarily as the Executive Director of Grace Fellowship Canada. See more information on our Canada collaboration

Director of Administration and Finance

Ted is a retired Certified Public Accountant with over 45 years of accounting experience emphasizing individual and small business corporate taxation. In addition, Ted accumulated 28 years of technical and management experience in various federal agencies. After surrendering their lives to Jesus in their mid-thirties, by God’s grace, Ted and his wife, Elise, had an exciting life transformation which changed the face of their future. As part of their 10 years at Waldorf Grace Church, they administrated and led teams with Total Mobilization Support Ministries. In 2001, the empty-nesters moved to an area outside of Toronto to serve onsite in the church planting ministries of GBCanada USA. Ted went on to graduate Grace Theological Seminary (M.A. in Ministry) in 2006. Together, they were instrumental in the launch and growth of Renew Milton and Grasslands Church. A major delight of their life is their family including 5 precious grandkids.

Director of Operations

Mike has served many roles in the Charis Fellowship including as a Church Planter, Pastor, Mobilizer with Encompass World Partners, Moderator of the SoCal/Arizona District, Coordinator of Church Multiplication Associates, Fellowship Council, Social Concerns Committee and more. His passion for church planting, reaching the lost and discipleship as well as his gifts in leadership and administration make him a great fit for Assist.

In January of 2020, after serving for 11 years in Long Beach, California–Mike, his wife Mindi, and their youngest daughter moved to North Carolina. In a new adventure of the Lord’s leading, Dr. Mindi joined a chiropractic practice in Raleigh and Mike began project management consulting and joined Assist Church Expansion in the role of Director of Operations.

Project Coach + Manager of Media & Communications

Wade is an experienced church planter and multisite veteran who brings a great missional focus to the projects which he coaches. From 2015 to 2021 Wade and his wife Anna, along with their four children, served with Renew Church in Ontario as leaders of its third campus. In mid-2021, the Rininger family moved to the Tampa Bay, Florida area to plant a new church in partnership with Assist!

Shepherd for Ministry Wives

Chery was first introduced to the Charis Fellowship through Polaris Grace Church when she was a student at the Ohio State University. Chery and her husband, Ron, launched into a lifetime of ministry endeavors that have grown in them a special interest in church planting efforts. Sensing a particular call from God to encourage women who lead, Chery joined Women of Grace, USA as the Director of Leadership Development and facilitated Summits for Women in Leadership and Focus Retreats for women. She participated with the WoRTh Project in the creation of “A Missional Mosaic: Working Towards a Robust Theology of Women on Mission.” Chery and Ron currently Co-Chair the Credentialing Task Force which has been working the last 4 years to establish a path for women to be recognized for their godly character, ministry skills and biblical knowledge. They have also built a business partnership, Coach for You LLC, through which they coach ministry leaders and assess potential church planting couples.

Coaching and Assessments

Ron has lived most of his life in northeast Ohio but was called to ministry while a student at Colorado State University. Since then he has served in pastoral and church planting ministries for over 47 years. He has led the planting and establishing of three churches. He and his wife have served together as a team with regional church planting the past 20 years–training, coaching, assessing, and encouraging church planters and their wives. Read more about Ron and Chery’s coaching ministry at www.coachforyou.us.

Hispanic Ministry

Oscar is a church planting veteran who has been using his gifts with Assist in the area of Hispanic ministry. In addition to church planting and pastoring, Oscar has an extensive background in training and developing Hispanic leaders for ministry preparation. In January of 2022, he was voted to become the lead pastor at the Norwalk Grace Church in Norwalk, California and will be spear-heading the revitalization partnership with Assist and the church.

Consultant & Coach