Welcome to Redemption Tempe

About Jim

Jim has been at Redemption Tempe since 2010 and as Co-Lead Pastor, directs the theological and vocational formation at R/Tempe (while also making extravagant analogies about pancakes and omelets). He enjoys being able to help God’s people reimagine all of life in light of the Biblical Story and to help them find their place within that story. He has worked as a pastor, janitor, entrepreneur, nonprofit leader, and second-rate basketball scout in Turkey. Jim, his wife Jenny, and their daughter, Elliana, spend their time watching basketball, cooking Middle Eastern food, and being completely ineffective gardeners.

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About Josh

After pastoring in Portland for over 15 years, Josh moved to Arizona to co-lead at Redemption Tempe in 2019. Josh enjoys helping people who wrestle with tough topics of the Christian faith, and is author of the books The Skeletons in God’s Closet and The Pursuing God. In his role at R/Tempe, he loves to see Jesus forming the lives of the people at our church. He’s worked internationally in 7 different countries, been beat up by a billy goat, and run over by a Volkswagen van. Josh’s wife Holly, daughter Aiden, and sons, James and Jacob, enjoy spending time with friends over great meals, and exploring the scenic beauty of the Southwest.

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About Warren

Warren has loved Redemption Tempe and the city of Tempe since moving here in 2014 from the Bronx, New York. In his role as Executive Pastor of Communication and Hospitality, Warren applies his nine years of experience in transportation logistics daily  –  wearing many different hats and juggling numerous projects at once. He loves begin able to help form a culture of welcoming at R/Tempe through his work overseeing church communications and Sunday service volunteer teams. Warren met his wife Jordan at R/Tempe and they have one daughter named Ellie. Warren loves to eat and is deeply devoted to the Yankees and the Knicks.

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About Ryan

Ryan loves the people he gets to works with in this church and has spent more than a decade as a Pastor and Elder at Redemption. Before that, he and his wife Janet worked for 13 years in college ministry. Their time on college campuses helped them realize that much of the brokenness in the world comes through dysfunction and hurt in the family. Since everyone comes from a family, they found pouring into marriage and the family to be a great opportunity to reflect the good news and healing found in the Gospel. Ryan loves that he has the privilege to help marriages and families live out and represent the Gospel to each other and in their spheres of influence. Ryan and Janet have four beautiful children and their whole family are dual citizens of the United States and Italy. Ryan enjoys the discipline and serenity of golfing and the chance to connect with others in an unhurried way while on the course.

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About John

Born and raised in Phoenix, John has been at Redemption Tempe since 2009. He oversees the various types of communities and discipleship pathways at R/Tempe including Redemption Communities, Bible Studies, Care Groups, Creative Cohorts, and more. John loves being able to help people flourish in community and have the privilege of equipping them to follow Jesus in their everyday lives. Prior to becoming a Pastor, John was a hairdresser and owned his own salon. After becoming a Pastor, he continued cutting hair and worked bi-vocationally for 7 years before moving into pastoral work full-time. His experience as a hairdresser and as a pastor have shaped his work in ministry as both roles are deeply relational and involve listening authentically to people and walking with them in life while finding opportunities to point them to Jesus. John and his wife Maryke have 3 amazing boys. He enjoy books, sneakers, tacos, basketball, films, and tattoo art.

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About Jackie

Jackie is a South Jersey transplant who has been in the Valley and a member at Redemption Church for over a decade. She came to know Christ at the Arcadia congregation and has been at R/Tempe since 2012. As the Director of Operations, Jackie uses her background in Business Administration to create work flows and processes to make sure they are effective, efficient, and streamlined. Her favorite thing about being on staff at Redemption is taking the big picture ideas of the church and putting the structure and process around it to help bring it to life. She is married to Mike and has two elementary aged children, Calvin and Adeline. She enjoys spending time outside: hiking South Mountain, running, biking, and sitting on the beach in Ocean City, New Jersey. 

About Jake

Jake first came to Redemption Tempe in 2010 while a student at ASU and spent the next 4 years interning and being shaped by the family of God. Although he grew up in the church, this season at R/Tempe was where he first heard the gospel as an all-encompassing story and he came to love Jesus. Now, he thinks of R/Tempe as the place he grew up spiritually and sees this community as his spiritual home town. That experience fuels his passion for teaching the word of God as the College and Career Pastor. He loves seeing young people experience the fellowship of believers and to see hearts transformed by hearing the word of God. Jake and his wife, Lexi, have a little boy named Asher. Their favorite things to do are playing Zelda together, talking long family walks at Kiwanis Park, and laughing over their dog, Raullie, chasing a laser pointer.

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About Brandon

Brandon was born and raised in the Valley and has lead worship and creative teams since he was sixteen. As the Worship Arts Pastor at Redemption Tempe, Brandon enjoys building a culture for musicians and creatives to be able to lead and serve in our church. He loves hearing our church sing, discipling and walking with people on their faith journeys, and is excited to see God leading our church deeper into His Word and Spirit. Brandon and his wife, Amelia, have a daughter named Delilah (with baby number two on the way!) Brandon is a self-professed coffee connoisseur/snob (but says Jesus is working on him). He loves cooking all different kinds of foods, reading theology books, watching the Suns, and playing video games.

About Mark

Mark has been at Redemption Tempe since 2016 and prior to working as the Pastor of Student Ministries, did campus evangelism at ASU. That experience taught him the importance of deep community, especially for the younger generation. Mark loves being able to build a culture where the students at our church feel seen, known, and loved, and can grow in their love for Jesus while building strong friendships and having fun together. Mark wants to help create a place where, when new students come in our community, it looks so different from everything else they have experienced that they can’t help but be intrigued with who God is. Mark and his wife, Kristi, have two children, Lola and Luke. He grew up in the country, driving trucks full of cow poop for the family business, and rode an actual, real-life bull for 2.3 seconds.

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About Susanne

Redemption has been Susanne’s church home since its early days of Praxis on Ash, back in 2005 (she also met her husband Martin at a Praxis small group). In her role of directing the ministry of Redemption Kids at R/Tempe, Susanne gets to see kids, families, and volunteers get to know and love Jesus more as they grow in their understanding of what it looks like to follow Him and be a part of His family. Her experience teaching kids in fun and engaging ways stems from her degree in Elementary Education, but especially from her many years of involvement with Younglife, working various summer camps around the country and with Boys and Girls Club, and volunteering with R/Kids before joining staff. Susanne and Martin have two zany and beautiful children who remind them of God’s faithfulness daily. Susanne also finds joy in cheese, cured meats, and learning new things from podcasts and books.

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About Ken

Ken has worked in facilities at several different Redemption Church congregations and started working full time at R/Tempe in 2019. As Director of Facilities, Ken oversees the maintenance, cleaning, and remodeling of the church property and buildings. Over the years he had served as a deacon, RC leader, intern, Sunday school teacher, and hospitality team volunteer. This gave him the perspective of seeing how facilities impacts all of the ministries happening on the church property and how it can be used to make people feel welcome and comfortable so they can focus on connecting with Jesus and others. Ken enjoys helping make the church property a place in the city that people have a deep connection to and where they have the opportunity to encounter God. Ken considers it a great privilege to shape and sustain the place where God’s people gather to intimately interact with Him. Ken enjoys hiking and has a dream of hiking in the Rocky Mountains of Banff, Alberta, Canada one day.

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About Jordan

Jordan was born and raised in Los Angeles and moved to Tempe in 2015 to attend Arizona State University. While there, he joined Cru and began working on staff and also befriended his future wife, Annika. (They were also conveniently attending Redemption Tempe at the same time.) As Director of Production and Technology, Jordan loves being able to facilitate and foster an atmosphere where the people of God can join together and worship undivided. The majority of his experience in work and ministry has come from being around R/Tempe, first as a volunteer and then on staff. Jordan loves working alongside such a supportive and encouraging team and feels it has allowed him the freedom to grow in his skills and dream up ways to innovate and improve our production team. Jordan also works with at-risk youth in our city and coaches junior high basketball.

About Michel

Michel was born and raised in Brazil and lived in Paraguay, UK, and Turkey before moving to Arizona in 2008. He has been serving the Lord for over 25 years, mostly in a cross cultural context, which has taught him how to be a bridge-builder and help people from different backgrounds connect with God and with one another. Michel directs R/Tempe’s Local and Global Hospitality efforts and is excited to see our church grow in love and engagement with our neighbors both near and far. Michel and his wife, Julie, met in Turkey and lived in three countries in their first year of marriage. They love being active outdoors with their two kids and dog. Michel loves bikepacking and taking short wilderness trips with friends new and old.

About Melissa

Melissa grew up in Chicago, moved to LA for college, and stayed after she graduated to work in television as every different kind of assistant. Working with our church’s 5th and 6th graders gives Melissa the joy of teaching about Jesus while occasionally throwing dodgeballs at them. She loves creating a space where kids feel loved and can experience authentic community. She enjoys helping kids truly see the love God has for them and prays His love will transform them and their families. Seeing God work in people is her favorite part of ministry. Melissa backpacked across Europe as a 25 year old and hit 9 countries, 12 cities and 4 currencies in 27 days. Melissa is married to Mark and they have two boys, Brooks and Lincoln. Fun fact: Melissa is related to Abraham Lincoln and named her son after him because it is a “family name.”  Melissa and her family enjoy hiking, checking out new parks in the Phoenix Metro area, and rating new pizza places.

About Holly

Holly has been leading in spiritual direction, prayer ministry, and leadership development for the past 16 years. She loves connecting people to Jesus through prayer and helping them see God at work in their life. Watching the Holy Spirit bring clarity, healing, and peace to individuals, families, and our city brings her much joy. Holly works with people in many denominations and desires to see healing and unity between all the Christian streams. She is married to Josh and they have three kids: Aiden, James and Jacob. Holly’s favorite hobbies are reading and researching weird religious subcultures. As a teen, she rode horses instead of going to high school (but she did eventually get her GED and go to college!) Holly is currently working on a MA in Biblical Leadership at Western Seminary.

About Melanie

After eight years of working in Washington, DC, Melanie moved back to Arizona and began attending Redemption Tempe in 2015. While in DC, Melanie worked in various scheduling and administrative roles in government and the non-profit IJM. She also traveled extensively and was able to experience different aspects of the global church. That season of her life shaped her deeply and gave her skills which she now combines to serve the local church with her global perspective and her love of all things administrative. Melanie is wife to Jon and mom to three beautiful kids. She loves to set travel goals and so far has completed 50 states by 25 and 30 countries by 30. She is currently dreaming about 7 continents by 70. “Anyone have a hook up for Antarctica?”

About Nate

Nate was born and raised in South Carolina where he attended The Citadel Military College for undergraduate studies. He moved to Arizona from Hawaii in May 2020 after spending four years as an Infantry Officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. Nate feels God used his experience as a Marine to groom an ability to lead with urgency and an awareness of the brokenness in the world.  As coordinator for Sunday service volunteers and outreach opportunities, Nate loves to see God developing a deep desire within the people at R/Tempe to participate in God’s plan of restoration through sacrificial service to our city and disciple-making among the nations. Nate enjoys eating good food, watching sports, reading, and exercising in his free time.

About Laura

Laura grew up in Chandler, AZ and went to ASU where she studied interior design and met her husband, Daniel. Tempe felt like a natural place for them to settle in and raise a family (which now includes three great kids) and they have been at Redemption Tempe since 2006. In her role as Events and Aesthetics Coordinator, Laura enjoys being able to extend hospitality and make people feel welcome and comfortable through good food, thoughtful details, and beautiful spaces. It has been fun for her to have the opportunity to use her interior design skills to improve our church, space by space, making each more useful and enjoyable. Laura began sewing several years ago and now enjoys making her own clothes. She gets a kick out of hearing someone compliment what she’s wearing and being able to say, “I made it!”

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About Melissa

A true native of Arizona, Melissa returned to the Valley in 2012 from North Carolina with her husband, Daniel, in order to better support their son with medical needs. The adventure caring for her son has caused Melissa’s heart to grow in fervor to see God glorified in His church through members with disabilities. As the R/Kids Special Needs Ministry Coordinator, Melissa coordinates volunteers for kids at R/Tempe who may need extra assistance due to disability or trauma. She loves seeing how God is displayed in the lives of every individual and how He has so uniquely made us all in His image. Melissa deeply loves nachos and is on a personal quest to see who can provide the best nachos in town. (If you need some recommendations, feel free to tap into Melissa’s knowledge of and love for a quality chip and cheese).

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About Havalah

Havalah was born in New Hampshire (and yes, she is a diehard Patriots fan) and at ten moved to New Zealand. She grew up in a ministry home, and saw first hand the importance of authenticity and vulnerability. When she married her high school sweetheart, Dahvede, in 2009, she moved from New Zealand to Tempe. She has been at Redemption Tempe ever since. As the R/Kids Curriculum Coordinator, Havalah loves being able to equip volunteers to teach the kids of our church family, and through this, allow their parents to be fed and refreshed in the main service. Havalah and Dahvede have two kids, Ezra and Joelle. Several of her friends affectionately call her a “grandma” because her all-time favorite thing to do is sit and crochet in her rocking chair with football on.

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About Andrea

Andrea is a native Arizonan and has been at Redemption Tempe since 2013. She feels blessed to teach the children at our church during the precious and formative early cognitive years and help the next generation to understand and love God. Andrea’s current “hobby” has been homeschooling her three beautiful, slightly sassy daughters. Her adorable family dog, Kaibab “Kai” Canyon, has become the unofficial mascot for R/Tempe’s mid-week childcare. Andrea’s family also has four chickens, so her husband, John, is truly outnumbered as the only man in the house. Andrea loves to travel and explore new places, something she hopes to do more as her kids get older.

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About Jen

Jen has attended Redemption Tempe since 2012 and joined the staff in 2015. Coming from the advertising world, Jen enjoys being able to now use her skills as a graphic artist to communicate the amazing things God is doing in our church and to draw people to Him through design. She loves having the opportunity to work alongside an incredible community of hilarious, caring, Jesus-loving coworkers/friends while deepening her faith and growing as a church leader. Jen enjoys camping with her husband, Devin, and their four boys, but her favorite activity is being alone with a cup of coffee and a good book. Jen’s family is known for its high level of commitment to group costumes and themed parties.

About Autumn

Autumn joined a Redemption Community (RC) in 2010 while attending ASU. The friendships and community she formed played a big role in her coming to know and trust Jesus. Autumn has worked as a freelance graphic designer and sign painter for ten years, and more recently, a muralist (you can spy some of her work on R/Tempe’s Back Porch).  She loves being able to use her skill set to bring beauty to the spaces here at R/Tempe and to help communicate events and information effectively. She and her husband Drew have two children and enjoy hosting a RC each week, as well as serving in R/Kids. Autumn loves cooking and playing soccer and (and is only a little bit competitive).

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About Carly

Carly started attending Redemption Tempe in 2015 — the year she learned what it meant to walk with Jesus. In addition to her role at R/Tempe, Carly teaches marketing & branding to business owners. She loves taking this knowledge and using it for our church. She’s passionate about connecting people to Jesus through social media and reaching people where they’re at – which a lot of times is scrolling on their phone – and offering them encouragement, truth, and an invitation to what God is doing in our church and city. She and her husband John have a baby boy named Coast. Carly used to travel the world photographing weddings, but is now happiest when she’s close to home watercoloring, baking, having themed movie nights, and spending time with her two favorite guys!

About Will

Originally from New Jersey, Will came to Redemption Tempe in 2019 and brought with him over 15 years of experience as a church planter and preacher. As the Preacher and Leadership Mentor at R/Tempe, Will hopes to help leaders better disciple God’s people through the teaching and preaching of the Word. Will enjoys fishing, reading, music, cracking jokes, and spending time with his wife and son.

About Sharon

After spending their first 22 years of marriage ministering in Philadelphia, Sharon and her husband Bryan recently moved to Arizona – in part, to provide for their adult son with autism. Sharon brings gifts in biblical counsel and shepherding to R/Tempe in her role on the Care and Counsel Team. She considers it a privilege and deep joy to walk alongside people and provide a safe space to get real about the triumphs and the struggles of life, and how to seek Jesus in those spaces. Sharon has four children, who are in various stages of leaving the nest (and/or returning to the nest after graduation). Sharon enjoys all things French, rooting for the Eagles, traveling with her husband, and connecting in authentic relationships. In her spare time, she loves finding foreign shows on Netflix and listening to them in Spanish and especially French – la langue française est si belle!

About Jason

Jason has had the privilege of being at Redemption Tempe since day one – when it was just a handful of people meeting in a living room. As an Elder, he loves being able to see all the people God brings to our church and watch them grow in their faith and become family. While R/Tempe is home, Jason has also been working at Redemption Central as the Operations Pastor since 2008 helping to manage the church’s finances. That experience has been invaluable to him in seeing how God moves, what seasons come and go, and what remains. Jason, his wife Kate, and their four children have many barnyard animals on their urban, backyard farm, but not nearly enough to fill the family’s ever-growing desire for more! Jason loves nachos and is Diamond 3 Division 3 in Rocket League.

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About Andy

Andy has been at Redemption Tempe since the very beginning. As an Elder, he enjoys having the privilege to meet and pray with the elder board as they seek God’s wisdom and direction in leading our church. Andy truly believes that “all of life is all for Jesus” and because of this, views work, play, and ministry as inseparable. He sees every situations as an opportunity to reflect the love and the goodness of God. Andy enjoys running and co-founded and coaches the running club, the Bounding Moosen. The club includes people who are first-time runners, or training for their first 5K, or trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon (which Andy has run in!) He enjoys seeing the long-lasting bonds and friendships that are formed through this group (in fact, several of the Bounding Moosen have married each other). Andy and his wife, Cindy, have been married for many years and have acquired a lot of children and grandchildren in that time.

About Eric

In addition to being a Redemption Tempe elder, Eric serves as a pastoral coach for Frontiers by helping missionaries around the world thrive in following Jesus. He also enjoys using his training to provide corporate coaching. Eric loves being an elder alongside the other leaders who aim to take God seriously and themselves less so. He and his wife Amy have been married since 1994 and have two adult children. They are enjoying this season of empty nesting. Eric is an avid traveler and recently reached a personal milestone of visiting 50 countries and all 50 states by age 50.