Our Pastors
Jonathan Burnett - Senior Pastor
Pastor Jonathan Burnett is married to the former Jodi Michelle Kendall and they have two daughters together, Eliayna and Hadassah. Jodi, who is a native of Boaz Alabama, and Pastor Jonathan Burnett met in South Korea as missionaries. Jodi and Jonathan fell in love doing ministry together. Sharing the love of Jesus with people continues to be the greatest passion of their life. They have spent 5 years in the South England Conference.
During their time in ministry they have become convinced that what is missing in the lives of many of their members is a healthy relationship with God, with family, and with each other. This has led them to articulate this vision & mission statement for their ministry:
They see healthy churches full of healthy families made up of healthy individuals. They desire to be a part of the work of God to grow healthier individuals, families, and churches.
Their ministry creates opportunities for the growth of healthier individuals. Through outreaching and preaching they emphasis the importance of being connection to Jesus through prayer, the word, worship and sharing ones faith. They also bring individuals into their life and disciple them into a deeper relationship with Jesus.
Their ministry creates opportunities for the growth of healthier families. They hold seminars on relationships, marriage and parenting. They talk openly with youth and young adults about marriage, sex and dating. They council one-on-one with couples using Prepare-Enrich. Jodi’s qualification in Family Life Education adds real depth to their ministry to families.
Their ministry creates opportunities for the growth of healthier churches. Churches based on small groups are healthier, growing churches. They lead churches to start small groups and coach small group leaders. To increase their effectiveness in leading churches on a journey of increasing health Pastor Jonathan Burnett have started a DMin in Organizational Leadership.
Felipe Soares - Youth pastor
Felipe Soares is a native of Brazil, where he spent his entire childhood years prior to moving to the United States with his family in 2001; at the age of 11. He was raised in Long Island, NY, and has been active in the local church since the age of 13. Upon noticing that the youth of his local church, a first-generation Brazilian immigrant SDA company, were not receiving the attention and spiritual care necessary, he requested to be made youth director as a teenager to better address the needs of his teenage peers. After serving at the local church and the Greater New York Conference of SDA’s youth department for a few years he felt the call to pursue pastoral ministry at the age of 21. Pr. Soares is a graduate of Washington Adventist University’s class of 2015 with degrees in Theology and Counseling Psychology. While at WAU, he organized the weekly campus vesper’s ministry, founded a young ministers club, as well as served in recruitment opportunities for WAU by speaking at conference youth events in the Columbia Union area.
One year after graduating from undergraduate, Pr. Soares felt the call to continue his ministerial training at Andrews University’s Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary in the fall of 2016 by pursuing a Masters of Divinity. While at AU, he was heavily involved with campus ministries, seminary worship, and teaching grade schoolers in Benton Harbor, MI, in a bi-monthly afterschool program. He has further garnered experience in pastoral ministry as a pastoral intern at Stevensville SDA church and a field evangelism opportunity under the North American Division Evangelism Institute in Cleveland, OH. He is set to graduate from seminary in the spring of 2019.
Pr. Felipe Soares is passionate about serving underprivileged groups and devoting his energies to leading and equipping young people to experience God in new and exciting ways while applying their spiritual growth experience into service towards their communities.