Gary serves our denomination as the Executive Director of Path 1. He has served as pastor in The United Methodist Church since the age of 18. He was ordained elder in 1986 and is currently a member of the Florida Annual Conference. In the past ten years, Gary has planted two United Methodist congregations, one in Western Pennsylvania and the other in central Florida, where he served on the conference and district new church development teams. In addition to artistic endeavors specializing in oil, acrylic and watercolor mediums Gary enjoys writing, is an avid bicyclist and loves to fly fish. Gary is the author of three books, one focused on spiritual leadership: The Meandering Way-Leading by Following the Spirit (2007) a second, which he co-wrote with his wife Kim, on creative and outward focused ministry: Imagining Church-Seeing Hope in a World of Change (2009) both published by Alban Institute and most recently a fictional novel of suspense and personal transformation, Eye of the Beholder. Gary and his wife Kim, a ministry coach and consultant, live in midtown Nashville and are the parents of two adult sons, Aaron and Jake. 

Bener Baysa Agtarap is originally from Manila, Philippines. His passion and leadership for transforming existing congregations for planting new churches has contributed in giving birth to a new district and an annual conference in Cavite, Philippines, and in creating the culture of church multiplication in the Philippines. Bener is an ordained Elder from the Wisconsin Annual Conference. Prior to coming to the United States, he served The United Methodist Church as a local pastor, new church planter, and district superintendent for over 20 years. Currently, Bener is serving as a New Church Strategist for Path 1 and New Church Starts Division of the General Board of Discipleship, Nashville, TN. Bener is married to Clarita Reinante Agtarap, and they have three children, Sola Kristie, Katriel Kairos and Kiyah Karmina.

Joanna Appel moved back to Nashville in the fall of 2009 after spending five years near London, England, working with youth in an Anglican Church. While living in the UK she was part of a dynamic breakout church movement which was excellent preparation for her current position on the New Church Starts staff as Administrative Assistant to the Executive Director. Joanna grew up in Minnesota but has thought of Nashville as “home” since attending Belmont University, where she earned a double BA in Mathematics and French.  She is married to Tom and is passionate about good music, adventurous food, and her British cat, Sophie.

Philip John Brooks is a lifelong Methodist. Born in Memphis Tennessee, he attended Trinity United Methodist Church growing up. As a teenager he became heavily involved in the church through UMYF, mission trips, and camp counseling. Philip moved to Nashville in 2009 to attend Vanderbilt Divinity School where he received his MTS degree in 2011. Living in Nashville brought Philip into contact with a number Methodist ministries and agencies. Before coming to GBOD Philip worked as a contractor for United Methodist Communications in the Marketing Department promoting connectional giving and assisting with social media. Now Philip still serves the church he loves as the Assistant in New Church Starts in Nashville working with strategists Bener Agtarap, Emily Reece, and Phil Maynard and coordinating social media and web applications.

Pax Escobar works in New Church Starts as a bilingual assistant, working closely with strategists Samuel Rodriguez, Candace Lewis, and Alma Perez. She was born in Colombia and moved to Miami at the age of 12, where she spent the last ten years. She earned three BA degrees in International Relations, Anthropology, and Political Science at Florida International University. She also studied abroad at the American University in Dubai. After finishing college, Pax moved to Clarksville to be close to her husband, Harvey, who is in the U.S. Army, and their loved dog, Thomas.

Candace is an Ordained Elder from the Florida Annual Conference. Upon graduation from Gammon Theological Seminary, she was appointed to plant a new church.  Candace and a team of committed laity spent 12 years successfully planting the New Life Community UMC, a new African American congregation in Jacksonville, Florida. Candace is a sought after preacher, leader, coach, consultant and passionate servant of the church.

Phil has over 20 years of experience serving local congregations and now serves as the Director in the Center for Congregational Excellence in the Florida Conference. A major focus of his work with the Florida Conference is the training of coaches for all applications including New Church Starts, Congregational Transformation, Discipleship Coaching, and Leadership. Phil is a frequent speaker at training workshops; an author; and a ministry coach to Church Planters, Pastors, Congregational Developers, and District Superintendents. His calling is to walk with leaders in the church to help them develop strong leadership practices and healthy and missional congregations for the Kingdom.

Paul Nixon is author of four books on church leadership, the latest of which is titled: Finding Jesus on the Metro: And Other Surprises Doing Church in a New Day.  Paul serves part-time on the Path 1 team and part-time as a mission developer working with young urban adults in the Washington, DC area. Previously he served as Director of Congregational Development for Alabama-West Florida Conference and as the founding pastor of the Soundside Campus of Gulf Breeze UMC in northwest Florida.

Alma joined the General Board of Discipleship in June 2000, as the Acquisitions Editor for Spanish Language Resources. Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, she obtained a master’s degree in public administration, with concentration in training and a bachelor of arts degree in interdisciplinary studies/foreign languages (Portuguese, Italian and French), from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras. In addition, she has taken studies leading to a master’s degree in Instructional Systems and Educational Technology at the University of Sacred Heart in Santurce, Puerto Rico. Alma is married to Migdiel E. Pérez. They have the blessing of having a wonderful six-year-old boy named Dale Esteban. They worship and serve God at Hamilton United Methodist Church, Antioch, Tennessee.

Reared in Muncie, Indiana, Emily Reece joined the New Church Starts staff from United Methodist Communications, where she served as Director of Program and Training for the denomination’s “Open hearts” advertising and welcoming ministry. During her tenure there, Emily authored several resources for local churches to implement marketing and hospitality ministries, including Beyond 30 Seconds: Developing a Welcoming Congregation. A veteran of two new church launch teams, Emily brings the perspective of a lay staff person to her role, particularly as developer of the Lay Missionary Planting Network curriculum for Path 1. Prior to her several years of ministry at the denominational level, Emily served in lay ministry coordination for congregations in Illinois and Indiana and worked in a variety of corporate and non-profit organizations before beginning her ministry career.

Samuel Rodriguez was a commissioned missionary with the Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church from October 2000 to May 2009. In the last seven years, he was assigned to the Central Texas Conference as Conference Coordinator for Hispanic/Latino Ministries. While serving there, Sam facilitated training opportunities for the National Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministries. As a staff member of the Office of Church Growth and Development, Sam helped create opportunities for several Hispanic /Latino New Church Starts. He holds BA in English and American Literature from the University of Texas in El Paso and an MA in Christian Service from Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University. Sam is married to Demetria J. Rodriguez, and they have two children, Samuel Joseph and Vanessa Rae.

Ron serves as director of both Congregational Development and SBC 21 for the Peninsula-Delaware conference. He has been working in the area for the last three years and spends much of that time doing strategic planning with pastors and their teams, visioning, coaching and consulting and helping start new faith communities and ministries. Ron is passionate about engaging young adults in ministry and creating ministries with an arts/music/theater focus. Ron has a BA in Philosophy from Morgan State University and a MA in Theology from Regent University.

Beth is the Director of New Faith Communities in the Oregon-Idaho Conference with over 20 years experience as a pastor in a variety of settings. She is passionate about transformational experiences, both individual and organizational. She is particularly captivated by discovering new platforms that will allow our Wesleyan roots to bear abundantly again. She enjoys how this focus plays out organically in the House Church, spirituality groups and camping programs that she facilitates as well as how she can help others in the institutional church to embody the change that they wish to see.

Beth's specialties include leveraging change in organizations, leading strategic planning processes, facilitating retreats and introducing people to spiritual practices. She is married to Jeff Petrillo and is the mother to two teenage daughters, Hannah Joy and Sarah Rose.
 

Dr. Jim Ozier is the Director of New Church Development and Congregational Transformation for the North Texas Conference. He began his work for the NTC in November 2007, focusing on the area of new church development. Congregational transformation was added to his responsibilities in 2009.

Jim is an established motivational speaker and presenter for religious groups, civic organizations, and corporations. Jim’s wife, Suzanne, is a retired special education teacher. Together they have four grown children. Jim is an outdoorsman who enjoys fishing, hunting, and wildlife management.

Barbara has recently begun work as an associate with Path 1 of the General Board of Discipleship of The United Methodist Church. In that capacity she works with annual conferences to help design processes for effectively planting new churches.