MINISTRY TEAMS

The fundamental organizational unit is the “Ministry Team.” Every MBBC member is assigned to a ministry team.

Ministry teams provide close interpersonal relationships for every member of MBBC.  Each ministry team is comprised of a few church members and a ministry team leader.  The ministry team leader and assistants are competent Bible teachers, friends, and willing counselors and listeners. It is their job to orient you into programs of the church.  They will help you establish a program to satisfy your personal needs and spiritual development as well as provide counsel to guide you in deciding how best to serve in the church.  Along with the pastor and other staff members, the ministry team leaders will give of their lives and time to help you.

MEET THE WOMEN'S MINISTRY TEAM LEADERS

Alicia Deavens

Alicia Deavens is a Children’s Church Teacher and Ministry Team Leader. She joined MBBC in October 1994. She found the saving grace of Jesus Christ while in college. After college, she traveled and worked as a computer programmer which eventually brought her to Northwest Arkansas. It is here that she met her friend and husband, Lonnie Deavens, who was already a member of MBBC. Lonnie and Alicia are parents to Chloe and Krysten and godparents to RJ McGathy.

Currently, she is the International Student Advisor and a teacher at Fayetteville Christian School. She also shares some of her time working with international students at the University of Arkansas. She enjoys learning about other cultures from the students and organizations she is involved with on both campuses.

Some of her hobbies include eschatology, technology, traveling, trying new and interesting foods, learning about other cultures and spending time with her extended family.

Catherine Orsburne

Catherine Orsburne has been a member of MBBC for 25 years. She spent her first 15 years helping in the library and teaching in the elementary level at Fayetteville Christian. She came to know Jesus as her Saviour in 1986, and He continues to be the anchor of her life!

Born and raised in Rochester, Minnesota, she didn’t marry her husband Troy until moving to Arkansas 25 years ago. They have six daughters. Three of them are married, one is in college, and two of them were adopted from Vietnam.

Catherine feels that children have been the biggest ministry and calling on her life, but she is enjoying very much working with the adult ladies in the Ministry Team setting!

Catherine’s favorite past times include travel, especially oceanside relaxation, Bible study, piano, and flower arranging.

Kelly Fagan

Born in Branson, Missouri, Kelley was eighteen when she married her high school sweetheart, Dennis, in 1981. They moved to Mountainburg, Arkansas, to manage the Mt. Gayler Tower Gift Shop, which her father-in- law owned. Thirty-six years later they have a very strong marriage in many ways. In 1995 their marriage was made even stronger when Kelley gave her life over to Jesus Christ, at the age of thirty-two, with three young children. After Dennis was saved in 1996, they joined Mission Boulevard Baptist Church; and in 1999 they moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Kelley and Dennis finished raising their children — Ryan, Colleen, and Kevin — while managing the MBBC Campus Center at the University of Arkansas for sixteen years. For all of those sixteen years, Kelley was the High School Administrative Assistant at Fayetteville Christian School, and for eight of those years she assisted in the campus ministry.

Printing Bible studies and managing the Resource Room at MBBC, and leading the women’s group in Reformers Unanimous are just two more ways Kelley has worked side-by-side with Dennis. She is also a faithful member of the MBBC Ensemble, in which she plays the flute. She has participated in the MBBC House of Destiny for several years as well.

Currently, her primary ministry is as a women’s Ministry Team leader, although she’d probably say wife, mother, and grandmother are three things that bring her much joy. But her greatest joy and desire is to shine for Jesus Christ wherever she goes and to honor Him above all.

I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
Psalm 34:1

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Rachel McGathy

Rachel McGathy is grateful to serve the Lord Jesus Christ at Mission Boulevard Baptist Church. She was reared in hardship in central Arkansas, and, although she graduated as valedictorian and National Merit Scholar, she was lost until the Lord sent a couple from MBBC to be her youth directors. They taught her about the Lord, and she was saved and discipled. She placed her life into God’s hands, and He led her to serve at MBBC – the church that had already given her so much. There, she met and wedded her husband of over 20 years, Ron McGathy, who is a deacon in the church. They received the miraculous gift of their son, RJ, over 17 years later.

Rachel graduated from the University of Arkansas with an accounting degree and has worked in the University of Arkansas’ Financial Affairs division since 1998. In addition, she joined the Fayetteville Christian High School staff in 2006, where she has served as guidance counselor, math instructor, and Bible teacher.

Rachel has a heart to reach students and adults spiritually. She and her husband have welcomed six international students into their home. Throughout the last 30 years, Rachel has served as choir member, children’s church teacher, actress in the House of Destiny, DJ at the church’s radio station, youth group assistant, campus ministry member, school staff member, church and missions secretary, and ministry team leader. She has led a small group at MBBC since 1995, and she welcomes women of all ages and backgrounds to share her group’s quirky sense of humor, home Bible studies, fellowship, and steadfast service to the Lord.

If you do not know the Lord as your Savior, Rachel would encourage you to take the Lord’s invitation which He extended in Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

MEET THE MEN'S MINISTRY TEAM LEADERS

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Dennis Fagan

A native of Branson, Missouri, Dennis married his high school sweetheart, Kelley, in the same year that he moved to Mountainburg, Arkansas, in 1981. Together they ran the Mt. Gayler Tower and Gift Shop for Dennis’s father and began their family. While there, they met Rick Saldivar, a preacher from Mission Boulevard Baptist Church. Rick invited them many times to visit MBBC, and finally Dennis and his family attended services in January of 1996. One month later in February, Dennis accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior and joined MBBC.

He and his family moved to Fayetteville in 1999 and lived in and managed the church’s Campus Center at the University of Arkansas. Dennis and Kelley with their three children, Ryan, Colleen, and Kevin, lived there for sixteen years until the church sold the property in 2015. Dennis also assisted in the Campus Ministry for about ten years.

Since 2009, Dennis has been an ordained deacon of MBBC. He is also a Ministry Team leader, a leader in Reformers Unanimous, and a member of the Fayetteville Christian School school board. He and Kelley also manage the Resource Room in the church; they print and bind study materials and stock the Resource Room, making Bible studies available for anyone who needs them. Dennis has also participated in the House of Destiny for several years. Dennis is a very dedicated husband, father, and grandfather.

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Gary McHenry

Gary M. McHenry has been a member of the Mission Boulevard Baptist Church (MBBC) for 34 years. He and his wife, Lepaine Sharp-McHenry, were saved on October 18, 1982, as a result of the gospel outreach efforts of former members Lavenski Smith, Trendle Smith, and Darnesia Carter, and also the ministry of Pastor Brian Disney.

Gary moved to Fayetteville that year to pursue a graduate degree in Computer Science from the University of Arkansas. Upon completion of his degree program in 1985, Gary was employed by the University and continued to work for the U of A in various capacities for many years. In 2009, Gary completed a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) with a focus on workforce education, also from the U of A.

Gary has served as a ministry team leader, a deacon, outreach director, and a member of the choir. He also currently is the chair of the Fayetteville Christian School Board. In previous years, he taught math and computer science in the school. Gary is the Conference Director for the Leadership Training Institute of America (LTIA), a program primarily serving young adults from Independent Baptist Churches around the nation.

Gary and Lepaine have three adult children, Phillip, Aaron, and Lindsey McHenry. They also raised their niece, Ieshia Sharp, in their home.

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Ken Francis

When he was a senior in high school, Ken received Christ as his personal Savior. Since that time his heart has been to know, serve, and share Christ. He has been involved in the ministry of Mission Boulevard Baptist Church since its beginning.

Ken is an Associate Pastor of MBBC, as well as the church’s Educational Director, and the Dean of the Ambassadors Bible Institute. For thirty years he served as the principal of the Fayetteville Christian School, where he also currently teaches.  He leads a group of men in his Ministry Team.  Ken also teaches several Bible studies through the week. Each summer, he teaches in the Leadership Training Institute of America in Washington, D.C.  He has also preached and taught in Mexico, Canada, and Kurdistan.  Ken was discipled and trained under Dr. Brian Disney. He was ordained to the Gospel Ministry by MBBC.  He attended the University of Arkansas, and he holds a Doctorate in Education from the Great Plains Baptist Divinity School.

Ken and Gina have been married since 1974. They have four adult children, seven grandchildren, and one great grandchild.  In addition to enjoying time with his family, singing with the Singing Men of Arkansas, and doing home improvements, Ken loves discussing with anyone the Bible and how it applies to all areas of our lives.

Kerry Mitchell

Kerry L. Mitchell was born in Atkins, Arkansas, in 1958 and moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas, to attend college in 1976. There he met his wife, Sherrie, and they have been happily married for over forty years. They have two children, Tarrel and Sadie, and one grandson, Malachi Rochell.

Kerry has been employed as a Measurement Technician with Black Hills Energy for over 35 years. In 2016, he retired from the Arkansas Air National Guard with the rank of E-9 and 31 years of service.

Kerry received Jesus Christ as his Savior on September 14, 1979, and was baptized a member of Mission Blvd Baptist Church in November of 1979.

 He is currently serving as a Men’s Ministry Team leader and as the Sunday morning Inspiration Hour leader. Kerry is also a member of the Fayetteville Christian School Board. There is no greater call upon his life than to serve the LORD in the context of His church and to be a testimony of the love of Christ in the community.

 Kerry’s favorite Bible verse is 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

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Tom Hardin

Ron Rone and Tom Hardin have joined together to lead one of the Men’s Ministry Teams. They are both members of MBBC with great leadership experience.

Tom Hardin and his wife, Ceil, have raised four children. Tom has served in the campus ministry as assistant director, in the nursing home ministry as lead preacher, and in the Arkansas National Guard as a Chaplain assistant. As a home missionary sent out of MBBC, Tom organized the White River Baptist Church in Pettigrew, Arkansas, and the Bethel Independent Baptist Church in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He also acted as an advisor to the church’s mission in Anniston, Alabama. Tom also pastored the Fellowship Baptist Church in Winslow, Arkansas, for over four years when they were left without a pastor.

Ron accepted Christ as his Savior when he was a young boy attending First Baptist Church of Cave Springs, Arkansas. After thirty-five years of service at MBBC, Ron experienced a massive heart attack and stroke in January 2015. This was a life-altering event for him and his wife, Jane. He miraculously survived and is still progressing in his recovery.

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Ron Rone

MEET THE OTHER MINISTRY TEAM LEADERS

The following ministry teams serve a dual purpose of ministries as well as ministry teams. 

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Pat and Colleen Briney

Pat and Colleen Briney have been a part of the University of Arkansas since they were students and enjoy the college life and environment. If you have questions about life as a student, about career choices, about God and science, about business and leadership, or about God’s plan for your life, feel free to contact them.

Pat surrendered to the ministry in his senior year, completed his B.S. in zoology, then led the Collegiate Discipleship Ministry at the UA and helped other churches start campus ministries as a missionary to academic communities. During the first semester of graduate school in Urban Planning at UCLA, Colleen moved to Arkansas and married Pat.

At the UA, Pat taught Bible studies and started the Creation Science Society on campus and the Creation Insights Ministry while studying microbiology. He earned his Ph.D. in immunology and infectious diseases and has conducted seminars and lessons on God, faith, and science. He also founded the Leadership Training Institute of America (LTIA) for the purpose of training college age students in Biblical worldview apologetics. LTIA is conducted annually in Washington, D.C.

Colleen graduated from the UA with an M.S. in business and has been employed by the UA as an accountant, a chief fiscal officer, and is currently serving as the Vice Provost at the UA. Her door is always open to students wanting help as a student at the UA.

If you are interested in learning the Bible, being a disciple, and thriving in your Christian walk with Christ, contact Pat and Colleen. They would love to hear from you.

Tim & Chula Rogers

Tim and Chula Rogers

Tim and Chula Rogers are blessed to be the co-leaders of the Couples Ministry Team with Eric and Saralin Whittaker. Their passion is getting to know couples and strengthening family relationships in Christ. They were married in 2007, and during their time as members of MBBC, they have had the privilege to serve in a variety of ministries. They have been active in AWANA’s, the Singles Ministry, and the Collegiate Ministry. Tim has led men’s Bible studies, and Chula has taught in Children’s Church. They believe the Bible is the primary source of wisdom in relationships, and as we all seek to exemplify Christ in the way we relate to our families, we will have lasting harmony in the home.

Eric and Saralin Whittaker

Eric and Saralin Whittaker enjoy being co-leaders of the Couples Ministry with Tim and Chula Rogers.  The Whittakers love to encourage and support other Christian couples in their ministries to their own children and family.  Eric and Saralin graduated from John Brown University with a focus on Family Studies.   They were married in 2003 and have two wonderful children.  During their time at MBBC, Eric and Saralin have served in a variety of ministries.  They have served as church camp directors, youth leaders, pre-marriage counselors, and teachers within a variety of ministries.  Eric is a Sunday School teacher and licensed minister, and he previously served as the Fayetteville Christian School principal for six years.  The Bible points to God as the ultimate example of love, and the Whittakers believe that when God’s love is present in our homes, generations will be impacted by the life changing Gospel of Jesus Christ.  

Peter and Carie Kovach

Peter and Carie Kovach lead our high school youth ministry. Kaleb and Christina lead our junior high school ministry. Together, they provide a safe and fun environment for youth to learn about Christ, about friendships, about God’s will for their lives, about morality, and about how to cope with challenges in life.

Kaleb and Christina Kovach

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