CRU CHURCH MOVEMENTS STAFF
NATIONAL LEADERSHIP TEAM
DAVID M. ROBINSON
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Dave is the Executive Director of Church Movements (Cru). He is ordained with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) and serves as a Teaching Elder at New Life CityChurch in Kansas City, MO (newlifecity.church). His passion is to collaborate with leaders to advance the mission of Jesus by making disciples and multiplying churches. He is a mobilizer, teaching pastor and communicator.
Dave is the former Area Campus Director for Eastern Europe and Russia for Campus Crusade for Christ International. He served in that part of the world from 1989-2007 with Campus Crusade in various roles: National Director for Hungary and Yugoslavia, Regional Director of EE/Balkans, and as a church-planting partner with the Evangelical Free Church in Budapest, Hungary. He is the Co-Founder of “Youth at the Threshold of Life” (YTL) – an educational movement that began in Hungary and went to 62 nations. YTL helps spread the gospel and multiply the church through community engagement.
Dave has co-authored two books – The Outrageous Promise – a story of God’s love for those who suffered under communism and how leaders collaborate to make a difference and Youth at the Threshold of Life (Timoteus Tarsasag and Corvinus Press, Hungary).
He earned his pastoral ordination with the EPC (MDIV required) with the ministerial guidance with the Mid-America Presbytery and after theological studies at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, the International School of Theology and the Institute of Biblical and Theological Studies (Budapest, HU). He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Oklahoma
GÁBOR GRÉSZ
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Gabor grew up in the communist Hungary, not hearing and knowing anything about Jesus. He became a believer at age 13.
Gabor was one of the first student who got involved in the underground ministry of Cru during communism in 1983/84. Later after getting married in 1991 he and his wife, Edina joined Cru and served in various ministry responsibilities.
Gabor is the co-founder and co-author of the Bible-based educational program called “Youth at the Threshold of Life” (YTL). YTL is used in 62 countries where thousands of educators had been trained and had been exposed to the gospel through YTL symposiums. Gabor also is the co-author with Dave Robinson “The Outrageous Promise”book.
Gabor served as the National Director for Cru Hungary between 2004-2017. Currently he has moved with his family to Kansas City to serve on Cru City team to help develop new evangelistic strategies and expand YTL globally influencing the education domain of the society.
Gabor received a ThM degree from the Karoli Gaspar University of Budapest and is an ordained presbyterian minister. Gabor also the co-founder and church planter of Rosegarden Baptist Church of Budapest.
Gabor and Edina are the parents of 3 children, Rahel, Renato and Gergo.
JOSEPH BUTLIG
REGIONAL FIELD DIRECTOR
Joseph was born in the Philippines and moved to the United States at 8 years of age. He grew up in Bakersfield, CA and the continued on to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo where he earned a degree in Electrical Engineering. While in college, Joseph began a personal relationship with Jesus. Upon graduation, he worked some time in the engineering field and led the college ministry at his church before the Lord led him to full time ministry with Cru.
Joseph met his wife, Michelle, in the summer of 1998 during new staff training for Cru in Orlando, Florida. They were married soon after and now have 4 children, Luke, Daniel, Jessica and Aleeya. They adopted Aleeya, from India, in April 2016.
After serving in the Campus Ministry of Cru for 17 years, they decided to reach beyond campus and into the communities of Los Angeles County. Their hearts were burdened to see communities in Los Angeles reached with the love of Jesus through: planting multiplying church planting movements, starting foster care and adoptive ministries with churches, and helping to fight sex trafficking. They have been on staff with Cru for 20 years and live in Glendora, Ca.
BONNIE DAVIS
DIRECTOR OF STAFF DEVELOPMENT
Bonnie has been on staff with Cru since 1984. She and her husband Neale, were involved in evangelism and discipleship with students on the campuses of Auburn University and Appalachian State. Since then, most of her leadership experience has been serving staff both nationally and on the regional level in the areas of Human Resources and Leadership Development with both the Campus Ministry and City Ministry of Cru. She is excited to leverage her past experiences and her heart for developing leaders in her current role as the Director for Staff Development with Church Movements.
AMY KARST
DIRECTOR OF EVANGELISM
Amy Karst is a Partnering Church Catalyst and serves on the National Leadership Team with Cru Church Movements. She served with the Cru Campus Ministry in Debrecen, Hungary, and St Louis, MO, for 21 years. Her passion is to see gospel-transformation in global cities. She is excited about awakening and mobilizing believers to their calling as everyday missionaries.
Amy gave her life to Christ as a freshman at Kansas State University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, Phi Beta Kappa: double major in English and Economics. She has always had more interests than time, enjoys processing information so that everyone is better equipped and inspired, and is constantly problem solving into the future to help the team make better decisions.
From time to time she is an author, poet, and avid consumer of all things wise & whimsical. She and her husband, Doug, have launched 4 young adults into the world to reflect the heart of Jesus where they live, work, learn, and play.
LAURA BURTON
CHIEF OF STAFF
Laura’s life was changed forever when she went to the University of Oklahoma in the fall of 1996. Her freshman year, she was introduced to Jesus by a sorority sister through the ministry of Cru and became captivated by Jesus’ love and mission.
Although she was in hot pursuit of medical school, her call to ministry came specifically one day when she was challenged, “Do not give your life to a job that anyone else can do, but you…do what only you can do!” She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology and then began her career with Cru in Samara, Russia. She returned to the US, got married to Chris and the two of them joined the Campus ministry in Oklahoma for the next 10 years.
Laura stepped away from full-time staff to focus on their growing family and pursue a seminary degree. She rejoined Cru staff in January 2018 and served with FamilyLife to pioneer a local field strategy that reflected the win-build-send DNA of Cru. In 2020, she graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary with a Masters degree in Christian Leadership and shortly after became the Chief of Staff for Cru Church Movements.
She and Chris live in Edmond, Oklahoma, have three daughters, and are trying to keep the main thing the main thing! Together they are passionate about Jesus, people and changing the world!
SCOTT NEEL
MISSION CAPACITY DIRECTOR
Scott first got involved with Cru as a student at Western Kentucky University. After joining staff in 1983 he was part of the Campus Ministry in the Midwest for 10 years. His involvement on summer projects to Eastern Europe as a campus staff member was instrumental in Scott developing a heart for the former Eastern-bloc countries. And in 1993 he moved overseas with his family to Budapest, Hungary. He was part of the Hungarian ministry for several years, serving in administrative roles on the National Director’s strategic resource team. And then transitioned over to the Eastern Europe/Russia Area office in Budapest where he served on the Area SLM team. After 28 years in Budapest, Scott and his wife, Patti, transitioned back to the States. They moved to Kansas City in 2020 to join the Church Movements team there. Scott is serving as the Mission Capacity Director for CM. Scott and Patti have three children, Hannah, Andrew and Jack.
MATTHEW KAY
PARTNERING CHURCH CATALYST
Matt Kay had a life-changing encounter with Jesus when he was 18 years old that fueled a passion for others to know Him and to live generative lives in Christ-centered communities.
Matt partners with local churches in the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania to reach people with the Good News of Jesus, strengthen disciple-making ministries, and develop missional leaders. In 2004 he earned his degree in Biblical Studies at Cairn University where he met his wife, Erin. He served for seven years in youth and pastoral ministry at a local church in New Jersey before they joined Cru staff in 2012.
Matt and Erin previously served in Cru’s campus ministry at Lehigh University and with Cru Embark in New York City before joining Church Movements in August of 2020. He enjoys eating good food, reading good books, and playing guitar. Matt and Erin live in Emmaus, PA and have the joy of parenting three amazing children: Caleb, Chloe, and Levi.
LEE RUPPEL
RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR
ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS
MARVIN DANIELS
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
The Hope Center, KC
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Marvin Daniels is married to Angie Daniels in which they have five adult children. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Marvin has served in Ministry for 34 years in a variety of roles in the cities of New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Branson, and now Kansas City.
Marvin serves as the Executive Director at The Hope Center KC, a community and youth development organization and the Associate Pastor of Mosaic Bible Fellowship. Mosaic Bible Fellowship is a diverse congregation of people ethnically and socio-economically.
The Hope Center serves over 200 families and youth on the Eastside of Kanas City’s urban core. The ministry contains a Medical Clinic; Charter School; Afterschool programs; Children and Youth Programs in Leadership and Character Development; Men’s Support Group; Community Outreach Programs; and Parents as Partners program. In the near future, The Hope Center will build an Affordable Housing community called Hope Village and convert a 100-year-old church into a Family Community Center. Marvin’s life verse is “Watch your life and doctrine closely, persevere in them, in doing so you will save both yourself and your hearers.” -1 Timothy 4:16
Marvin believes that Kingdom size dreams require Kingdom partnerships, and Kingdom minded people who will collaborate for the glory of God and community transformation.
RICK HALL
STRATEGIC CONSULTANT
Former VP, Corporate Strategy
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Rick is a strategic advisor and leadership coach for church and non-profit organizations. After retiring from a successful career as a strategic planning and business development executive for a global company, Rick transitioned into coaching to invest his experience in supporting ministries and their leaders. Specifically, he assists pastors, church staff, and ministry leaders in leadership coaching and team effectiveness and in developing strategic plans for their organization’s future success. His goal is to help these leaders effectively translate vision into life-changing, positive action for the well-being of the communities they serve.
In addition to his 34 years of business experience, Rick has served in local churches as an ordained deacon and elder, mentor, and lay leader on committees for stewardship, personnel, pastoral search, and long-range planning. He has also been active in small group formation and leadership, teaching, community outreach, evangelism, and missions.
Rick has received master’s degrees from Columbia University and Dallas Theological Seminary.
REBECCA WALLS
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Unite DFW
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Rebecca is the Founding Executive Director of Unite which was born out of her passion for Church unity with a purpose. Unite’s mission is to inform, connect, and equip Christian leaders to care for their people and community, and now serves over 600 diverse local churches. Rebecca’s 10+ years in business, 6 years in local church missions, and a seat on the Unite! Atlanta Leadership Team gave her an understanding of church dynamics and a passion to see the Church work with others with the same vision for the city. She has had extensive informal training in collaboration and city transformation and is currently getting a Masters and Doctorate at Bakke Graduate University. Locally, she has served on many citywide coalitions and is the go-to for engaging the collective Church in DFW in citywide efforts. Until recently, she also served on the board of GoodCities and a global organization fighting human trafficking in Eastern Europe. Along with her husband of 29 years (Ryan) and two grown sons (Brandon & Jonathan), their main personal ministry outlet over the last 9 years has been international students studying at UT Dallas.
MICHAEL L. JONES
LEAD PASTOR
Harvest Community Church
Birmingham, AL
Rev. Michael L. Jones (Pastor Mike) is a graduate of Morehouse College and Birmingham Theological Seminary (BTS).
He is the pastor of Harvest Community Church in Birmingham, AL, which he and his wife, Kimberly, planted over 25 years ago.
He teaches New Testament at BTS, coaches High School Basketball, and serves as the Character Coach for the Birmingham Southern College Men’s Basketball program. He and his wife, Kimberly, have been married for 36 years and have four adult daughters: Candace, Temperance, Christina and Tiara.
TOM FRITZ
PARTNERING CHURCH CATALYST
Cru Church Movements
Atlanta GA
DR. HENRY TAN
PRESIDENT
International Leadership Consortium
ILC
Mission statement: “Mobilizing and equipping leaders for transformational impact in their communities and beyond to help fulfill the Great Commission.”
Henry is married to Wilma and blessed with three grown children with nine grandchildren. Henry was born and raised in Malaysia while Wilma was born and raised in the Philippines.
A former National Director of Philippine Campus Crusade for Christ, President of the International School of Theology-Asia, Manila and Director of Cities + Beyond worldwide, Henry brings over 40 years of experience in executive leadership to the position of President of the International Leadership Consortium (ILC) – a group of seminaries and universities, started by and/or influenced by Campus Crusade for Christ International, located in Africa, Philippines, Singapore, Jordan, Latin America and the Caribbean with the expressed purpose of developing “Leaders for Transformational Impact” in the different segments of society.
Amazingly amid a global pandemic the Lord continues to create an interest amongst national leaders from Asia to Africa for the development of leaders through the theological educational track.
The need for equipped pastoral and lay leaders is ever increasing. Planting multiplying churches and desirous of home-grown pastors the need of churches is the training of their pastors in their context. We bring the school to them via Competency Based Theological Education (CBTE ) instead of just having the students come to us. We help them acquire proficiency in competencies integrating content (head), character (heart), and craft (hands) resulting in greater effectiveness in their vocational context.
Education:
Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Master of Business Administration, Asian Institute of Management, Makati, Philippines
Master of Divinity, International School of Theology, San Bernardino, CA, USA
Doctor of Education, University of San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA
DANIEL YANG
DIRECTOR
The Send Institute
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Daniel is the Director of the Send Institute, leading and overseeing all of its initiatives. Prior to directing the institute, he planted a church in Toronto where he also helped recruit, assess, and train church planters through the Send Network and the Release Initiative. Daniel has served on various church staffs including Northwood Church, led by Bob Roberts Jr., where he was trained as a church planter and involved in global and multi-faith engagement. Prior to church planting, Daniel was an engineer for eight years. He earned an M.Div. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Michigan, and is currently a Ph.D. Intercultural Studies student at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is also the co-author of Inalienable: How Marginalized Kingdom Voices Can Help Save the American Church (InterVarsity, May 2022).