ConnectNC

Michael Lukaszewski >> Oak Leaf Church >> blog >> twitter

Michael grew up in Jacksonville, Florida and was a Youth Pastor for 12 years, before moving to Cartersville and starting Oak Leaf Church in 2006. Oak Leaf has seen tremendous growth in their short existence - now avg. over 1,000 people in weekend attendance.  Oak Leaf will open their second campus in Canton, Ga this fall.  Michael and Oak Leaf Church have a passion for church planters.  They provide training and resources for church planters all over the country.  

Michael is married to Jennie and they have three children, Lauren, Emma and Matthew.

Jeff Kapusta >> LifePoint Church >> blog >> twitter

Pastor Jeff Kapusta (Ka-poo-sta) is the founding and lead pastor of Lifepoint Church.

Jeff attended Liberty University and graduated in 1998. He then spent 8 years as a youth pastor before God began laying on his heart the desire to plant a new church. On February 5, 2006 he answered that call and founded Lifepoint in Wilmington, NC.

Pastor Jeff and his wife, Michelle, have three amazing kids Riley (9), Kenly (7), and Emery (5) as well as a 3 lb dog named "Brutus". Pastor Jeff loves surfing, coffee, anything Mac, and exists to love God, love others, and serve the world.

Matt Fry >> C3 Church >> blog >> twitter

Matt Fry is the Lead Pastor at C3 Church in Clayton and Raleigh, NC. After 13 years in student ministry, God called Matt and his wife Martha to start a new church that would connect with where people are living today. Their passion is to provide "real hope for real people in a real world."

Matt and his family live in Clayton, NC.

Jonathan Robbins >> The Summit Church >> twitter

Jonathan lives in Winston Salem, NC with his wife Donna of over 15 years and 2 daughters: Morgan (14) & Maggie (10). A graduate of Liberty University, Jonathan has been serving in a pastoral role in local churches for over 16 years. He planted a church in Charlotte, NC in '99 and took over a struggling church plant in the Triad (The Summit Church) in '04.

The Summit is a church plant of 10 years, and in the last 6 years, has grown from 250 to over 2,500 (now in 4 weekend services). They are now beginning to explore satellite campus options and planting more new churches in the Triad.

Benji Kelley >> New Hope Church >> blog >> twitter

Benji is founding and Lead Pastor of New Hope Church located in Durham, NC. New Hope Church launched in January of 2002 in Chapel Hill, NC.  In 2009, New Hope moved in their first facility in Durham, NC. Since opening the doors to their new facility, New Hope has experienced a 97% increase in weekend attendance. 

Benji, his wife Amy Lynn, and their five children live in Chapel Hill, NC.

Tadd Grandstaff >> Pine Ridge Church >> blog >> twitter

Tadd Grandstaff is the founding and Lead Pastor of Pine Ridge Church in Haw River, NC. In the less than 3 years of existence, the church averages nearly 500 people over 2 weekend services and has seen over 275 people make decisions for Christ.  

In 2009, Tadd began networking together church planters and pastors from the Triangle and Triad areas with a vision of bringing them together to grow, share, learn, and connect.  They began meeting monthly over lunch throughout 2009 at Pine Ridge Church.  In 2010, after praying about the future direction of the network, Tadd founded ConnectNC with a more intentional focus of networking together church planters and pastors all over the Triangle and Triad areas.

Tadd, his wife Becki, their son Brogan, and daughter Maisy live in Graham, NC.

Joseph Sangl >> "I Was Broke. Now I'm Not" >> twitter

Joseph is the founder of The Financial Learning Experience, and author of "I Was Broke Now I'm Not", "What Everyone Should Know About Money Before They Enter The Real World", & a book being released soon that he co-wrote with Casey Graham. Joe often says that he is on a crusade to help people accomplish far more than they ever thought possible with their personal finances!

Joe is a husband and father. He and his family live in Anderson, SC.

Casey Graham >> The Change Group >> blog >> twitter

Casey has a passion to focus on your finances, so you can focus on your church. Case is co-founder of The Change Group. He also has a book that is about to released that he co-wrote with Joseph Sangl.

Casey is also a husband and a father.

Ben Arment >> The Whiteboard Sessions >> Story Conference >> blog >> twitter

Ben has a desire to help people launch great things. He is the founder of Dream Year, The Whiteboard Sessions, and STORY in Chicago. He also wrote a book called Church in the Making.

Ben, his wife Ainsley, their 3 sons, Wyatt, Dylan & Cody live in Virginia Beach, VA.