Brian Aulick

Lead Pastor

Brian is Engedi’s lead pastor and teacher. Before he came to Engedi, Brian was the pastor of young adults at Central Wesleyan Church for five years. He received his Bachelor of Science in business from Indiana University in 1997 and his Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in 2000. He and his wife, Christina, have two sons, Jared and Evan, and a daughter, Kaylyn.

Brian loves reading, coffee shops, various styles of music and practical jokes. He claims to be able to hold his breath for almost three minutes, which may explain a few things.

Get in touch with Brian.
Find him on Facebook.

Christina Aulick

Interim Director of Missional Life

Christina is Engedi’s interim director of missional life. With a deep passion for missions, she provides leadership for Engedi’s international and local community development partnerships. She graduated with a business degree from Indiana University and has over eight years of experience in marketing, communications, and project management.

Christina is married to Brian who is both her high school sweetheart and Engedi’s lead pastor. They have two sons, Jared and Evan, and a daughter, Kaylyn. In her free time, Christina enjoys spending time with friends, volunteering at her children’s schools, and continuing her pursuit of the ultimate chocolate chip cookie.

Get in touch with Christina.

Josh Blom

Executive Pastor
Director | Worship

Josh is Engedi’s executive pastor and director of worship. He coordinates the worship and tech teams for Sunday worship gatherings, where he can usually be found onstage behind guitar, keys or squeezebox. After receiving a degree in religion from Hope College, Josh served as the worship director and youth pastor for a church in New Jersey.

He and his wife Erika enjoy playing music together, drinking coffee and hanging out outdoors with their son, Parker. Josh loves playing board games, yard games and pretty much anything competitive. Foosball, anyone?

Get in touch with Josh.
Find him on Facebook.

Bill Bredemeier

Director | Administration

Bill is Engedi’s director of administration, but everyone knows him as The Budget Curmudgeon. Before being called to Engedi as a full-time volunteer, Bill owned two businesses (one in Zeeland, Michigan, and the other in Chicago) and specialized in sales, marketing, financial bookkeeping and general management. With a Bachelor of Science in economics from Denison University and a Master of Business Administration from Northwestern University Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Bill is excited to bring his business experience and expertise to Engedi.

Bill has been married to Barbara since 1974, and has two sons, two daughters-in-law and twin grandchildren, Kate and Lucy. Bill is a proud granddaddy!

Get in touch with Bill.

Mary Dykstra

Administrative Assistant

Mary is Engedi’s administrative assistant. She is married to her high school sweetheart, Doug, and is a mom to three amazing children. In the last few years her family has added both a beautiful daughter-in-law and a wonderful son-in-law. Mary has held various volunteer ministry positions as well as staff positions, but her passion is discipleship. She is excited and honored to serve at Engedi.

She loves to read and run, and loves Michigan summers!

Get in touch with Mary.
Find her on Facebook.

Jeff Konfara

Young Adults Coordinator

Jeff is Engedi’s coordinator of young adult ministries. He is fascinated by the major decisions many young adults make between the ages of 18 and 29, and feels privileged to have influential conversations with college students as well as post-college young adults. Jeff graduated from Hope College with a bachelor’s degree in business management and from Grand Rapids Theological Seminary with a master’s degree in counseling. He is currently pursuing his PhD in Counselor Education at Western Michigan University, and hopes to someday teach at the college level.

Jeff is married to Lindsey, and has four boys: Gabriel and Elijah and the twins Andrew and Isaac. In his free time Jeff enjoys playing tennis, watching NFL football and eating Qdoba burritos!

Get in touch with Jeff.
Find him on Facebook.

Lindsey Konfara

Coordinator | Kid’s Hope

Lindsey is Engedi’s Kids Hope coordinator. She strongly believes in the positive impact mentoring can have on a child’s life. While studying communications at Hope College, she never thought she would marry her good friend, Jeff, but God had other plans. They married two years later, and now Lindsey enjoys being a mom to their four sons: Gabriel and Elijah and the twins Andrew and Isaac.

Lindsey loves living close to Lake Michigan and enjoys reading, journaling, baking and the sense of satisfaction after a good workout or a thorough vacuuming. (Her four sisters claim she is a bit of a neat freak.)

Get in touch with Lindsey.
Find her on Facebook.

Anna Matthews

Coordinator | e/kids

Anna is Engedi’s e/kids elementary coordinator. She provides leadership to the elementary ministry, which includes working with volunteers and coordinating what takes place in each classroom on Sunday mornings so that the kids in e/kids have a great experience! Anna loves being silly, which can be a blessing and a curse, especially to her two teenagers, Tristan and Mary. But it really works for the e/kids ministry! She has 11 years of children’s ministry experience too.

In her spare time Anna loves to read lots of books and hike on trails in woods. She also enjoys camping with her husband, Howard. One of her favorite things while camping is bird-watching.
Get in touch with Anna.

Johnny McKenna

Director | Students

Johnny is Engedi’s director of students, where he oversees middle school and high school ministries. He graduated from Cornerstone University with a bachelor’s degree in Bible and youth ministry. He has a passion for helping students take the next step in their faith and deepen their relationship with Christ.

He also has an affinity for graphic design, a slight obsession with fonts, and hair that you won’t find anywhere else in Holland. Johnny is married to his wonderful wife Amanda, who has a passion for student ministry as well. They both enjoy music, dancing, Lemonjello’s coffee and snowboarding in the winter.

Get in touch with Johnny.
Find him on Facebook.
Follow him on Twitter.

Dan Mogck

Facilities Manager

Dan is Engedi’s facilities manager, which means he works hard making sure everything is clean and in working order.

Get in touch with Dan.

Jason Ruggles

Director | Communications

Jason is Engedi’s director of communications. He makes sure people know what’s going on and tries to keep communications looking awesome. Jason has been doing visual arts for eight years in both business and church settings. Before moving to Holland, he spent a year using these gifts to further God’s work in Bangkok, Thailand, and throughout southeast Asia with his wife, April. They have two awesome kids, Gwen and Ian.

Jason loves cooking, graphic design and sci-fi books. But he’s mostly interested in playing with his kids nowadays.

Get in touch with Jason.
Find him on Facebook.

Jenni Sandstedt

Director | e/kids

Jenni is Engedi’s e/kids director. She oversees the children’s ministries for nursery through 5th grade. Jenni has 14 years of experience in child development that began at Lake Superior State University, where she majored in early childhood education. She and her husband Nate have four sons—Jakob, Logan, Brayden and Grant—and a daughter, Ella Ruth.

In her spare time Jenni enjoys reading, shopping and connecting with friends. One of her biggest talents as a mother of five is actually finding spare time.

Get in touch with Jenni.
Find her on Facebook.

Terra Leep

Missional Resident | Zambia

Terra Leep is Engedi’s Missional Resident in Choma, Zambia. ­­She has been working with Choma Central Pilgrim Wesleyan Church since September 2010. While in Zambia, Terra works to help community projects become self-sustainable. She works with the Zambian Board of Directors, spends time building relationships in Choma, and does her best to blend in.

Terra grew up in West Michigan. She has a BBA in business management from Davenport University, which didn’t exactly prepare her for practical life skills like carrying things on top of her head. She can manage plates well enough, but is still working on the bucket of water.

Read more about Terra.

Erika Harlow

Missional Resident | Ethiopia

Erika recently graduated from Houghton College with a degree in Intercultural Studies and Linguistics. She lives in Ethiopia working with SIL International, a partner organization of Wycliffe Bible Translators, where she’s studying and analyzing the speech sounds of the Bussa language, a language spoken by about 20,000 people. This language does not have a written form, and Erika’s research is the earliest stage in translating the Bible into the Bussa language.

Erika’s pastimes include eating ice cream, playing the pipe organ, and enjoying Lake Michigan. While it may be hard to find ice cream and organs in Ethiopia, she’s eager to continue her hobby of birdwatching on a different continent.

Erika will send out emails periodically about her time in Ethiopia. Sign up for Erika’s updates.

Emily Wortley

Missional Resident | Guatemala

Having grown up in Haslett, Michigan, Emily will graduate from Hope College in May 2012 with a special education: learning disabilities major. She’s now our missional resident In Chichicastenango, Guatemala. There, Emily is working with Manos de Jesus (Pray America) to implement a new educational component to its ministry.

As a coffee snob who loves frequenting local coffee shops with friends, she can already taste the rich, full flavored coffee fresh from the Guatemalan coffee fields. In her free time, Emily enjoys painting, drawing, and driving with the music turned way up to drown out her singing.

Read more about Emily’s journey in her own words.

Ryan Tussey

Intern | Missional Life

Ryan is an intern at Engedi, where he helps with missional life. A Hope College graduate, Ryan majored in psychology and minored in youth ministry. After completing college at Hope, he went on to pursue his MDiv at Gordon Conwell in Boston. He is from Fort Wayne, Indiana.

He’s a lefty and loves watching football. Ryan and Brian Aulick have first names that rhyme, grew up across the street from each other and graduated from the same high school.