Jonathan Scarpuzzi is a Certified Church Consultant (CCC) who specializes in church revitalization. He has a deep desire for churches to experience new growth through integrated local mission and intentional community ministry.

Jonathan grew up in a multi-cultural church in the Chicagoland area and pursued his call to ministry by completing his Bachelor’s degree in Biblical Studies at Moody Bible Institute- Spokane, and has since completed his M.div in Next Gen evangelism and leadership, and M.A. in ecclesiology which includes his published thesis on New Monasticism and James McClendon’s ‘baptist vision,’ at Acadia Divinity College. Jonathan is currently pursuing his PhD with the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Amsterdam in the field of contextual ecclesiology with a practical theology emphasis.

He has pastored in several diverse and multi-cultural contexts in Washington, MIssouri, Ontario, and more recently, Nova Scotia. He has experience in youth ministry, young adult ministry, home church development, church planting and re-planting, leadership training, and strategic visioning which has helped many transitioning churches take steps toward intentionally integrating local mission into their church’s DNA. He is the creator and director of “Abide Community” which is a virtual platform designed to engage young adults who are curious about faith and looking to grow deeper in community with others who are committed to incarnational discipleship. Reaching the unchurched outside of the church walls with the love of Jesus, is the underlying motivation for Jonathan’s ministry.

Jonathan is passionate about “outside the box” ministry and coming alongside churches that find themselves at a place of transition and desire to take steps to further engage the next generations and unchurched through visioning, developing media presence, re-planting, or restructuring.

Jonathan is often sought after for public speaking events, pulpit fillings, conferences, and church consultations across North America.

(When requesting bookings, please give at least 2 months advance notice so that we can make the best attempt to accommodate. Thank you!)

Stuart Blythe is currently serving at Acadia Divinity College as the John Gladstone Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship, the Director of Doctoral Studies, the Director of Simpson Lectures, and the Dean of The Sarah Daley Nickerson Chapel. His passion for church revitalization drives his ministry involvement in hopes of seeing churches establish strong vision, leadership, and transformational biblical preaching that invites congregations to walk closer with Jesus.

Stuart brings a wealth of experience in pastoral ministry. He served two churches in Glasgow: Lead Minister of Springburn Baptist Church, Youth Minister of Kirkintilloch Baptist Church, and Team Leader/Senior Minister of Kirkintilloch Baptist Church. He pioneered various ministries locally during this time.

Stuart transitioned into a full-time position with the Scottish Baptist College as a Lecturer and three years later, as Senior Lecturer, and became the Acting Principal in 2013-2014. During this time, he was a Visiting Lecturer for the International Christian College for Youth Ministry Methods and an External Examiner for Trinity College with Bristol Baptist College and Northern Baptist Learning Community. He became a Fellow of the Academy of Higher Education in the UK in 2011. In 2014, Stuart has held the position of Rector of the International Baptist Theological Study Centre Amsterdam and has been a member of the Faculty of Theology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Stuart has always had an interest in preaching, worship, and homiletics which is reflected in his two dissertations – for his Master of Theology at Spurgeon’s College/University of Wales, “The Place and Function of Preaching in the Church’s Mission” and his PhD in Homiletics at the University of Edinburgh “Open Air Preaching as Radical Street Performance.”

In addition to these academic achievements, Stuart has earned a Post Graduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, and a Master of Education in Enhanced Educational Practice. His earlier education included Master of Arts (Hons) Modern and Medieval History in Religious Studies at Scottish Baptist College, and Bachelor of Divinity at the Baptist Theological Seminary.

During his teaching years at the Scottish Baptist College, Stuart was involved in numerous committees with the Baptist Union of Scotland. He is currently the Editor for two journal publications: Journal of European Baptist Studies and Baptistic Theologies, and, since 2014, the Chair of the organising committee for the Confederation of European Baptist Schools. He continues to be a sought after speaker in several countries across Europe and in North America.

Joel Okyere is currently the Senior Pastor at Westmount Baptist Church which is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural congregation located in the downtown core of Montréal Québec. He is also responsible of overseeing several additional ministry staff members as well as the overall vision and direction of the congregation.

Joel was born and raised in Accra-Ghana, West Africa and has a strong IT background with a Bachelor’s of Science degree from the University of Mines and Technology in Computer Science and Engineering. Joel also holds a M.div from Acadia Divinity College with an emphasis in theological studies.

Joel has held various ministry positions in the Maritimes including Senior Pastor and Youth & Young Adult Ministry Assistant. Joel also began an outreach ministry to international university students during his time at Acadia. Joel is gifted in many areas and has experience in leadership development, building international communities of faith, and improving cultural intelligence within organizations of faith.

Joel is available for consultations that involve churches that desire to increase their cultural and ethnic diversity through missional outreach and congregations that need to become more aware of cultural dynamics in their community.

Our Secret Guest is someone who has never attended your church before. They may even be someone who does not have any previous church experience.

During the consultation process, the Secret Guest will be given only the name of your church, so they will do some research on your church before showing up. Then they will show up on a given Sunday, and as a first time attender, they will experience your worship service and provide feedback on key aspects of welcoming, such as service experience, preaching, Sunday school, signage, and several other important areas.

The Secret Guest will submit an extensive written report to our team for analysis which will be included in the final report.

Many churches have found this element of our consulting process to be extremely beneficial as it helps congregations “look in the mirror” and realize how their “normal” is perceived by a newcomer.