Buck, his wife Beth, and their six kids live in Chaska, MN. They are busy with a host of activities and when they have the time, love to watch college football (Go Hogs!).
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469.669.0629
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT
615.616.8166
SR. SEARCH CONSULTANT
813.934.6464
SR. SEARCH CONSULTANT
980.999.3929
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936.297.5150
For the past several years, Mike and his wife Michelle have owned a business and serve in teaching and leading capacity in their local church. Through their involvement in the church’s small group ministry they became great friends with Brian and Jill Coday. Mike and Brian had many conversations about Shepherd Staff and the help that this firm offers. Eventually, they realized it would be a great fit for Mike and he joined the team.
Mike loves to work with wood and ride his motorcycle. Sports are also a passion for him and since his running days have taken a toll on his knees, golf is a great fit now. He loves the outdoors and traveling with his sweetheart. Together he and Michelle have a passion to love people well through business and life.
SR. SEARCH CONSULTANT
319.531.7200
With over 26 years of consulting and recruiting experience in executive search working with churches, Iowa businesses, and manufacturing companies; Sarah brings deep expertise in her ability to connect, ascertain needs, and provide creative solutions. She loves utilizing her gifts of discernment and galvanizing people to help create healthy organizations and authentically connect with people to find their calling.
She loves learning new things and excels at asking meaningful questions to gain deep insight and open up creative dialogue. Sarah has always been a natural consultant and respects spiritual authority, therefore she’s an expert at helping to guide conversations and walking alongside her clients to help discover God’s direction for their ministry careers or church team.
In addition to her recruiting expertise, Sarah is a Strategic Envisioning Certified Guide with The Malphurs Group, helping churches get healthy by making disciples, thinking strategically, and growing leaders.
Sarah first met Shepherd Staff in 2018, when she was an integral part of the search committee for a Lead Pastor search at her home church. Sarah’s experience and her commitment to the integrity of the search enabled her to fill an important liaison role between Shepherd Staff and her church. As this search successfully came to a close, Shepherd Staff began to consider the idea of Sarah joining the team. Through prayer, discernment, and conversation, the timing became clear in June 2020.
Sarah is active in her church participating in prayer groups, women’s ministry, worship team, and community outreach initiatives. Sarah is married to Scott and they have 5 grown children. They also own and operate a pumpkin farm, enjoy fishing, and travel to new destinations.
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205.707.1999
SR. SEARCH CONSULTANT
463.243.1543
Justin has over 15 years experience serving on different ministry teams in various church positions. He has served in both lay and vocational leadership. Justin has experienced many different levels of ministry leadership from church maintenance, to co-leading a church as the primary teaching pastor. Over the past 10 years Justin’s focus in ministry has been Worship and Youth Ministries.
Justin is a musician, an author, and has led a group of adults and students through an 18 month film development process. This process culminated in a Dove approved, nationally distributed full length feature film titled “Two Steps from Hope.” Of which, Justin acted as the Producer, Screenplay Writer, and Editor. Currently, Justin is mentoring other pastors in the area, and assisting area churches in Worship Ministry and Pulpit fill.
Justin’s many experiences give him the ability to relate to different aspects of the ministry, as well as interpret and understand multiple viewpoints of church leadership. He uses his experiences to help create stories that encapsulate the ideas of others and communicate them to the public in creative and passionate ways. Justin enjoys the company of others, and has a heart to use his gifts to create environments where Ministry leaders can thrive.
Justin and his bride, Brittney have three children, and enjoy spending time together doing outdoor activities. Justin and his family currently live in the small town of Berne, Indiana, and enjoy the simplicity of small town living.
SEARCH CONSULTANT
262.267.6550
SEARCH CONSULTANT
864.874.6061
For over 20 years Wes has been involved in church leadership roles in Oklahoma City, Chicago, and Denver. This diversity of experience allows Wes to serve organizations and help them identify the leader that is the right fit for their needs and vision. Wes has been married to his wife, Alexandra for 12 years and together they have 4 children: Wynter, Charlotte, Everleigh, and Forrest. Wes is honored to serve with Shepherd’s Staff and partner with churches to see the Kingdom of God continue to advance.
SR. SEARCH CONSULTANT
515.516.0911
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Charity was born and raised in Santa Barbara, CA. She has served the church in both lay and vocational roles. Charity’s journey serving the local church began in her earliest years as a nursery volunteer at the age of 10. She has since served as a dedicated volunteer in many roles from students to small groups. Over the years, she has had the privilege of wearing various hats in ministry, providing her with a rich tapestry of experiences that shape her understanding of both the joys and complexities of pastoral ministry.
For the past 18 years she has been married to a pastor, a partnership that has uniquely positioned her to witness and engage in a diverse array of ministry situations. This role has not only allowed her to actively participate in ministry transitions but also connect with the incredible staff at the churches they’ve served. They have served at churches on the west coast varying in size from 150 to thousands. She currently invests in pastor’s wives in her community, is the women’s director at her church, and leads a small group in her home on Sunday evenings.
She is deeply passionate about helping individuals discover and utilize their unique gifts, believing that when people align with their God-given abilities, the impact on both their lives and the community becomes profound.
Charity lives in Ventura, CA with her husband and three kids. She loves the beach, traveling and making memories with her family.
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Byron has been in church ministry for over 20 years and brings a vast amount of knowledge and experience to our team. He received his B.A. in Music and Worship Arts from Hope University in Fullerton, CA. Byron then spent some time traveling as a Christian artist and performed with numerous musicians, worship leaders, and groups, such as Paul Baloche, Tommy Walker, Larnelle Harris, Maranatha Music, Promise Keepers, and Gospel Music workshops.
In time, Byron’s love for worship leading and church ministry drew him into full-time pastoral leadership. He has served in numerous churches of differing denominations, sizes, and cultures and has been instrumental in helping churches across the county grow and expand their ministries. He has also coached and mentored many leaders within the sphere of worship, tech and creative arts. This experience has uniquely positioned him with the ability to understand the needs of the local church as well as assist candidates in finding an exceptional ministry fit.
Byron has been married to his beautiful wife Brenda for 21 wonderful years and has two beautifully talented daughters, Anya and Alexis. They currently attend and serve their local church in Akron, Oh.
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Joe began serving in ministry in the early 2000’s after graduating from Ohio Christian University. Over the years, he’s led various ministry roles including Students, Family, Campus Director/Pastor, and Lead Pastor.
Currently, Joe is coming off a year-long transformative journey with Rock House Center based out of Brentwood, TN and has joined their team as well as Shepherd Staff, to help candidates and clients discover their next steps.
What motivates Joe most in his life is helping others experience the fullness of God’s love, his amazing wife Michelle, and his children, Gage and Jozie.
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Wade is a native Texan with 15 years of ministry experience. From working for one of the largest churches in the nation, as well as serving a key role in a re-plant of a church from the ground up, he has experienced all seasons and growth points of churches.
Throughout his time on church staff, Wade has lead Student, Mission and Recreation Ministries, overseen administrative and pastoral staff, headed up multiple staffing initiatives and overseen building projects and contracts. Having been fully immersed in all aspects of the church, partnered with his deep love for the local church, allow him a thorough understanding of how to meet the need of filling leadership positions.
Wade, his wife, Sally and their two children (& two rowdy boxers!) live outside of Houston, where their life is full of sports, camping, road trips, all things Texas A&M and movie nights. Wade serves his local church as a Lay Pastor, student ministry volunteer and adult small group leader.
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John has had the pleasure of serving in vocational ministry for over 20 years. He has founded a ministry, served as a college pastor, served as a youth pastor and worked for multiple churches as their worship leader, worship director or worship pastor.
John loves relationships and understands their importance in effective ministry.
Treating people with dignity and care highlight how he interacts with those around him. He enjoys conversations with people from various theological backgrounds and connecting with people inside and outside of the four walls of the church.
John is excited to meet with churches, find out their unique ministry ‘DNA’ and then connect them with candidates who can best support, create and lead in their church and community. John knows first hand the importance of hiring the right fit for any ministry role and desires to help churches and candidates find the best match for their ministry needs so that both can flourish and as a result the Gospel can be proclaimed effectively, boldly and clearly.
John supports his local church denomination by developing, supporting and encouraging their church’s worship leaders and pastors through a program he developed called the Worship Leader Cohort. He has worked with over 10 churches to help raise up 40 plus worship leaders since 2019. Raising up theologically rich, well trained and effective worship leaders is one of John’s many passions for the church.
John is an avid reader, sports enthusiast, song writer, history buff and most importantly a family man. He has three sons and has been married to his wonderful wife for almost 20 years! They currently reside in the beautiful Texas hill country a little north of San Antonio.
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Jennifer has over 20 years of ministry experience and currently serves as a Family Pastor in West Houston. While she has served mostly in the Children’s and Family Pastor role, she has also had the opportunity to lead in a variety of ministries including Youth Ministry, Women’s Ministry, Disaster Relief and Campus Pastor. Her ministry experience has been at churches ranging from 500-35,000 members in Texas and Oklahoma.
Jennifer and her husband met during seminary and have been married 20 years. They enjoy traveling the world together whenever they have a chance. Scott and Jennifer are raising two teenagers, Sam and Sydney. They lead an adult small group through their church and enjoy opportunities to help other couples through marriage mentoring.
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Thilini brings over two decades of senior leadership experience in ministry, non-profit,
education to the Shepherd Staff team. She offers seasoned expertise to organizations and its
teams through the creative blending and balancing of strategy and solutions, with a Kingdom-
inspired, God-centric emphasis at its core.
With a rich upbringing of faith and diversity, Thilini’s broad range of professional experiences
have significantly influenced organizational architecture, administration, staffing, coaching,
discipleship, and development. Led by a high degree of spiritual discernment, integrity, and
excellence, she is uniquely wired to discover the best fit within the context of competency,
culture, and chemistry. Her local and global exposure alongside positions held in various
denominational and socio-cultural settings have added much value to partnerships and
initiatives she has effectively created, implemented, empowered, and propelled into the future.
She is passionate about collaborating and innovating with leadership teams to help them find
key staff who embody and advance the vision toward transformational Kingdom work.
A published writer with a doctoral degree in progress, Thilini lives Austin, TX, and enjoys coffee,
reading, and traveling the world with her teenage son. She attends Cityview Bible Church, and
is involved with Healed In Mercy ministries, helping women find freedom from abuse, abortion,
and loss, as well as Titus Women ministries, mentoring young women. Thilini is grateful to be a
part of the Shepherd Staff team, and looks forward to stewarding and serving all who God
places across her path.
In addition to the full time staff listed on this page, Shepherd Staff also maintains an active ministry partnership with over 100 Search Affiliates spread out over the entire country. These individuals have a deep knowledge of our process and our approach and are eager to help others learn more about what we do. Affiliates are thoroughly vetted, trained, and equipped to help both candidates and prospective churches make informed decisions about their next steps.
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