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AWF Executive Committee

 

The AWF Executive Committee consists of the President, Treasurer and the five Regional Coordinators. The Quadrennial Convocation elects the President and the Treasurer. The Regional Coordinators are elected by the members in their Region.

Rev. Jura Yanagihara / AWF President

Jura Yanagihara and his wife Mami serve the Christian and Missionary Alliance community in São Paolo, Brazil pursuing their passion for missions and discipleship in an increasingly multi-cultural context.Jura studied engineering at the University of São Paulo (B.Sc. 1984) and Yokohama National University (M.Sc. 1987; Ph.D. 1990), while also studying theology at the Covenant Seminary of Tokyo (B.D. 1989).

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 Academically, Jura has worked as professor and department head at the University of São Paulo, heading up multi-million-dollar international research projects. In ministry, Jura embodies the Alliance’s multicultural, global heart and has embraced this multiculturalism throughout his ministry, uniting international communities in various countries. In 1988, Jura and Mami planted the Salt of Earth Community (CM&A), the first Portuguese speaking church in Japan, and in Brazil Jura has served as the senior pastor in various Japanese Alliance churches. He has also served as seminary president and the national church president of the Brazilian C&MA.

Currently, Jura is engaged in international church planting and vision-casting, uniting and inspiring the global Alliance family to prioritize missions, training men and women to proclaim the Gospel and to fulfill the Great Commission. Jura and Mami have three grown children: Daniel, Priscila (married to Esteban) and Damaris, all of them active in ministry.

Mr. Kenneth E. Baldes / AWF Treasurer

Ken has served as treasurer for The Christian and Missionary Alliance in the United States and vice president for Operations and Finance since October 2005. In this position, he is responsible for Finance, Alliance Benefits, Information Technology and Facilities.

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He also serves on the boards of several C&MA supporting organizations including Nyack College, Shell Point Retirement Community, Town and Country Manor, Alliance Development Fund (ADF), Compassion and Mercy Associates (CAMA), Alliance Benefits and The Orchard Foundation. He has been serving as AWF treasurer since January 2017. Ken received his B.S. in Business Administration from Houghton College in Houghton, New York and an M.B.A. in Finance from Canisius College in Buffalo, New York. Formerly, he was a senior vice president for HSBC Bank USA, N.A. where he had over 19 years’ experience in banking and financial services. He has a broad business knowledge, including audit, financial management, operations, product management, business development, and risk management.

Ken is a member of ClayHouse Alliance Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He has served in various church leadership positions including elder, board member, church treasurer and assistant treasurer, global missions chair, small group leader and men’s Sunday school class teacher. He is married to Christy and they have three children: Tyler (married to Lauren), Kailie (married to Evan), and Jeremy. While he serves in the ministry of administration, his calling is from John 15:16: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last.”

Rev. Bem Frentz /AWF Secretary and Regional Coordinator North-America

Brem and his wife Donna have served for more than 30 years the C&MA in Canada and Southeast Asia. Brem graduated from Canadian Bible College in June 1982 and entered immediately into ministry, serving on staff at Rockyview Alliance Church in Calgary, and after returning to seminary at Canadian Theological Seminary in 1986.

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In 1989, after finishing seminary, Brem and Donna were sent out and served overseas in various regions of Southeast Asia, first to Indonesia on the island of Borneo and Java until 1999, the last five years pastoring Badung International Church. In 2000, they were relocated to Penang, Malaysia serving as the Canadian Regional Developers for the Asian Spice region 1997-2013. Together they have provided leadership and direction to C&MA international workers serving in the Spice region, providing member care, financial oversight and developing strategic initiatives.

Since 2013 Brem & Donna have served the C&MA in Canada from the National Ministry Centre in Toronto as Vice President and Associate Vice President of Global Ministries, directing over 250 International Workers in more than 40 countries and 100 least-reached people groups. They have four children - Terri-Lynn (and Jonathan Stevenson), Jeremy ( and Jana), Brendan & Danae one grand-daughter Jenna Lynn and two grandsons, Owen David and Samuel David. 

Rev. Célestin Koffi / AWF Vice president and Regional Coordinator Africa

Rev. Célestin Koffi has been the regional coordinator of the Alliance World Fellowship since 2012. Over the years, Rev. Koffi has served the Alliance Church in a variety of roles including being National President of the Alliance Church of Côte d’Ivoire for 8 years.

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Rev. Koffi completed his pastoral and theological studies in various institutes and seminaries: the Bible Institute of Yamoussoukro (Côte d’Ivoire), Canadian Theological Seminary of Regina (Canada), Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary of Philadelphia (USA) and Aggai Institute Maui (Mid Pacific, USA).

He entered full time ministry in 1978 with Campus for Christ International of Côte d’Ivoire and 6 years later accepted the role as Senior Pastor of the Alliance Church Bouaké-Air France (84-87). Since then, he has served, taught and led in Alliance Institutes in Yakro and Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire while continuing his ministry and leadership with Campus for Christ. Koffi Célestin has been married to Geneviève since 1977. They have three children and three grandchildren.

Rev. David Armando Muthre Ruiz / Regional Coordinator Latin America

David married to Isabel Freire Espinoza, with whom have three. Together with his family, David has served the Lord at the Central Alliance Evangelical Church in Milagro, Ecuador since May 19, 1991. In July 2011, David received his Doctor Honoris Causa in Sciences of Religion from the Autonomous University of Quito, and in June 2013 he completed his degree in Theology and Religious Sciences with a concentration in Pastoral Psychology and Family Counseling.

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David is the Senior Pastor of Central Alliance Evangelical Church and this church now has 3 daughter churches, 15 Congregations in 15 communities, and a ministerial team of 22 full-time staff. It is a church that emphasizes aggressive evangelism, intensive discipleship and transcultural missionary work.

In 2006, David took leadership of the National Missions Department of the IEE C&MA and in November 2008 he became President of the Christian & Missionary Alliance in Ecuador where he will continue serving, God-willing, through January 2019. In addition, David serves as the Vice President of the Ecuadorian Evangelical Confraternity and the President of the Latin American Confraternity of the Christian & Missionary Alliance. David is married to Isabel Freire Espinoza and they have three children: Keila Mishelle (24,) Genesis Isabel (22,) and Josué David (20).

Rev. Munther Shahatit / Regional Coordinator Europe & Middle-East

Rev. Munther Shahatit is a hardworking, humble, compassionate, and motivated man. As a pastor and counselor, he combines “theories, techniques and biblical values to meet the needs of people who seek professional or spiritual help”. He is native Jordanian and grew up in a nominal Christian home.

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He came to know the Lord personally when he was 19 years old, through one of his friends, now a pastor at a C&MA Church. He met his wife in the summer of 1990 and soon after got married, and together they pursued the Lord. Rev. Munther and his wife have four children, two daughters and two sons.

Rev. Munther has a vast work experience as a pastor, as an accountant, and as a counselor. As an accountant, he worked in the Jordanian army, in the Financial Department, and in the Housing Bank, Jordan, as a banker. As a counselor, he has worked in various organizations and entities, in Jordan and abroad, helping people recover from vices and addictions. He has also worked as a trauma counselor trainer in the SALT organization and is involved in Trauma Counselling Ministries in the whole Middle-East region, providing professional trauma counseling and training. Currently, he works as a professional trauma consultant with OD – Netherlands office since 2008, helping establish a trauma support ministry to the persecuted churches in the Middle East and North Africa region. He has also been working as a professional trauma consultant with the Jordan Bible Society since 2014.

Rev. Munther has been heavily involved in the ministry of the C&MA church in Jordan since 1990. In 2007, he began serving as the associate pastor at Second Circle C&MA church in Amman, being ordained in 2011. He has served as a national executive committee member, treasurer and vice president of the national C&MA church from 1994 to 2003, then from 2007 until now. 

Rev. Roland Lumawag / Regional Coordinator Asia & Pacific

Roland and his wife Nancy, together with their 2 children started their missionary service in Thailand on February 11, 1997. They currently live in Khon Kaen, in northeastern Thailand, while their sons (now 17 & 20) are studying and living in the Philippines and actively involved in their local Alliance Church.

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The Lumawags have been financially supported by the Alliance in New Zealand throughout their time in the field. They have three major ministry areas: Missions Mobilization, Northeastern Bible Seminary, and Asia Pacific Alliance Churches Region.

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