meet your contributors
Al Gordon leads SAINT, a fast-growing and thriving church on a mission to bring hope to the heart of East London. Al has a vision to build cathedrals of creativity across the globe through Renaissance, a new school of creativity.
The creativity of Al’s ministry is both intriguing and inspiring to any entrepreneurial leader. Whether it involves hosting concerts in their church building, opening a brewery like monks of old, or keeping bees as a prophetic reminder of the crucial role the church is to play in the ecosystem of human interactions.
He is married to Olivia, an architect, and they have three children. Al is a trustee of Alpha International.
Al Gordon
Levi and Nadia Marychurch are the Lead Pastors of Local Church in Tauranga, New Zealand, a church they planted with a simple heart: to help people encounter Jesus, find family, and do life together. They’ve been married, raising a family and doing ministry together for more than two decades. Along the way, they’ve had the privilege of serving in different places, including planting a church in Ottawa, Canada, before eventually coming home to Aotearoa and planting Local Church in the Bay of Plenty. For Levi and Nadia, church has always been about people. They love seeing people find a place to belong, grow in their faith, build genuine friendships and discover what it looks like to follow Jesus in everyday life. Family is a huge part of their world. Levi and Nadia have four kids — Ryder, Hugo, Jovie and Mika — and life in the Marychurch home is full, and usually a lot of fun. After all these years, what matters most hasn’t really changed: loving Jesus, loving people, and building a church that feels like home.
Nadia & Levi Marychurch
Kevin Loo is a creative, a dreamer and a communicator. His fierce and relentless tenacity to break limiting mindsets have led him to help thousands uncover and unleash their fullest potential in life. In 2001, he founded a contemporary church called Collective with only 15 people to begin with. Today, it is a thriving movement of 15 like-minded churches worldwide.
Kevin Loo
Clonakilla Chief Winemaker Tim Kirk’s life has been shaped by three great passions: faith, family and fine wine. The son of Clonakilla founder John Kirk, Tim’s passion for winemaking was cemented after travelling through some of Europe’s great wine regions in 1991.
After studying Theology and Education, Tim taught New Testament and religious education at Melbourne’s Xavier College before returning full time to Clonakilla. Under his leadership, the family winery has grown to become one of Australia’s most celebrated.
Alongside his winemaking career, Tim has remained deeply committed to Christian faith and the renewal of the Church. He served as international leader of Disciples of Jesus from 2013–2019, now leads its Canberra branch, and was recently elected National Coordinator of CHARIS Australia, supporting charismatic renewal within the Catholic Church.
Tim is married to Lara, and together they have five children and five grandchildren.
Tim Kirk
Daniel and Justine Flynn were just 19 and 21 when they co-founded Thankyou, now one of Australia's leading social enterprises. Since then, Thankyou has raised over $20 million to help end extreme poverty, changing lives around the world. This is a story of creativity, faith and disruption that will challenge your thinking and inspire you to lead with conviction.
Daniel & Justine Flynn
Tom Gibbs is an artist and educator based in Brisbane, and a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne. Theologically trained, he brings together experience in Christian education, church ministry, and the arts. His classical studies in Italy and Greece shaped a lifelong passion for the Renaissance and its vision of beauty and renewal. Tom helps others see creativity as a vital expression of faith and believes that, just as in the 14th century, a new renaissance can emerge when creative people unite with a Kingdom-shaped vision.
Tom Gibbs
Born in Nigeria and raised in Nottingham, Gideon Akpovi is a worship leader, songwriter, and creative who now lives in London as part of the team at SAINT, where he helps oversee the worship ministry.
Alongside this, Gideon also writes and records music under the artist name JERUB, blending heartfelt storytelling with emotional depth. His songs carry an honesty and intensity that connect across backgrounds, offering space for people to reflect, feel, and be moved.
Whatever context he finds himself in, whether leading worship, writing songs, or performing on stage, Gideon’s heart is the same: to carry the presence of God and create moments where lives are touched and people are drawn to see a God who is bigger and more beautiful than they imagined.
Gideon Akpovi
Mandy Smith is an artist, author and pastor (St Lucia Uniting Church, Brisbane), and lectures at The Eugene Peterson Center for Christian Imagination. Mandy’s books include “Confessions of an Amateur Saint: The Christian Leader's Journey from Self-Sufficiency to Reliance on God,” “The Vulnerable Pastor: How Human Limitations Empower Our Ministry” and “Unfettered: Imagining a Childlike Faith Beyond the Baggage of Western Culture.” Mandy and her husband live in their manse where the teapot is always warm. Learn more at www.TheWayIsTheWay.org.
Mandy Smith
Lochie Hogarth is a gatherer of creatives. He’s passionate about seeing creatives across Australia live in unity, learn from one another and build each other up. Husband to Jané and father of four little kids, Lochie lives in the Adelaide Hills and has been on staff at Journey Church for 10 years, where he Pastors and leads the worship and creative team.
He is passionate about The Church being a place produces and stewards world-class creatives in their fields, working across non-profits, creative agencies, churches and the broader creative industry.
Writing songs has been part of Lochie’s journey of discovering life and Jesus. He leads the Adelaide worship music ministry Fearless MSC, with songs including Head First (Sold Out), Surely, Holy and Surrounded, and is stepping into a new season with new songs and a yet-to-be-released solo project. He has also written with and for other movements and artists.
Lochie is deeply passionate about honest, beautiful art that honours and glorifies God and points to His redemptive power.
Lochie Hogarth
Niki Vasilakis is an Australian violinist, pastor and creative leader passionate about seeing Kingdom artists shape culture through beauty, truth and the presence of God.
Her career has taken her around the world as a soloist with Australia’s major symphony orchestras, performing from the Sydney Opera House to stages across Europe, Asia and the United States. In recent years, her violin has also become an expression of prayer and prophetic worship creating space for encounter, healing and moments where God moves powerfully in the room.
Niki is the founder of Sacred Sanctuary, a ministry equipping and nurturing artists called to create beyond the walls of the church using their God-given imagination to make beautiful work, carry a prophetic voice and bring light into culture
Niki Vasilakis
Alana Nicols
Clare enjoys helping the Church engage imagination to see ministry that is faithful, hopeful and contextually grounded. It’s all about ministry that revitalises people, the Church and whole neighbourhoods.
Along with her husband Zac, Clare leads Neighbourhood Church, a vibrant and growing church in Perth, Australia that is known for its relational culture, ecumenical warmth and creative mission beyond the walls of the church.
Clare Gageler
Anabel Litchfield is a creative director, photographer and designer, based in Sydney and working across the world. Her career spans over 20 years, with experience in branding, visual identity, campaigns, portraiture and storytelling photography. She is also the co-founder of The First Hello Project, a long form body of work created in collaboration with a team of photographers and filmmakers, documenting the birth stories of women and their families. The common thread through all of her creative work is her passion for beauty, faith, humanity and storytelling. Collaborating with like-minded brands, organisations and ministries sits at the core of her practice.
Anabel Litchfield
Toby Thomas
Alex and Laura Neil are the owners of Alter Community (@altercommunitycoffee, @altercommunityapparel), a brand that brings together coffee, clothing and community initatives to inspire people to live joyful, passionate and connected lives. Over the last decade they have been youth and young adult pastors, and Laura is currently undertaking a PhD exploring the effects of AI on mental health. Alex and Laura are passionate about portraying Kingdom values to the wider world and using the brand to influence local communities for collective good.
Alex & Laura Neil
Dean is an Architect and Urban Designer. As a Partner at ClarkeHopkinsClarke he is leading the Cities and Precincts team and for over two decades, working across Australia and internationally, he has been a leading figure in the design of new cities and town centres, and delivering major urban regeneration projects. As a co-founder of Musana Australia, a for‑purpose organisation dedicated to breaking the cycle of poverty in East Africa, Dean has been working for 19 years providing safe, supportive learning communities for children in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. Author of Creating Vibrant Communities, Dean has established a unique methodology for helping create vibrant, healthy, and sustainable communities where people can thrive.
Dean Landy
Dean Ussher
Sam Thompson is the Founder and CEO of Akta Media, a creative agency working across everything from feature-length documentaries to global series. Before stepping into business, Sam pioneered a church in Brisbane for 6 years, and he's also the founder of Kingdom Creatives, a podcast and community bridging the gap between church and marketplace creatives. In 2023 Sam and his family moved to the US, but a clear prophetic call from the Lord drew them home to Australia - a reluctant obedience that has seen God move powerfully since. Sam's deepest passion is simple: that creatives would encounter God's presence, hear His voice, and find the courage to go and do what He says.
Sam Thompson
Luke Kennedy is the founder of Future Church Brisbane, which began in a film studio in Brisbane's inner south. He is now planting Gardens, a new church in Melbourne's inner north launching in 2027. He has helped release church planters into cities across Asia and beyond, and is passionate about creativity as a gift for reaching rising generations with the good news of Jesus. Luke is married to Izumi, and they have three children, Hugo, Lucy and Kaylee.
Luke Kennedy
Just Sow
Josh Phillips
Maddy Salisbury
Emma Anderson
Zac Gageler
Michael is husband to Sarah, father of three, and Lead Minister of the Newlife Family of Churches, a movement of four churches across South East Queensland committed to seeing more people more like Jesus. He carries a deep passion for renewal, believing discipleship and Holy Spirit led ministry are the answer to the decline of the Western church.
Michael Hands
Patrina Miduku
Aaron is husband to Candace, father to Hezekiah, and together with Candace leads Newlife Moreton (@newlifemoreton). He also serves as Creative in Residence at Newlife Church (@newlifechurchau).
Before stepping into ministry, Aaron spent years writing music and touring with a band across the USA, Australia, Europe and Asia.
With a heart for renewal in the Church and a passion for creativity, Aaron now gives himself to cultivating communities that minister to God, reawaken the Church’s imagination for beauty, and encourage creative expression that transforms both sanctuary and society.
