Meet the Staff
Senior Pastor: Rodney Breckon
Rodney came to the church over twenty years ago as Youth Pastor working alongside
his father, George Breckon. Since the late eighties, he has led the church
as its senior pastor, and has been responsible for re-casting the vision and
giving the church its present emphasis on "Leading people to Christ…Nurturing
people in Christ". He is a dynamic preacher and teacher, and often in
demand as a speaker in other churches. Before coming to Northallerton, he
worked in the Christian music ministry and is an accomplished keyboard player
and worship leader. His love of music has resulted in the church having a
long-standing emphasis on lively music, praise and worship.
Rodney is married to Jeanette and they have a son Samuel and a daughter Hannah.
Jeanette heads up the women’s ministry in the church.
Assistant Pastor: Elisabeth Jordan
Elisabeth is an experienced teacher and preacher, having been on the staff
of Christ for the Nations Bible College in Bad Gandersheim, Germany, for ten
years, where she was responsible for the pastoral care of the women students.
Since moving to North Yorkshire in June 1999, she has been engaged in a growing
travelling ministry to churches and women’s groups and also as a conference
speaker. Elisabeth joined the New Life team on a half-time basis in September
2002, and shares in the tasks of preaching, visiting and administration. She
is also keen to develop the teaching base of the church and help develop the
giftings of its members. Her time is divided between NLBC and ministry in
other parts of the U.K. and Europe, including missions to former Eastern Bloc
countries.
Assistant
Pastor: Steve Cowie
Steve and his family have been part of New Life Baptist Church since April 2000,
during which time, Steve served the church as an Elder. In April 2005,
the church called Steve to take on the role of Assistant Pastor in a voluntary
capacity. However, since September 2006, he has been working on a half
time paid basis, and he has been fulfilling this role alongside his secular work
as a Management Consultant. Over the last few years, he has headed up Alpha
in the church, and is an Alpha advisor. He is an experienced and capable
preacher with a very thorough grasp of Scripture. He is married to Lesley
and they have one daughter, Becky.
Assistant Pastor: Vicky Thompson
Vicky began her relationship with NLBC whilst working with the church under the
auspices of Northern Evangelical Trust. Since September 2001, she has led the
ministry of NLBC into local schools.
This brings her into contact with EVERY young person in the wider Northallerton
area, as well as many schools in the outlying villages. She not only works in
the schools but on evenings during the week provides invaluable discipleship
ministry into the lives of the young people of the church.
Vicky is married to Barry (see below!)
Administrator
and personal assistant to the senior pastor: Susanna Hinton
Susanna joined the church staff in September 2001 after a career as a secondary
school teacher. As well as running the office, she has the difficult talk
of keeping tabs on all the members of the team! She is the first point
of contact in the church for anyone with any queries, be it by phone, email or
in person. She has latterly also taken on the role of Personal Assistant
to Rodney. She is married to Phil and they have two children, Josh and
Rhiannon.
Assistant Pastor: Barry Thompson
Barry has been working for the church since September 2005, heading up the Worship Team and co-ordinating the children’s work in the church. He has run our monthly Kidzone outreach for several years already, as well as the weekly Kidzone Plus, and he and Vicky have recently been behind the setting up of the Bullamoor Family Project. He is married to Vicky (see above!)
CHILDREN’S WORKER: JEN HOLDER
Jen joined the children’s team as a full time children’s worker in September 2007. She works alongside Barry, Vicky and our Year Out Team in the local schools, taking assemblies and after school clubs, as well as in the many children’s activities that take place in the church throughout the week.
Christians
against poverty: sue robinson
Sue left a career in banking after her concerns about the number of people in
debt and God led her to her new role. The new Christians
Against Povertyoffice was opened in the church building in May 2003 - Christians
Against Povertyis a national charity, which aims to release people from the burden of debt through
debt counselling and practical budgeting advice. Since then many families
have approached Sue and her team of volunteers for help. They visit people
in their homes; go through their income and expenses; and work out a manageable
budget making sure that priority bills and food come before secondary debts. For
further information, contact Sue in the CAP office on 01609 760950 or email Northallerton@capuk.org
Kingsley
Armstrong
Kingsley is no longer on the staff, but is still based in Northallerton and very
much associated with the church. We are very privileged to be able to maintain
our contact with him, and to support him in his work Kingsley left
the staff of New Life Baptist Church in September 2003 in order to focus more
fully on his overseas ministry as the Lord began to open other countries to them.
Doors began to open in Ghana, then The Ivory Coast and Ethiopia, Guatemala, Romania
and Pakistan.
God spoke in January of 2003 through Joshua 1:14. There were 2 ½ tribes
in Israel who would not live in the land of faith. But before they were allowed
to settle down, Joshua told them to cross the Jordan and help their brothers
possess their land and when they had done that, they could return and settle.
This was God directing Kingsley and Cathy in a direct way to lay down their pastoral
charge and serve their brothers & sisters overseas 100%.
Kingsley is also
president of International Gospel Outreach. IGO is a fellowship of ministers
from all over the world. Its motto is ‘recognising the
whole church, reaching out to the whole world’ and it is a network
of ministers and churches whose aim is to support and help those who do not
have links with traditional denominations.
See too his website The Joshua Project
Kingsley is married to Cathy, and they have two children, Jemima and Isaac.
