The "front-line" leaders of Missio Dei Communities are the leaders of the Missional Communities. Each Missional Community is seeking to live together as disciples of Jesus who form a "family of servant missionaries". You can find more information about the Missional Communities and their leaders HERE.
However, we are not a "house church" movement. All the Missional Communities together make up the church we call Missio Dei Communities, which is elder-led (1 Timothy 3, Titus 1). We come together under these elders because we believe that, through Jesus, we have been adopted into God's family (the church). Jesus is in charge of His church, but He has given us elders who have been given the responsibility to care for, protect, and guide the family as they lead among them. We currently have two elders:
Don Christensen
After a tour in Vietnam, Don married Marcia. A few years into their marriage, God saved Don and Marcia. Don brings 30 years of walking with Jesus to the table. He has had a great career as a financial planner, teaching professional athletes and CEO's (and anyone who will listen) how to steward their resources for the Kingdom. Don travels all over the world, literally. That is why he knows everyone, literally. Don and his wife Marcia live in the Alamo. He enjoys quoting the bible in every sentence he speaks.
Chris Gonzalez
Chris moved from Memphis to Tempe in 1997 to study at ASU. A year later, God saved Chris. He graduated, got married, went to seminary, and started working at a church. Finally in 2006, God wrecked Chris with the centrality of the Gospel: the idea that the Gospel is more than the ABC's of the Christian life, rather it is the A-Z. He has been trying to figure out all the implications of the gospel in his life ever since. Chris enjoys spending time with his beautiful wife, Leslie and three amazing kids.
Here are a few of our other leaders who serve in various capacities:
Kevin Platt
Kevin grew up in New Jersey. He came out to AZ in 2005 for Phoenix Seminary. Soon after moving to PHX, he met Chris and they have been trying to figure out gospel-centered missional ministry ever since. Kevin is one of the co-planters of Missio Dei Communities and served the family as a pastor for over 2 years. In 2010, Kevin felt God calling him to New Jersey to continue a church plant that his father had started. Although he and his wife, Kayleanne, live all the way across the country they are still very much a part of the Missio Dei family.
Kyle Smith
Kyle was born and raised in Arizona. God saved Kyle at the age of 13, but it was not until he was studying at ASU that Spirit really opened his eyes to the gospel in a huge way and he began realizing the implications of what Jesus had done. Soon after Kyle graduated, the Spirit called him to begin at Phoenix Seminary. In Feburary of 2011, Missio Dei freed Kyle up to serve and equip the family full-time. Email Kyle
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