Page 6 – Leighton Ford Ministries

MaryKate Morse

Dr. MaryKate Morse is Dean of Portland Seminary and lead mentor for the Leadership and Spiritual Formation D.Min. track. In addition to her extensive leadership and teaching at the seminary, she is currently a mentor and trainer for Lausanne Young Leaders, serves as part of the Mentoring Community Board, and is a mentor trainer and advisor for Leighton Ford Ministries.

MaryKate began her ministry living in the Andes Mountains of Bolivia and Peru doing evangelism, theological education by extension, and social projects with the AymaráIndians. Upon return, she studied spiritual formation and direction, was certified as a spiritual director, and was recorded as a pastor with the Evangelical Friends.

She is lead author of Lifelong Leadership: Woven Together Through Mentoring Communities, an LFM resource published by NavPress in 2020.

Sunny Lambeth Allen

Sunny Lambeth Allen is a lifelong member of Myers Park Presbyterian Church with a passion for serving her community. Professionally, Sunny has worked in marketing, restaurant administration, operated her own gardening business, worked as a travel agent, and helped others achieve their goals as a certified personal trainer.

As a volunteer, Sunny has served on the board of Harvest Center, a Christ-centered non-profit serving the homeless, and volunteered with Women of Vision, Crisis Assistance Ministry, and Florence Crittenton Services.

Sunny and her husband, Dave, are proud parents of Chipper, who works in New York City, and Lambeth, who works in Washington, D.C.

James P. Osterhaus, Ph.D

Jim P. Osterhaus, Ph.D is Senior Executive Coach for Leighton Ford Ministries, where he supports pastors and ministry leaders as they navigate organizational, communication, change, and conflict issues.

His latest book, Avoiding Pastoral Pitfalls (Hendrickson, 2021), deals with the practical issues of ministry. He has authored or co-authored fifteen other books dealing with leadership, relationships, and conflict, including Thriving Through Ministry Conflict (Zondervan, 2010).

Jim has extensive and diverse experience as an executive coach, public speaker, organizational consultant, and church counseling director. His experience includes a special commission from the Vice President of the United States to consider the emotional effects of government downsizing, facilitation of the Organizational Culture component of the U.S. Army Staff redesign, and teaching seminars at Denver Seminary, Bethel Seminary, and Trinity School of Ministry. Jim has also teamed with Leighton Ford to conduct ministry leadership mentoring retreats in the United States and Canada.

He holds a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from American University and degrees in counseling from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Catholic University. Jim and his wife, Marcy, have three children and six grandchildren. They live in northern Virginia.

Jim Singleton

Jim Singleton is Director of Discipling Ministries for Leighton Ford Ministries, leveraging years of experience as a senior pastor, seminary professor, mentor, and mentee to help raise up the next generation of missional leadership.

In addition to his part-time role with LFM, Jim serves full-time as Associate Professor of Pastoral Leadership and Evangelism at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he directs Thriving in Ministry, a Lilly Endowment-funded program to help pastors in New England “thrive” in the very difficult practice of ministry in this season. He has a passion for equipping pastors and congregations to revitalize their approach to ministry.

The son of a Presbyterian minister, Jim brings 30 years of church leadership experience, including serving as senior pastor of churches in Texas, Washington, and most recently, First Presbyterian Church of Colorado Springs, a downtown congregation of 4,000 members. He has served at Gordon-Conwell since 2012.

Jim first met Leighton Ford in 1989 while working on his doctorate in Boston. As a senior pastor, he later utilized Kevin Ford’s Transforming Church: A Visioning Roadmap (LINK) process. He considers Leighton to be “the chiropractor of my soul.”

Jim is an avid fan of baseball history, church history, hiking, and cross-country skiing. He is married to Sara, who is pastor of Old South Presbyterian in Newburyport, MA. The have a son, James, and a daughter, Rachel, and three grandchildren.

Tim Helms

Tim Helms is an experienced pastor, evangelist, video producer, musician, and program director who uses his gifts to support several different ministries. Most summers, you can find Tim and his wife, Charity, leading worship and events for Christian camps, including the Joni & Friends camps for children with special needs.

Tim has served as Junior High Pastor, Student Pastor, Worship Pastor, and Lead Pastor at churches in North Carolina, Michigan, and Florida. He also owns a faith-focused video production company serving clients nationwide.

Tim Helms and Kevin Ford first met in youth group at Calvary Church in Charlotte. He produces video resources for Leighton Ford Ministries and manages the technology behind LFM’s Transforming Church Insight congregational survey.

Kevin Graham Ford

Kevin Graham Ford is Chief Catalyst for Leighton Ford Ministries, author of Transforming Church (David C. Cook, 2008) and chief architect of the unprecedented Transforming Church Insight congregational survey that includes over 11 million records in its database.

An expert in visioning, strategy, organizational change, and leadership development, Kevin was the senior consultant for the redesign of the U.S. Army Staff and an organizational consultant for large federal agencies, Fortune 500 companies, and major non-profits. His leadership books include The Secret Sauce: Creating a Winning Culture (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2015) and The Leadership Triangle (Morgan James Publishing, 2013).

While Kevin enjoyed a successful business career as co-founder of TAG Consulting, his passion was always for the local church. Increasingly, God opened doors for Kevin to utilize his visioning and organizational abilities to support local churches, provide leadership development for ministry leaders, and help ministry organizations manage necessary change and transition.

In 2019, Kevin Ford, along with his partners, sold the for-profit assets of TAG Consulting so that he could focus on supporting healthy leaders who sustain thriving ministries through Leighton Ford Ministries. As a result of this transition, Kevin is even more in demand as churches from coast-to-coast and diverse denominations look to navigate a post-Christian, post-pandemic world.

Kevin’s experience supporting churches with visioning, governance, transformation, and leadership development issues led to Lilly Endowment Inc. awarding Leighton Ford Ministries a Thriving Congregations Initiative grant in 2020. In partnership with LFM donors, the seed money from this grant funds LFM’s work with smaller churches seeking to navigate cultural change and other transitions.

As a result of Kevin’s leadership, Leighton Ford Ministries also received a Thriving in Ministry grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., providing seed money for a new program increasing mentoring opportunities for pastors of small churches, congregations of color, and church plants.

A popular keynote speaker and facilitator, Kevin has spoken at conferences along with Jim Collins, Margaret Wheatley, Herb Kellerher, and Peter Senge. He has been interviewed and quoted by the Washington Post, Forbes, Los Angeles Times, Entrepreneur, Business Week, and Wall Street Journal, among many others.

Kevin is a proud Tar Heel, earning a BA from the University of North Carolina, before switching coasts to earn his Master of Divinity from Regent College at the University of British Columbia. He and his wife, Caroline, live in Charlotte with one daughter still at home and their other daughter at Wake Forest University.

Glen Schrieber

Glen is from Jacksonville, Florida. He is the district superintendent in the southeast USA for the Evangelical Free
Church of America. Glen serves over 100 congregations. In that region, the EFCA is made of smaller churches and church plants.
Combining that with Glen’s calling and experience with people of color as an inner-city church planter in New Orleans, he is
looking forward to starting a mentoring group of young pastors.

Tom Moser

Tom Moser retired as Vice Chairman of the accounting and advisory firm KPMG and has served on several boards, including New York Life Insurance Co., Save the Children, and Hope for Haiti. He and his wife, Mary Lynn, led the mission outreach committee at their church, and that experience led them to advocate for charitable organizations who actively share the Gospel of Jesus Christ in their programs.

Having met Leighton and Jean Ford through mutual friends a few years ago, they have become proponents and supporters of Leighton Ford Ministries and are excited about the promising opportunities afforded by Kevin’s advisory background and experience.

Kristina Burkard

Kristina joined the LFM team as a Development Analyst in January 2025. Born and raised in Dublin, Ohio, Kristina moved south to obtain her Bachelors and Masters degrees in Biological Engineering at the University of Florida. It was there that she met her husband, Josh, and the two Gator Engineers have resided in Charlotte, NC, with their three daughters for over a decade. Before dedicating her time to raising her girls, Kristina worked in both engineering and project management positions for several corporations. She now brings her love of research and data analysis to her role with LFM.

Kristina and her family attend New City Church, where she volunteers regularly with the children’s ministry. Additionally, Kristina has a knack for home organization and enjoys serving others by sharing that gift.

Mark Slaughter

Mark Slaughter is an Evangelist and International Ambassador for Leighton Ford Ministries in partnership with his role as Director of Evangelistic Partnerships for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. His twin passions are to communicate the Gospel and to mentor younger evangelists. Mark has served for over 30 years with InterVarsity, including his unique “Question Mark” open forums on college campuses. He also spearheads various initiatives for mentoring a new generation of evangelistic leaders through Leighton Ford Ministries, Lausanne Movement, National Day of Prayer Task Force, Arrow Leadership, and the Luis Palau Association. Prior to joining InterVarsity, Mark served as an Evangelical Free Church pastor in the Indianapolis area.

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