Dan Backens

Dr. Dan Backens is the founding and senior pastor of New Life Church – a 5000-member, multi-ethnic, multi-site church – located in the south Hampton Roads area of Virginia. He also serves as the Senior Executive Director of One Focus Network, an international network of Christian leaders, ministries, and churches. He holds a master’s degree in Church History and Renewal Theology from Regent University and a Doctor of Worship Studies (DWS) from the Robert E. Webber Institute of Worship. He is happily married to Rhonda and together they have three adult children and eight grandchildren.  

Jack Groblewski

Jack Groblewski is a founding elder of NC4.  Jack’s passion is for teaching the word of God, which he has done all over the world.  He and his wife Trish are active in prophetic ministry. They serve as apostolic leaders in the One Focus Network and to several networks in the US, Europe, and Africa.  Jack oversees NC4’s pulpit, counseling, and worship ministries. Jack acquired the nickname “Grubby” as a boy based on the pronunciation of his last name. He is affectionately known as such by family, friends, and the majority of his acquaintances.

Jack holds a BA in English Communications from Kings College and a Master’s in Theology from Moravian Theological Seminary. He has been the full-time senior pastor of NC4 since its founding 1982. Jack and Trish have been married since 1971.  They reside in Center Valley, PA and have four adult children and eleven grandchildren.  Jack enjoys golf, reading, languages, and history.

Merle Shank

Merle Shank serves as a director for One Focus Network. He also is the lead pastor of Grace Covenant Church in Harrisonburg, VA. A proud James Madison University alum and former software developer, he responded to God’s call to pastoral ministry in 1997. He and his wife Sue have four adult children.

Eunice Barruel Lam-Yuen

Eunice Barruel-Lam Yuen serves as the Senior Leader for Christian Renewal Ministries in Pittsburg, California. Eunice’s passion is to see worship and intercession raised up in every tongue, tribe, city, and nation. She serves on the leadership of 40 Days of Hope for California, the eldership team for Awaken the Dawn-California, as well as the Director for Pray Pittsburg, a city-wide initiative for the City of Pittsburg, California. 

She is the Founder and Executive Director of New Strength International Ministries (NSIM), and Global Day of Worship (GDW), whose mission is to usher the glory of God to the nations for transformation and harvest. She along with her husband Iosefa, desire to partner with national and international churches, ministries, and organizations to exhort, equip, and release them to fulfill their kingdom purpose. One main focus of New Strength is to teach and train children in orphanages and high-risk areas how to worship Jesus through music and arts. 

Eunice holds a Master’s in Business Administration and is an alumna of the Regent University School of Business. She along with her husband Iosefa reside in Northern California along with their two children, Honorina and Gabriel. 

Kevin Turpin

Kevin Turpin is the founder and president of the Life Enrichment Center providing literacy programs to underserved children and families in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. He is also a senior associate pastor at New Life Church – a 5,000 member, multi-ethinic, multi-site church located in Hampton Roads; adjunct assistant professor of Psychology at Tidewater Community College; and is founder and president of the Institute for Personal and Professional Development, a LLC based in Norfolk, VA. He holds a Bachelor of Science in psychology from the University of Buffalo, Master of Science in Counseling from Canisius College, and a Master of Arts in Practical Theology from Regent University. Kevin is currently in PhD level psychology classes at Regent University and Old Dominion University and is LEAD Hampton Roads graduate. Kevin and his wife Wanda are parents to two grown children and have one wonderful grandson.

Richard Blackwell

Richard (Dick) Blackwell received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Civil Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute. After giving his life to the Lord in 1970, Dick worked as a professional engineer in the environmental field while obtaining a Master of Divinity degree from Erskine Theological Seminary. In 1976 Dick moved to Harrisonburg, VA where he started Church in the Valley. In December of 1984 he began Grace Covenant Church Harrisonburg (GCC). Dick also helped plant churches in Fredericksburg, Staunton and Waynesboro, Virginia as well as in Montevideo, Uruguay. Now retired, Dick continues to serve in a leadership capacity at GCC and is the founder and senior engineer of Blackwell Engineering, LLC. He and his wife Becky have five grown children and 16 grandchildren.

Larry Kreider

After serving as a senior pastor of a church in Pennsylvania for 15 years, Larry currently serves as International Director of DOVE Christian Fellowship International, a network of churches scattered throughout five continents. He is a featured speaker at conferences across the United States and internationally and travels extensively to train Christian leaders worldwide. Larry has written 36 books, including the Biblical Foundation Series in English and Spanish, The Cry for Spiritual Mothers and Fathers, Speak Lord! I’m Listening, House to House, 21 Tests of Effective Leadership, and Building Your Personal House of Prayer. Over 500,000 of his books have been sold and translated into more than ten languages. Larry and his wife LaVerne have been married for more than 40 years, live in Lititz, Pennsylvania, have four children and are proud grandparents.

Alfred Nyamekyeh

Rev. Alfred is the General Overseer and Presiding Bishop of House of Faith Ministries (World Missions Church). It is a global network of churches committed to missions, church planting and leader training. Having been in evangelism and missionary work for more than 35 years, Rev. Alfred plants churches in Africa, USA and other parts of the world. He founded the World Missions Foundation in 2005 and is president of Atlantic Ministerial College in Kumasi, Ghana. He lives in Accra, Ghana with his wife Esther. They are parents to four children and have five grandchildren.

Joseph Umidi

Dr. Joseph Umidi serves as a director with One Focus Network. He is Regent University’s Executive Vice President for Student Life and Director of Field Education. He is founder and president of Lifeforming Leadership Coaching, Inc. and Equityforming, LLC. He has authored numerous articles and books dealing with transformation and is working in community and international transformation strategies with several organizations. Dr. Umidi is married to Marie, CEO of TMCJ, Inc. an international arts ministry. They are the delighted grandparents of three grandchildren.