Leadership
Jacob's Well is a church governed by a community of elders and operated by a staff of people, both paid and unpaid. Click on the link in their name below if you would like to contact them.
Kelli Arrandale
Kelli is the Infant-2 Director as well as the administrator for the Kid's Community team. She is also working to implement security strategies to ensure our kids' safety. Kelli is married to Ted Arrandale and is the mother of Samuel (Sam I am) and Jack. She received a BA in Education from Kansas State University. Previously she has been a teacher, a swim coach and was on staff with Young Life for 4 years. Kelli loves to read, study, learn and communicate anything that comes her way, especially the ideas of grace and redemption in unlikely places and forms.
Holly is the wedding director at Jacob's Well. In addition to scheduling weddings, she handles the paperwork details and heads up a stellar team of liaisons who ensure things go off without a hitch. Holly is a full-time 6th grade math teacher who loves both of her very different jobs! She is also currently taking post-graduate classes. In what little spare time she has, she likes to sew, enjoys traveling, and LOVES going to the movies! Holly lives in Midtown, but hails from Iowa.
Tim is a Missional Formation Intern and a part of the Koinonia Team, which is about connecting people and helping to build and foster authentic relationships with God and each other. Tim oversees many of the audio needs around the church. He is passionate about music and people and can frequently be found singing and hanging out with friends. He lives in midtown and loves to host house shows. Recently Tim has been interning at KCUR for the show KC Currents.
Gerard Brown
Gerard is a Missional Formation Intern and a part of the Koinonia team, which focuses on fostering community life that reflects the DNA of Jacob's Well. Gerard is passionate about teaching and learning how we can better participate in God's mission for the world through our daily lives. He graduated from Point Loma Nazarene University with a B.S. in Mathematics and is finishing his M.Div. at Nazarene Theological Seminary. Gerard lives in the Southmoreland neighborhood with his beautiful wife, Jessie Artigue, their dog Sadie, and their cat Zoe.
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Ginger is the administrative director. She has a journalism degree from the Univ. of Tennessee in Knoxville and worked as an editor, copywriter and in sales before coming to work here in 2005. She oversees finances and giving, human resources and the ongoing maintenance of the building. Ginger and her husband, Mike, live in a beachy bungalow nearby and when they aren't watching movies or walking Jed, they are dreaming about Paris.
Mike Crawford
I'm the Worship/Arts Pastor here at Jacob's Well. I lead and arrange our musical worship teams and write many of the songs we sing here at Jacob's Well. I also facilitate the recording studio we have here at the church. We utilize the studio to record all sorts of bands and solo artists and to build relational bridges into the musical community that surrounds us in Westport. We also use the space to record some of the worship music we play here. You can check some of those songs out at myspace.com/mikecrawfordmusic. I have been playing music since I was in 5th grade and feel a deep sense of calling on my life to use music to connect people with God. I have been serving the Jacob's Well community since 2001.
I am married to Laura and together, we have 3 kids - Cole, Macyann and Georgia. My family is the joy of my life. I love spending time with all of them, hanging out at the pool, jumping on the trampoline, riding bikes, taking nature hikes, going to the kids’ basketball games and piano recitals...
My personal interests are reading (poetry, fiction, theology), working out and (you guessed it) music. I love all kinds of music! Some of my favorites these days are...Thelonious Monk, Broken Social Scene, mewithoutyou, Hank Sr., Sigur Ros, The Beatles, Bobby Dylan, Spoon, The Smiths, Edith Piaf (or any 1940's WWII soundtrack music), Radiohead and on and on...
Laura Dondzila
Laura is the preschool director for the kids' community team. She joined the staff in 2008 and has also been responsible for administrative tasks as well. Laura is married to Andy and has two kids, Olivia and Gray. Laura has a Master's Degree in Curriculum & Instruction with an emphasis on Family Studies. She loves learning, reading, and hanging out with family and friends over delicious food.
Deth Im
I am the Pastor of Community Development, which means that I'm cultivating organic communities that live out our commitments of worship, creativity, learning, hospitality and justice. I do this by facilitating staff conversations and collaboration, by encouraging staff to engage their intuitive leadership and by resourcing staff as they gain new perspectives and tools.
I have a B.A. in Political Science and an M.A. in Theology and my professional experience has centered on organizational development, large and small group facilitation, instructional design, curriculum development and performance improvement strategies. Moreover, I'm passionate about issues that relate to diversity, urban social systems and youth development.
I am married to the love of my life, Mary and together we have three daughters, Imani, Verena, and Kairos.
Philip Lesniewski
Philip is charged with directing social outreach and justice ministries. In this capacity, he leads teams to serve various people in need in our immediate and greater community. After graduating from Kansas State University with a degree in geography, Philip spent more than three years working as an environmental educator in Africa. He has also worked as a program manager in federal government and in the non-profit sector. He currently lives with his sporty wife Christine and their children in the historic Westside of Kansas City. He keeps in shape bicycling up and down Signal Hill in hopes of being called to represent the US National Cycling team at the next Olympics.
Jessi is a Missional Formation Intern and a part of the Koinonia Team that is committed to hosting spaces where people at Jacob’s Well are shaped and formed by God in different venues such as Corpus (small groups), Community Dinners, justice efforts, etc. Jessi cares deeply about the ways that we tend to one another. She graduated from Westmont College and is finishing a Masters in Divinity from Fuller Seminary. Jessi lives life with husband, Todd, and their three children, Wells, Lincoln, and Olive. You will often find them in front of the fireplace or playing a game of soccer in the front yard.
Charity Marrone
Charity's primary role on Children's Formation Staff is to create curriculum and prepare activities that guide each child's heart and mind by incorporating the multiple intelligences. She hopes the children of this community are inspired, to experience God's story in these sacred spaces which form the spirit from within. She earned her BS in Elementary Ed. and Health Ed. from Southwest Baptist University and completed a Master's in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis on the Creative Arts in Learning through Lesley University.
Charity appreciates truth revealed through the heart of a child, the beauty of the broken and discarded becoming restored into New Creations, & a front porch life that she is happy to be sharing with her husband Pete and daughters- Adelaine, Sylvia, and Gweneth.
Beth Mercer
Beth is the Kairos Director, which involves activities such as planning Sundays with the Kairos Team, composing liturgies and prayers, managing an extensive (and wonderful!) team of volunteers, running random errands, assembling the bulletin, and other tasks as needed. First arrived at Jacob’s Well in 2002, she’s been on staff since 2006 and is constantly amazed by getting to work with and for such genuine, good-hearted people. She’s a K-Stater and has a BA in Creative Writing. Fascinations include: reading a good book or watching a good movie for the nth time, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Jane Austen, Ireland & the UK, wandering outdoors, writing poetry & film scripts, taking photographs (mostly 35mm film), Sigur Rós, the Bourne movies, Coldplay, Sufjan Stevens, Waterdeep, Radiohead, the word “gloaming”, trees.
Shana Puckett
Here at Jacob’s Well, I am considered the Catalyst for Missional Formation. Yes, we are ALL still trying to figure out what that means. Primarily, I get to spend my time creating spaces for people to engage more deeply in what it means to be fully human through formative experiences of contemplation, dialogue, justice and living out the upside-down kingdom of God.
I bring to this endeavor a background in middle school and high school science education, urban core community health outreach, racial justice dialogue, and nonprofit start-up experience. I earned a BA in Biological Sciences & Secondary Education and an MA in Nonprofit Management, and I am particularly passionate about racial justice, women’s issues, and fully embodied spiritual life.
I am blessed to journey with the great loves of my life, my husband Cory and our three children Elly, Ryn, and Solomon. Those who know me know that I am personally beholden to an unbridled sense of curiosity. You can often find me climbing trees, having invigorating conversation, seeking another expansive countryside view or exploring KC’s best-kept secrets. If you are headed out, let me know, I am also especially fond of dancing.
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Mike Russo
Hi, I'm Mike Russo the Youth Pastor at Jacobs Well. I'm not exactly sure what needs to be in a public bio about me so I'll just list what I know about myself.
1) My job here is to try and provide a learning environment matched with a dialogue about Christ to all the Youth (the word Youth referred to as 7th-12th graders) within or near the Jacob's Well Community. 2) I went to school for awhile got some degrees and worked in New York for little bit. 3) My passions are being with young people and growing, and hopefully those two things combine at points. 4) I enjoy music, reading, playing games, and I use to write running in this type of thing but I would probably stick that in my next section which is desires. 5) I desire to run more, be a better neighbor to Kansas City, be a more reliable friend, live life among this community, read some comics, one day play a video game that is fun but also teaches you how to work on cars, listen to more NPR, and get emails from people I don't know. 6) I'm sorry you had to read this, and if you did maybe you should send me information about yourself so I could know about you.
Candace Shaw
Candace is the Grade School Coordinator at Jacob’s Well and is privileged to work alongside the 1st through 5th grade children and their families, as well as amazing volunteers, to help create space for spiritual formation.
Candace has a Bachelors of Science in Elementary and Early Childhood Education from Oklahoma Baptist University and a Master’s of Divinity from Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University. She attended her first church service at Jacob’s Well in 2001 and immediately fell in love with this community. She has been on staff since September 2009.
Things that make Candace happy include spending time with her wonderful husband, Scott (and hearing him play the violin!), reading a good book, learning something new (especially from NPR), taking walks with friends, finding great bargains and seeing kids smile.
Micah Thomas
Micah is our part-time worship leader here at Jacob's Well. He has been on staff since September 2007. In December 2007 he graduated from The University Of Kansas with a B.S. in Accounting. Shortly thereafter he relocated to midtown and also began working for YouthFront--a non-profit youth ministry organization just down the road from Jacob's Well. Micah loves Kansas City barbecue, creating and recording music, playing outside, and exploring new places.
Elders
The Elder Team is responsible for overall direction and governance at Jacob's Well. They oversee the pastoral staff, approve and monitor budgets, deal with problems as they arise and seek to anticipate and avoid them whenever possible, and most important, are responsible for the vision and direction of our church and its mission and values. Members are selected for spiritual, personal, and relational maturity, along with special gifts or skills needed by the team.
The current elders are:
Rachel Bonar
Cheryl Burbach
Ashley Cleveland
Art Gangel
Deth Im
Steve Jernigan
Chad Jolly
Mike King
Jeff Larison
Laura Lesniewski
Bruce Wimberly