Kesavan was born in Sri Lanka. Due to rising concerns over the civil war, his family moved to Toronto in 1989. Kesavan has enjoyed playing soccer and basketball over the years. Right after high school, Kesavan pursued an IT program in college.

At the age of 19, Kesavan began to read the Bible just to get his mind off his own struggles. But God used that time to open his eyes to the reality of his own sin and the need for a Saviour. It was here that the Gospel of grace saved him and redirected his life to know, enjoy, and glorify God in all things.

Years later, he was called to pursue a theological education and earned his B.R.E at Tyndale University College and Seminary. He is married to his beautiful wife Viji, and they have a growing family of four kids, Josiah, Micah, Abigail and Emily.

Kesavan has been serving in pastoral ministry since 2011. In July 2014, he was commissioned to plant Fellowship Church Rouge Park in the east end of Toronto. He longs to see people come to understand and believe in God’s plan to rescue fallen humanity through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ so that His name and fame would spread in the GTA and beyond.

Hilmer has been married to Meagan for 17 years and they have three children: Rowan, Kiara and Whitney. Originally hailing from Chiliwack, BC, Hilmer spent almost 10 years working as a sales representative. It was during this time that Hilmer began to feel God’s call to pursue pastoral ministry. In 2012, Hilmer and Meagan made the decision to move to Hamilton, ON, where Hilmer obtained a master’s of divinity and began ministry as a pastor in the Hamilton area. In April of 2021, Hilmer accepted the position as the pastor of Fellowship Church in Burlington. As a family they really enjoy life in Ontario—except for the winters! In his spare time, Hilmer enjoys reading, playing hockey, spending time with friends and watching the Blue Jays!

When it comes to ministry, Hilmer loves preaching and teaching the truth of God’s Word and seeing individuals transformed by the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. His desire is quite simple—to see the church committed to prayer as it strives to disciple, encourage and build up followers of Christ for the glory of God and the good of our city.

Avery Surette is a second-year varsity athlete at Redeemer University, studying English and math. She is passionate about investing these important years in meaningful activity, and encouraging her peers to do the same so that their generation can reach adulthood strong, healthy, wise and ready to positively impact their communities for Christ. When Avery’s not playing volleyball or studying, you can find her adventuring, reading classic literature, working out, making music and enjoying the many treasured people in her life.

Jim R. Vanderwoerd has taught social work in Christian universities for more than 25 years. He’s gone on poverty marches, lobbied governments and taught courses on poverty. But he’s not sure if that makes him an expert or not.

Julie Kingma is passionate about working with young adults and helping them to flourish in both their physical and mental health. She is an experienced nurse practitioner with more than 25 years of experience working in diverse primary care settings and across all age groups. Julie currently serves as the director of student health and wellness at Redeemer University, where she operates the Student Health Clinic on campus. She also works with Beyond ADHD and specializes in the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of ADHD among transition-aged youth and adults. During her spare time, Julie loves to be with her husband and three children, as well as their unruly dog, Buster.  

Kim DeJong is a registered social worker specializing in supporting teens and young adults through mental health challenges like depression, anxiety and stress. Kim’s varied roles, including foster parent, teacher, counsellor and pastor’s wife, give her a wide range of experiences to build connections and provide care. Currently serving as adjunct faculty and manager of field education at Redeemer University within the applied social sciences program, she draws on her experiences to guide students through internships as they prepare to make an impact in the field of social work. Kim has been married to Bill for 29 years, raising four sons and gaining a daughter-in-law along the way.

Morgan Braganza is an assistant professor at Redeemer who teaches social work. She is also a researcher who studies how to have hard conversations in caring ways. She has spoken to many groups of people (including teens and adults) about this topic (because lots of people find having difficult conversations to be difficult). Her aims are to help people learn how to build stronger relationships, better handle conflict and react more positively toward hurtful comments while still showing kindness toward others.

Dr. Peter Neumann is the vice president, academic at Redeemer University. He has been involved in post-secondary education for over 22 years, teaching mainly theology but also dabbling in other areas. He also served for 11 years on pastoral staffs in Richmond Hill and Markham, ON. He lives in Pickering, ON, with his wife, Sharon, two young adult children, Nathanael and Mikayla, and two dogs.

Sam is an ordained pastor with many years of experience in ministry, and he currently serves as the student life chaplain at Redeemer University. He holds a bachelor’s degree in christian education, a master’s degree in theology, and a master’s degree in divinity, focusing on youth, family and culture. He is pursuing a doctorate in non-profit organizational leadership at Tyndale University and Seminary.  

Stewart Cameron has lived experience with poverty, abuse, homelessness (as a youth and adult), incarceration, grief and severe addiction. These experiences nearly cost him his life over and over. He aims to help those stuck in the system of personal and systemic poverty with his education and lived experience. He hopes to break down cultural frameworks that don’t offer space for men to be themselves. His passion is to share the grace and love to those suffering in poverty because that is what God did for him.

Andrew Noble serves at Grandview Church in Kitchener, Ontario. He is a husband, father and a Heritage College and Seminary graduate (MDiv). He writes at andrewnoble.substack.com, co-hosts a podcast called What Would Jesus Tech and posts online at @nobullnoble on X.