Bethany Community Church | Tempe, AZ
Thursday, September 09, 2010

Elders  

John Ronan | Don Kelley | Tom Adams | Dave Chittenden | John Hoffman | Dan Revel | Pat McCalla | Jack Seibert   

 
 
 
 

John Ronan | Chairman

 
 John has been an attending member of Bethany Community Church since 1992.  He is married to his wonderful wife Sheri and has two daughters who love to serve.  John is currently serving in the sons of singles ministry, is a small group leader, and is one of the outreach coordinators for projects that Pathways adult community get involved in.  He has been in business serving small to medium size businesses in the community with their computer needs since 1991.  He enjoys chess and computer gaming and is continuing to build a ministry to students through online gaming.  He has served on the Elder Board twice and is currently serving as the Board chair.
 
 
 

Don Kelley | Vice Chairman

 
Don and his wife Norma will soon celebrate their 58th wedding anniversary. They are very proud of their 5 children, 12 grandchildren and 21 great grandchildren. Don and Norma first attended Bethany when the Sunday services moved from the original Chapel into the Worship Center building. Don and Norma are not only members of Bethany, but more importantly, they are followers of Jesus Christ.
 
Jesus Christ called Don to salvation in 1950. Since the salvation experience, he has been heavily involved in serving others. God gave Don spiritual gifts for the betterment and common good of those that love God. By His grace, Don serves others, he is a teacher, and he is a leader. Don is involved in Bethany’s I-HELP program, Children First Academy, and relief for the poorest-of-the-poor living in Guadalupe AZ. He was a small group Bible study leader for 10-years and served Bethany through a short-term mission to Kosova. He started the “Computers for Literacy Without Borders” program and the “Food Without Borders” program through Tempe South Rotary Club.
 
Don was an educator at Arizona State University. His first appointment was Assistant Professor, then Department Chairman and Associate Professor, and finally Professor.
He is now retired from Arizona State University.
 
 
 
 

Tom Adams | secretary
Tom Adams was born and raised in Bisbee, Arizona – yes, a true Arizona native.  His grandmother took him to church when he was young and when he was in High School he went to church with his girlfriend, Sue.  While in High School Tom accepted Jesus Christ as his savior during a church service, went forward to publicly acknowledge him, and was baptized.  Tom and Sue have four children (2 girls and 2 boys) and 10 grandchildren.
 
Tom spent over 30 years in law enforcement, 25 years working for the Washington State Patrol, where he retired as a Captain.  After returning to Arizona Tom worked as Deputy Director of the Arizona Medical Board and Assistant Commissioner with the Department of Real Estate.  After retiring in May, 2009, he and Sue started Get It Right Consultants, L.L.C.
 
Tom's past work with churches includes time as a youth leader, youth Sunday School teacher, adult Sunday School teacher, Deacon, Chair of the Board of Deacons, Chair of the Mission Board and Church Moderator for a Baptist church in Washington. He has also been a guest speaker several times for the Community Church of Warren in Bisbee when their pastor was on vacation. 
Prior to coming to Bethany Tom and Sue attended Grace Community Church where they coordinated the newcomer and spiritual gifts classes.  They have attended Bethany since 2004 becaming members in March 2005.  In 2007 Tom and Sue went on a mission to South Africa to work with Helping Hands in Africa, and for the past 3 years have been leaders and teachers in the Renewal class here at Bethany.  During their careers they both have worked with the homeless, and in Washington Tom was instrumental in initiating a feeding program for the homeless.  Recently Tom and Sue have been involved with assisting I-Help when Bethany serves as host.
 
Tom's spiritual gifts are teaching and administration, and has enjoyed developing and using them over the years.   
 
 
 
 

Dave chittenden

 
David Chittenden has been an AZ resident for 37 years, moving from rural Maine to Tempe at the start of his Jr year in high school.  A graduate of McClintock High School in 1974 and NAU in 1978 David has been a resident of Tempe for 29 of his 37 years in AZ.  (He escaped to Mesa for 8 years.)  David has been married to Vicki for 30 years this past July and they have 4 daughters ranging from age 18 to 25.  David and Vicki own a family business that is a wholesale marketer of life and health insurance products throughout the Southwest.
 
David came to know Jesus as his savior at age 17 during a youth group lock-in and was baptized two weeks later.  David and Vicki first attended Bethany back in 1987 but left Bethany to become involved with the youth department of another local church where they attended and worked for several years before returning back to Bethany in the fall of 2001.  David has been involved in YoungLife at the local and area level serving on many boards and committees as well as hosting both YoungLife and Wildlife clubs.  David’s spiritual gifts are administration and teaching which he is currently putting to use with the Renewal adult faith community. 
 
 
 

John Hoffman
John was raised in a home where God was honored and church was a large part of life. He accepted Jesus Christ as his savior in Junior High School, was baptized and actively served in a Christian fellowship. 
 
Following college John married Julie, a non-believer who was soon loved into the Kingdom by two godly women friends. It was at that time that he made Jesus Lord of his life, in addition to Savior, and began his personal relationship with Him. He and Julie have been growing in their faith ever since--for the past 40 years. 
 
John’s early career was in financial and administrative management for a major corporation, with a season of self employment as a consultant. Over the past 20 years he has served three different para-church organizations in fund raising and donor relations. For the past three years John has served as Director of Partnership Development for Frontiers here in Tempe.
 
Due to his career, John and his family lived in various places across the country. He enjoyed being an active member in several strong evangelical churches prior to Bethany, serving as an Elder in two of those.
 
John and Julie are blessed with two adult children and four grandchildren. They are avid dog fanciers and have always had at least one dog as part of their family.
TOP
 
 
 

Dan Revel

 
Dan has been married to Pat for 26 years, and has three grown sons. He was President of Gary Merrill’s Sunday School small group for several years and was used by Gary as an occasional substitute teacher. He has been involved as a member, a leader and a teacher of several small groups over the years. He also assisted with the Jr. High group for about a year. Additionally, he has been on a few short term missions, specifically to Mexico and the Casa Elizabeth orphanage. Currently, Dan and Pat are facilitating the Divorce Care ministry, and leading groups that are going through the very tough experience of divorce or separation. Dan has joined the Bethany Business Group. Dan and Pat own their own real estate company and are working in that.
 
 
 

Pat McCalla
Patrick McCalla has been married to Sharmin, his high school sweetheart, for over 17 years. Patrick and Sharmin have three children (Ashley, Josiah, and Kyle) and have attended Bethany since their move to Arizona in the Spring of 2006. 
 
Pat is working in the Phoenix area to develop relationships and synergy between established, reputable organizations with a desire to love and bring aid to the needy.  His vision is that the Phoenix valley become an example to other cities in our nation and around the world of the enormous potential when churches, city leaders, faith based and non-profit organizations work together in meeting the physical and spiritual needs of others.

Originally from Montana, Patrick has over a decade of experience in ministry as a pastor, teacher, and coach.  He has been an active speaker in youth camps, school chapels, church services, and mission seminars.  Pat worked at Food for the Hungry in 2005-2010 where he expanded City Initiatives and coordinated a collaboration of city leaders to tackle the most pressing needs in Phoenix.  He is the Assistant Producer of the documentary film ‘branded’ that educates viewers of the problem of child exploitation in North America.
 
 
 

Jack Seibert

 
Jack and his wife Merilyn have been married over 43 years, since August 1966. They are blessed with 2 daughters and enjoy their 5 grandchildren immensely. Jack was a math teacher for nearly 20 years and is currently finishing a second career as a property and casualty insurance agent for Liberty Mutual Insurance Company. His plan is to retire sometime this year. 
 
Jack and Merilyn have been attending Bethany Community Church for six and a half years. Jack first received Christ as a 5-year-old child and, after some teenage years of rebellion, finally gave all of his heart to the Lord at age 19. His walk with the Lord over the past 40 years has involved a short term mission trip to the Dominican Republic and numerous positions of leadership, including deacon, trustee, board member, music ministry and Sunday school teacher. For about 10 years Jack was a member of the Gideons and represented their ministry to many local churches in his area of residence. The Lord has given Jack the gift of helps and, in combination with previous experience as a painter, he has volunteered to paint for widows, caregivers, churches and individuals at Bethany who have needed help.