| Our Staff - The Pastors |
Sándor Paull Lead Pastor
spaull@vinecommunitychurch.com
Before getting to the introduction, let’s clear up the pronunciation matter. Sándor is pronounced “Shawn-door,” not “First name Shawn, last name Door,” not “Sander", as in belt sander. Now you can correctly pronounce his name as you read the rest of his bio. Sándor is the top dog, big kahuna, head honcho, grande espresso. He’s really humble though so you probably won’t want to call him “Top Dog Sándor.” He’s the big-picture, long-term vision guy around here and yet he still retains the small picture ability to catch every minute detail. He’s so big picture, his friends call him IMAX yet still so small picture his other friends call him 2.5” LCD Screen. His wife Amanda calls him hubby. His daughter Faith and his son Jonathon call him daddy.
Mike Berardi Children's Pastor, Friday Discipleship Community
mberardi@vinecommunitychurch.com
When we started our search for the perfect Pastor of Children, a number of characteristics were on our list. In Mike Berardi we found someone who met the number one criteria – rock hard abs. Mike’s record for number of ab crunches in one sitting is roughly equal to the number of grains of rice he eats each day for lunch – 5,400. Aside from being a workout fanatic, Mike is extraordinarily dedicated to making sure we have the best thing going for kids. He oversees the program for kids from the nursery through junior high. Since Mike married Crystal in March, 2005 he has slightly lost his 6 pack but gained a 7 year old son, Cyrus, and a newer addition, Cayman, born in August 2006.
Steve Dame Staff Pastor - Alpha, Special Events, Tuesday Discipleship Community
sdame@vinecommunitychurch.com
Rearrange the letters in this man’s name to come up with “Deve Stame”, which we all know is Portuguese for “a pastor of the awesome kind”. Steve is no longer a college student. He does not drink coffee. He is not a big fan of large events. That is why he oversees our college student worship night (Upper Room), the coffee team, and all of our large events planning. See…those Portuguese never lie. Truthfully, Steve is great at all he does, including leading one of our Tuesday Discipleship Communities. Coincidentally, Steve’s wife happens to be Portuguese. Her name? Darah Stame.
Greg Darling Staff Pastpr – Administration, Wednesday Discipleship Community
gdarling@vinecommunitychurch.com
Greg set a record in 2007 for most sermon illustrations involving trout fishing with 47. He preaches once a month at the Wednesday Discipleship Community...You do the math. When he’s not talking about trout fishing, he’s trout fishing. Actually, he doesn’t get to do much trout fishing anymore as he’s around the office being amazingly helpful and productive. Greg and his wife Jennifer have been productive in the child-making department as well. The result – Joshua, Anna, Caleb, and Nathan.
Josh Franklin Jr High / High School
jfranklin@vinecommunitychurch.com
Josh is a bear of a man. No really. He was bitten by a bear as a child and now has to take a small daily dose of antibiotics to keep the transformation at bay. That’s why we trust him so much with our youth. His instincts are second to none. His care and commitment to Jr. High and High School students is exceptional. Need proof? Just ask the 2008 state softball champion Cobden Appleknockers how committed Josh was as their coach. To top it all off, he can pick up your scent from 250 yards away. Josh and his wife Brittney have 3 great kids, Noah, Tyler, and Natalie.
Aaron Kuhnert Staff Pastor – Group Life, Monday Discipleship Community
akuhnert@vinecommunitychurch.com
Aaron is simply boring.* He’s a pastor here. Moving right along… His wife Courtney is far more interesting. So interesting in fact, that we would not be able to fit all of the interesting things about her in the space allotted on this webpage. Interestingly, Aaron and Courtney are the proud parents of 2 adorable boys.
*Thank you to those of you concerned for Aaron’s feelings. We would like you to know that not only did he approve of this bio, he wrote it himself. He thinks it’s funny. It’s not really serious. We actually like him. Although, if you still feel bad for him, you can feel free to send him a card. On the card you can write "Aaron – I am sorry the rest of the staff doesn’t like you. I think you’re pretty alright."
Jami Moore Pastor of Thursday Discipleship Community
jmoore@vinecommunitychurch.com
Jami Moore was born in 1927 in Stockwell, England, the son of a policeman. He broke into the film business in an uncredited role in the 1945 film Perfect Strangers. He continued to receive minor roles until he hit it big as Sean Connery’s replacement in the 1973 James Bond film, Live and Let Die. He continued in that role as a womanizing secret agent until 1985, making him the longest running James Bond actor. Sir Jami Moore was knighted in June 2003. Oh wait, that’s Roger Moore. Jami Moore wasn’t knighted until August 2007. He now works full-time at SIU and is also our Thursday Discipleship Community pastor. He met his wife Tara on the set of The Man With the Golden Gun. They have two sons, Drew and Dylan.
Dan Reedy Pastor of Tuesday Discipleship Community
dreedy@vinecommunitychurch.com
Which DC pastor speaks Japanese, is a human computer, designed this website, and once knocked a guy out at a punk rock concert by elbowing him in the head? If you said Dan Reedy then just stop reading his bio because you already know him well. Here's an interesting twist that you might not know – the guy he elbowed in the head is now his wife, Lauren. That last line is not true – Lauren could never be knocked out. Lauren is actually an excellent stay-at-home mom to Ashton and Tess while Dan is busy working full-time as a "computer something" at SIU and leading one of our Tuesday Discipleship Communities.
Michael Stephens Staff Pastor - Ministry to the Poor, Hospitality Team, and Impact Groups
mstephens@vinecommunitychurch.com
Not un-cool. Never non-funny. Isn’t un-dashing in appearance. All double negatives that describe the triple positives of Mike Stephens. We decided that someone as cool, funny, and dashing as Mike should probably be a pastor so we hired him. Plus, he meets the requirements of 1 Timothy 3:1-7 pretty well, so he’s got that going for him. Mike oversees our Ministry to the Poor, Hospitality Team, and Impact Groups. He is an all-around great guy who can’t help causing you to smile whenever you’re around him. That’s probably why his wife Casheena is smiling so often. Either that or their four great kids Michael, Jalen, Gabriel and Jasmine are to be blamed for the regular smiling.
Noble Staley Associate Pastor - Hospitality Team
nstaley@vinecommunitychurch.com
This man has a glass eye. Try and guess which one. Ok…not true. He doesn’t have a glass eye. It’s a special space-age polymer. But his heart really is made of gold. Because of that golden heart, Noble excels at making people feel welcome around here. Hence the reason he has been put in charge of the hospitality team at the Vine. He is also in charge of a handful of other duties…those of the top secret kind. Not even Noble knows what he’s in charge of. Noble and his wife Lynnette have 3 daughters, Emma, Kate, and Anna. Thankfully, the space-age eye wasn’t hereditary…but the heart of gold sure was.
