ECV Staff

Josh seeks to introduce people to the living God, inside and outside of the church. Inspired by the ways God has been faithful to this community over the years, Josh endeavors to create a church culture where the Spirit has permission to give us lives that look more and more like Jesus. He has pursued this over the years as a pastor at ECV, a student at Yale, and a neighbor in New Haven, Kensington, and Edgewood. He has also worked with nearby prison and homeless ministries.

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Additionally, Josh serves as the Associate National Director of Evangelism and Justice with VineyardUSA.

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Through teaching and leading, Josh hopes to create communities which are responsive to the Spirit’s call that a different world is possible. Josh loves the work of justice but finds peace and mercy even more beautiful.

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As Lead Pastor, Josh seeks to lead the Church in rest, work, and play starting with the staff and moving out to the congregation. At the end of the day, he hopes that looks like growth, maturity, and family. He also hopes it will look like watching Star Wars, Marvel movies, or some other epic with strangers who have become family. Be warned. Josh laughs very loud at these movies (and, in general). He also has been known to have a theological thought or two about the plot!

As Associate Pastor and the newest member of the ECV pastoral team, Andy supports ECV’s mission by investing in the community of ECV leaders with a focus on holistic discipleship, spiritual formation, and pastoral care.

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Andy has worked as a pastor and in overseas missional contexts for more than 30 years in a range of roles and settings. Andy served in strategic leadership roles in a major international missions agency and lived with his family for 12 years in Central Asia. He and his wife, Kathryn, build “cup-of-sugar” Christian community wherever they go, seeking to make their home a relaxed, welcoming place, and to live in close community with others in service of the church and of the world. He and Kathryn were part of the band of co-conspirators who founded ECV in 2007.

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Most recently, Andy served on the staff of the Vineyard Church of Columbus, Ohio and led a community of leaders who helped hundreds of others grow into more deeply formational and missional lives in community with Jesus and his people, an effort represented in the publication of 12-for-12: A Practical Guide to a Year of Spiritual Formation in Community (Vineyard Columbus, 2024).

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In his role at the Elm City Vineyard, Andy equips and raises up new ECV leaders to grow in grace and maturity in their own life with Jesus and to help others do the same. Andy also speaks into the overall direction of the church and is a regular contributor on the teaching team.

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Andy holds a BA in Linguistics from the University of Chicago and an MA and PhD in Linguistics from THE Ohio State University.

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Andy has cut his own hair since 1991 (he’ll tell you the story of the last haircut he paid for if you ask him), carries two pebbles in his pocket at all times, has altogether too many books, loves obscure words, writes poetry, and is remarkably easy to tease. He and Kathryn have been married since 1982 and have four grown children and four grandchildren (and counting).

Kyanna oversees ECV family programs, ministries, and events such as Sprouts, Roots, yearly VBS,  and more. She also recruits and trains volunteers to become effective ministers within their roles.

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A New Jersey native, she attended Quinnipiac University and earned degrees in Sociology and Teaching in Elementary Education. She has worked as a New Haven Public Schools teacher and has collaborated with organizations such as the Boys and Girls Club and various neighborhood schools.

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Kyanna champions the practice of love—for God, oneself, and others and is passionate about creating opportunities for people to serve within and outside of our community including mealtrains, clothing drives, and more.

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She enjoys learning about people and has a knack for asking fun and interesting questions as displayed almost every Sunday before announcements when she provides an icebreaker for the whole church.

Charissa serves alongside Josh as the Executive Pastor, working diligently to shape the church's vision and make it a reality. In her role, she offers guidance to the staff, streamlines operational processes, and creates an environment where the team can thrive. With over 15 years of experience in various roles, including HR, communications, operations, and event planning, she is committed to empowering and equipping leaders within the church.

Charissa's recognition of the challenges that exist in today's world drives her deep desire to help individuals live out their divine calling and rise up to those challenges, embodying God's teachings and love in ways that transcend our complex cultural climate. She is committed to creating spaces where people can encounter God, build a strong sense of community, and connect with each other and with the Lord.

Outside of her role, Charissa enjoys exploring the world of cuisine as a self-proclaimed foodie, always on the lookout for the next culinary delight. She's also an avid waterfall enthusiast, never passing up the opportunity to take a refreshing dive and swim. And, with a heartfelt love for her home state, Charissa proudly declares her bias, considering California the epitome of beauty and greatness.

As the Pastor of Spirit and Word, Todd teaches and pastors folks in multiple spaces of prayer and theological formation at ECV.

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With a deep commitment to the local church as a place of transformation, equipping, and vocational discernment, Todd embraces the Vineyard value that "everyone gets to play"--a version of the Protestant emphasis on "the priesthood of all believers" (which, of course, goes back much further than that! cf. 1 Peter 2:9, Exod 19:5-6, a text which features in Todd's dissertation!)

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Todd believes that all people can learn to identify the voice and leading of the living God and find their place of belonging and ministry in the Body of Christ. He focuses on equipping people to partner with the Holy Spirit and supervises ECV interns.

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Born and raised in northeast Ohio, Todd's (slightly less than) average height and relative lack of speed, strength, and agility set him on a different path than his fellow West Akronite, 4-time NBA MVP LeBron James.

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A cradle Catholic, Todd fell in as a University of Chicago undergrad with a group of folks who expected to encounter a living God when they gathered in a way that he hadn't encountered before and soon found himself helping to plant the Hyde Park Vineyard. He’s been in the Vineyard--and some kind of ministry--ever since.

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Todd did an M.Div. at Princeton Theological Seminary, following which he moved to New Haven where he met his now-wife Michelle in a homegroup that would later grow into the Elm City Vineyard. After a short stint on the staff of the then-NYC Vineyard, Todd followed Michelle to San Diego and returned to New Haven just in time for the launch of the Elm City Vineyard as Todd started a Ph.D. program in Hebrew Bible at Union Theological Seminary in New York-- a program (successfully) concluded approximately a decade later with three kiddos added along the way.

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While in graduate school, Todd taught at Union as well as at Fordham and Sacred Heart Universities and after graduation has been a Lecturer in Hebrew Bible at Yale Divinity School in 2 different academic years.

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Todd joined the ECV pastoral staff in 2019 with a focus on caring for YDS students and others pursuing theological education in and around the Vineyard and equipping folks to partner with the Holy Spirit in ministry.

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Some of Todd's earliest theological questions concerned the fate of the Cleveland Browns; he still follows his beloved Guardians and Cavaliers and has, in his middle age, ultimately exchanged one sort of football fandom for another and adopted a Premier League club (YNWA). Todd loves reading (obviously), hiking, and shouting encouragingly (only encouragingly!) at his children’s baseball, basketball, and softball games.

Tina is ECV's Worship Pastor, First Lady and Church Mamá. She supervises all things related to musical worship; recruiting, training, and deploying musicians. She loves listening to people and also delighting in the Lord, both behind the scenes and in front of the church. Tina aggressively recruits worshippers and offers enthusiastic encouragement to those who are unsure of their own abilities.

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Classically trained in piano and having led worship in church contexts since high school, Tina has partnered with Vineyard Worship at a national level to record and release multiple worship records. She has co-written songs for “Vineyard Soul” and bilingual Vineyard projects.

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As a humanitarian immigration attorney with a Justice oriented law firm representing immigrants, Tina is committed to fighting for dignity of the lives of those who find themselves on the margins. She believes in the beauty of the Gospel as expressed through those lives and is committed to bringing those stories into the center of the ECV worship experience.

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Tina loves being a wife and a mother, late night hangouts, and key lime pie!