THE PASTORAL TEAM
Greg Stigter, Shelagh Ryan and Russ Ixer
Our desire is to bring everyone into maturity as sons and daughters through discovering and embracing their glorious identity in Him and releasing them in their God given destiny.
We have been called as a team to model the reckless heart of God and to represent one family united in the Father, Son and Spirit.
In worship services, and private ‘cave’ sessions Russ (pianist, vocalist), Shelagh (‘lyrician’) and Greg (guitarist, vocalist) have modelled a new genre of spontaneous song interspersed with spoken word which traverses from gentle soaking into a more dynamic realm of interaction in God’s Presence.
Greg Stigter, Shelagh Ryan, Russ Ixer
Greg and Mindy Stigter
Greg and his wife, Mindy have been instrumental in establishing New Life Baptist Church’s DNA that’s real, transparent and authentic. They have been married for over 30 years with 4 children and 3 grandchildren. Greg is a visionary as well as a door-keeper (i.e. not a door blocker) through his visioning, preaching, teaching, pastoring and worship leading. His gifts include singer, songwriter, author, translator and inventor.
Greg has brought extraordinary vision and passion to the church. He is a courageous and fearless pioneer. Greg has a unique way of encouraging all those he comes into contact with, relationship being uppermost. As a true shepherd his heart is to open doors and empower each person to step up into their destiny not only individually but corporately. Greg’s extraordinary and gifted songwriting and singing opens portals of ecstatic worship at a depth and uniqueness that few have entered into before. However, his ministry, which also includes powerful teaching and preaching, goes way beyond the local church to our aboriginal brothers and sisters and numerous communities throughout the world.
Revelation upon revelation. He’s also a highly creative individual. He’s a prolific songwriter, an author and an inventor. In his written songs as well as his ecstatic singing, as the heart of King David, he lets his heart go where many, including angels, fear to tread.
Through Greg, God has and continually redefines what it means to be and do church.
Shelagh Ryan
Shelagh’s heart is to draw people experientially into the passionate heart of the Bridegroom King through worship, preaching, teaching and relationship. And to discover the prodigal heart of the Father and the wildly furious love of the Holy Spirit for every man, woman and child. To make known our glorious identity in Him, living entwined in the very heart of God Himself. And to reveal that He has always been for us and has forever covenanted us to Himself through the Cross. Encouraging Family to honour and serve one another in love, thereby enabling us to reach the wider community with an authentic outworking of the Gospel message.
An overcomer in the face of adversity. That’s how I would describe Shelagh. Shelagh’s heart reflects her passion for intimacy with her ‘pearl of great price,’ Jesus.
A dynamic and powerful preacher, Shelagh will challenge her listeners to go deeper and yield more to God’s unending love, no matter the price. Shelagh will take unutterable heavenly revelations and exquisitely weave them into a language we can all understand. She helps us catch a greater image of heaven.
Shelagh is a precious ‘thesaurus’ who speaks pearls, gems and costly stones into people’s lives from the treasury of God’s heart whether one to one or as a ‘lyrician’ in the midst of a meeting. She is a flipping fireball of love that like the proverbial snowball increases in size until everyone around is caught up in the avalanche of God’s radical affection and the roar of His passion.
But above all she is a person transfixed. Wide-eyed. Undone. Silent. Before the Lamb.
Russ Ixer
Russ is married to his amazing sweetheart Sharon. He’s also New Life’s music director. His heart is to see people reach their full potential in their relationship with God and thus full maturity in their identity and purpose. He’s a trained opera singer and pianist, and he’s involved in various music projects including recording all 150 Psalms. He also loves working with Greg and Shelagh as a creative and leadership team.
Russ brings a deep contemplative spirit to the team. He has personally learned to walk out the soul journey closely with the Father. Russ refuses to play religious games, not as a reaction but because he so wants to be authentic in His relationship with God and others. From this place he ministers to people with words of wisdom that unlock people to their true identity and destiny.
Thank you Greg for expressing all that we feel and know about this precious and mighty man of God. Russ brings the roar of God’s fiery heart which explodes and smashes earthly paradigms and we are swept up as one Body worshipping with all of Heaven and all of Creation. But Russ is not only an exceptional musician, he carries the passionate heart for relationship as well as evangelism which goes way beyond the confines of church.
His humility, authenticity and infectious joy open up healing doors for everyone he comes into contact with. He is a true worshipper in every sense of the word and such an integral part of the leadership and family of New Life. What a privilege to walk alongside you and Greg!