Our Team
Jim Agrell - Lead Pastor
Pastor Jim and Diane have been serving Encounter Church for over 2 years. He is from Maine and met Diane while serving in the United States Air Force in upstate New York. They married over 36 years ago and have raised five boys and now have 9 grandchildren.
Pastor Jim has been in pastoral ministry for over 30 years having served in several of our Atlantic District Wesleyan churches. He has pastored in both our smallest and largest churches on the District. His first love is to shepherd the people of God through the local church. He has also served as the District Missions Director for several years and has visited and been part of missions’ ministry in 22 countries. He and Diane have a great desire to see the kingdom of God advance in the hearts of His children and also in the local church.
FAITH WASHINGTON - ASSISTANT PASTOR
Faith has been living in Sussex for the last three years. In June of 2022, Faith joined our pastoral team at Encounter Church after finishing her degree at Kingswood University. Before Fath attended Kingswood University in Sussex, she attended Elim Bible Insitute in Lima, New York. While at Elim Bible Institute, Faith studied theology while having a passion for being a prayer team leader on campus and helping those around her stay focused on the importance of prayer.
In the last 6 years, Faith has been involved in ministry in Canada and the US. At Encounter Church. Faith is heavily involved with the volunteer, worship and tech ministries that happen every week. She’s getting the opportunity to work with other pastors and learn, lead, and grow from opportunities to lead as a pastor.
Faith’s greatest prayer for Encounter is to see the church continue to grow in more than just passion and love but in dedication and commitment to Jesus. And by doing that, grow in passion to see others come to know Jesus. Faith would say, “Essentially, I’m passionate about the growing and the going of the Encounter church vision.”
Rod Guptill - Frontline Ministeries
Rod started out in Civil Engineering at the University of New Brunswick, however soon after he surrendered his life to Christ he enrolled at Kingswood University and graduated with his B.A. in Religion in 1981. After planting a church in Brampton, he and Joy (Silfwerbrand) KU ’80, served with Global Partners for the next 22 years as missionaries in Colombia and as a Regional Director for the Hispanic Caribbean area. Rod served as lead pastor of Woods Harbour Wesleyan Church in Southwest Nova Scotia for eight years. Presently Rod also works at Kingswood University as Campus Pastor and with Alumni. Their three children, Heather(Jeff Vitaris) Greenville, SC - AJ (Shea) Quispamsis, NB and David (Cheyenne) Havelock, NB are all grown and married and provide 3 wonderful grandkids to spoil and dote on.
Joy Guptill - Women’s Ministry
Joy has been involved in ministry since she was a teenager and she really fell in love with Jesus. Since then, whether living in Canada or the other countries God has taken her to she has always loved to help people connect with God and with each other. She loves working with Women and seeing them grow in their faith and become all God created them to be. Hospitality is something she is passionate about and she wants to help others see the ministry opportunities that are provided when we open our hearts, homes and church doors to others. She gets great joy from planning our Encounter church events and seeing people connect with each other and Jesus as a result.
Drew Donovan - Youth Ministries
Rev Drew Donovan has been leading youth and students for over 22 years all over the world. Serving primarily in Canada, New Zealand and the United States. He is now the professor and director of Youth & Family and Children & Family ministry at Kingswood University and volunteers as the youth pastor of Encounter church leading a team of students. This is an intentional integration of education and experience designed to minister to local youth while training and equipping leaders for ministry. Drew is married to Amy and has two children, Niah and Elias. As a family they love to train in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu where Drew coaches children’s and adults. The whole family loves to snowboard/ski at our local hill and Drew is an avid outdoorsman and passionate about outdoor adventure. Drew is currently a student of Asbury Theological Seminary seeking to complete his Doctor of Ministry degree in preaching and leading and loves to learn and write.
AMy Donovan - Children’s Ministry
Amy's participation in the life and ministry of the church began as a child and she has seen the value of ministry to the next generation, firsthand. She studied and completed her BA in Christian Education from Kingswood University and her MA in Community Counselling from Indiana Wesleyan University. Amy has served in a large variety of ministry roles in multiple countries as a Missionary, Worship Leader, Church Administrator, Youth Ministry Leader, and Children's Ministry Director. Amy has been married to and ministering alongside Pastor Drew since 2005 and they have two children, Niah and Elias. Their desire is to be a family who follows Christ and ministers together supporting families while encouraging and equipping them to do the same.