Meet the team.
Ashley Clark
Board Chair
Ashley is a founding board member of One Hundred Shares Houston, an evangelical giving circle for women focused on poverty issues. Ashley also serves on the board of directors for National Christian Foundation Houston, is a member-at-large of the Texas Exes at the University of Texas, and tutors at a Houston elementary school. Ashley obtained a B.S. in Organizational Communication from the University of Texas. She and her husband George have 2 adult children and live in Houston, where they are members of Christ the King Presbyterian Church.
Les Newsom
Vice-Chair
Les is the Lead Pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Oxford, MS. A native of Memphis, TN, Les graduated from Reformed Theological Seminary in 1994. Soon afterwards, he planted the RUF chapter at The University of Memphis, his alma mater. In 1999, he moved to Oxford, MS to be the RUF Campus Minister at Ole Miss. In 2011, he became an RUF Area Coordinator for the Midsouth region. In 2018, he took the call to be the Lead Pastor at Christ Presbyterian Church. He has three children: Anna Grace (’99), Caroline (’01), and Luke (’04).
Mike Alston
Compliance Officer
Mike has been a commercial litigator for more than thirty years and is currently a partner in the Chattanooga office of Husch Blackwell LLP. He received his law degree from Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Alabama in 1989 after graduating from Texas A&M University with a business management degree. He and his wife of twenty years, Lynnette, have three children and are members of First Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga.
Ron Jones
Treasurer
Ron is the President of SouthEast Bank in Chattanooga, TN. Originally from Birmingham, Al, he received his undergraduate degree from Samford University and later his MBA from University of Tennessee in Chattanooga. He and Lynn have been married for 30+ years and have four sons and a daughter. They reside on Signal Mountain, just outside of Chattanooga and attend First Presbyterian Church, Chattanooga .
John Trapp
Secretary
John is the Senior Pastor of Christ the King Presbyterian Church in Houston, TX. Originally from Alabama, John graduated from Vanderbilt University where he was heavily involved in RUF. He then served on staff at Christ the King from 2008-2014 as the Director of Children and Student Ministries,. In 2014, John moved to Austin, TX to attend Redeemer Theological Seminary. He graduated in 2016 with an MDiv. and then served as the RUF Campus Minister at the University of Texas before coming back to CTK in 2021. John and his wife, Chrissy, have five children.
Cyril Chavis, Jr.
Member
Rev. Cyril Chavis, Jr. is the RUF Campus Minister at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Cyril grew up in Virginia Beach, VA. He graduated from the University of Virginia with a BA in Religious Studies in 2013, and graduated from Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson with a MDIV in 2017. Cyril served RUF at Jackson State in several different capacities - as an intern, campus associate, and campus pastor - from 2014 to 2019 before moving to Howard. Cyril and his wife Jenell live in D.C. and have 3 young children.
Kurt Cooper
Member
Kurt is the Minister to Youth at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Montgomery, AL. Kurt was born in Charleston, South Carolina, but calls Tupelo, Mississippi, his hometown. Kurt received a B.A. in business administration from Mississippi State University, and his M.Div. from Reformed Theological Seminary. He is married to Marty, also from Tupelo, and they have two sons, Campbell and Grayson.
Brent Corbin
Member
Brent serves as the Executive Director for RYM. Brent worked in investment banking for a time before entering into full-time ministry. Soon after getting married, Brent and Sarah moved to Charlotte, NC where Brent attended Reformed Theological Seminary (MDiv, '10) and Sarah practiced Physical Therapy. After graduating, Brent worked with RUF for 12yrs, first as a Campus Minister, then as an Area Coordinator. Brent and Sarah live with their 4 daughters (Nora Kline, Katherine, Mary, and Margaret) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
David Duren
Member
David, a native of Houston, is a graduate from Texas A&M University with degrees in both Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science. Currently he serves as the CEO & Founder of Kinected Energy Solutions, LLC and Circon Energy, LLC. David serves on the Session and Governance Commission of Christ the King Presbyterian Church in Houston, TX,, as well as the Leadership Council for the Association of Former Students and Director for the Industrial Distribution Board of Advisors at Texas A&M University. David and his wife Gretchen have been married 25 years and are parents to five children.
Scott Lowe
Member
Scott spent nearly three decades in ministry involved in church startups and leadership development, most recently as a senior pastor in Fort Collins, CO. He has also served on a number of nonprofit boards and co-founded Restoration Now, a nonprofit involved in local and global development. In 2019, Scott moved into the marketplace to work as a real estate broker and a leadership coach to business owners, nonprofit directors, and pastors. He and his wife of twenty-five years have a son in college and a daughter in high school.
Preston Sartelle
Member
Preston is the Founding Principal of RockBridge Group, a firm that specializes in both estate planning and institutional insurance transactions. Preston is an RYM alumni, and attended his first conference at the age of 3 in 1980. A graduate of Washington & Lee University, Preston obtained a degree in Accounting and is a CFA charter-holder. He is married to Kristin, and they have three children. The Sartelles are members of Christ the King Presbyterian Church in Houston, TX.
Jennifer VanLoh
Member
Jennifer is a Houston native and attended UT and Baylor College of Medicine. She has worked as a Physicians Assistant and on staff at her church, Christ the King Presbyterian, as its membership coordinator. Jennifer is married to Wil, and together with several other couples, started the Kingdom Giving Fund - a way to give together as a means to fund larger scale projects. Jennifer has served on the boards of National Christian Foundation (Houston) and One Hundred Shares, and enjoys leading and attending Bible Studies each week. Jennifer and Wil have 3 grown daughters and 2 grandchildren.
John Marino
Member
John and his wife Julie, along with their three daughters ages 17, 13, 6 live most of the year in Tulsa, OK, but like to escape to the North Carolina mountains during the summer. After attending Covenant College, John worked in various software and technology industries, primarily on the private equity side. John and his family are members at RiverOaks Presbyterian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Ben Melchers
Member
Ben lives in Palo Alto, CA and is a pastor on staff at Grace Presbyterian Church of Silicon Valley, where he directs GraceTeens - the youth ministry of the church. Ben is a graduate of Clemson University and Reformed Theological Seminary, and has been involved with RYM for nearly 15 years in many different intern capacities and now as a participant in and contributor to RYM Training and Conference events.
Linda Oliver
Member
Linda lives in Orlando, FL and has done student ministry for about 13 years in different capacities across TN, AL, GA, and FL - everything from intern to Assistant Director to Director, in both EPC and PCA churches. Linda is a graduate of Lee University and Birmingham Theological Seminary, and has been involved with RYM in different capacities since 2016. Linda is a member at Orangewood PCA in Orlando, FL.
Craig Dunlap
Member
Craig, along with his wife Amy and their four kids (15, 13, 10, 6) live in Dallas, TX. Craig attended Vanderbilt University for college, and after working in promotional product marketing for over 10yrs, now owns a company that provides outsourced employees in the Philippines for companies based in the USA. Craig and his family are members at Park Cities Presbyterian Church in Dallas.
Lanier Wood
Member
Lee Tyner
Member
Lanier, along with his wife Leslie and their 3 kids (15, 13, 9), lives in Mobile, AL where he serves as the Executive Pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church (EPC) in Mobile, AL. Lanier attended Furman University and Covenant Theological Seminary, and has worked in several pastoral roles including founding the RUF work at the University of South Alabama in Mobile. Lanier has long attend RYM’s Training and Conference events and has been a tremendous encouragement to many on the RYM staff for years.
Lee and his wife Susan live in Fort Worth, TX, and have 5 adult kids (who he thinks have all been to an RYM conference at least once). Lee holds degrees from Ole Miss and the University of Virginia, and serves as the General Counsel at Texas Christian University. Lee is an elder at Trinity Presbyterian in Fort Worth, where his wife serves as the Women’s Ministry director. Before moving to Fort Worth, the Tyners lived and worked in Oxford, MS for many years.