BUV Support Hub

REV DAVID DEVINE, HEAD OF CHURCH HEALTH & CAPACITY BUILDING

After a short career as an Accountant in the public sector, David obtained tertiary qualifications in Theology and Pastoral Ministry and was ordained by the South Australian Baptist Union. He served in Pastoral positions from 1988 to 2012, including as a Youth Pastor, Associate Pastor, Solo Pastor and Senior Pastor. His ministry contexts have included a large contemporary church, a revitalised traditional church and a church with extensive community engagement. For a number of years David served on the Baptist Union of Victoria’s Pastoral Leadership Selection Committee and Professional Standards Group. He was one of the authors of the BUV’s ‘Code of Ethics for Pastoral Leaders’. David serves as Chairman on the BUV’s Professional Standards Group, and is a member of the BUV Leadership Team.
Phone: (03) 9880 6100

BRENDA WILLIAMS, PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS CONSULTANT

Brenda has a BA in Psychology and a Bachelor of Social Work. She has experience in Child Protection and Foster Care. She served 12 years on BUV PSAG and has been part of the Leadership at her Church. Brenda has been in the Professional Standards Consultant role since its inception in 2004. The role involves: managing all misconduct complaints across the BUV Churches; consulting with pastors and church leaderships over abuse situations that arise in their congregations; consulting with members of congregations about complaint situations that arise; supporting the development of ethical policies and practices across the churches of the BUV; networking with other denominations around approaches and matters relating to professional standards (Member of the Victorian Professional Standards Group); and working with the BUV Professional Standards Group.
Brenda works on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and can be contacted at professional.standards@buv.com.au. If you have an urgent matter on the days Brenda is not working, please contact Rev David Devine on (03) 9880 6100.

REV MEEWON YANG, MULTICULTURAL CHURCH HEALTH CONSULTANT

Meewon Yang has first-hand experience over two decades of the challenges faced by first and second generation migrant Christians from culturally diverse backgrounds as they seek to find a spiritual home in Australia. She has been a pastor of a Korean language Baptist Church and also had many years’ experience in a culturally diverse congregation, Brunswick Baptist Church. This has put her in a good position to reflect on Gospel principles of hospitality and inclusion while also confronting some of the minefields in intercultural relations. It has brought into focus for her the importance of enabling people from Languages Other Than English (LOTE) backgrounds to find their voice in the life of churches in the BUV – an underlying theme in her Masters of Theology thesis ‘Ways of Being A Multicultural Church’ at Whitley College.
As a Multicultural Consultant, she is aiming to build health, governance and sustainability into LOTE congregations. Meewon has been a passionate advocate for asylum seekers and refugees and is heavily involved in issues of immigration and settlement, developing a means of providing loans for airfares and support for settlement. She pioneered a chaplaincy role at an asylum seeker house set up by Brunswick Baptist Church and then helped to establish the Sanctuary asylum seeker transitional housing project run by Baptcare. Meewon works Monday – Friday

REV MARK WILKINSON, CHURCH HEALTH CONSULTANT

Mark is married to Lyn and has two teenage children. He has been in Pastoral Ministry for over 30 years and served in churches large and small in Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales. He studied at an Under-graduate level in Victoria, Ordination studies in South Australia and Post-graduate in New South Wales. He loves the church in all its diversity recognising it takes “all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people”. Most recently Mark was at Werribee Baptist as Senior Pastor and still lives in the Western Suburbs of Melbourne. Mark works 4 days a week across Sunday-Thursday and is also a School Chaplain.

MARTIN BOUTROS, CHURCH HEALTH CONSULTANT

JESSEN YEOH, MULTICULTURAL CHURCH CONSULTANT

Jessen Yeoh originally trained as a civil & structural engineer.  He has more than 20 years of experience in coaching organisations. Throughout his career, he has worked in a variety of roles such as Principal Advisor, Operational Excellence Manager, Technical Manager, Certification Manager, assessor, consultant and trainer in Asia, China and Australasia regions.

Before joining the BUV, Jessen served as Pastor for NewHope Baptist Church Chinese Ministry and lectured on “Leading & Managing Christian Ministries and Missions” for the Bible College of Malaysia. As the BUV’s new Multicultural Church Consultant, Jessen is hoping to support our LOTE churches to improve ministries efficiency & effectiveness and to assist them in equipping ministry leaders to realise their full potential. Jessen works on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

PETER BOTROSS, CHURCH HEALTH CONSULTANT

Peter has been married to Suzie since 1994. They have three children; a young adult and two teenagers. Peter has served in the capacity of a Church Planter, an Associate Pastor and Senior Pastor in two Victorian Baptist churches since 2005. As a qualified teacher, Peter is passionate about discipleship and equipping disciplers in the local church. He graduated from a Doctorate in Education in 2016 and is currently completing his Doctorate in Ministry, investigating how Baptist churches equip disciplers to support their adult members’ spiritual development. Peter works on Tuesday and Wednesday.

CHARLENE DELOS SANTOS, MULTICULTURAL 2^ND GEN COORDINATOR AND ADMINISTRATION ASSISTANT

Charlene was born in the Philippines and moved to Naarm (Melbourne) at a young age. As a 1.5-2^nd generation migrant, Charlene seeks to support other 2^nd generation young people and emerging leaders in the BUV’s LOTE churches. As part of her role with the BUV, she coordinates the Multicultural Ignite conferences, retreats, and training events.

Charlene holds a Bachelor of Social Science (Youth Work) and Grad Dip in Theology from Whitley College. Previous roles have been the Director of Surrender Co. and Metro West Schools Ministry Coordinator at Scripture Union Victoria. She is married to Michael, and they live in St Albans and they both enjoy cooking and eating delicious food!

In addition to her Multicultural 2nd Generation Consultant role, Charlene has an additional role as Administration Assistant to the Mission Catalyst and Church Health and Capacity Building teams. You can contact Charlene on (03) 9880 6100 if you require assistance from our Mission Catalyst Team.

VICKY DYER, SAFE CHURCH CONSULTANT

Vicky Dyer has a passion for supporting churches to become safer, more welcoming and more inclusive. She was initially called to social work, believing that all people are created by God, loved by God and therefore valuable. She has more recently enjoyed working in the Christian world, being able to be open about her love of Jesus in her professional life. As a parent of three young children, combined with social work, she has experience of supporting and advocating for various groups of vulnerable people. Vicky loves people and also loves forms. She values OH&S, developing and putting into practice policies and procedures. She has experience of working in a church as well as volunteering in a number of lay ministries. Vicky works Monday morning, Tuesday and Friday. If you have any questions regarding Creating Safe Spaces (CSS) – formerly Safe Church Awareness or Refresher Workshops – please contact her at safechurch@buv.com.au or on (03) 9880 6145.