Bill & Elaine Zwartbol – Pastor
Bill is a community-oriented lead pastor at Free Grace Fellowship in Lethbridge. He has sought to bring spiritual and pastoral leadership to this local church since 2005 and seeks to release and activate people into their Godly destiny. By being a certified Strategic Life Alignment Consultant, Bill helps people discover and fulfill their life purpose. www.strategieswork.com
Bill has a deep passion for God, which flows into his world view and how he approaches ministry. His conviction is that Christians, as citizens of the Kingdom of God, are to promote and impact their culture with the Kingdom of God. His motivation and involvement in the city at large flows out of his concern for social injustices that impact individuals. He seeks to live by the motto “See the hurt, hurt no more”.
Because of his desire to serve the people God has called him to serve, he works effectively with diverse groups and volunteers, both in the church and the community at large. Prior to pastoring, Bill and Elaine owned a dairy farm in B.C. for 14 years.
Bill and Elaine married in 1982. They have 6 children, 10 grandchildren, and serve as foster parents. They are grateful to live among all their children and grandchildren in southern Alberta.
Neil & Margaret Slingerland – Elder
Neil and Margaret Slingerland have a passion to help people find their life purpose and to help them see their worth as citizens of the Kingdom of God. To this end, they work tirelessly and invest generously to serve their family, church family, employees, and friends. Both Neil and Margaret are certified Strategic Life Alignment Consultants.
Both Neil and Margaret are lifelong residents of the farming communities of southern Alberta. From his earliest days, Neil has worked in the farming, feedlot and the grain commodity businesses. Neil spent much of his early employment farming with his father and managing his own feedlot during the winter months. For five years, he worked at the Parklake Feeders – a 4000-head feedlot – and managed his own personal 2000-head feedlot. In 1991, Neil accepted a position as manager of Double “O” Feeders Ltd. in Vauxhall, Alberta. During his 3.5 years there, managing the 6000-head feedlot, he honed his management skills and developed his knowledge of the beef business.
In 1996, Neil saw the need and potential of the grain merchandising business. He founded Newco Commodities Ltd. in Coaldale in 1997. As Neil developed his career, Margaret focused her time on the family and training young ladies in Christian values.
Neil and Margaret have been married since 1986 and have eight children, of which three are married, and nine grandchildren. They reside just north of Lethbridge.
Graham & Sherry Bretherick – Elder
Graham is the President of Run Free Ministries and, along with Sherry, serves the Body of Christ, locally, nationally and internationally. He teaches seminars, trains biblical counsellors, and conducts workshops that are theologically and psychologically based. Currently, his passion is to train up Christian counsellors in the church and he has done so in Canada, India, Kenya, China, and the Philippines.
After moving to Lethbridge in 1977, Graham worked at Lethbridge College for 15 years as a psychology instructor and chairman of the counselling department. He was also employed at Crossroads Counselling Centre in Lethbridge for five years as a therapist, where he developed several workshops. He was also the pastor of Northside Christian Fellowship for 27 years. Graham has undergraduate degrees in theology and sociology, a graduate degree in counselling psychology, and has been a registered psychologist since 1981
Graham has also been privileged to have Duane Harder as his spiritual father, who has been an invaluable resource and support to Graham by challenging him to search the Word of God and plumb its depths for wisdom and understanding regarding the call of God on his life. As a result of this input and coaching, Graham has studied the Bible to see what it has to say about life issues.
Graham and Sherry met in 1970 in Calgary and married in 1974. They have three sons living in Lethbridge, two of whom are married and they have six grandchildren living nearby. Their other two married children live in England, as do five more grandchildren.
Bert & Carolin Van Hierden – Elder
Bert has a passion for business and has been involved in starting several businesses in different countries. His desire is to see the Kingdom of God grow in the marketplace. Bert sees the marketplace as a strategic place to develop Christian leaders, and to impact communities.
Bert and Carolin were married in 1983. They have seven children, four of whom are married, and 14 grandchildren.