Foundation 2016 Presenters
Dr. David Vaughan
Currently, David is Pastor of Liberty Church, Director of Liberty Leadership Institute and President of Liberty Classical Center.
In addition to these ongoing activities, Dr. Vaughan also addresses current and biblical issues through writing and speaking. He is a host of the Encounter Program (KSIV 1320 AM). His articles have appeared in various national publications and he has also authored several books.
He holds the B. S. in Education, majoring in History, and the M. A. in Political Science from the University of Missouri; as well as the D. A. and Ph. D. degrees from Whitefield Theological Seminary.
David and his wife Diane have four children, Hannah, Lydia, Ethan and Adam.
Hannah Vaughan
Hannah is a lover of Jesus, music, justice, mercy, creation, people, culture, and coffee. She is most passionate about worshipping Jesus and making Him known. She graduated in 2012 from UM-St. Louis where she studied sociology, languages, and dance. She currently lives in St. Louis where she is pursuing a Master’s of Religion and Cultures at Covenant Theological Seminary.
Hannah oversees the worship ministry at Liberty Church and helps facilitate outreaches to the homeless population of St. Louis. As of this year, she is also serving as a regular worship leader for the Ferguson Prayer Room. Hannah has served Jesus in Belize, Haiti, India, and Malawi as well as many urban outreach ministries in the U.S. and looks forward to the places the Lord will take her overseas in the future.
Dr. Michael Bond
Michael was saved in 1995 while attending the University of Missouri-Columbia. He immediately dove into ministry, serving with St. Louis Teens For Christ as their Jr. High Director and their Office Administrator.
Feeling called into full-time vocational ministry, Michael attended Covenant Theological Seminary for further biblical training, receiving his Masters of Divinity from Covenant Theological Seminary in 2000. Michael then went on to earn his doctorate from Whitefield Theological Seminary in 2009.
Michael started attending Liberty as a member shortly after it began in 1996. In 2004 when the opportunity arose to come on staff as the Office Administrator, Michael quickly took it. Shortly thereafter he was ordained as deacon in the church, a capacity he served in until he was ordained as an elder/pastor in 2010. He has also served as the Latin professor at Liberty Classical Center since 2000.
Justus Witty
Justus has been a part of Liberty since 2001. After serving in the youth ministry for many years, Justus became the Director of youth ministry at Liberty. He also serves as the office administrator and is a part of the audio/visual ministry, missions ministry, and several other church ministries.
Justus recently graduated college with his Bible degree and has been ordained as an elder at Liberty Church.
Rob Welch
Following God’s call to ministry, Rob left a career in business in 2002. In 2004, Rob received his Master’s Degree in Missions from Wheaton College. While he was at Wheaton, the Lord confirmed Rob’s call as an evangelist and Rob was ordained. From 2004 to 2007 Rob served as Evangelist-in-Residence at the Billy Graham Center. During this time, Rob organized For His Glory. While studying a world map, Rob received a vision for the ministry: “One World, One Lord, One Gospel.”
Rob’s passion is to proclaim Christ to hurting people throughout the world where the harvest is ripe. He has led festivals in many locations internationally, and ministers locally in churches, jails and other venues. Ministering in 12 countries, Rob has proclaimed the Good News of Jesus Christ to over one million people since 2006, seeing over 220,000 people make commitments for Christ. Rob’s prayer is for the Lord to use For His Glory as a catalyst for launching disciple making movements that transform nations for Christ. Rob and his wife, Emily, live in the St. Louis area with their three young children, John, Violet and David.
Dr. Greg Perry
Dr. Perry came to Covenant Seminary in 2003, following over ten years of ministry in local churches and on the mission field. While teaching theology in Australia, Dr. Perry chaired a task force to assess and support Australian church planters. He has also served on pastoral church staffs in Atlanta and Northern Virginia, working with small groups, pastoral care, and ministry to single adults.
Dr. Perry has been involved in several creative nonprofit ministries seeking to embody the Gospel while addressing social challenges in urban Atlanta and D.C. He is currently a board member of Third Millennium, an organization created to bring theological education to church leaders in the developing world. Dr. Perry has a heart to disciple students in creative cultural applications of the Gospel, which he carries out through the Seminary’s City Ministry Initiative.
Jonathan (JT) Thomas
Jonathan Tremaine Thomas was raised in the southern foothills of western North Carolina along with his brother, worship leader Jaye Thomas. As a fourth generation “preacher’s kid”, and the grandnephew of the late jazz/blues legend Dr. Nina Simone; Jonathan represents a unique blending of artistic history and divine calling.
After earning a B.S. Communications at East Carolina University and pursuing an M.A. in Intercultural Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary; Jonathan was commissioned in 2003 as a missionary to the most violent neighborhoods in Nashville, TN. While serving in these communities, he was personified as Tony in the 2006 Sony Pictures film The Second Chance. In this context, Jonathan began to employ his theatrical, film, and media production skills to equip and encourage young people through a nonprofit creative company called EastGate Studios.
As an entrepreneur, Jonathan is the President of Uproot Media, LLC. He also works as an actor, host, and voiceover talent; having appeared with prominent roles in two feature films and over 100 television commercials, industrial videos, and radio ads.
As a missionary and prayer mobilizer, Jonathan has served on the pastoral leadership teams of three new church plants and spearheaded extensive prayer and repentance meetings. He directs prayer fueled evangelism, discipleship, community transformation, and racial reconciliation initiatives in the Ferguson, Missouri area.
Jonathan currently resides in St. Louis, MO with his wife Mollie and their young daughter.
Diane Vaughan, R.N.
Diane is a lover of God’s Church and has served as a Pastor’s wife along side her husband, David, for nearly 27 years at Liberty. As the Women’s Ministry Director, she headed up women’s conferences, prayer meetings and bible studies instructing women to embrace biblical womanhood. She has spoken at other women’s venues besides her local church, spoke at prolife rally’s and even testified before a congressional committee at the State Capitol. Diane has published articles on women’s topics and is co-author of The Beauty of Modesty, Cultivating Virtue in the Face of a Vulgar Culture with her husband, David.
Besides serving at her local church, Diane teaches Health Class at Liberty Classical Center and also lectures periodically in Health Classes at the St. Charles Community College. She is a firm believer in physical fitness, has participated in numerous triathlons and completed a half marathon.
In recent years, Diane has heeded God’s call on her life as a Registered Nurse to serve in the prolife arena. As the Regional Nurse Manager for ThriVe St. Louis, one of the largest Pregnancy Medical Centers in the nation, she is helping women make life-affirming and healthy sexual choices nearly every day. She jump-started the STD testing and treatment program at ThriVe which serves a huge need to the community given the fact that St. Louis has some of the highest STD rates in the nation. Performing ultrasounds at ThriVe to introduce mothers to their unborn baby, sharing God’s plan for sexuality and giving the gospel to her patients is by far the most rewarding job she has ever had as a nurse. But her calling as a mother and wife is what she prizes and delights in the most!
Diane believes that God can use anyone who is surrendered and willing to be available for His purposes. She is living proof of the truth of 1Corinthians 1: 26—29 which says that God has chosen the foolish, the weak, and the despised. Her highest aim is to glorify God in every area of her life!