Pastoral Leadership Support & Development Team
The Pastoral Leadership Support & Development team’s aim is to support and develop healthy pastoral leaders and empower them to lead their churches in mission.
P: (03) 9880 6122
E: pastoral.support@buv.com.au
Rev Jonathan Stark, Head of Pastoral Leadership Support & Development
Rev Jonathan Stark is the Head of Pastoral Leadership Support & Development at the Baptist Union of Victoria (BUV), a position he took up in February 2017. Before commencing at the BUV, Jonathan was pastor at Wodonga District Baptist Church (12½ years) and Dandenong Baptist Church (4½ years) and prior to this he was on the Pastoral team at Boronia Baptist, a church community he had been part of since his childhood. Jonathan’s key strengths are pastoral, preaching and empowering pastoral leaders for mission. He is married to Mandy and they have two adult daughters. Jonathan loves music, running and getting better at things over time.
Rev Robert Hayman, Regional Pastor – Eastern
Robert Hayman began with the BUV in August 2018. Prior to this he was the Senior Pastor at Sale Baptist for 22 years. He is married to Heather and has four Married children and 6 grandchildren (this number is likely to be out of date as numbers continue to grow). He is passionate about the role of the local church in the community and encouraging the church to be relevant and impactful. He enjoys using his gifts in Preaching and Teaching to encourage and equip Church leaders. These gifts have taken him to the Philippines to help train up local Pastor who have had little or no opportunity to study. Rob Continues to live in Sale and support the Pastors of Eastern Victoria. He loves to play golf and embark on handyman projects around the house as time permits.
Rev Brett Mitchell, Regional Pastor – Metro
Brett spent his formative years growing up in East Brighton; Colac; and Box Hill South (Melbourne). He gave his heart to God at age thirteen and became a fully devoted follower of Jesus at 17 years of age joining Crossway (formerly, Blackburn Baptist Church). He is married to Michelle (1986) and they have three grown children; Keshia, Jemmah and Jarrod.
Following a call to full-time Christian Ministry he was trained as a Student Pastor, studying at the Melbourne School of Theology (formerly, the Bible College of Victoria) and Eastern College of Australia (Formerly, Tabor). He served as youth Pastor (Blackburn Baptist 1989-1994; Diamond Valley Baptist (1994-1998); an Associate at Crossway Baptist (1998-2007); and planted North Church Craigieburn (2007-2019). Brett has served with the BUV Support Hub since 2019 as a Church Planting Consultant and in 2024 took on the role of Regional Pastor – Metro.
Rev Graeme Semple, Regional Pastor – Western
In his role as Western Regional Pastor, Graeme provides pastoral support and encouragement to Pastors of the Western Region of the state. He promotes the benefits of networking and cluster groups with other Pastors while being available to the Pastors for accountability and spiritual enrichment. He is also the first point of call to the local churches with the BUV working in close partnership with the Church Health Team and Mission Catalyst Team. Graeme is an ordained Baptist Pastor and has been in pastoral ministry for almost 30 years. He has been the Senior Pastor with three Baptist churches in Queensland and worked as an associate in one congregation. Graeme was the Senior Pastor at Moolap Baptist Church in Geelong for 13 years, before taking on an Associate Pastoral role while the church processed a merger with Barrabool Hills Baptist Church. He is a facilitator with Ministry Renewal Retreats in Victoria which is an interdenominational support network for Pastors.
Rev Kimberly Smith, Generations and Emerging Leaders Pastor
Kimberly Smith joined our team in February, 2018. She was previously on staff at Werribee Baptist Church as an Associate Pastor (Generations and Church Life), a role she enjoyed and flourished in for over 14 years. She is passionate about seeing churches function as true expressions of God’s family; where people of all generations find their place of belonging and purpose, and are equipped and empowered to join God’s mission. Kimberly enjoys engaging her gifts of communication in writing and speaking to various audiences with vulnerability, wisdom and humour. She is experienced in developing leaders and teams and loves to help others identify and step into their unique gifting and call.
Rev Dr Bill Brown, Pastoral Coach
Bill’s role as a Pastoral Coach seeks to help develop missional emerging leaders as well as encouraging and supporting the pastors of the larger churches. IN addition to working 3 days a week for the BUV, Bill is also Pastor Emeritus of the Syndal Baptist Church where he is employed 1 day a week in a pastoral role and with whom he also served as Senior Pastor for almost 33 years until mid-2019 and Associate Pastor for almost 10 years prior to that. He is married to Julia, has 4 adult children and 8 grandchildren. Before being a Pastor, Bill was a secondary school maths teacher. He enjoys sport, especially cricket and football, gardening, reading and music as well as spending time with family and friends.
Christine Chew, Personal Assistant to Head of PLS&D
Christine provides PA support to the Head of PLS&D – Rev Jonathan Stark and general admin support to the members of the team. Christine also provides administrative coordination for the Pastoral Search Advisory Group process, leads the administration of the pastoral accreditation process, oversees and administrates marriage licensing and the Professional Pastoral Supervision processes for the BUV.