LEADERSHIP
Mark Shaw
D.Min, Biblical Counseling, CADAC II, ACBC, TAC Founder & President
Dr. Mark E. Shaw, Founder of The Addiction Connection, is an ordained minister and author over 28 published resources. Starting his counseling career in residential addiction treatment and medication-assisted treatment centers in Mobile, Alabama, Mark was introduced to Biblical Counseling in 1999. He has been certified with the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC) since 2002, and he obtained a Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) in Biblical Counseling in 2008. Dr. Shaw serves full-time as the Pastor of Counseling at the Nocatee Campus of First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, FL.
Shirley Crowder
TAC Vice President, CABC
Shirley Crowder was born under the shade of a mango tree in Nigeria, West Africa, where her parents served as missionaries. Shirley is passionate about disciple-making, which is manifested in and through a myriad of ministry opportunities: biblical counseling, teaching Bible studies, writing, and music. She is a biblical counselor serving on TAC Advisory Team. Several of her articles have appeared in “Paper Pulpit” in the Faith section of The Gadsden Times, and in Seek magazine. She also writes for Life Bible Study, Woman’s Missionary Union, TheAddictionConnection.com and InspiredPrompt.com
Jim Quigley
Chairman of TAC Board of Directors, CABC
Jim is Executive Director of Freedom Farm Ministries, ordained minister in the CMA, and a husband and father of 2. He has a BA in Bible/Humanities from Columbia International University. He is currently in the MACC program at Reformed Theological Seminary, and has obtained CABC with The Addiction Connection.
Drs. Nicolas and Venessa Ellen
Serve on TAC Advisory Team
Dr. Nicolas Ellen is the Senior Pastor of Community of Faith Bible Church in Houston Texas and Senior Professor of Biblical Counseling at the College of Biblical Studies. Dr. Ellen has also developed a biblical counseling training center called Expository Counseling Center LLC. He also teaches on a morning show called “Up With The Son” where he teaches various topics from God’s Word. His wife, Dr. Venessa Ellen, has communicated her burden for the women of God in conferences, seminars, bible studies and retreats for more than 21 years. She has utilized her gifts and talents in the areas of teaching, counseling, training and mentoring women. Drs. Ellen have two children and four grandchildren.
Tim Brown
Serves on TAC Board of Directors, CABC, ACBC
Tim is the founder of His Steps Ministries, Inc., a residential substance abuse counseling ministry for men in Woodstock, Georgia. He has been certified by the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors since 2006. As an ordained and licensed minister, Tim served as the director of His Steps until 2017 when the residency program closed. He now dedicates his time to develop and implement addiction training programs from a biblical perspective for local churches as well as counsel addicts in his community.
Pam Anderson
Secretary of TAC Board of Directors, CABC, ACBC
Pam is a retired RN with Hospice, a former missionary with her husband for 14 years in Kenya, and a leader of a Hope for Addiction group. She has been counseling for many years regularly at a biblical addiction recovery center, at a local domestic violence shelter, and at a women’s prison. She also counsels cross-culturally in Kenya using technology. She was commissioned as a CABC with TAC in 2018 and Certified with ACBC in 2019.
Daphne Duncan
Serves on TAC Board of Directors, ACBC, CABC
Daphne was saved by grace through faith in 2009. Having been saved from her own addiction, she seeks to serve and help other addicts for the glory of God. She is a certified biblical counselor at Summit Church in Fort Myers, Florida. She is a wife and mother of three.
Oliver & Lisa Underwood
Serve on TAC Advisory Team, Commissioning Coordinator (Lisa), Northwest Regional Director (Oliver), CABC, ACBC
Oliver and His wife Lisa live in a small beach town in the Pacific Northwest. Oliver was once an addict to many different forms of substances but by the grace of God he was not only delivered from them but given an eternal future and hope through the gospel of Jesus Christ. He was a resident at a biblical discipleship program in 2012 and has been involved ever since. In 2016, he stepped into the role of executive director at that same program until stepping out of that ministry in 2020. Oliver and Lisa have counseled many couples in addition to the many single men that came through the discipleship program. Lisa has served with TAC as a Commissioning Coordinator since February 2022. They have three wonderful children: Christian, Evan, and Kylie.
C.J. & Misty McMurry
Midwest Regional Director, Serves on TAC Board of Directors, CABC
C.J. and his wife Misty have been blessed with 6 children. Their names are Sabryna, Bethany, Ethan, Carter, Seth, and Maryssa. C.J. currently serves as an elder at Redeemer Church in Winterset, Iowa. He leads the evangelism/outreach ministries. He is also the founder and program director of The Refuge (men’s residential addiction program). His heart and passion is to see more and more people come to know Jesus Christ and to be transformed by God’s Word and the work of The Holy Spirit.
Dan & Rosemary Gavin
Serve on TAC Advisory Team, CABC
Dan has served in various leadership roles in the Addictions Victorious ministry since 1996. He’s been AV’s Executive Director since 2002. He and his wife Rosemary (a CCEF certified Biblical Counselor), were instrumental with the launch of The Addiction Connection and remain actively involved in TAC’s Mid-Atlantic region.
Justin Lakemacher
Serves on TAC Advisory Team
Justin is Program Director and counselor at Redemption House, a gospel-centered residential addiction ministry in the Twin Cities serving men from across the US. As a former heroin addict set free through Jesus, Justin has a tremendous passion for addiction ministry and the local church. Justin is bi-vocational and recently started a biblical counseling recovery group called Grace Abounds at his church. He blogs regularly at www.RedemptionHouse.net. He is married to his lovely wife Megan who is a music therapist.
Ben Funkhouser
Serves on TAC Advisory Team, CABC, ACBC
Ben is a Commissioned Addictions Biblical Counselor and serves as the Executive Director at The Refuge. The Refuge is a Bible-based, Gospel-centered, residential addictions program for men in Winterset Iowa. Ben also serves as the Director of Administration at Redeemer Church in Winterset. Ben has been married to his wife Holly for 11 years and they have 3 kids.
Steve & Melanie Hammond
Serve on TAC Advisory Team, CABC
Steve and Melanie have directed C.H.O.I.C.E.S. (choicesinfo.com) in Yorkshire, NY for 16 years. The ministry includes biblical counseling, crisis housing, addictions support groups, jail ministry, pregnancy resource center, and after school program for teens. Certified with ACBC, IABC and FBC, Steve and Melanie were part of the team that launched TAC. Steve is ordained and Melanie has an MA from Trinity Theological Seminary. They have been blessed with 8 children and 9 grandchildren.
Bethany Roseberry
Serves on TAC Advisory Team, CABC
Bethany Roseberry is a Christ follower who is passionate about helping people struggling in addiction, having been freed by Jesus from her own addiction. She serves as a biblical counselor at Grace Fellowship Church in Kentucky and serves there to facilitate the substance abuse Care Group known as, “The Heart of Addiction”. She also serves on the advisory team at The Addiction Connection. Bethany and her husband Grant live in Independence, Kentucky, with their two children.
Kevin Hurley
Serves on TAC Advisory Team, ACBC, IABC, CABC
Kevin is has been certified with the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC) since 2016. Kevin has served in Christ-centered addiction ministry since 2012, first as the Associate Director of The Mission House and later as the Director of The Damascus House. Kevin and his wife Stephanie have 3 beautiful young children and now reside in the Phoenix, Arizona area.
Mark & Cindy Hager
Serve on TAC Advisory Team, CABC
Mark Hager is an ordained pastor and the Director of Counseling at Timberlake Biblical Counseling & Training Center in Lynchburg, Virginia. He served in Law Enforcement for over 15 years and has been counseling for 26 years. He is certified with ACBC/IABC/FBC/TAC. Additionally, he holds a doctorate in Practical Theology and Biblical Counseling and served as the Department Chair of Biblical Counseling at Calvary University for 4 years. He currently serves as a board member for IACB, FBC, and TAC biblical counseling organizations. His wife, Cindy, has a B.A. degree in Biblical Studies and has been a biblical counselor for over 20 years, specializing in women’s issues and addictions. She was a state certified addictions counseling in the State of Missouri from 2008 through 2010 and served in Law Enforcement for over 10 years. Additionally, she currently serves as an IABC/FBC/TAC certified counselor with the Timberlake Biblical Counseling & Training Center in Lynchburg Virginia and currently serves on the advisory board with The Addiction Connection.
Kent Klee
Serves on TAC Advisory Team
Kent and his wife, Lisa, have 2 children and 4 grandchildren. Kent serves as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ in various ways. He serves and teaches the gospel at Cornerstone Homeless Ministry in Covington, KY and is a member of the KY Jail Ministry which serves in various jails. He also serves at Grace Fellowship Church as a Bible Study Group Leader. Kent also serves at Under The Fig Tree in Holland, MI, which is a ministry that leads pastors and disciples of the gospel to the lands of the biblical text, in Egypt, Jordan, and Israel. Kent owns his own distribution business and manages several websites that sells products to businesses and consumers throughout the US. Kent is excited to be working with The Addiction Connection to make this ministry a household name throughout the world. Kent is very passionate about glorifying his Lord Jesus Christ with his life.
Mike Petri
Serves on TAC Advisory Team
Mike was born in Portland, Oregon and moved to KY in 1996 to do a youth pastor internship. He married Margie in 1998 and never went back! They have 4 kids: Rachel, Michael, Chloe, and Olivia. Working in law enforcement for 15 years, he serves as a Chaplain as well as Patrol and Campus Officer in the city of Covington, KY. Their family has attended Grace Fellowship Church since 1999 and he has been a part of TAC Advisory Team since 2018.
Sybrand de Swardt
Serves on TAC Advisory Team
Sybrand de Swardt is Pastor of Lynnwood Baptist Church in Pretoria where he serves with Dr. Wayne Mack. He married to Beth (Mack) de Swardt And have two children, Carol- Marie and Thomas -Wayne. He is the Director of Strengthening Ministries Training Institute (SMTI) and board member of ACBC Africa. Sybrand has completed his M.A. in Biblical Counselling from The Master’s University and is in the process of obtaining his D.Min from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He is a certified ACBC counsellor and has taught extensively on counselling related issues at SMTI and he has done extensive counselling.
Dr. Bill Hines
Serves on TAC Advisory Team, D.Min, Biblical Counseling, CABC, ACBC, liaison with IABC
Bill is an ordained minister, author, and the President of Covenant Ministries, Inc., a biblical counseling and education ministry in Ft. Worth, Texas. He has provided biblical counseling and biblical counselor training for over 25 years and has served several Bible Colleges as adjunct faculty. He & his wife, Kathy have 5 children and 7 grandchildren.