Amanda Haines (USA) 

Amanda Haines Amanda Haines is the Youth and Young Adult Pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Norfolk, Virginia (USA) and the Baptist World Alliance Youth Department President. She graduated from Divinity School of Duke University, receiving a master’s degree in Divinity and a certificate in Baptist Studies.

She earned her Doctorate in Ministry in Global Leadership at the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Theological Seminary of Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia (USA).

Renée Embree MacVicar ran into God’s grace as a young adult and continues to be changed by that grace every day.

Renée has a passion to see everyone join God in their neighborhoods. She served for over five years as the Director of Youth and Family Ministries for the Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada and simultaneously as the Director of the Next Generation Ministry Program at Acadia Divinity College.

Embree MacVicar has a passion to raise up young leaders who are on mission with Jesus every day, everywhere. She has served as an Associate Pastor in Scotland, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, Canada. Embree MacVicar wrote her thesis on a theology of play and now tries to practice that theology as often as she can.

Embree MacVicar loves running, especially along the ocean, and then enjoying coffee and a good book. She lives in New Brunswick, Canada, with her husband, Joe MacVicar, and daughters, Emma and Isabell.

Emmanuel Oloruntoba Arotile has a strong passion for youth ministries and youth development.

He has organized and spoken at youth retreats, camps, and training seminars across Nigeria and in other West African countries.

Arotile served as the National Coordinator for the Youth Ministries of the Nigerian Baptist Convention, and is now the coordinator of Lifeway Leadership Initiative, a ministry directed to the identification, development, and employment of youth leaders. He also serves as Pastor of Maranatha Baptist Church in Port Harcourt City in southern Nigeria.

Arotile has educational training from theological and secular institutions both in Nigeria and Europe. He currently specializes in Leadership Studies within Church and Organizational Settings as a graduate student of Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. Arotile has contributed to magazines and authored a number of books directed at developing youth potential. His ultimate desire is for young people to take charge of life opportunities and become outstanding in life.

Arotile is married and blessed with children.

Gabriel Stephen, originally from Nigeria, is a youth pastor in a Baptist church in Norway and a researcher at the Norwegian School of Leadership and Theology.

Stephen holds a Bachelor of Theology and Intercultural Studies from Emmanuel Bible College in Ontario, Canada, and a Master of Arts in Baptist and Anabaptist Studies from International Baptist Theological Study Centre Amsterdam (IBTSC)/University of Manchester. He is currently pursuing his PhD at IBTSC/ Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam with a focus on “Migrant Experiences and the Formation of Ecclesiological Perspectives in Norwegian Baptist Churches.”

With work experience in missions, education, and church ministry, Stephen loves God and loves people. He is drawn to stories of individuals and communities who embody the gospel, which he describes as the best and most beautiful thing he knows. His experiences are diverse, having lived in Nigeria, South Africa, Switzerland, Canada, and Norway.

Stephen currently resides in Skien, Norway, with his wife and three children (two biological and one foster).