2025 Speakers
Main Stage Guides
Rich Villodas
Lead Pastor, New Life Fellowship NYC and Author,The Deeply Formed Life
Rich Villodas is the Brooklyn-born lead pastor of New Life Fellowship, a large, multiracial church with more than seventy-five countries represented in Elmhurst, Queens. He is also a key speaker for Emotionally Healthy Discipleship—a movement that has touched hundreds of thousands of people. Rich graduated with a BA in pastoral ministry and theology from Nyack College. He went on to complete his Master of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary. His award-winning book, The Deeply Formed Life, was released in September 2020. He and his wife, Rosie, have two beautiful children and reside in Queens.
Pete Hughes
Lead Pastor, Kings Cross Church (KXC) London and Author, All Things New
Pete is the Senior Pastor of KXC, an Anglican church in the heart of central London serving God’s purposes to make all things new. Along with his wife, Bee, Pete Hughes planted the church in 2010, establishing a community with the simple vision to recklessly give themselves away to God, each other, and the people of King’s Cross and beyond. Pete is a highly-regarded figure in the UK church, who has written a book on joining God’s story of recreation, called ‘All Things New’.
Aliza Latta
Associate Pastor, Mountainside Church
Aliza Latta is a writer, artist, author, speaker, and pastor who is a huge fan of telling stories. Aliza creates content for Canada’s largest youth conference, Change Conference, and is a church planter in Ontario, Canada at Mountainside Church Dundas. Her artwork and writing have been featured in publications for LifeWay, Dayspring, and (in)courage. She is always searching for the goodness of God, even when she has to squint to see it.
Vijay Krishnan
Lead Pastor, The Well
Vijay Krishnan is the Lead Pastor at The Well Church. He and his wife Jennifer were part of the group who “planted” The Well in 2005 and in 2009, after leaving his career in business to join the pastoral staff.
Growing up as a pastor’s kid, the church was a part of Vijay’s life from the beginning. It was there that he met Jesus and became a christian. The church provided him opportunities to form friendships that have lasted for decades, learn about his spiritual gifts and abilities, and receive guidance from the generation ahead of him.
Vijay, his wife and their three sons are privileged to be a part of what God is doing in, and through, The Well Church.
Lab Speakers
Jennifer Krishnan
Jenn Krishnan is a mom of 4, a partner in pastoral ministry with her husband, a high school teacher and a champion of prayer ministry at The Well.
Author of Hear. Here: Listening to Jesus through scripture in real time, she has a deep conviction of the power of communication with God – a dialogue that she views as inherently two-sided. Jenn believes that prayer is not just a one-way conversation or a snail-mail type of delayed connection, but rather a dynamic exchange where we can hear the much-needed voice of Jesus in real time. This intimate connection with God fuels her daily life, informs her decisions and provides a deep sense of friendship with Jesus.
She is only slightly less passionate about design, ultimate frisbee, water-skiing and eating chocolate.
Lucas Prado
Lucas Prado is originally from Brazil, where he used to serve as a pastor in a big church and worked full-time in the financial industry in Sao Paulo city. After a clear direction from God, Lucas and his wife Maria moved to Canada in 2014 and, since then, the family grew with their 2 kids: Nina and Ben.
Lucas holds bachelors of Economics & International Relations in Brazil and Master of Divinity from Tyndale University.
His heart is seeing a genuine revival in Pickering with the manifestation of God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
Jesse Sudirgo
Jesse Sudirgo is a teacher, pastor, and community facilitator with a keen interest in the church’s role in the work of justice and compassion in the urban context. He is the Assistant Professor of Contextual Ministry at Tyndale Seminary, teaching courses such as Ministry in the Margins and Radical Hospitality, as well as having the role as an Educationalist in partnership with the NAIITS Learning Community seeking to apply Indigenous Appreciative Inquiry to theological education. He is also the founder of Good Neighbour Consulting Services, which consults and works alongside churches and non-profits to engage with poverty in the city. In his local life, he is the Pastor of Church Engagement and Leadership Development at Capstone Community Bible Church in Etobicoke, ON. Before his current roles, he was the Director of Street-Involved Services at the YSM Evergreen Centre and spent four years church planting in Boston, MA with City Church.
Suzy Hodgson
Originally from Australia, Suzy moved to Toronto in 2022. Before this, she lived in London, England where she led marketing for Alpha across the UK and Europe, and most recently worked as the Groups Pastor at Holy Trinity Brompton.
With qualifications in communication and education from the University of Canberra, Suzie has had a diverse career in marketing/communications in both the private and charity sectors, in addition to teaching in schools in Australia and England.
Suzie is married to Nathan, and together they’re passionate about seeing the church as an agent of renewal in Toronto. In her spare time, she enjoys exploring the city, good food with friends, and photography.
Jenni Andison
A former Area Bishop for the Diocese of Toronto, Bishop Jenny is the Rector (Senior Pastor) of St. Paul’s Bloor Street and St. George’s Grange Park, leading a growing family of churches to share the good news of Jesus with Toronto. Bishop Jenny was born in England and has lived in Pakistan, India, Singapore and Japan. She earned an Hons. BA from Queen’s University in 1994 and received her Master of Divinity from the University of Toronto (Wycliffe College) in 1997. In 2017, Wycliffe College honored the bishop with a Doctor of Divinity (honoris causa) and she also holds an Honorary Doctorate from Tyndale University. When not busy at the church, she enjoys reading biographies, meals with friends and family, and playing with her two miniature dachshunds – Xerxes and Woflie. She lives in Toronto with her lawyer husband Tim, with their eldest daughter living in New York and their two youngest daughters now at university.
Hollie Charlebois
Hollie lives in the Durham Region with her husband, Brandon and her two Daughters. She is the Site Pastor for the Bowmanville Location of Sanctus Church. Pastoring was a bit of a surprise calling for her as she had originally studied psychology and psychotherapy to pursue being a therapist. Hollie is passionate about seeing the restoration and healing a relationship with Jesus can bring to the lives of believers and the beauty of what God can do through the local church.
Ethan Park
Ethan is an investor, operator, and entrepreneur, whose calling is to engage business expertise in the Kingdom’s work. Ethan’s skills include: investment management, fundamental business analysis and structuring, incubation of businesses and marketing, and mentoring. Ethan is Partner and co-founder at Extract Capital, a hedge fund manager based in the US and Canada with assets under management of US$400 million, having launched in 2012 with US$2 million. Prior, he graduated from Richard Ivey School of Business in 2006 and worked as Analyst at Rothschild, a M&A Investment Bank. Being called to faith and work integration and living a life of generosity, Ethan has invested in various social and missional businesses. He resides in Mississauga, Ontario with his wife, Janette, and two children, Bailey and Jonas.
Jason Persaud
Jason is the National Director of Church Experience with Alpha Canada, a global evangelism organization. He leads a team dedicated to training, equipping, and coaching churches, pastors, and leaders nationwide in the Alpha course.
With over 30 years in ministry, Jason has served in multiple pastoral roles, including youth and young adult ministry. He co-led the Brampton Youth and Young Adult Network, supporting and leading prayer events with over 40 churches and more than 600 students and pastors. Additionally, he worked as a home missionary with Youth Unlimited Toronto, fostering ministry and community partnerships in Brampton.
Jason earned a Master of Arts in Practical Theology and Leadership from Northpoint Bible College and Seminary. He has been married for 19 years to his wife, Kerri, who serves on the pastoral team at Hope City Church in Brampton, ON. Together, they have two children, Kaela (17) and Nathan (14).