The Faith to Action Initiative functions as a coalition, including a Leadership Council, Advisory Network, and Board. Together, we seek to solve the complex problem of reaching U.S. Christians with the family care message, because no individual or single organization has the mandate, capacity, knowledge, or resources to do so alone. The coalition is based on the shared vision we can only create together. Our purpose in joining together to form Faith to Action is catalyzing our collective value for pursing Faith to Action’s mission.
Board Members
The Board acts as fiduciary and oversees the mission of Faith to Action’s work.
KELLEY BUNKERS
Senior Partner, Maestral International
Kelley McCreery Bunkers is an international child protection and social welfare consultant with over twenty years of experience working and living in East Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. Kelley has worked with a wide range of actors including international organizations, private foundations, government ministries, USAID, and UNICEF. Her most recent work has been in Moldova, Guatemala, Ethiopia, Kenya, Zambia, and Rwanda focusing on strengthening child protection systems, identifying and promoting linkages between child protection and programing for children and families affected by HIV and AIDS, and supporting child care reform, including expansion of family-based alternative care. She has an advanced degree in Children’s Rights and is a regular contributor to peer reviewed articles and books covering international child welfare. Kelley is an advisor for the Better Care Network and Global Health Promise.
LEENA HILL
Leena Hill served as Vice President of Global Services at Bethany Christian Services from March 2021 through March 2025. In this role she oversaw Bethany’s international programs in family-based care services, including local foster care and adoption, family preservation and reunification, mental health and psycho-social services, and child protection. In her final year with Bethany, following Board decision to end global programs, she oversaw the Organization’s programmatic and operational closure process for handover and transition. She has more than 15 years of experience leading global humanitarian responses and international operations involving institutional and private donor engagement, partnership development, project design and delivery, and cross-functional collaboration and accountability. Previously, Leena worked at Food for the Hungry, World Vision, and served as U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in South Africa. Leena has a B.A. from Western Washington University and a M.A. in International Development from American University in Washington D.C. She lives in Arlington, Virginia, with her husband and daughter.
MARK LOREY
Mark most recently served as Vice President of Global Programs and Impact at RestoringVision, an international nonprofit focused on solving the global vision crisis. Prior to this, he worked with World Vision International (WVI) for more than twenty years. His first role with WVI included leading co-creation of WV’s approach to community-led care for orphans and vulnerable children. A subsequent role focused on leading co-creation of WVI’s development approach: working with communities and partners toward the sustained well-being of children within families and communities – especially the most vulnerable. Mark has lived and worked in Malawi, South Africa, and Zambia and worked with offices and partners in more than 60 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Europe, and Oceania. He is currently based in the Washington DC area.
Leadership Council
The Leadership Council serves as the governing body for the Initiative. Members support the Initiative in their areas of expertise, and member organizations amplify the messaging within their own networks.
PHIL AND JILL ASPEGREN
Casa Viva
Philip and Jill Aspegren pioneered caring for children in local families when they co-founded Casa Viva in Costa Rica in 2004. Working in partnership with local churches, Casa Viva places children in local foster families while biological family reunification and adoption possibilities are being pursued. Casa Viva’s team provides professional support to the families and churches. Before founding Casa Viva, the Aspegrens developed children’s homes, day programs and educational facilities for six years in the Dominican Republic. Today, with Casa Viva Costa Rica as their platform, and using their backgrounds in business economics and education, the Aspegrens are developing Casa Viva Solutions and the Casa Viva Greenhouse to equip and inspire solutions for children separated from their families with the goal of seeing local families become the first and primary response.
JOANNA KRETZER CHUN
Director of Program Quality for International Programs, World Relief
Joanna Kretzer Chun is the Director of Program Quality for International Programs at World Relief. Joanna has over eighteen years of international development and ministry experience, including seven years as a gender advisor at World Vision International and three years working alongside churches in the north coast of Colombia. Supporting programs in Latin America, Africa and Asia, her background spans the areas of gender mainstreaming, women’s empowerment, child protection, child development, family strengthening, faith leader engagement, and social norm change. Joanna has a passion for ensuring families are equipped to provide a nurturing and safe environment for their children to thrive. She holds Master degrees in Intercultural Studies and Family Studies from Fuller Seminary and a BA in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia. Joanna resides with her husband and son in Washington, DC.
RANDY DANIELS
Vice President, Buckner International
Randy has been with Buckner 33 years including living in Ethiopia overseeing Africa and Middle East programming. He began his career in social services working for Child Protective Services in Texas for 8 years. Randy has experience designing, developing, and operating foster care, family preservation and transitional programs for single mothers as well as youth aging out of the foster care system. In his current role he is responsible for government relations at the state and federal levels, impact investing, business development, and consulting. He is a credentialed Social Worker, has written several articles including “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child”, “Suffer the Children”, “The Power of Women to Change the World (A Generational Approach to the World’s Orphan Problem)” and “Is the Church Really Important to Developing Healthy Families?”. Randy is married with 4 children and 1 granddaughter.
KARMEN FRIESEN
Executive Director, World Without Orphans
Karmen has led CoMission since 2001, networking, resourcing and equipping Christian leaders, organizations, churches and individuals in Russia and Ukraine to minister more effectively to orphans and children at risk. Since 2007, a major focus has been equipping Russian and Ukrainian Christians for adoption and foster care. As a result, Karmen has been involved in developing the Russia Without Orphans Alliance and supporting Ukraine Without Orphans, movements that are engaging the Church in their own countries for family-based care. He is also on the steering team of World Without Orphans, a movement of Christian organizations and leaders working globally to mobilize national movements like the ones in Russia and Ukraine. As part of his work, Karmen has coordinated numerous conferences and led the development of online directories of orphan care resources and events, in both English and Russian.
MARY BETH IDUH
Senior Program Manager for Faith Engagement, Changing the Way We Care, CRS
As the Senior Program Manager for Faith Engagement for Changing the Way We Care (CTWWC), Mary Beth Iduh brings over 15 years of Catholic international development experience to the role. Mary Beth is responsible for developing and implementing a comprehensive global engagement strategy with faith-based audiences and actors, beginning with the U.S. Catholic Church, as well as supporting CTWWC’s faith-based partnerships. Mary Beth joined Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in 2008, first working in Africa and South America in the areas of orphans and vulnerable children, HIV & AIDS, human trafficking/refugees and economic strengthening, followed by regional and national representational roles focused on deepening global discipleship and solidarity within U.S. Catholic organizations, dioceses, universities, seminaries and other communities. Since 2007, Mary Beth has served on the Board of Directors of the Farm of the Child USA, which supports a Catholic center of protection for children in Honduras where she previously was a lay missionary. She is active in her community and parish and was selected for the inaugural cohort of interfaith Imagining Justice in Baltimore community leaders in 2016. Mary Beth has an undergraduate degree in Psychology from the University of Notre Dame and dual-Masters degrees in Pastoral Ministry & Global Macro Social Work from Boston College. She lives in Baltimore with her husband and two young children.
JUSTIN LONAS
Director of Regional Partnerships, The Chalmers Center
Justin serves as Director of Foundational Products and Regional Partnerships for the Chalmers Center at Covenant College. He read When Helping Hurts with his church missions committee in 2009, starting a shift in his thinking about poverty and the church that led to his joining the team at Chalmers in 2016 after serving in different roles for 10 years at an international missions organization. At Chalmers, he coordinates the work behind books, articles, blog posts, online courses, video projects, and small group curriculums produced by Chalmers’ staff and ministry partners around the core concepts of a biblical framework for poverty alleviation and works with churches and organizations to help them apply these ideas in their ministry programs. He holds a B.A. in communications from Bryan College, and an M. Div. from Reformed Theological Seminary. Justin and his wife, Rachel, have four daughters and live in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
JEDD MEDEFIND
President, Christian Alliance for Orphans
REBECCA NHEP
Senior Technical Advisor, Better Care Network
MATTHEW STEPHENS
Senior Technical Advisory for Child Protection, World Vision U.S.
SHELTON TAGUMA
Consultant
Shelton Taguma is passionate about seeing all children flourish and grow into healthy adulthood. As a consultant, he provides strategic resources, capacity-building, and program support to organizations that serve vulnerable children and strengthen families globally. Having grown up in Zimbabwe, he directly experienced the challenges faced by impoverished children and youth. Committed to fostering positive outcomes for vulnerable children and families through effective global partnerships, Shelton serves as the Africa Regional Facilitator for the World Without Orphans – Global team. He also actively serves as a board member for Exile International. He was previously the Executive Director of Forgotten Voices International, a ministry that partnered with local churches in Southern Africa to empower caregivers and families to meet the needs of orphaned and vulnerable children in their communities. For the last 20 years, he has worked with churches and communities across sub-Saharan Africa to create healthy environments and hope-filled opportunities for vulnerable children. Shelton holds a Master’s degree in International Development from Eastern University, a degree in Youth Development, and a Bachelor’s degree in Community Development from the University of South Africa. He has lived and worked in both Africa and Central America. Currently, he is based in Pennsylvania with his family.
Advisory Network
EVANS BAGGS, Biblical Studies Teacher, Northwest Arkansas Shiloh Christian School
GREG BURCH, Ph. D., Chair of Global Studies Dept. Multnomah University
PHIL DARKE, President, Providence World; Host, Think Orphan Podcast
MICHAEL DOURIS, President Emeritus, Orphan Outreach
C.H. DYER, CEO/President, Bright Hope
ANITA DEYNEKA, Board Member, A Family For Every Orphan
IAN FORBER-PRATT, Director of Global Advocacy, Children’s Emergency Relief International
TARA GARCIA, CEO, Identity Mission
STEVE GILLIS, Executive Director, Patch Our Planet
KRISTI GLEASON, Director of Child Protection and Education, World Vision
BRIAN HEERWAGEN, CEO, MissionWorks
ASHLEE HEILIGMAN, MSW, Global Director, Global Child Advocates
JULIE HILL, Director for Philanthropy, West, Living Water International
LAURA HORVATH Ed.D., Director of Program Development and Community Engagement, Helping Children Worldwide
GREG ISHMAEL, Senior Trainer, Global Training Network
ELLEN LIVINGOOD, President, Catalyst Services
FLORENCE MARTIN, Director, Better Care Network
PETER K. MUTHUI, Director and Co-Founder, Child in Family Focus
MICK PEASE, Founder and Trainer, SFAC
DR. DELIA POP, Director, Tanya’s Dream Fund
JON SINGLETARY, Dean of the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work, Baylor University
BRANDON STIVER, Seattle Area Director, CarePortal
STEPHEN UCEMBE, Coordinator, Transform Alliance Africa
GABRIEL WALDER, M.S., Executive Director, Alliance for Children Everywhere
Staff
ELLI OSWALD
Executive Director
ALLISON COBLE
Director of Programs
