Dave Burke - Pastor

Dave Burke is the pastor or minister of Bethany City Church.  He was born in Sunderland and studied zoology at the University of Wales in Swansea. After graduation he worked in animal behaviour research before joining the staff of Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship in 1979.  Since then he has worked in churches in Bournemouth and Leicester.  Dave returned to live in Sunderland in 1997 becoming senior pastor of Bethany Christian Centre in Houghton le Spring.  He is married to Cathie who works for Action for Blind People, and has two children, Jonny and Emma (who are grown up and working).  When he gets the chance, Dave likes wilderness, solitude and the sound of curlews. All Dave's talk notes and many other resources can be found on his personal website.
www.dave-burke.com

Peter Errington - Support Manager

Peter Errington took early retirement in March 2007 after 33 years in the Insurance Broking industry with a major multi-national Broker. He now has the opportunity to do something he really enjoys! His role is to organise the administration and finance of a growing Church and to provide support to Dave.

Peter is married to Sue, and father to 2 daughters (and 2 sons in law!) and a grandfather to Isaac, Harry & Samuel. In his leisure time, he strives with little success to improve his golf handicap.

Joel Woodier - Assistant Pastor

Joel Woodier has recently moved to Sunderland to join the church as assistant pastor. As a child he put his trust in Jesus as his saviour and since then he has aimed to live with God as his King. Joel grew up in Otley near Leeds before moving to Scotland to study architecture at the University of Edinburgh. Following his degree, though he loves architecture, he realised that God was urging him to train to be a pastor and so he spent two years as a pastoral apprentice at Carrubbers Christian Centre in Edinburgh and has been studying via a distance learning course (www.yscm.org.uk/cmtc). He enjoys spending time with friends and cycling, and at some point hopes to get back into a jazz band.