Leadership
Jacob's Well is a church governed by a community of elders and operated by a staff of people, both paid and unpaid. Click on the link in their name below if you would like to contact them.
Isaac Anderson
Isaac is one of the Teaching Pastors at Jacob's Well, and as such, part of the Kairos team helping think about Sunday gatherings and the ways we as a community worship together. He also speaks/teaches/preaches several times a year. Four years ago, Isaac left church work to get an MFA in creative writing at Ohio State, and now he also spends part of his time writing--nonfiction: essays, memoir, etc.--and teaching nonfiction at the university level. His work has appeared in literary journals such as Fourth River, The Writers Chronicle, and Image, and in other publications, including Economy of Love (with Shane Claiborne) and The Voice Project. Sometimes he writes music with people (Mike Crawford, for one).
Holly is the Wedding Director at Jacob's Well. In addition to scheduling weddings, she handles the paperwork details and heads up a stellar team of liaisons who ensure things go off without a hitch. Holly is a full-time 6th grade math teacher who loves both of her very different jobs! She is also currently taking post-graduate classes. In what little spare time she has, she likes to sew, enjoys traveling, and LOVES going to the movies! Holly lives in Midtown, but hails from Iowa.
Tim is part of the Koinonia Team, which is about connecting people and helping to build and foster authentic relationships with God and each other. Tim oversees many of the audio needs around the church as well as some of the social networking. He is passionate about music and people and can frequently be found singing and hanging out with friends. He and his wife, Beth, live in midtown. Recently Tim has been making music with his band for the birds.
Adam's brain is wired for developing relationships with students. Fortunately, he has the perfect outlet for this wiring as the Youth Director at Jacob's Well. He and his totally gorgeous wife, Karlie, are both K-State grads and native Kansas Citians. Adam enjoys board games, treehouses, swimming pools, hip-hop music, and everything related to Star Wars. His favorite Monopoly property is Marvin Gardens. He also enjoys Project Runway and The O.C., but chooses to keep those on the DL. When Adam grows up, he wants to be a detective. Go Chiefs.
Mike Crawford
Mike has served as the Worship/Arts Pastor here at Jacob's Well since 2001. He leads and arranges our musical worship teams and writes many of the songs we sing here at Jacob's Well. Mike also facilitates the recording studio we have here at the church. We utilize the studio to record all sorts of bands and solo artists and to build relational bridges into the musical community that surrounds us in Westport. We also use the space to record some of the worship music we play here. (Hear some of those songs here.) Mike has been playing music since he was in 5th grade and feels a deep sense of calling on his life to use music to connect people with God. Mike is married to Laura and together, they have three kids - Cole, Macyann and Georgia. His family is the joy of his life. He loves spending time with all of them, hanging out at the pool, jumping on the trampoline, riding bikes, taking nature hikes, going to the kids’ basketball games and piano recitals. Mike's personal interests are reading (poetry, fiction, theology), working out and (you guessed it) music. He loves all kinds of music! Some of his favorites these days are...Thelonious Monk, Broken Social Scene, mewithoutyou, Hank Sr., Sigur Ros, The Beatles, Bobby Dylan, Spoon, The Smiths, Edith Piaf (or any 1940's WWII soundtrack music), Radiohead and on and on...
Joe Davenport
Originally from Northern California, Joe and his wife, Michelle, moved to Kansas City in early 2008. Finding a home at Jacob's Well, Joe now facilitates community outreach via the Second Saturday events and is our primary custodian on staff. Joe is the proud new father of his son, Callum.
Tim is the primary teaching pastor at Jacob's Well and a member of its leadership team. After spending 11 years as the founding pastor of Jacob's Well, Tim and his family moved to Auckland, New Zealand (January 2010), where he was the Senior Fellow for Congregational Studies at Laidlaw College. He has recently returned to Jacob's Well and is excited to once more be a part of the Jacob's Well community. Tim is married to Mimi and they have three children: Mabry, Annelise, and Blaise. Tim has a BFA in Design and Illustration from the University of Kansas and a MDiv from Denver Seminary. He is the author of Intuitive Leadership: Embracing a Paradigm of Metaphor, Narrative, and Chaos (Baker, 2007) and a forthcoming volume on Ecclesiastes in the Resonate Bible Commentary series from Intervarsity Press. Tim loves spending time with his family, watching KU basketball, cheering for the New Zealand rugby team (Go All Blacks!), as well as reading, writing, teaching, exercising - and, especially, preaching at Jacob's Well!
Philip is part of the Koinonia team, which listens to and responds to life in the community. He specifically is involved with organizing global missional outreach, co-directing pastoral care and orchestrating small-group weekly meetings, called Corpus. Philip is passionate about the power of prayer and leads a group of saints during Sunday gatherings. One of his biggest joys at work is preparing couples for marriage as well. After graduating from Kansas State University with a degree in geography, Philip lived in Africa for a few years, worked for the federal government, then was employed in the local non-profit sector before coming to Jacob's Well. He currently lives with his sporty wife, Christine. They and children Truth, Peace and Grace reside in the historic Westside of Kansas City. He keeps in shape bicycling up and down Signal Hill in hopes of being called to represent the US National Cycling team at the next Olympics.
Jessi is part of the Koinonia Team that is committed to hosting spaces where people at Jacob’s Well are shaped and formed by God in different venues such as Corpus (small groups), Community Dinners, justice efforts, etc. Jessi cares deeply about the ways that we tend to one another and co-directs pastoral care. She graduated from Westmont College and has a Masters in Divinity from Fuller Seminary. Jessi lives life with husband, Todd, and their three children--Wells, Lincoln, and Olive. You will often find them in front of the fireplace or playing a game of soccer in the front yard.
Beth Mercer
Beth is the Kairos Director, which involves activities such as planning Sundays with the Kairos Team, composing liturgies and prayers, managing an extensive (and wonderful!) team of volunteers, running random errands, assembling the bulletin, and other tasks as needed. First arrived at Jacob’s Well in 2002, she’s been on staff since 2006 and appreciates getting to work with and for such genuine, good-hearted people. She’s a K-Stater and has a BA in Creative Writing. Fascinations include: reading a good book or watching a good movie for the nth time, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Jane Austen, Rilke, TS Eliot, Ireland & the UK, wandering outdoors, writing, photography (35mm film!), Jónsi, Sigur Rós, the Bourne movies, Sufjan Stevens, Radiohead, the word “gloaming”, trees.
Shana Puckett
Shana is the Catalyst for Missional Formation and part of the Koinonia team. Primarily, she spends time creating spaces for people to engage more deeply in what it means to be fully human through formative experiences of contemplation, dialogue, justice and living out the upside-down kingdom of God. Shana brings to this endeavor a background in middle school and high school science education, urban core community health outreach, racial justice dialogue, and nonprofit start-up experience. She earned a BA in Biological Sciences & Secondary Education and an MA in Nonprofit Management, and is particularly passionate about racial justice, women’s issues, and fully embodied spiritual life. Shana is blessed to journey with the great loves of her life--her husband, Cory and their three children--Elly, Ryn, and Solomon. She has an unbridled sense of curiosity and you can often find her climbing trees, having invigorating conversation, seeking another expansive countryside view or exploring KC’s best-kept secrets. If you are headed out, let her know, she's also especially fond of dancing.
Candace Shaw
Candace has served as the Grade School Coordinator at Jacob’s Well since September 2009 and is privileged to work alongside the elementary kids and their families, as well as amazing volunteers, to help create space for spiritual formation. She has a Bachelors of Science in Elementary and Early Childhood Education from Oklahoma Baptist University and a Master’s of Divinity from Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University. Candace attended her first church service at Jacob’s Well in 2001 and immediately fell in love with this community. Things that make Candace happy include spending time with her wonderful husband, Scott (and hearing him play the violin!), reading a good book, learning something new (especially from NPR), taking walks with friends, finding great bargains and seeing kids smile.
Micah Thomas
Micah has been our part-time worship leader here at Jacob's Well since September 2007. He graduated from The University of Kansas with a B.S. in Accounting and also works for YouthFront--a non-profit youth ministry organization just down the road from Jacob's Well. Micah married Jessica King in November 2009 and the two enjoy various house projects and life in midtown. Micah loves Kansas City barbecue, creating and recording music, playing outside, and exploring new places.
Elders
The Elder Team is responsible for overall direction and governance at Jacob's Well. They oversee the pastoral staff, approve and monitor budgets, deal with problems as they arise and seek to anticipate and avoid them whenever possible, and most important, are responsible for the vision and direction of our church and its mission and values. Members are selected for spiritual, personal, and relational maturity, along with special gifts or skills needed by the team.
The current elders are:
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