Marcel Ghioalda Elected to Serve as Youth & Public Campus Ministries Director.
Prior to his current role as Senior Pastor of Newbold Church for the past six years, Ghioalda served for 19 years as a pastor in the Scottish Mission, including 12 years leading Youth and Pathfinder Ministries. During this time, he organised spiritual and social retreats, sports days, mission projects, fellowship days, local Pathfinder Camporees, and leadership training.
Ghioalda’s 2009 Master of Arts in Theology, with an emphasis on Youth Ministry, served as a foundation for his holistic approach to caring for the spiritual, social, and emotional needs of young people. Not least was his innovation to create ‘safe and open environments’ for youth to explore challenging issues about faith, ethics, and social justice.
Born in Romania, Ghioalda has been married to Claudette for 27 years, and they are the parents of two teenagers.
Kevin Johns Elected as Associate Youth Director (Teens, Adventurers, Pathfinders)
Since 2021, Johns has served as Youth and Pathfinder Director for the British Union Conference (BUC).
Johns’s passion and enthusiasm for Youth Ministries developed during his own youth, quickly engaging in local church leadership prior to and during ministry training. From 1985 to 2000, he led an after-school educational club, youth clubs, and all aspects of local church youth work, and formed a church plant in north-west London. With ministry training in both the Caribbean and the UK, Johns graduated with a BA in Theology from Newbold College of Higher Education in 1995.
After serving in various districts in the St Lucia Mission, North Caribbean Conference, and North and South England Conferences, Johns was called in 2011 to serve as Pathfinder Ministries Director for the South England Conference (SEC).
During his SEC leadership role, Johns’s enthusiasm and passion for Pathfinder Ministries emerged, training leaders, running camporees and campouts, and establishing new clubs in churches and small groups.
After a short return to pastoral ministry in 2019, serving as Senior Pastor of the London Hampstead church, in 2021 he was elected to serve as British Union Conference Youth and Pathfinder Director.
Johns is married to Margaret, and they have two adult sons, Dwight and Aaron.
Judy Plaatjes-McKie joined the Trans-European Division team part-time in May 2010 to cover a maternity leave and do the administration for Adventist Volunteer Service (AVS). In January 2011 she became full time, working with Paul Tompkins in the Youth Department and with Janos Kovacs-Biro in Personal Ministries, Ministerial, Lay Preaching, Church Planting & Small Groups. Since 2015 she has worked solely for AVS & Youth Ministries and has served with Zlatko, Peter-Bo, Alastair, Tihi & Dejan and is excited to see where God leads following the appointment of Marcel and Kevin.
She is happily married to Carlton and enjoys travelling, crafting, serving God, interaction with people, researching her family genealogy and new adventures. She believes with God’s help she can do anything she sets her mind to and enjoys nothing more than a new challenge.