Regional Directors

Africa – English Speaking

John Jusu, PhD

Regional Director for Africa

MBorn in Sierra Leone, Dr. John Jusu made the decision to serve Christ while in college. He pursued a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and Biology in preparation of becoming a medical doctor, but he ended up at the Sierra Leone Bible College (now the Evangelical College of Theology) as Assistant Librarian with teaching responsibilities in the diploma program. Noticing the disconnect between the seminary and the Church, he abandoned his medical school plans for pastoral training at a Kenyan partner school.

He received an Overseas Council scholarship and earned a Master’s degree in Christian Education, then returned to lecture at the Bible college. A few years later, he returned to his Kenyan alma mater to help with accreditation and earn his Master of Philosophy degree. He also completed his doctoral studies in Education at Trinity International University.

John taught and helped the Kenyan school become a Christian university, now Africa International University. He served as Dean of the School of Education, Arts and Social Sciences and taught in the Educational Studies Department.

John is very passionate about faith, learning and life integration as it ought to happen in emerging Christian universities in Africa. He is involved in curriculum and governance consulting as well as faculty development. He has also served the Church in many capacities, including as an ordained minister. He and his wife, Tity, have three children in addition to 42 children rescued from distressed situations for whom they offer full-time care.

John served as supervising editor of The African Study Bible, a resource that gives meaning and context for Africans to better understand the Bible. John helped organize 350 contributors from over 50 African countries to produce this study Bible that contains over 2400 notes to help explain the Bible and “touchpoints” and “proverbs and stories” to give the African perspective on the Bible showing parallels with African wisdom.

Currently, John is assisting four seminaries in Sierra Leone to form a consortium with the aim of providing training for hundreds of rural pastors, with little or no ministry training. He is also working with other seminaries in Africa to design their training systems that consider the vast majority of Christian leaders who need training but cannot enroll into regular, institutionalized seminary programs.

John joined Overseas Council as Regional Director for Africa in 2013. Through his ministry, he says he had the opportunity to work alongside those providing leadership in theological education and help them utilize the immense help available to them through the extensive Overseas Council network. He desires to provide a shoulder for them to lean on, another set of praying knees for them and a friend and colleague in the struggle.

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Africa – French Speaking

Mardochée Nadoumngar, DMin

Regional Director for Francophone Africa

Mardochée Nadoumngar was born in southern Chad to a Christian family. He considered studying law to work as a lawyer, but the Lord called him to Bangui Evangelical School of Theology in 1982. He earned his bachelor’s degree there and returned to Chad to serve the Lord.

Ten years later, he earned his Master of Theology degree from Dallas Theological Seminary and then earned his Doctor of Ministry degree in 2012 from Gordon- Conwell Theological Seminary.

Mardochée served for nine years as Academic Dean and faculty member at ESTES Shalom Evangelical School of Theology in Chad, followed by 11 years as Director/Principal. He also was Deputy Executive Director of CITAF, the association of evangelical seminaries in the region. He has taught in churches and written manuals for training in Bible schools and at the grassroots level. Mardochee also serves with Langham Partnership, providing care for Langham Scholars around Africa.

Mardochée joined Overseas Council in 2014 as Regional Director for Francophone Africa. He and his wife, Ruth, have five children and three grandchildren.

In 2007, Abraham became the Academic Dean and Professor of Old Testament at the Cairo seminary. The following year, he became Vice President in addition to Academic Dean. He joined Overseas Council in 2013 as Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa. One of Abraham’s most strategic projects over the last five years is to guide Overseas Council’s partnership with the Algerian Church, assisting them to start the only Algerian-owned ministry training program in the country, the Christian Institute of Algeria.

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Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Taras N. Dyatlik

Regional Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Taras Dyatlik was born into an Evangelical family with eleven children in the western Ukrainian city of Rivne. Raised during the Soviet period, he helped his father with an underground Christian publishing ministry as a child and received Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior when he was 17 years old. Taras and his wife Natasha married in 1994 and currently live in Rivne (Western Ukraine), and have two married children. Their daughter Tanya is married to Andrew and they have a heart for serving children with behavioral disabilities. Their son Nazar is married to Diana and they are still looking for their professional calling. Taras graduated from Donetsk Christian University (Donbass region) in 1997 with a Bachelor of Theology degree and earned his Master of Theology from the Evangelical Theological Faculty (Leuven, Belgium), concentrating in New Testament textual criticism. Currently, he is pursuing his PhD degree. Taras has more than 20 years of experience in teaching theology and the New Testament in Eastern Europe. He has served as Teaching Assistant, Librarian, Professor, and Academic Dean of Donetsk Christian University, as Coordinator of the Slavic Research and Resource Center, and then as Director of Educational Development at the Euro-Asian Accrediting Association. He is also a member of the Public Council of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, of the board of International Council for Evangelical Theological Education, and serves as an Advisory Board member for Theologians Without Borders. Taras is also involved in ministry at the “Rock” Evangelical Church of Rivne as a preacher, a counselor, and a Bible teacher. Taras Dyatlik joined Overseas Council in 2011 as the Regional Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia serving our partners in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Moldova, and Central Asia. His passion is to provide mission-minded theological education to fulfill the mission of God in the world.

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Latin America and the Caribbean

Josué Fernández

Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean

Josué Hugo Fernández was born in San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina, and has been in ministry for more than 20 years. As a member of the pastoral team at the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA) Church of Buenos Aires, Argentina, he developed a rehab program for young drug addicts, created a feeding program for street children, and led a young adults’ ministry.

Josué established and trained young leaders for ministry in three programs as the Youth Pastor of the C&MA Church in Queens, New York, followed by leading a church in Argentina as Head Pastor. Josué went on to serve as the Director of Communications and Fund-Raising at Buenos Aires Bible Institute (IBBA) in Argentina, where he was trained by Dr. Manfred W. Kohl, Overseas Council Special Ambassador. Then as the Assistant Pastor of a church that tripled in membership under his care, he established a discipleship program and a feeding program for street children before returning to IBBA in 2005 in his original capacity.

Josué earned his Bachelor of Theology from IBBA and his Master of Arts at Alliance Theological Seminary in Nyack, New York. He was a participant in eight Overseas Council Institutes for Excellence in Christian Leadership Development held in Latin America.

Josué and his wife, Liliana, have five children, Dennis, Alexis, Romina, Joan, and Giselle. He joined Overseas Council in 2007 as Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean.

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Middle East and North Africa

Abraham Najjar, PhD

Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa

Abraham Najjar was born in Egypt in a Christian family. After earning his Bachelor’s degree in 1981, he spent seven years in Christian lay ministry as a supervisor for a Christian center in his hometown, working with high school ministry and university student teams.

Abraham earned his Master of Divinity degree in 1992 from a Cairo seminary. Following his degree, the seminary’s Board elected him to teach Old Testament. He was ordained as a Presbyterian pastor in 1994, earned his Master of Theology degree in 1996, and earned his Ph.D. in Old Testament in 2004.

In 2007, Abraham became the Academic Dean and Professor of Old Testament at the Cairo seminary. The following year, he became Vice President in addition to Academic Dean. He joined Overseas Council in 2013 as Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa. One of Abraham’s most strategic projects over the last five years is to guide Overseas Council’s partnership with the Algerian Church, assisting them to start the only Algerian-owned ministry training program in the country, the Christian Institute of Algeria.

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South Asia

Jaison Thomas, PhD

Regional Director for South Asia

Jaison Thomas joined with the OC International team as the Regional Director for South Asia in October 2017 focusing on work with our partner seminaries and potential theological agencies in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

He has served in ministry over three decades in pastoral, administrative and academic settings. Started his ministry at New India Bible Seminary in Kerala as a lecturer of Theology and an ordained minister in 1987 and assumed the role of the Principal in 2009. Along with Jaison’s role as OC Regional Director for South Asia, he continues his service at New India Bible Seminary as the Principal and with the Asia Theological Association-India as a Managing Council member, Jaison explores strategic opportunities to strengthen the partnership synergy in theological education.

Jaison was awarded his MTh by the University of Oxford (UK) and his PhD in theological education by Queen’s University, Belfast (UK) and has recently done post-doctoral readings at Asbury and Fuller Theological seminaries. He has published numerous journal articles on the topic of transformative theological education, and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Theological Education and Mission. He is married to Jessy Jaison and has two adult sons, Abraham and Aquil.

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Ashish Chrispal, PhD

Non-Formal Theological Education Consultant

As the former Regional Director for Asia, Dr. Ashish Chrispal has been with Overseas Council since 2007 and now serves as a Senior Advisor with responsibility for Non-formal Theological Education. Born in Mumbai, he has more than 45 years of experience in pastoring and teaching theology in India. After his Bachelor’s degree, Ashish obtained theological training at Union Biblical Seminary (UBS) in Pune, India. A Langham Scholar, he earned his PhD in Systematic and Practical Theology at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. He has served on several boards and at various seminaries, including his role as Principal of the South Asia Institute of Advanced Christian Studies (SAIACS), India.

Ashish is an author, a pastor, and an educator. His passion is to provide theological education that is both rooted in the Word and engaged with its context. Despite Ashish’s distinguished academic credentials and career, his deepest concern has always been for the untrained grassroots pastors, particularly in Asia. His new role with Overseas Council focuses on building capacity within UWM to provide better, more accessible training through non-formal modes.

Ashish and his wife, Susan, live in Bangalore and have a son and a daughter. Their son, Anugrah serves as an internal Medicine Consultant and Associate professor of Medicine at the Flinders, Adelaide, Australia. He is married to Elsa who serves as a Radiology Consultant., and they have two daughters, Natasha and Natanya. Their daughter, Snehanjali, studied at Anderson University in Indiana and is now completing her Ph.D. at the Melbourne University, Australia. She is married to Brent and they welcomed Micah to their family in December 2020. The family continues to trust our Lord’s promise of resurrection for their second son, Arpit, who was called to the Lord’s glory in June 2005 at the age of 22.

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Southeast Asia

Joanna Soberano

Regional Director for Southeast and East Asia

Joanna was born in Palawan, Philippines. She joined Overseas Council as the Regional Director for Southeast and East Asia in July 2019. She brings more than 30 years of teaching practices in both formal and non-formal education, and more than 5 years of administrative experiences.

Joanna has earned her PhD in Educational Studies at Trinity International University in Deerfield, IL; a ThM in Spirituality at Regent College in Vancouver; and her MDiv at Asian Theological Seminary in Manila.

She is now on her second term as Academic Dean at Asian Theological Seminary. As the Academic Dean, Joanna has led in the recent effort of forming a partnership between the seminary and a Manila megachurch through which church staff will receive quality ministry training. As an RD for Southeast asia and East Asia, she continues to be in conversation with seminary leaders about strengthening fully online and hybrid modalities in theological education, as well as in promoting partnerships with local churches for Church-based education.

Joanna continues to work as a GATE Associate (Global Associates for Transformational Education), and as a member of the ICETE Academy Steering Committee. Joanna has also contributed journal articles and book chapters, focusing on topics of effective theological education for the Church. This is her passion.

Joanna is married to Fernando and they have a grown son, Mark. They reside in Quezon City, Philippines.

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China

Victor Chan (TSPM)

Consultant for China

Victor Chan has served as Senior Pastor of East Bay Alliance Church of the Christian & Missionary Alliance in Oakland, California, since 1978 and retired in 2018. He has served in various capacities with the C&MA, including members of the Trustee Board of Nyack College and Alliance Theological Seminary.

Since 2003, Victor has served as Adjunct Assistant Professor for Pastoral Ministries at the Divinity School of Chung Chi College of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Victor also serves as Chairman of the Board of Christian Leadership Exchange which works with China’s 23 major seminaries. Victor has a deep heart for leadership development for the Chinese church, not only in China, but also for the Chinese congregations in the diaspora worldwide.

After earning his bachelor’s degree from the University of Oregon, Victor earned his Master of Divinity degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in 1974 and his Doctor of Ministry degree in 1998.

Victor joined Overseas Council in 2014. He and his wife, Anita, have an adult daughter, Charissa, and son, Isaac.

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Peter Deng (China House Church)

Consultant for China

Peter Deng was born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan. After serving in the military and earning a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering, he came to the US in 1979 to pursue an MBA. A professional career in engineering and management followed, along with his baptism and involvement with a Chinese church in the Chicago area in 1981.

Peter has served in many capacities, including as chairperson of a Board of Elders and Deacons. He was also heavily involved with two ministries in the US: as a Discussion Leader for Bible Study Fellowship and as a facilitator and instructor for a Marriage Enrichment Retreat ministry for Chinese-speaking couples with his wife.

Peter returned to Taipei in 2008 to serve as the Vice President of Administration for a prominent seminary, an established Mandarin-language seminary in Asia, bringing together his professional and ministry experience. Peter’s involvement with Overseas Council began during his service with the prominent seminary as it hosted the Overseas Council Institutes for Excellence over many years. Peter joined Overseas Council in 2010 as a Consultant for Mandarin-language seminaries in Asia. Over the last six years, Peter has successfully led the Overseas Council’s effort to provide Chinese language theology books for libraries of ministry training programs.

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