About us

Who We Are

We are a diverse community of learners living and leading through 5 transformative values.

Our Approach to Spiritual Formation

In the gospel of Matthew, chapter 16, Jesus calls us to take up our cross and follow him. We believe this is at the core of the spiritual formation journey.

The process of Christ being formed in us is not easy. It is often painful and difficult to identify the gaps we’ve inherited from our past, and to allow God to restore those places deep inside of us that we thought were already healed.

We want to normalize the discomfort that comes when following Christ. At the same time, we want to anticipate the wholeness and transformation that is possible as we offer ourselves to the way of his kingdom.

Our Core Beliefs

What we believe

We believe that only a deeply formed life in Christ can lead you and others to the transformative kind of life and ministry to which you are called.​

We believe that our lives and leadership ought to be sustained by cultivating and holding together a deeply rooted value system consisting of our 5 values.

We believe in allowing Christ to be formed in every aspect of our lives.

We believe that following Jesus requires us to take up our cross, through which our lives find ultimate meaning and transformation.

We believe that deep and lasting formation happens in community.

We believe that a life of true spiritual formation is found not in living things perfectly, but wrestling with them faithfully.

our team

In-House Leadership

Rich Villodas

Founder/Primary Teacher

Rich Villodas is the Brooklyn-born lead pastor of New Life Fellowship, a large, multiracial church with more than seventy-five countries represented in Elmhurst, Queens. He is also a key speaker for Emotionally Healthy Discipleship—a movement that has touched hundreds of thousands of people. Rich graduated with a BA in pastoral ministry and theology from Nyack College. He went on to complete his master of divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary. His award-winning book, The Deeply Formed Life, was released in September 2020. He and his wife, Rosie, have two beautiful children and reside in Queens.

Andres Valenzuela

Director

Andres Valenzuela was born in Quito, Ecuador and grew up in Kenya and Mexico. He holds a Master of Organizational Leadership from Nyack College. Andres has held various leadership positions at Nyack College over a span of 20 years and owns a wedding and family photography business in the NY metro area. He’s an avid traveler and a fanatic of all things futbol and tennis. He’s been married to Kim since 2009 and they have 2 fantastic girls, Ana Sofia and Neomi.

2023-2024 Teaching Team

Steve Cuss

Steve Cuss

Steve is the author of Managing Leadership Anxiety: Yours and Theirs and the founder of capablelife.me, an online community helping you to function as a calm, aware, present human in the work place and home place. Since 2005, Steve has served as Lead Pastor of Discovery Christian Church in Broomfield, Colorado, an innovative and entrepreneurial church. He is also proud to be a strategic partner with Compassion International, Leadership Network, and Missio Alliance. Learn more about Steve’s ministry at stevecusswords.com

duke-kwon

Duke Kwon

Rev. Duke Kwon began his formal training for pastoral ministry at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he received a Master of Divinity and Master of Theology (New Testament) degrees. Duke is currently in Washington, DC serving as the church planter/pastor of Grace Meridian Hill, whose mission it is “to build a gospel community that is ‘spiritually diverse,’ cross-cultural, and neighborhood-centered.” Duke co-authored the book Reparations: A Christian call for repentance and repair. Duke and his wife, Paula, have three children.

Wesley-Hill

Wesley Hill

Wesley Hill is an Episcopal priest and Associate Professor of New Testament at Western Theological Seminary. He has spoken and lectured at numerous Christian colleges and seminaries in the U.S. and internationally. He is the author of Washed and Waiting: Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality, Paul and the Trinity: Persons, Relations, and the Pauline Letters, Spiritual Friendship: Finding Love in the Church as a Celibate Gay Christian, and The Lord’s Prayer: A Guide to Praying to Our Father.A contributing editor for Comment magazine, he writes regularly for Christianity Today, The Living Church, and other publications.

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deep life and leadership formation!