Pastoral Staff
Vermon Pierre
Lead Pastor
Vermon is a graduate of Princeton University and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. After Trinity Vermon served as a pastoral intern at Camelback Bible Church before being called to serve as lead pastor of Roosevelt.
Vermon is also the first generation of his family born in the United States. Both of his parents were born in Haiti. He grew up in a Christian home and was blessed to come to know Christ at an early age. Vermon is married to his wife, Dennae, who are the parents of three wonderful children.
Duties as a pastor: Giving an overall vision and direction for my church family; raising up, training and equipping leaders; preaching and teaching (with a particular focus on the Sunday morning preaching ministry).
Favorite Bible verse: "And I, when I came to you, brothers and sisters, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." 1 Corinthians 2:1-2
Current favorite quote: "There is something profoundly hypocritical about praising God for God's mighty deeds of salvation and cooperating at the same time with the demons of destruction, whether by neglecting to do good or by actively doing evil...Without action in the world, the adoration of God is empty and hypocritical, and degenerates into irresponsible and godless quietism." Miroslav Volf
My prayer and vision for Roosevelt: That we would be a multicultural, multiethnic, multieconomic community that acts like family towards each other, and that we would be right in the thick of God's mission to transform and renew our city and our world.
Contact:
Bob Korljan
Teaching Pastor
Bob is an ordained minister in the PCA. He is a graduate of Arizona State University and has a Master of Divinity from Covenant Theological Seminary. His previous ministry experience includes the planting of a church in Rhode Island. In addition to serving as a teaching pastor Bob also works as a CPA.
Bob became a Christian at age 19 while a student at ASU. He married Jayne in 1976 and they were married for 27 years until her death. Two years later he married Ginger and together they have seven children. His four are Scott, Lisa, Dawn, and Kristine. Ginger's are Jim, Melody and Christy.
Duties as a pastor: While of course I am interested in all aspects of Roosevelt, I am particularly focused on the teaching ministry of the church. We want to do so much in regard to teaching and preaching the Word of God. We know that as we all understand the great truths of God's word our lives are changed.
My duties as a pastor are to support Pastor Vermon in any way that I can. But again, given the time that I have I am to focus on the teaching ministry of the church, giving support and encouragement to all involved in this aspect of ministry.
Favorite Bible verse: "Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer." 2 Corinthians 5:16
Current favorite quote: "Common sense isn't very common." George H.W. Bush
Contact:
John-Mark Rieser
Intern Pastor
John-Mark Rieser is Roosevelt's Children's Church Director. John-Mark leads our in-house adult education training program, Roosevelt University, as well as our monthly evangelistic "Bible Questions Table" outreach.
John-Mark ("Vocab Malone") is a semi-retired Christian hip hop recording artist who occasionally dabbles in urban poetry at open mic nights. If he’s not updating his apologetics web site, blogging, or hosting the apologetics radio program, then he may just be supplying a guest rap verse during Roosevelt's praise and worship.
Along with pursuing a Master’s Degree at Phoenix Seminary, Vocab spends his free time drinking espresso with his wife Nicole and reading comics with his son Malachi. John-Mark and his wife Nicole have a passion for orphan care and currently have two foster children in their care.
Favorite Bible Verse: "Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person." Colossians 4:5-6
Current Favorite Quote: "A saving evidence of the truth of the gospel is such, as is attainable by persons of mean capacities and advantages, as well as those that are of the greatest parts and learning. If the evidence of the gospel depended only on history, and such reasonings as learned men only are capable of, it would be above the reach of far the greatest part of mankind. But persons with but an ordinary degree of knowledge ... are capable of being taught by the Spirit of God, as well as learned men."
Jonathan Edwards,"A Divine and Supernatural Light"