Stephen Cave is National Director for Evangelical Alliance in Northern Ireland.
He is married to Nicola and they have three children - Ben (b.1997), Maddi (b.2001) and Levi (b.2005). Prior to joining the team in January 2001, Stephen was pastor of Ballycrochan Baptist Church in Bangor.
Stephen's first job on leaving University was as a primary school teacher in Carrickfergus, a town to which they have returned as a family. The passion that drives him is working to see evangelicals in Northern Ireland discover the impact we might have on our society if we were serious about unity.
His responsibility is the oversight of the Alliance's work in NI, as well as serving on the UK leadership team. He spends much of his time working with member organizations - encouraging and promoting strategic partnerships that will better serve the church, representing the Alliance in wider networks, speaking in churches, either preaching or representing the work of the Alliance, lecturing regularly at Belfast Bible College evening classes and working on events that seek to resource church leaders better in the challenges of ministry.
And he loves it all - most of the time!
Karen Jardine is Public Affairs and Development Officer for Evangelical Alliance in Northern Ireland.
Karen joined the Belfast team in January 2005 but is no stranger to the Alliance. Following her graduation from the University of St. Andrews in 2000 she interned with the Public Affairs team in London.
On returning to Northern Ireland she worked for three years in the Community Relations Unit of the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister. During her time there she was involved in Peace II funding and community relations policy development in Northern Ireland.
Karen's current role with the Alliance is two-fold, first to provide a voice to Government, society and the media on behalf of our members and secondly to support and encourage our members as they seek to transform their own local communities. Find out more by clicking here.
Laura Bush is not new at all to the Alliance, she started in September last year as a temporary Administrator for what we thought was only going to be for four weeks however she ended up being here until January!
Now she is PA to the National Director full time and has been in the job since end of July. She deals with all of the National Director's administration and oversees all of his diary! Such a hard job but she loves it!
Prior to her becoming a PA to the National Director, after leaving upper sixth at Ashfield Girls' High School, Laura went on a gap year with Christians in Sport to Bicester North of Oxford . She spent six months in a church acting as a youth leader and also in a primary school were she taught PE lessons and taught the Christian Union every week. She travelled around the UK teaching young people how to use sport as their mission field and showed them how they can represent Christ in the way they play their sport.
Lindsey Holley is a research assistant for the Evangelical Alliance in Northern Ireland. Lindsey moved over from England recently after her husband returned home to Northern Ireland for work. She joined the EA in September 2007.
Prior to her move, she worked in London for the Churches Criminal Justice Forum as their Policy Officer and before that was an intern with a leading Christian development agency, Tearfund.
Heather Lyle joined the team in September 2006 as PA to the National Director and has now moved on to become the new Development Officer for MAP. She is very happily married to Peter who is on EANI council and is minister of Ballyholme Presbyterian Church and they live in Bangor.
Prior to joining the staff of EANI, Heather’s career was as a teacher first in St Thomas’ School Dehli, then in Ballymena Academy where she taught until 2002. Most recently she has been teaching in Towerview Primary School, Bangor and part time lecturing at Stranmillis University College.
Mission Agencies Partnership is a network of over 30 mission agencies who seek to work in partnership together to encourage churches to make mission the heart of the church. Heather's new role is to develop and oversee the implementation of a five year plan and to coordinate the agencies planning, administration and events.
Andrew Bowers is also no stranger to the Alliance, Andrew volunteered with us leading up to and during Kingdom Come in 2006. He has been with the Alliance since mid-January 2007 & is the voice behind the phone in EANI office.
Prior to joining the Alliance Andrew studied car mechanics at Northern Regional College in 2005 and moved onto Blackwater house for further study in 2006. Following this Andrew worked as part of a management team in retail.
Valerie Trimble is a volunteer in the NI office. She joined the Alliance in September 2004.
Previously she was a teacher in Ballymena Academy Preparatory Department where she taught until June 2000 when the school closed. After that she did some work as a supply teacher but recently her time has been taken up with volunteer roles with EA and Tearfund.
She has had several roles in Tearfund, namely a period as Tearcraft Sales Co-ordinator for Ireland covering a maternity leave. Presently she is a Tearfund Speaker and Area Volunteer Co-ordinator for North Down having previously held this role in Mid-Antrim.
Since coming to EA Valerie has been instrumental in helping to administrate our study trips to Saddleback and more recently helping us to compile a church database.
