meet the leadership team

  • john ryan

    john is married to fran and has two boys who are both married (cade and lexy / will and lane). he grew up in texas near south padre island – surfing, playing basketball, and ultimate frisbee. in 1998, he moved to o’fallon, missouri to plant the summit church.

    in 2018, a vision to help the churches of st. louis develop and deploy servant leaders — led him to be sent from the summit, join the matthias’ lot staff team, and begin the servant Leader institute.

    “my hope and prayer for sLi — is to see hundreds of leaders equipped across many churches — who are then sent across this city, this country and the world — to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ.” -john

  • lonnie taylor

    lonnie is married to cindy and has 2 married children (michael and lacey / amanda and dan) and 7 grandchildren. 

    lonnie grew up in north st. louis county until he joined the united states air force in 1980. Lonnie spent 22 years in law enforcement before full time vocational ministry. sensing a strong call to ministry, lonnie left police work and entered pastoral ministry,  lonnie has been on staff at matthias since 2011.  

    now focusing primarily on sLi, lonnie's hope and prayer for sLi is "to see the next generation of leaders equipped to be confident and competent leaders in making disciples wherever God has placed them whether it's home, work, neighborhood or abroad!”

  • courtland barnes

    courtland has been married to caro since december of 2022. he grew up moving around the st. louis area, and is the eldest of four other siblings. during his time serving in law enforcement, he often sought opportunities to share the gospel, of which he further understood as he finished up the sLi internship track. eventually, an evangelism group within the church called neighborhoods to nations was piloted in feb. 2022, where he realized an even deeper burden for the lost.

    through that group, he further learned that God’s heart is for all people to come to worship him. however, he discovered there were still entire regions of the earth where 3 billion people had very little access to the gospel. it was here he made the decision to join the missions residency, and the church asked him to become a mobilizer. during his time as a mobilizer, he was later appointed as the director of mobilization, where he and his wife will continue to love on the bride at matthias’ lot church.

    “we are trusting God to use sLi to see 50 long-term goers trained and sent-well by 2030 - that Jesus may receive more of the worship he deserves amongst the unreached! may we all see we have an active role in joining God to fill the throne room, and an opportunity to lay our lives down to hasten his return.” -courtland

  • rene morlen

    rene has been married to her high school sweetheart, david, since 1994. they have 4 children: andrew (jessica), matthew (paxton), ben, and alexis, and 2 adorable grandsons. rene is a lifelong resident of the st. louis / st. charles area.

    in 2011, rene joined matthias’ lot church where she serves as a lot family leader, premarital counselor, and sLi intern leader.

    “the Lord has given me a deep passion for his word, and i desire to help others grow in their love of scripture and knowledge of God. it is my prayer that as people come to understand the character of God more, they will be compelled to share the gospel with others as a natural overflow of their love for him.” -rene

  • ruth soroski

    ruth was born in st. louis, missouri, but spent her childhood in houston, texas. she has since lived in virginia, colorado, and south africa before coming back and planting roots in her hometown, where you can find her watching sports - literally any sport - drinking coffee, or spending time with one of her 4 brothers and sisters!

    in 2021, she moved to johannesburg, south africa as a missionary for 4 years. it was during this time that the Lord gave her a heart for the body of Christ, and a desire to see individuals discover their God given purpose, be equipped in their calling, and empowered to use their individual gift in the mission of the body of Christ.

    "i believe that every believer is given a unique purpose and has a role to play in joining in the global mission of the body of Christ — to make Jesus' name known across the earth." -ruth

  • tim gray

    tim is married to kelley and has two amazing granddaughters (from son justin). he grew up in the st. louis area, and was a college basketball player and then a hall of fame college basketball coach. He also spent six years working for usa basketball. In 2006, he planted the bridge, an amazing church in leadington, mo. tim became a part of acts 29 in 2008, and the soma church network in 2012. he planted city on a hill in 2014, an acts 29 / soma church in arnold, mo. the bridge / city on a hill were the sending churches of gospel life church in cape girardeau and jackson, and bangkok city church and the bridge/sai mai in bangkok, thailand.

    in 2023, he stepped away from his elder duties at city on a hill and became the lower midwest regional director for soma church network. then, in 2024, he took over as the lower midwest subregional director for a29. also, in 2024, after helping part-time for many years, he joined the staff of servant Leader institute. he is the executive director of st. louis collective which seeks to bring churches all over the city come together for prayer and resourcing. The collective also trains conquering addiction, a gospel-centric 12 step program and does coaching and assessments for micro-churches.

    “i love john's hope and prayer for sLi!” -tim