Leadership

Meet the individuals behind the scenes at New Wine.

Director

Dr. Paul Louis Metzger is the Founder and Director of The Institute for the Theology of Culture: New Wine, New Wineskins. He serves as New Wine’s catalyst for cultivating a community of people brought together around a shared vision of bearing witness to Christ in contemporary culture.

Integrating theology and spirituality with cultural sensitivity stands at the center of Dr. Metzger’s ministry vision. He and his wife, Mariko, a native of Japan, have been active in intercultural ministry in churches in the States, Japan, and England. Dr. Metzger is the author of The Word of Christ and the World of Culture: Sacred and Secular through the Theology of Karl Barth (Eerdmans, 2003); editor of Trinitarian Soundings in Systematic Theology (T&T Clark International, 2005); and editor of the journal, Cultural Encounters: A Journal for the Theology of Culture. His new book with Eerdmans, Consuming Jesus: Beyond Race and Class Divisions in a Consumer Church, is now available. Dr. Metzger is also coauthoring The Bride: An Ecumenical and Evangelical Ecclesiology with Brad Harper (Brazos, forthcoming), and co-editing A World for All?—Global Civil Society in Political Theory and Trinitarian Theology with Peter J. Casarella and William F. Storrar (Eerdmans, forthcoming). Dr. Metzger is a member of the Center of Theological Inquiry, Princeton, New Jersey. The Metzgers have two children. Dr. Metzger has a keen interest in the art of Hokusai and enjoys reading literature.

Staff

Sarah Kurth

As the Adminstrative Coordinator for New Wine, I have the honor and joy of seeing the behind-the-scenes action around here! God led me up to Portland after graduating with a BArch degree from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in 2006. Since then He has constantly challenged and blessed me through Multnomah and the amazing people I get to work with every day. Since it’s not as sunny here as in SLO, I’ve developed a taste for coffee and knitting, two of my favorite indoor activities, although I look forward to the summertime most of all. When it’s nice out, I’ll be off to the farmer’s market, berry picking, hiking, or to picnic in the park with my husband.

Interns

Ben Malick

My name is Ben Malick and Jesus has lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a ROCK and gave me a firm place to stand (Psalm 40:2). In the beginning… I was born and raised in New Jersey until an uplifting family move during high school transplanted me to rural Mississippi. After graduation, I earned my B.A. in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing in 2002. Through these experiences, I have the benefit of “cross-cultural” exposure that keeps me in-tune with the need for unity for all God’s people. Currently, I am a first year seminary student working on my Masters of Divinity, while finding myself being worked on by THE DIVINE MASTER. I’m also working part-time in home health care and learning more of what it means to be a servant to others. In the future, I hope to serve others in the field of Christian community development.

Bryan Dormaier

I am a recent graduate from Multnomah’s seminary. I am a bi-vocational church planter in Southeast Portland. We are focusing specifically on the Foster-Powell, Lents, and Brentwood-Darlington neighborhoods. With New Wine, I serve to coordinate our technological endeavours, and help out wherever else I am needed. When I’m not doing theology, I enjoy playing basketball or ultimate frisbee, or jamming out on the accordion or bass guitar.

Chris Fauerso

I am a student at Multnomah University in the undergrad studying Bible and Theology. I am originally from Spokane, WA but I have been living here in Portland, OR, for the past two years as I work on my degree. I originally got involved with New Wine by going on a trip to Jackson, Mississippi. We got to spend time with John Perkins and see how Jesus is working in their communities. I have recently joined New Wine as and intern and will be involved in mentoring and discipleship. I thoroughly love the community here and I love Portland culture. I spend my time with friends, family, studying, and mostly drinking coffee! I enjoy the outdoors and love experiencing God’s creation. I am so excited to be a part of New Wine New Wineskins and to learn and share in the lives of the people here in Portland.

Crystal Santos

My name is Crystal Santos and I’m currently in my second year of seminary at Multnomah. I plan on receiving a Masters in Pastoral Studies with an intercultural emphasis in the Spring of 09. Originally from Hawaii, I moved to the Portland area when I was six and have considered myself a Pacific Northwest enthusiast ever since…just don’t catch me on those days where the rains show no sign of breaking! I did my undergrad at Western Oregon University and have a B.S. in Health. In between Western and Multnomah I worked for Young Life, both on field staff in Salem and property staff at Wildhorse Canyon. Along with writing many papers and reading countless books, I currently nanny part-time and work as an intern for New Wine, New Wineskins developing the women’s aspect of New Wine. A few other things I enjoy are coffee shops (who doesn’t?), chai tea, Africa and chocolate chip cookie dough!

Jeremy Nakasone

I am currently an undergraduate student at Multnomah University and am probably one of the most eccentric people to ever walk this planet. I’m originally from Hilo, Hawaii and have lived there my entire life. I enjoy
writing and reading and would love to someday be an author. I also love to write and play music and would love to be able to spread grace and peace through music, but that is only a dream! Other hobbies also include coffee shops, good movies (some of the them “chick flicks”), and spending time with great friends!

My work with New Wine, New Wineskins is driven by a deep desire to fight against injustice both within the church and the culture that surrounds it AND to invite others to embrace the holistic gospel that Christ brought. I believe God is inviting all of us to be a part of His story of reconciliation and redemption of this broken world and I am proud to be a part of It. Until the day of His return I will not sit and watch this world (and it’s people) fade away! I believe another world is possible through Christ’s redemptive love!

Kelly Jo Prewitt

My name is Kelly Jo and I am currently in my second year of college at Multnomah. I am in the Intercultural Studies program with a focus in TESOL. In Alaska, I was actively involved with journalism and photojournalism for the Anchorage Daily News and the art community. I moved from Alaska to Portland a year ago and quickly got involved with Bridgetown Ministries, which is geared to reach out to the homeless people of Portland. This is one of my passions; working with people who are socially and spiritually oppressed. I hope to live overseas after college and teach English and work with women who are living in difficult environments. I enjoy ultimate frisbee, hiking, hanging out with folks under Burnside Bridge, reading, poetry, Asia, learning about other cultures and picking up new languages.

Kelsi Johns

I am studying to get my Masters in Pastoral Studies, focusing on intercultural ministry. After attending Portland State for 2 1/2 clueless years, I moved to Eugene and received a BA in Journalism from the University of Oregon. My passions are writing, exploring the intricacies of life and laughing at the absurdities, discovering beauty in the mundane, and addressing oppressive systems. I desire to marry my passion for writing with my interest in examining social and cultural issues. As a New Wine intern, I blog for Dr. Metzger’s book Consuming Jesus: Beyond Race and Class Divisions in a Consumer Church (www.consumingjesus.org). A run through Forest Park, a walk in Laurelhurst Park, a hike at Wahkeenah Falls, and a bike ride to Ladd’s Circle in the summer while the sun is setting are four of my favorite things and four good reasons why Portland is the one of the best cities on earth.

Laura Mettler

Hi, my name is Laura Mettler. I am a second year student in the pastoral studies program-women’s ministry. I will be helping out with community-building and discipleship in New Wine this year. My hobbies include but are not limited to: listening to good stories and punctuating them with spontaneous, uproarious laughter; reading faces; and eating protein-packed gourmet vegetarian dishes cooked by my sister.

Rachel O'Brien

I am a MAPS Intercultural student at Multnomah Biblical Seminary. I currently intern with New Wine, New Wineskins while attending school and working. Literacy and artistic expression are passions of mine in that God chooses Word to speak to us and in His image we have a unique ability to do the same. I graduated from WWU in 2005 with a degree in English Literature and Secondary Education. My poetry, short essays and literature reviews have been published in various publications. I am a runner, triathlete, and handball player. Currently, I attend The Table and have taught ESL there. I would love to someday teach college and/or in the prison system, work in adult literacy and creative writing, and continue to write.

Ronaldo Sison

MABUHAY! Isang maalab na pagbati!

In Filipino, the former means “Live!”, and, the latter, “a very fiery/fervent greeting!”

I am Ronaldo A. Sison, and originally hailing from the Pearl of the Orient Seas, the Philippines, I come as a former Marxist-Maoist-Leninist hard core ideologue. Sort of a radical activist who have no qualms annihilating a generation of petty bourgoeisie to promote the proletariat and the working class. Transformed and still being transformed by the consuming love of the Triune God, I am pursuing Master of Divinity, not that i master the divine but that the Divine should master me. I am passionate about one-on-one personal, intentional and lifestyle discipleship and i love teaching, hopefully a theology that puts the church upside down, inside out but right side up. Having lived in multicultural Canada for the last 12 years with my family, I have been challenged and i am looking forward to being involved in teaching and mentoring young Southeast Asian men who will teach others also.

I love nature, poetry and literature, classical music and writing prose, but only as expressions and offerings of praise to the Lord of all who said, “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul? And what must a man give in exchange for his soul?” SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI!

Ross Halbach

Ross Halbach is a third year M-Div. student in Theological Studies with an emphasis in Intercultural Studies at Multnomah Seminary. He has served for the last 3 years as a youth worker at a mixed Anglo and Hispanic church in downtown Hillsboro. During this time, Ross lived with a Hispanic family and assisted in starting a kids club for youth in the Hillsboro neighborhood. Living in the Hispanic culture in Hillsboro gave Ross a passion for struggling through how to create more integration between the Hispanic and Anglo enclaves within his church, as well as the various segments of society in the broader Portland culture.