Meet our Board
Intentional Churches is proudly supported by a dedicated board that brings a wealth of experience and passion to our work. Their support ensures we effectively serve churches to reach and grow their Ones. We are deeply grateful for their commitment and leadership, which enable us to continue making a meaningful impact with the American Church.
Warren Habib
Warren Habib, business advisor, formerly served as president of Landtrust Title Services Group, a Baird & Warner company for 8 years. Warren also served as CFO of Baird & Warner during his first ten years.
Warren has more than 35 years of experience in business and P&L management. Prior to joining Baird & Warner in 2007, he spent five years at HSBC as the chief financial officer of the consumer and mortgage lending servicing channel. There, Warren held several key roles in the credit card business, focusing on driving profitable growth. He also headed HSBC’s business process improvement group, leveraging Six Sigma methodology.
Warren is a certified public accountant and has held numerous positions of increasing responsibility with companies such as Sears and SBC-Ameritech, now AT&T. Warren received an MBA from DePaul Graduate School in Chicago and a bachelor’s degree in business and accounting from LeTourneau University in Texas. Beyond his professional life, Warren serves as the chairman of a nonprofit organization that helps underprivileged children and families.
Warren is a Christ Follower attending Willow Creek Community Church in Barrington, IL where he serves in various ministries. He also lives in Barrington with his wife of 30 years. He has three grown children. He enjoys leading small groups, skiing, and exercising.
Dr. Matthew Robinson
Dr. Matthew Robinson has served on the Executive Team at First Orlando as Pastor of Ministries & Administration since 2015. He loves leading teams to tackle complex ministry opportunities in innovative ways. Originally from Tampa, Florida, Matthew is a recovering college mathematics professor and higher education administrator (at Florida State University and Tallahassee Community College). He transitioned into full-time ministry as a bio-vocational Executive Pastor after helping plant City Church Tallahassee 17 years ago. He loves spreadsheets, baking, monorails, his wife Rachel and their two daughters.
Samuel Hallberg
Before acting as the director of my in-laws’ charitable giving fund, I spent over a decade in nonprofit marketing and fund development at the ministry and agency levels. I spent my childhood in Pakistan and Germany, where my parents worked as missionaries. My wife and I also served as staff missionaries at Black Forest Academy. Today, I live in Winfield, IL, with my two daughters and my wife.
David Lee
David Lee is the President of B & L Sheet Metal and Roofing, a Tecta America Company. He has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from LeTourneau University and a MBA from Taylor University. David lives in Bloomington, IN.
Erik Rees
For more than 30 years, Erik Rees has dedicated himself to empowering people to use their lives to helping others. Erik began his career in 1993 as a pastor, strategist and trainer at world-renowned Saddleback Church, where he helped grow the congregation from 3,000 to more than 30,000 followers over a 20-year period. During this amazing time he helped train church leaders around the world on keys to building an “Empowering Church”. In addition, he wrote several best selling’s books: SHAPE: Finding & Fulfilling Your Purpose In Life and Only You Can Be You: 21 Days to Living Your Purpose.
On March 3, 2011 he and his wife, Stacey, were told their 11 year old daughter, Jessie, had terminal brain cancer. As Jessie started her treatment at Children’s Hospital of Orange County, she discovered there were many other kids fighting cancer that couldn’t leave the hospital. Upon hearing this news, Jessie created her fun-filled JoyJars to hand out. She also created and adopted her NEGU (Never Ever Give Up) message and motto, which she loved sharing. Sadly Jessie lost her fight to cancer on January 5, 2012.
Under the daily leadership with his wife, the Jessie Rees Foundation has become a beacon of help and hope for all children impacted by cancer. Since 2011, the foundation has raised over $38M, teamed up with over 60,000 volunteers, sent out over 475,000 JoyJars, and given away over $3M in financial support. To learn more about the impact made worldwide, please visit www.negu.org.
Erik and Stacey live in Orange County, Calif. with their dogs and close to their other two grown children, Shaya and JT.
Doug Parks
Doug is the Co-founder and CEO of Intentional Churches. He is the co-author of Intentional Churches: How Implementing an Operating System Clarifies Vision, Improves Decision Making, and Stimulates Growth (Harper Collins / Thomas Nelson / Leadership Network).
Doug’s love and commitment to help churches comes from his own experience of being eternally impacted as a teenager by a committed church leader. He served for seventeen years as the executive pastor at Canyon Ridge Christian Church in Las Vegas, Nevada. Doug and his wife, Jennifer, reside in Las Vegas with their two children, where he still finds time to follow sports, including his beloved Ohio State Buckeyes.
Garry Poole
Garry Poole is a skilled outreach specialist, training facilitator, and strategic planning consultant for churches and organizations around the world. He is the founder and CEO of OneLife, a ChurchOS Solution within Intentional Churches. OneLife is designed to coach and walk alongside church leaders for the purpose of inspiring, equipping and mobilizing believers to a lifestyle of effective spiritual influence.
Garry is the innovator of Spiritual Discovery Groups and the author of the award-winning book, Seeker Small Groups, which provides a detailed blueprint for facilitating small group discussions that help spiritually curious people investigate the Christian faith. He also wrote The Complete Book of Questions, and numerous discussion guides, including the Tough Questions series, and Experiencing the Passion of Jesus (with Lee Strobel), which won the Christian Book of the Year award.
In the past, Garry served on staff for eighteen years as the Evangelism Pastor at Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago. Prior to this, Garry was the founding Senior Pastor for five years at a church in Indianapolis.
He currently has offices in Chicago and Colorado. Garry is married to Michelle and together they have an English Cream Golden Retriever named Willow!
Bart Rendel
Bart is the Co-founder and CSO of Intentional churches. He is also the co-author of Intentional Churches: How Implementing an Operating System Clarifies Vision, Improves Decision Making, and Stimulates Growth (Harper Collins / Thomas Nelson / Leadership Network).
Bart has dedicated his life to helping churches reach more people for Christ. His passion for serving churches comes from his upbringing as a pastor’s kid and learning from his parents about the intentionality of reaching and growing people in Christ. His conviction runs deep. Bart served as an executive leader for over eighteen years at Crossroads Christian Church in Lexington, Kentucky, and Central Christian Church in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he and his family remain deeply connected. He and his wife, Catherine, have two children. Bart occasionally plays a round of golf, but he always takes in Kentucky Wildcats games.