Our Team: Passionate about Equipping Every Believer
in New England
Meet Amy Howard
Executive Director
Amy is the founder and director of Encounter Culture and is passionate about encounter with God, teaching and equipping everybody to play, and the healing of the whole human. She, her husband, their six boys, and a constantly varying number of smaller creatures currently reside in New Hampshire. When not praying or teaching, Amy enjoys working in her orchard and continually expanding her knowledge of God's interaction with humans.
Meet Justin Howard
Missionary Pathway Director
Justin is husband to Amy with whom he's been in ministry for seventeen years. Together they planted a church in Maine in 2012 and have been involved in Encounter ministry that whole time - leading hungry people into greater wholeness and freedom of life in the Spirit. Actively involved in disciple-making and leadership development, Justin is passionate to see extended spiritual families emerge to embody Jesus' presence where they live, work, and play. He loves house and land projects, his woodstove, and apprenticing his six sons in hearing Jesus' voice while engaging them in semi-dangerous (manly) activities.
Meet Wally Wildes
Relationships Developer
Wally has been coaching and equipping missional leaders through intentional relational discipleship over the last 34 years and has served as a full-time missionary in the US & overseas for the last 26 years. He currently oversees an intentional community focused on disciple-making and training short-term missions at His Providence Church in Swansea, MA. Wally resides in New England with his wife Jane, and has two children, Hayley, and Brandon. Wally served 10 years with Marked Men for Christ, and the last 6 as New England Regional Director, having witnessed over a thousand men receive healing and restoration from their past wounds, that led to healthy and whole marriages and families. Wally loves family time, the ocean, motorcycle riding, coffee with friends, and leading mission teams to different countries in the world.
Meet Andrea O’Connell
Operations Director
Andrea O’Connell, a native of Southeastern, MA, brings over a decade of experience in supporting individuals and families affected by mental health and substance use disorders. With a unique blend of clinical and operational expertise, she embarked on her journey with Encounter Culture after attending her first Encounter Weekend in April 2022. Andrea possesses a distinctive talent for turning vision into reality by crafting operational systems that enhance team unity and excellence. Her meticulous planning and execution allows for a harmonious synergy where all aspects of an Encounter Weekend seamlessly flow together. Andrea is enthusiastically dedicated to learning, prayer, and serving others, driven by a profound desire to witness liberation in all people. She is a devoted wife and mother of two, delighting in the warmth of summer, discovering new hiking trails with her family, and experimenting with fun recipes.
Meet our board
Christine Kenerson
CEO, Treworgy Family Orchards, Levant, ME
Mother of five beautiful children
Certificate of Spiritual Direction, Leadership Transformations Institute
BS, MA, University of Maine
Ryan Richardson
Project Manager, Triangle Refrigeration, A/C, & Plumbing, Somerset, MA
Springfield College Business School
Bristol Community College Business School
Dr. Daniel Veno
Family Physician, Beth Israel Lahey Primary Care, Ipswitch, MA
MD, University of Massachusetts Medical School
BA, Dartmouth College
Aaron Watt
Current Student at Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University, Arlington, VA
Owner, Quality Property, LLC
Owner, Aaron’s Painting, Inc.
BA, University of Maine
Michelle Tolleson
Marketing and Development Manager, Brain Injury Association of Rhode Island, Bristol, RI
MA, Liberty University, Business & Non-Profit Organization Management
BA, Grand Canyon University
Huguette “Guetty” Larionne
Supervisor, SS&C Technologies, Taunton, MA
BA, University of Phoenix, Business Management
Samantha Kenerson
Manager, Treworgy Family Orchards, Levant, ME
Mother of four beautiful children
BA, University of Maine
The Rt. Rev. Brian Bethke
Missionary Bishop to New England, Missio Mosaic, Haverhill, MA
Ockenga Fellow at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
MA, Liberty University, Religious Education
US Marine Corps Officer, Ret.
Sarah Heanssler
Deer Isle, ME
Mother of five beautiful children
BA, Columbia International University
Missionary, Burkina Faso