Jeramie Rinne - Senior Pastor
Jeramie grew up in the U.S.A. in Las Vegas. He received a BA in Bible and Ancient Languages from Wheaton College, and an M.Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Jeramie pastored a church in the Boston area for 20 years before coming to ECC. He is an author and trains pastors in expository preaching through the Charles Simeon Trust. Jeramie and his wife, Jennifer, have been married for more than 25 years. They have four children. Jeramie enjoys the outdoors, movies and board games.
Curt Romig - Senior Associate Pastor
Curt grew up in Kansas in the U.S.A. From a young age, he became interested in ministry and living overseas and has lived in Peru and China. In 2010, God blessed him with his amazing wife Michelle, and now they have two daughters. From 2012-2017, Curt served as a pastor at a church in Kansas. His favorite parts of ministry are spending time with people, equipping people to use their gifts, and preaching/teaching God's word. He enjoys playing and watching sports of all kinds, singing and playing with his daughters and son, and drinking black coffee with friends.
Aubrey Sequeira - Associate Pastor
Aubrey and his wife Nishika were born and raised in Chennai, India. Aubrey was a rock musician before the Lord saved him. After completing his Bachelor's in engineering, Aubrey worked in the IT industry for several years while engaging in bi-vocational ministry and church-planting. In 2010, following the Lord's call to vocational ministry, Aubrey enrolled at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary where he completed an M.Div and a Ph.D. in Biblical Theology while serving a local church in various capacities. Aubrey and Nishika love spending time with people, understanding new cultures and trying new ethnic foods. They have been blessed with three delightful little girls.
Jess Martin - Director of Children's Ministry
Jess Martin is originally from the U.S.A. but has been serving overseas since 2006, the majority of which has been spent in the Middle East. She has always known that her passion is working with children. She feels that the best part about working with children and youth is knowing that God will use these kids to continue building His kingdom long after her work is done. Jess is the proud pet-mum of a Yorkie named Fino. In her free time, she enjoys sci-fi, reading, writing her own stories, triathlons and baking.
Ben Zamora - Director of Teen Ministry
Ben grew up in California in the U.S.A. At the age of 18, the Lord gave him a heart for missions and serving the local church overseas. He received a BA in Church Leadership & World Missions. Over the years, he has served in various capacities within the local church, but especially in youth ministries and he loves working with students & parents. After moving to Colorado, Ben met Camryn and they married in 2006. They have 4 wonderful children. Ben is an extrovert and a foodie. He loves meeting people, being adventurous, camping, hunting, and anything outdoors, but more than anything, he loves spending time with his family.
Noemi Carpenter - Church Administrator
Noemi grew up in the U.S. in Philadelphia as part of a multi-cultural family. Her mother is Swiss-Chilean and she has four sisters adopted from Colombia. She earned her bachelor's degree in History and Sociology in 2014. Before working at ECC, she worked in a number of schools, teaching English and Math and supporting learners with additional needs. Noemi moved to Abu Dhabi in the summer of 2017 with her husband, Zach and joined the ECC team in June of 2018. Noemi enjoys journaling, cooking, baking and doing counted cross stitch in her spare time.
Arno Milne - Accountant
Arno grew up in South Africa in the city of Pretoria. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in accounting sciences during the ’90s at the University of Pretoria. Before joining the ECC team in February of 2019, he has worked as the main accountant at several businesses in South Africa, the U.K. and the U.A.E. He lived in London for several years where he met his lovely wife Carlien at church. His wife started a new position in Abu Dhabi early 2013 and he joined her in October of that year. They got married in September 2013 and have been blessed with a daughter and son. Arno enjoys a round of golf, reading, watching all sports and traveling in his spare time.
Christie Eckardt - Visual and Social Media
Christie, from the U.S.A., graduated with a degree in Business and HR in 1994. She then helped build the website for Miami Dade County Building Code Compliance for three years before managing the website department for a design agency in Coral Gables. She joined the ECC staff in May 2010 and serves as a graphic designer, website and social media manager and vlog producer. She is married and has two children.
Darshini Vellanki - Office Assistant
Darshini is from India, born and raised in Rajahmundry, in the state of Andhra Pradesh. She moved to Abu Dhabi in 2005 and worked in the Government Sector till 2013. She joined the ECC staff in 2017 December. She enjoys reading and cooking. Darshini married Hemanth in 1997 and they have one son, Siddharth.
Innah Teodoro - Office Assistant
Innah was born and raised in the Philippines but has spent the majority of her teen years living in Abu Dhabi. In 2018, she graduated from Abu Dhabi University with a degree in Mass Communication specializing in Broadcast Journalism. Innah became a member of ECC in 2017 and has since been serving in the Youth Ministry. She enjoys going to the beach, watching movies, and taking photographs.
Billypaul Owere - Pastoral Apprentice
Billypaul is from Uganda. He grew up in a small town, Mbale, in the eastern region of the country. From a young age, he was very interested in ministry and went on to serve in his local church in the youth ministry and later with a couple of mission groups working in Africa-Calvary Ministries (CAPRO) Missions and UKOMBOZI (meaning "salvation") Gospel Missions in Uganda. He is passionate about reaching out to unreached people groups in Uganda, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia and Egypt. Because of this desire, he applied and was by God’s grace accepted into the Global Pastoral Apprentice Program here at ECC to be equipped and trained to become an effective witness and ambassador of the Gospel to those areas. Billypaul loves playing basketball, dancing, spoken word poetry and working out in his spare time.
Jonathan George - Pastoral Apprentice
Jonathan is from India, born in Nagercoil (Tamil Nadu) and raised in Mussoorie (Uttarakhand). He completed his bachelor in English Literature at Delhi University, while being involved in a church in Delhi. After graduating in 2010, he worked for a website company in Delhi before moving to Lucknow in 2013 to do a pastoral internship. The church sent him to seminary in Bangalore in 2015, and he graduated with an M.Div. in 2018. He is passionate about local church ministry and desires to see many healthy Hindi churches being planted in North India. He is married to Hina, and God blessed them with a son in January 2018. Jonathan enjoys listening to music, cooking, and following sports—especially (real) football.
Pride Tanyara - Pastoral Apprentice
Pride was born in a small town called Masvingo in Zimbabwe and grew up in a bigger city Bulawayo. He grew up in a Christian family and became active in evangelism at a very young age. He worked with a rural church in Zimbabwe from 2016-2018 and also went to a seminary school in Zimbabwe called Baptist Theological Seminary of Zimbabwe from 2015-2018.