Meet the build. team
Our faculty are excited to meet you!
Rev. Andy Mitchell
build. Program Coordinator.
I grew up in a small town outside Ōtautahi Christchurch, in Aotearoa New Zealand. I’ve lived in Naarm Melbourne since 2007 when I came to faith living at the Kew Student Residence run by Kew Baptist Church. I’ve worked with young people as a pastor, camp director and sports chaplain.
At build. I’m looking forward to connecting young people to a diversity of teachers and mentors from across the church, who will help them to reflect on the place of faith in their lives, and to consider what meaningful contribution God might be calling them to make to the work of the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5).
Sarah Do
build. Team
Transformation Diploma Coordinator
I’m Sarah and I’m born and raised in Melbourne. I grew up in a Vietnamese migrant family and Vietnamese church community, who I love and who continue to play a vital role in my faith journey.
Theological education has helped me to think about my faith more deeply, but it was the opportunity to share stories and experiences with people of diverse cultural backgrounds at Whitley that has truly deepened my awe of how creative and wonderful God is. I am excited to be part of build., to be part of these conversations and to continue to discover how God is at work in all of us, gifting us uniquely for our contexts for the common good.
Joyce Choi
build. Team
Transformation Program Coordinator
Hello, my name is Joyce, and I am a 1.5 generation Korean, a daughter of a Baptist pastor. I grew up in Korea, Australia, and the United States, and I understand how it feels to be caught in between cultures.
I am an English teacher and the coordinator for the TransFormation program at Whitley College. In these roles, I help students from diverse backgrounds overcome language barriers to reach their goals.
I am excited to be part of build., as I am passionate about nurturing next generation leaders in the church. I will be facilitating the tutorials in the units, and I look forward to being part of your faith journey.
Dr. Siu Fung Wu
Adjunct Whitley Faculty
Lecturer, Culture elective stream
I came to faith when I was 17 and it has been a wonderful journey. In fact, I love the Bible so much that I ended up doing a PhD on it! I was a pastor for a few years, which was challenging but I learned a lot. I’ve also worked in an Aid and Development organisation, where I learned heaps about social justice issues. I’m excited about exploring the Bible with the students from different cultural lenses.
Rev. Dr. Bill Brown
Pastoral Coach, BUV
Lecturer, Leadership elective stream
EMERGE program
Born and raised in Bendigo, I’ve been a teacher, a youth pastor and senior pastor. These days I’m a pastoral coach and in volved with investing in emerging leaders. I enjoy sport and time with family and friends. I am looking forward to the privilege of being a fellow traveller with those who want to keep growing and developing as missional followers of Jesus and leaders who invest in and develop others.
Kimberly Smith
Generations and Emerging Leaders Pastor
Lecturer, Leadership elective stream
EMERGE program
I was a teacher before becoming an Associate Pastor at Werribee Baptist church. Now I am the Generations and Emerging Leaders Pastor for the Baptist Union, encouraging churches and church leaders to think and act generationally as well as champion the intentional identification, development, and deployment of leaders. I’m looking forward to connecting with emerging leaders who are keen to develop their personal character, competency, and capacity to engage in missional leadership.
Geoff Maddock
VIC/TAS State Leader, Baptist Mission Australia Lecturer, Witness elective stream
As a young adult I took off with a backpack through Africa, Europe, and the US, where I landed in Kentucky to study missiology. I worked in ministry for 18 years seeking the shalom of an historic African American urban neighbourhood. I now serve as State Leader for the Baptist Intercultural mission agency. At build. I’m excited to keep learning what it means for God’s people to love the world.
Learn about our partner organisations
Baptist Union of Victoria
The Baptist Union of Victoria (BUV) is the denominational office supporting the ministry of more than 250 Victorian Baptist churches. The BUV embodies build.’s belief that there is strength in diversity and for this reason, we are proud to partner with them.
EMERGE
EMERGE is a commitment of the BUV to help local churches identify, develop, and deploy missional emerging leaders. This program is accredited through build. and can be taken as an elective stream in the program. Kim and Bill, who lead this program, are phenomenal leaders, pastors and communicators, and being able to offer an accredited pathway into this program is a huge win!
NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community
NAIITS is a global, Indigenous-led, theological community that seeks to consider what it means to be fully Indigenous and fully Christian. The University of Divinity has partnered with them to offer graduate study and now build. is working with the NAIITS Australia team to develop some undergraduate units in Indigenous theology for 2023.
Ignite
IGNITE is the BUV’s commitment to multicultural youth and young adults. They run a conference each year celebrating the best of the 1.5 and 2nd gen and we’re excited about the future possibilities of our partnership together. You’ll see Charlene, who leads Ignite, around build. as often as she’s free to come hang out with us!
Baptist Mission Australia
Baptist Mission Australia (BMA) are one of the Baptist Church’s mis sion agencies. At build. we love BMA’s commitment to intercultural work and contextualisation of the gospel. We also love Geoff Maddock, the Victoria and Tasmania State Leader, who has developed an elective stream in the Missio Dei, connecting build. students to a network of vastly experienced cross-cultural workers.
Baptist Camping Victoria
At build. we’re proud to be partnering with Baptist Camping Victoria (BCV) for the delivery of their internship program. Since 1945, BCV has been partnering with all kinds of organisations to offer quality camping experiences. Their interns will do part of their study with us remotely but will also join us for intensives in person.
by Impressum