Rev. Mary Causer - Lead Pastor
In June 2016, Mary relocated to the Midlands to take up the role of Sandwell & West Birmingham NHS Trust Lead Chaplain. Bethel quickly became her home and ministry base as one of our Associate Pastors.
Since May 2023, Mary has been our Lead Pastor. We are delighted she stayed to take up the fulltime role here at Bethel. With her great sense of humour and joyful spirit, her creativity and energy, Mary brings encouragement to everyone she meets!
From an Irish Catholic background, Mary has a daughter, Gemma, and is the proud grandma of Chloe who is growing up just too fast! Mary started her working life managing pubs in and around the Telford area.
Having graduated from Elim Bible College in 2000, Mary served on the leadership team at Elim Salford for 15 years. Her bi-vocational role allowed her to develop her wealth of experience within prison chaplaincy, and she co-founded a Community Chaplaincy Project in Manchester offering support to ex-offenders. In recent years, she has helped to develop and present the Chaplaincy Module at Regents Theological College, which trains chaplains from across the spectrum of church streams.
Rev. Jon Grant
Jon has been married to Lynsey for over 25 years, and they have 2 grown up sons.
As the Founder and Executive Director of Krunch, he and his staff work with young people who need support and mentoring. His passion for engaging young people who have no experience of ‘church’ led him to become an Elim Minister at Sandwell Christian Centre, a small congregation that merged with Bethel in June 2018.
Jon is also chair of SFVYO and Sandwell Coordinator for Love Black Country as well as chaplain to Warley Rugby Club. In 2019, Jon became Chaplain at the Villa - a life-long goal!
We're thrilled that Jon is based at Bethel as our Associate Pastor. His main area of ministry is outside the walls of our building as he networks throughout the local community. In house? You'll find him on the worship team, leading and preaching at our Sunday Services, and heading up our men's ministries. As he says, "I'm just a nobody trying to tell everybody about a Somebody!"
David L'Herroux
We consider Dave our missionary! He is married to Jackie, and despite appearances is a grandad to Noah, Jake, Emile and Alice.
Brought up in a Christian family in the Loire Valley, France, Dave came to England over 40 years ago and is now the Managing Director for UCB, the UKs biggest Christian Media provider.
Jackie and Dave founded Book of Hope UK in 1997, now OneHope, and they have both served at Bethel since they were teenagers.
Dave remains convinced that people's lives, communities and families can be changed for the better through a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Simon Gayle
Bethel is Simon’s home church. He has been married to Angela for over 25 years & works as a sales rep throughout the week.
His father’s heart, his love for people, the Word & prayer, mixed with his larger than life personality & honesty to the core brings a wonderful strength to our Leadership Team, & in particular the eldership. His faithful commitment to the ministry in worship & teaching on Sundays, & pastoral support proves invaluable to church life & beyond.
Dave Drury
Dave turned up at Bethel in the 1980's, became a Christian, married Vikki and has been worshipping here ever since! He has two grown up daughters, has lived and worked locally all his life and of course, you guessed it, he's another West Bromwich Albion supporter... naturally!
Dave loves to combine his love of prayer with his love of walking. If you see him walking the canals and streets, he's not lost, he's praying for our local community. Amongst other things, as one of our elders is keen to ensure people are cared for, and growing in their relationship with Jesus. Dave also takes communion each month to our older members who are unable to leave their homes nowadays.
Rosemary Simmonds
In her younger years, Rose was a keen ice-skater and would've given Torvill & Dean a run for their money! Since her original links to Bethel's Bible Class as a teenager, Rose has been involved in pretty much every area of ministry - including policies and safeguarding!!!
Nowadays, Rose is the Head of Sixth Form at a high school in Darlaston, and teaches Sociology. The transferable skills she has developed in the workplace have proved incredibly useful to serve our Bethel family.
For this we are truly grateful, and we value her ongoing practical and pastoral input.
Mark Bell
Mark is married to Victoria and they have two teenaged children, Sophie & Joe. He has a BSC (Hons) in Software Engineering and is the Director of an IT Company. Mark has a big evangelistic heart and is a member of Good News for Everyone (Formerly Gideons UK). With a passion for both the lost and poor, he aspires to reach them & give them new opportunities to move forward well in their lives.
He's born and bred in Yorkshire; a Bradford City 25 season ticket holder who seeks to convert Baggies fans in both faith & clubs!
Ann Kelly
Ann's first encounter with Bethel was in the 1980's during her "punk days". In recent years, she has re-engaged faith and her relationship with Jesus. From her background IT and corporate business outsourcing, Ann brings a wealth of administrative ability to the leadership, and her organisational skills are second to none! Ann works part time for the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch and has served as a trustee/volunteer at Krunch.
She confessed recently that the two great loves of her life are Star Trek (Every Generation!) and Jesus, but not necessarily in that order!
AJ Hill
AJ was born and raised in Birmingham, where he has built a life with his wife Lisa since 2005. Together, they have a teenage son named Sam and a lively boxer dog named Lola.
Having visited Bethel a few times in the past while involved with music teams for churches and meetings, AJ and his family made Bethel their home church in 2017. This decision came after feeling led by God to move from the church they had grown up in.
AJ's passion for music shines through in his work playing and teaching the drums. His week is filled with a mix of private and school teaching, studio sessions, and gigs, all of which he truly enjoys. You'll even find him on a Sunday as part of our Worship Team.
When he's not immersed in music, he also enjoys watching the occasional football match......we'll work out his allegiances at a later time!
Darryl Gayle
Darryl is married to Claire and is daddy to Aria and Ezra. Darryl is a team leader with IKEA, and now works one day a week for Bethel developing our online capabilities for Sunday services and connectivity whether we are church gathered or church scattered! This is something we are keen to invest in especially since 2020's pandemic!
Darryl is a musical legend - is there any instrument he can't play?!! He has been involved in our worship team since he was a young boy and we appreciate his eagerness to learn and his ongoing commitment to the ministry here in Oldbury. We're chuffed to bits to have him on team. (...and yes, he supports WBA too! :) Bonus!)