John E. Wasem has been actively immersed in church planting leadership since 1983. John possesses a love for the Church, confidence in its ongoing impact, and passion for developing her emerging leaders. He was baptized, married, and ordained in the Marlboro Christian Church of Alliance, Ohio. He served the East 91st Street Christian Church of Indianapolis as the primary developer of their noted church planting ministry in the 1980’s. In 1994, John planted the 8th daughter church for East 91st in St. John, Indiana. Suncrest Christian Church has grown from 42 people to over 1,500 with three satellite campuses and multiple new church partnerships nationwide.

John currently serves as the US Mobilization Director for Stadia: New Church Strategies. He pioneered the management team concept for new churches with Stadia and has served as a supervisor for more than 40 new church coaches from 2005 to the present. He has coached over 80 church planters in 22 states since the mid-1990’s. In addition, he has taught church planting and related courses annually since 1987 at Cincinnati Christian University, Lincoln Christian University, Dallas Christian College, and Emmanuel Christian Seminary.

John is married to Leslie – an inventor, entrepreneur, and artist – and has three married children and two granddaughters. John enjoys writing, family travel, golf, and historical reading. He resides in Gray, TN and attends the Boones Creek Christian Church.