Meet the BYM Team
Sarah Alarcon
Team Leader – Youth and Young Adult Ministries.
Sarah serves as the Team Leader – Youth and Young Adults Ministries.
With over a decade of youth and young adult ministry experience Sarah is deeply passionate about young people meeting Jesus and being discipled in a local church context. Sarah is also particularly interested in creating ministry expressions that empower, equip and release emerging leaders.
Sarah attends Erina Community Baptist Church where she serves as an Elder on their church leadership team.
When she is not working she loves to cook and bake, work on home renovations and spend quality time with her family.
Kathy Dwyer
BYM Admin Support
Kathy is the admin support person for the Baptist Youth Ministries team 2 days per week. Her role includes coordinating Revive Youth nights each year, coordinating Connect Days and Lead Up Retreat as well as supporting the State Youth Camp team.
Kathy works the other 3 days per week for the Baptist Association as PA For Gen1K Discipleship and Leadership Development Associate Director Craig Corkill. Kathy is married with 2 married adult son’s and 2 grandson’s and attends New Vine Baptist Church in Newcastle.
She has a heart for supporting youth & young adult’s pastors & leaders as they serve the youth & help them come to faith & then grow in their faith.
Fiona Gardner
BYM Youth Mental Health Coordinator
Fiona serves as the Youth Mental Health Coordinator. Her role is to come along side churches and youth ministries, to equip and resource youth pastors, leaders and young people in how to deal with mental health in regards to themselves and those around them. Fiona also works as the administrator for accreditation and recognition within the Baptist Association.
She attends Toongabbie Baptist Church with her 3 sons. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with her 3 dogs and drinking coffee in the sun.
Jo White
State Youth Camp Coordinator
Jo has been working and volunteering in youth ministry since 2010. She’s been involved in SYC as part of the Core team since she 2017 and is incredibly excited to be the State Youth Camp Coordinator now.
She loves the way camp pulls kids out of their daily lives and gives them an opportunity to hear from God. More, she is passionate about seeing how God transforms the lives of young people and seeing them empowered to lead others to Him.
Jo attends Bayside Community Church with her husband Daniel and daughter. She enjoys great food, movies and going on adventures with her family and little dog Evie.
Lysander Lawrence
Regional Youth Support and Engagement
Lysander lives and works in the Hunter. For many years now he has been teaching school Scripture across a whole heap of high schools + works for BYM Hunter.
He loves engaging young people with the teachings of Jesus and HE LOVES seeing the next generation of leaders come through. He believes that we are a part of something bigger than ourselves, that collectively we are making a difference and that through prayer, encouragement, challenge and faith in Jesus we will see the fruit of our labours.
Lysander & his family attend New Vine Baptist Church.
Rachel Stuhr
IMPACT Gap Year Program Coordinator
Regional Youth Support and Engagement
Rachel has been in youth ministry for over 15 years and has served in a variety of roles in churches, camps, and parachurch spaces.
She joined the BYM team in 2020 to offer support to regional youth ministries, and in 2024 she began coordinating the IMPACT gap year.
Rachel has a heart to see young people growing in their faith and living out Gods plan for their lives.
Rachel lives in the Blue Mountains with her husband Max and their dog Anuk and loves to spend time exploring Gods creation, gardening, and working on projects around their home.
Will Richards
IMPACT Gap Year Program Development Coach
Will serves as Associate Pastor in Youth and Young Adults at Green Point Baptist Church on the NSW Central Coast. Will is also part of the IMPACT team part-time as the development coach.
He’s passionate about seeing young people growing in faith and finding their place in God’s Kingdom.
He loves playing and watching sport, board games and adventures with his wife and two preschool children.
Mandy Gray
Youth Ministry Support – ACT
Mandy has been in the Pastoral Team at Mosaic Baptist church since 2020 and is currently the Generations Pastor. She has been actively involved with Kids and Youth in the Canberra Region for almost 20 years working in various settings including foster care, youth homelessness services, the education setting and special Government projects.
Mandy has a Degree in Social Work and is passionate about the Church coming alongside people and seeing lives transformed through relationship with Jesus. She has a special interest in inter-generational ministry, and loves to see the Church engaging as the Body of Christ, seeing all age groups working together.
Mandy has a passion for Safe Church and has been facilitating the Creating Safe Spaces course around the Canberra region for several years. She also enjoys the gym and loves creating spaces where people feel welcomed, loved, and supported to be all they can be.
Will Tugwell
Youth Ministry Support – Sydney North
Will is the Youth Pastor at Thornleigh Community Baptist Church. He has a Bachelor of Business and is now studying at Morling College.He loves his sport, plays football, likes coffee and weekends at the beach.
Will has been at TCBC for six years and is passionate about young disciples loving Jesus at School and where they do life!
Annie Hunter
Youth Ministry Support – Sydney West/Blue Mountains
Annie has been in youth ministry for the past 13 years working both in church youth ministry, as the Youth Pastor at Springwood Baptist church as well as in high school SRE ministry.
Annie is passionate about seeing young people and young leaders know Jesus deeply for themselves and become disciples of his who live the gospel and multiply it into others.
Annie lives in the Blue Mountains with her husband Tim and cat, Luna. In her free time loves to be in nature, go to the theatre, watch documentaries and paint with water colours.