Leadership Team
Our leadership team meets weekly to pray and re-think a better way the church can be more relevant. People are tired of an irrelevant church and we are striving to find the solution. Meet our team.
John Van Pay – Lead Pastor
John grew up in the San Antonio area where he graduated from Clemens High School. He met his wife Stephanie at Southwestern University and went to graduate school in Houston. Along with their lab named Ella, they have three children, Hannah Grace, Emma, and Bryce. Their pursuit of knowing and loving Jesus has resulted in a passion to make disciples, equip leaders, and send teams to start new churches.
John enjoys cycling, mountain biking, reading, duck hunting and tent camping.
Contact John | John’s Blog | Follow on Twitter
Stephanie Van Pay – Wee Kidz & Kidz Corner Director
Steph is a wonderful mom and her passion is kids. One of her greatest moments in life was serving as the kids pastor of Evangel Temple in Wichita Falls, Texas. She loves running and hanging out with other moms. Steph loves watching chick flick movies while eating Sour Patch kids.
Mario Calderon – Pastor of Worship Services
Mario was born and raised on the border town of Eagle Pass, Texas. At the age of 16 he moved to Minnesota where he attended Crossroads College receiving his degree in Theology and Music. The best part of living in Minnesota was not snow, puffy coats, snow mobiles or ice fishing, but meeting his beautiful wife Vanessa in college. They were married in Mexico on December 29, 2001. They are thankful parents of 2 beautiful daughters, Aiyana and Adalai.
Mario loves spending time with his family either eating frozen yogurt, playing at the park or watching a movie with buttery popcorn. He loves mountain biking, camping, eating Julio’s Chips, and writing or dancing to songs with Aiyana.
His greatest blessing is to lead people to God’s throne. Mario never had this master plan on “what to do when he grows up”. He is loving life and takes each step in awe of what God has in store.
Chris Campbell – Worship Leader
Chris and Mandy have been leading worship together since 1998 when they met in a church band in Kerrville, TX. Chris teaches math at Warren High School and Mandy teaches music at St. Mary’s Hall. They have two children, Ruth and Ian. In their spare time, Chris and Mandy, as well as Mandy’s twin, Maggie and her husband, Jon play in the band December’s End which Mandy and Maggie founded while still in college. Chris and Mandy also lead a Fellowship Team at their house on Thursday nights.
Allison Doan – Director of Volunteers
Allison grew up on the west coast where she developed a true love for the outdoors, sports, and people. She met her husband Jason while she was going to college in California and later moved to Texas to start a life with him. She finished her teaching degree at Southwest Texas State University but decided to stay home with her 3 kids to home school them. Allison gives herself completely to what she believes in and this is why Christ is the center of her life. She believes wholeheartedly that we are called to serve selflessly and to love those that are unconvinced of the Gospel of Jesus.
She loves serving the Lord through her role at Gateway, and volunteering with Children’s Hunger Fund whenever she can find the time. She bikes, runs, enjoys photography and reading, loves coffee and can’t say no to a plate of nachos.
Johnny & Amy Hauck – Chi Alpha College Pastors & Worship Leader
Johnny and Amy met in their college days at Sam Houston State University back in 2001. Both gave their hearts to Jesus as a part of a campus ministry there and experienced discipleship for the first time. After watching this transform their own lives and those around them, they became convinced that discipleship was Jesus’ method to reach mankind! After serving on staff with Chi Alpha in Huntsville for 6 years, they decided to give their lives to reach college students in San Antonio as full time missionaries.They pioneered the UTSA chapter of Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship in 2008–a national organization that takes its name from II Corinthians 5:20 which says we are Christ’s Ambassadors. They are passionate about discipleship and their home is a revolving door of college students.
In 2009 they welcomed their daughter Haven into the world and are having the time of their lives being parents! Johnny can also be found reading a good book, riding bmx, camping with college students, or basically anything outdoors with adventure involved–often with his trusty sidekick, Dr. Pepper, in hand. Amy loves the outdoors as well, enjoys a good cup of coffee, playing her guitar, and is pursuing a Masters Degree in English at UTSA.
Contact Johnny & Amy | XA Website | Follow on Twitter
Stoney Jeppson – Director of Operations
As a youth Stoney loved to take apart everything in the house (especially electronics), try to figure out how it worked and then attempt to put everything back together. The passion in wanting to know how electronics worked not only became what he went to school for but it became his career which he still works at full time today. With a 20 + year background in the semiconductor industry and operations management Stoney is always trying to find ways to streamline operations and improve how we operate at Gateway. Stoney is responsible for all aspects of Operations at Gateway including Finance, Volunteers, HR and Facilities.
If you don’t see Stoney running around at Gateway, good chance he is reading a good book, taking a road trip with his gorgeous wife & 3 awesome sons, watching UFC or doing something that gives him the excuse to drink coffee!
Kathy Jeppson – Financial Assistant
Growing up as a kid Kathy would count jars of pennies every week for fun; that fun became her career. With a degree in Accounting, she works full time as a Corporate Accountant for a national company in addition to serving as Gateway’s Financial Assistant. On Sundays, Kathy also serves as a volunteer coach in KidzRock.
Kathy grew up in the Great Northwest (Portland, Oregon) and met her husband there, Stoney Jeppson, in 1992. Her passion in life is her 3 boys. She loves watching her kids play sports & music as well as helping coach their teams. If she is not watching her kids play sports, on a family road trip or out hiking the trails with her family, good chance she is playing HALO with a thermos full of coffee on hand.
Leslie Lencioni – Student Ministry Director of Operations
Leslie grew up in the suburbs of Chicago. She attended Trinity International University and earned a degree in Youth Ministries. Knowing the Lord worked in big ways through people that invested in her life in middle school and high school she wanted to be used by the Lord to do the same for students. In the winter of 2007 some friends shared that they were moving to San Antonio Texas to plant a church. After much prayer she packed up her life and moved to a foreign land, Texas. She has been here since the fall of 2008 and now considers San Antonio home!
Leslie enjoys doing things that others don’t dare, skydiving, extreme roller coasters, and hanging out with middle school and high school students.
Tony & Cora Lei Nguyen – Fellowship Teams Pastors
Born in Saigon Vietnam, Tony experienced life as an orphan child until he was fostered by a wonderful Christian family in Tampa, Florida. His life story continued when he moved to Hawaii, graduated from high school, and joined the military. After serving 20 years in the United States Air Force, Tony worked as a Sports Programmer for the US Army, taught Kids Church, and was a small group assistant leader. Once obtaining couple of years of leadership training in New Jersey, Tony’s journey began when the Lord spoke to him and his wife, Cora Lei, to fulfill His purpose in San Antonio. Now living in San Antonio for 4 years, the exciting road continues for Tony as he serves as the Fellowship Team Pastor.
Being a former foster child, “OHANA” meaning family is everything to Tony; so sharing quality time with his wife, 3 children (Christopher, Cherie, and Morgan), grandchildren (Braden & Mason) is a gift he will never take for granted.
Chris Reynolds – Student Pastor
As a shy and passive child growing up in Hawaii, Christopher enjoyed playing sports, surfing, and being around his family. It never occurred to Christopher’s parents that he would ever be able to speak in front of people nor had the qualities of being a leader. But when the military transferred his family to New Jersey, the weather must have had an effect on his personality! He went from shy to very outgoing. Christopher became involved in student government as class treasurer and eventually class vice president. He continued in sports by playing football and basketball. He also had a passion for the theater arts in which he acted and sang in their plays and musicals. After high school graduation, Christopher attended the School of Engineering at Rutgers University aspiring to become an engineer, but after two years he felt that he was not fulfilling his purpose.
When Christopher moved to San Antonio, he was led to get involved with youth ministry. He immediately had a connection with the broken and hurting young people. So through much prayer and constant prophetic words from God, Christopher made a commitment to respond to God’s calling. He enrolled at Evangel University to obtain a degree in Biblical studies and determined to become a Youth Pastor. Christopher is currently finishing his education and desires to make a difference in the lives of the youth and lead them in a better relationship with God.
When Christopher is not busy he loves to sleep, hang out with friends, and eat!
James & Beverly Rios – Kids Pastor
James has worked for the San Antonio Fire Department for 11 years, but his greatest passion is instilling a deep love for Jesus in the lives of children. With God providing the opportunities and his Children’s pastor placing a deep and burning passion to reach children, he has been involved in some area of Children’s ministry for the past 20 years. James has grown up in San Antonio and now he enjoys life with his beautiful bride Beverly and his 5 awesome children (Brielle, Bayley, Bethani, Brooklyn, and finally Andrew). With Beverly partnering with James in this ministry they have devoted their lives to making a child’s time with God the most impacting time of their week.
James enjoys life by spending it with family and friends, sharing time with his new son Andrew, all sports (Texas teams), the outdoors, jumping on bouncers, cartoons and a great comedy. Beverly enjoys going on dates with James, hanging out with friends, meeting new people, and having “girls’ night” with her daughters.
Contact James & Beverly | James’ Blog
Randy & Kathryn Van Pay – Care Pastors
After several years in pastoral ministry, Randy’s focus is on making a difference by meeting the needs of the Helotes community. He graduated with his masters from Southwestern where he met his wife. He loves surprising her by going on creative dates every Friday night. Randy enjoys grilling, golf, and watching the Green Bay Packers.
After several years in ministry, Kathryn graduated Southwestern University with a Masters in Counseling and recently became board certified. She serves as a chaplain at United Methodist Hospital. She loves shopping at the La Cantara shops and spending time with her grand kids. She is an excellent listener and has the right thing to say when people are in crisis.