Pastor Phil was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, one of twelve children.  His father was a Bible professor at Multnomah Bible College for 37 years, spoke extensively, and led dozens of trips to the Holy Land.  His mother taught at Multnomah and spoke extensively, and was Oregon Eagle Forum Mother-of-the-Year.  Phil attended Multnomah (B.S.B.E., 1979), then Dallas Theological Seminary (Th.M., ’83).

Phil’s ministry experience began during Bible college, on a ministry team of American Missionary Fellowship (rural church ministry), and in children’s ministry (music) at Hinson Memorial Baptist Church (Portland, OR).  During seminary year, he spent a summer in Nigeria under the auspices of SIM International, preaching and teaching Bible Study methods, and two summers in Saudi Arabia leading the ARAMCO Returning Students “Morale Group” program.  After graduation, he accepted a call to be Youth Pastor at a church near Sydney, Australia.  During his three years there, he met and married his wife Jenny.

During the subsequent 20+ years of ministry, they planted a church (Kansas), Phil taught for 5 years at Adelaide College of Ministries (Adelaide, South Australia), and he was Sr. Pastor of Elgin Bible Church (Illinois) for over 8 years.  They’ve been in New Braunfels since August, 2004, when Phil became the first pastor at NBBC.

Phil and Jenny have 8 children: Sarah, Ben, Rebekah, Joseph, Abby, Lydia, Caleb, and Joshua.  In his spare time, Phil loves sports, music, traveling, reading, and good movies.  He is passionate about the clear, undiluted, and unencumbered presentation of the gospel of grace, the free gift of God of eternal life through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone, apart from works.  This focus resulted in him being an active contributor to the Grace Evangelical Society for many years, and active in founding the Free Grace Alliance in 2004.  He has a love for missions and evangelism, and has traveled to Venezuela and the Philippines on ministry trips.  He is a member of the Evangelical Theological Society.

John Kulp

I was born and raised in Northern Indiana and headed south and west after high school to attend college at John Brown University.  Having experienced the extra sunshine and southern hospitality, I never moved back to the ice and snow of the Midwest.  After receiving my degree in Engineering, I began work in the semiconductor industry in Phoenix.  Following a very difficult year in Arizona, I relocated to Southern California where I met the joy of my life, my wife Bonnie.  My job brought us to Austin in 1985, and we have lived in central Texas ever since.  This year Bonnie and I celebrated our 38th wedding anniversary.  We have three daughters, Christina McElvogue, Bethany Kulp, and Jessica Kulp, and two grandsons, Sean and Will McElvogue.                                               
I spent most of my secular career as a senior engineer and scientist working in process development for semiconductor (computer chip) manufacturing, and I hold patents in that field.  In the later years of my career I moved into management and helped establish and staff the North American operations of my Japan based employer.  I retired in 2008, just prior to undergoing cancer surgery.  I have recovered well, by God’s grace, and am excited about my new role in working with, and providing support to, our small group ministries.

In parallel with my 40 year career in technology, Bonnie and I have ministered in lay positions including many mission trips, many years of teaching adult Sunday school, and other positions of service in several churches.  In the late 1990’s I was also privileged to serve as lay pastor of an outreach church, teaching adults and guiding children’s ministries onsite at a low income apartment complex north of Austin.  Bonnie and I have been actively involved in several small group programs, starting in the 1970’s.

I clearly remember trusting Christ for my salvation at the age of 4, but by my college years I had come to consider myself to be an agnostic.  As I prayed the agnostic’s prayer, “God, I don’t know if you are out there, but if you are, please reveal yourself to me”, the Spirit worked in my heart.  Late one night, alone in a park near John Brown University, I fell to my knees in worship and stopped running away from the Savior who I had trusted as a child.  Anyone who knows me knows that I am certainly far from perfect, but I have lived with confidence in my eternal destiny by faith alone in Christ alone, and have joyfully grown in intimacy with God over the years since that night.

Bonnie and I live at Canyon Lake, and we enjoy sailing.  If you ever sail with us, you will have to put up with my lectures on our faith-walk being like sailing…not by our effort or our power, but by alignment with the Spirit – as the sails must, by alignment with the wind.

Eric Ream

Eric has been a believer for almost twenty years.  He is thankful that Christ is faithful even when he is not.  Life in Christ is mesmerizing!  It is a journey that is the most intoxicating, satisfying, single pursuit of any life.

A few of those mesmerizing moments that have helped define Eric’s life and ministry are: a love for God’s Word, a passion for sharing the gospel, and amazement for what God accomplishes through community.  
 
When Eric attended college he knew he was suppose to read God’s Word. However, he did not appreciate reading and in fact had a great disdain for it.  Until one day he was honest with God and told Him that he hated to read and did not want to read the Bible.  Eric told God if He wanted him to read the Bible He was going to have to change his heart and give him a desire to read the Word.  This was one of the best prayers he has ever prayed and it has changed his life.  This love for God’s Word led Eric to teach overseas and then to Dallas Theological Seminary to grow in his ability to touch lives with Scripture.  Jesus said, “Sanctify them with truth, Your Word is truth.” 

Another defining moment in Eric’s life happened when a friend died in high school.  He attended the funeral with another close friend and the pastor referred to salvation and eternal life.  After the funeral Eric asked his friend if he knew where he would go if he died. His friend said that he was not sure.  Eric asked if he would like to know and his friend said “yes”.  Eric had no idea how to explain from the Scriptures the free gift of eternal life through faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ.  After this encounter, Eric asked the pastor how he could share the good news of Jesus himself. His pastor directed him to scripture which he committed to memory. Eric has been addicted to sharing the good news ever since.  It is amazing to partner with God and watch Him work in the lives of people. 

God brings people into our lives to help us become more like Christ.  Eric is so thankful for his bride of nine years.  God says, he who finds a wife finds a good thing, and Eric has definitely found a godly woman to grow with in Elisabeth.  God has blessed them with two children, Ethan and Evan. The Lord knew what they needed for the Spirit of God to continue conforming them to the image of Christ…two busy boys!
God brought Eric and his family to a community of believers who see the value of what God accomplishes through families doing life together.  
 
Eric and Elisabeth have a passion to see people and especially young people trust Christ, grow to love Him, love others, and desire to make known the gospel around their world. 

Eric has served in a variety of ministries in several states and in a few different countries. These experiences shaped his desire to be a part of a diverse community that reflects unity in the person of Christ.  

Eric enjoys hanging out with people, exercise, travel, scuba diving, movies, and even reading.  

Kelli Boyd

Early Childhood Ministry Director

Although I was born and raised in Texas where seasons tend to blend into one another and not really abide by the lessons we learned in Kindergarten, my life has been full of some very bright seasons as the years have gone by.
 
Growing up in Keller, Texas with my sisters and amazingly supportive parents, the first seeds of Christ were planted as He became my Savior when I was in fifth grade. Being in a church all my life, makes my passion for the kids that come across our paths here, even greater. 

Upon graduating high school, I moved to a different “forest”… Nacogdoches… where I studied to be a teacher (as a hobby, I am afraid).  My season of college years allowed me to stand on my own and put my faith to the test.  God provided friends and situations that allowed me to see Him at work in very tangible ways.  My summers were spend right here in New Braunfels at T Bar M.  Here (in very “hot” seasons), I grew in amazing ways as I was taught how to live out Christ’s greatest commandment, to Love God and Love others, 24 hours, 7 days a week.

Upon graduating, I pursued my career in teaching first graders for three years while dedicating my summers to T Bar M.  Joining the full time staff in 1996 where I took on the position Women’s Director … it was the perfect season of life for me to disciple girls and give whole heartedly as a single gal.  But then a camp “friend” named Robert Boyd took her as his bride in 1999.  Then three gifts came very quickly…Libby (2001), Jase (2002) and Allison (2003). 

The seasons change, much like they do in Texas, quicker than I want them to.  But, God has pruned, watered, nurtured and grown me in each one.  As I enjoy this season of family with Robert and our kids, all kinds of adventures and serving in the community through NBBC and T Bar M, I am grateful to “bloom where I am planted”.

Karen Lehmann

Mother’s Day Out Director
 
We are blessed to have Karen Lehmann as our Mother’s Day Out director.
 
Professionally, her basket is overflowing from time and experience spent in classrooms, a bachelor degree from University of Texas, and a masters degree from U.T.S.A., all focused on children and their development.

Personally, her heart is overflowing as a mom of three children, a loving wife and a joy in seeing children grow as Christ wants us to… in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.

Mike Diver
Church Administrator

Mike was born and raised in a small town in the Northwest Montana Rockies called Whitefish near Glacier Park.  He grew up fishing and hunting and enjoying all forms of summer and winter activities.  He attended high school in Minot, North Dakota and undergraduate college in Moorhead, Minnesota.  While attending college, he worked as a night and weekend butcher and shift manager for a small family owned neighborhood grocery store and as a manager trainee in a local family owned hardware chain.  After earning his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Management, Mike entered the U.S. Army as a Second Lieutenant in the Army Intelligence Corps.

Mike met and married his wife Karen in El Paso, Texas after a tour of duty in Vietnam as a reconnaissance and surveillance pilot.  They have three children, Nathan (1985), Riley (1987), and Kaitlin (1991).

After serving 29 years in Army Intelligence and fixed wing aviation, Mike retired from the Army in 1999 as a Colonel.  While in the Army, he served in various staff positions throughout the world and commanded intelligence and aviation units at all levels, most notably at the NATO military headquarters in Mons, Belgium during the crises in Bosnia and Desert Storm and the fall of the Berlin Wall.  As a capstone assignment, he served as Director of Intelligence for Joint Staff Force Six in El Paso leading 65 men and women from all services in providing intelligence, analytical and architectural support to law enforcement agencies nationwide in the fight against illegal drug production, distribution, and use.

After retirement from the Army, Mike served for a year as the Archuletta County Veteran’s Affairs Officer in Pagosa Springs, Colorado and subsequently moved his family to New Braunfels in 2001.  He soon entered Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos to earn his Masters in Secondary Education.  After a brief period as a high school math and business teacher in Schertz and New Braunfels, in 2004, Mike began working as the Church Administrator and bookkeeper for New Braunfels Bible Church.  Mike and Karen are Charter Members of the church, having been part of the original group to spawn from Northeast Bible Church in Garden Ridge in 2003.

Mike and Karen have lived throughout the U. S. as well as overseas in Germany, Belgium, Italy, and Japan, and Mike has also served in the Republic of Vietnam and Honduras.  They have traveled and enjoyed many other foreign countries in their 12 years of overseas living.  Mike also has a second master’s degree in Electronic Systems Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterrey, California.  Karen has worked in administration, banking, and real estate, has a flair for foreign languages, and enjoys meeting new people.

Mike has served as a volunteer in other locations in a multitude of church ministries; as a deacon, council president, secretary, and treasurer, church school superintendent, bible teacher for 2 year old through adult, and AWANA leader.  He has also served as a Scout leader and little league and adult softball coach.

Sharon Ogrin

Sharon was born in San Antonio and has remained a Texan ever since.  She grew up with four brothers and sisters enjoying water sports, camp outs with the girl scouts, and playing in the band.  She got involved with VOE in high school and has since worked in the secretarial field.  Before coming to the church in 2005, she worked with her husband in Houston at High Meadow Ranch Golf Club.  She has also been employed by Stone Oak Development, Frost Bank, Guadalupe Valley Telephone Co-op. and substitute taught at NBCA. 

She is married to David and has four children, Amy Powell (1988), Jessica (1989), Dana (1992) and Clark (1993) and one grandson.  Amy, married to Christian, is currently attending Texas A & M, her father’s alma mater and is planning to be an event planner.  Jessica is raising her son, Danzig, and referees soccer games in her spare time. Dana is involved in many school activities, and Clark works as a cart boy on the weekends in Seguin.

Sharon and her husband David, a professional golfer, have traveled for most of their 20 plus years of marriage on the PGA Golf circuit.  Her most memorable trip recently was to Ireland for the Ryder Cup.  Her favorite cities visited are Monterrey, California and Williamsburg, Virginia where she has made many life-long friends. 

She has volunteered in the past with MOPS as craft chairman and child-care coordinator, AWANAS as a Cubbie listener, and Young Lives as a mentor.  Her favorite things in life include cooking, sister trips, floating the rivers, long lunches with girlfriends, and spending time with her family and their activities.