Meet Our Deacons

Below are our Deacons for the 2011-2012 Church Year.

Joe Bonafede

I was raised by church-going parents in the Roman Catholic Church but came to a deeper understanding and commitment to the Gospel and knowledge of the Bible through a Navigators ministry in college. My wife, Margery, and I met in graduate school and were married at Cherrydale in July of 2000 (Margery grew up in Arlington). We became members of Cherrydale when we moved to the area in 2003. We have two wonderful daughters, Carolyn age 8 and Sarah age 16 months. My wife and I together have taught in the pre-school Sunday School program since 2005, with a break this past year for our youngest daughter. I previously served on the Deacon board from 2007-2010 with primary focus on the Children and Families ministry and the Healing Prayer ministry. We also led a small group in our home from 2008-2010 and look forward to getting involved again in this important ministry/service/discipline soon. I work as an engineering and management consultant primarily on NASA and DoD programs.

Daniel Gunaratnam

Daniel was born in Malaysia. He became a born again Christian at the age of 16 years through the ministry of Back-to-the-Bible radio in Malaysia. He studied in Malaysia, Australia and US. He has worked in Malaysia as a Consultant Engineer for the government, taught in the Singapore University in the Engineering Faculty and for the last 24 years served as a Principal Water Resources Engineer for the World Bank (in Washington DC) and Asian Development Bank (in Manila). During his life he was a student Christian Leader in the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship in Australia and a Church Board Member in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) in the Tamil Methodist Churches, Manila (Christian Missionary Alliance Church) and Vienna Assembly of God. He has taken an active role in evangelism of the poor in Malaysia and Singapore, church youth work, in the student evangelism especially in Australia and Malaysia and in Sunday school teaching in all the places. He has been also teaching the International Bible Study Group in Arlington and in Beijing China. He is very interested in getting into a deep life ministry and in evangelism of all people. He and his wife (Evangeline) have been married for 38 years. They have 3 children and one grandchild and one more on the way.

Steve Hensley

Steve Hensley first understood the call to “repent, for the kingdom of God is near” and to accept God’s Word as ultimate authority at age 18 with the help of a godly influence. Following music and language studies, Steve came to the DC area in 1996, joining Cherrydale a few years later. He enjoys serving with the missions and worship ministries, being part of a CBC small group, and helping with the Chinese Bible Study. He is captivated by the idea that God uses us as his ambassadors, calling people to “no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” He works in international trade compliance.

Tim Hohman

Tim grew up in a Christian home, accepting Christ at the age of seven. Tim’s mother and adopted brother have struggled with mental illness, which motivated Tim to pursue a career in psychology. Currently, he is in a Neuroscience Ph.D program at American University, focusing on memory, aging and Alzheimer’s Disease. Tim began attending Cherrydale in 2007, and was married on August 8, 2008. He and his wife, Laura, have seen the Lord lead Crosspoint through major transitions in structure and leadership as they served on the young adult leadership team. Tim is a member of the Crosspoint band and, as the young adult deacon, has a heart to see young adults influence and integrate with the CBC body.

Steve King

Steve has been a follower of Christ since a young age, and has enjoyed the fellowship at Cherrydale for the past 17 years. He’s been active in the international student and worship ministries. He is married to Allison, who he met at Cherrydale, and they have two sons, Costya and Sergei. Steve is an attorney, practicing at a firm in Tyson’s Corner.

John Lamkin

John is a native to the the Greater Washington area and committed his life to Christ in 1998. He attended McLean Bible Church (MBC) from ‘98 to ‘07 prior to becoming a member at Cherrydale in the Fall of ‘07. While attending MBC, he led a small group, served as a worship leader and headed up the prayer ministry for the young adults program, Frontline. From September 2007- September 2009, he served on staff at Cherrydale as the director of creative arts for Crosspoint, the young adults ministry. John and his wife Ashleigh love music, long walks through the city and they are expecting their first child in the spring of 2011.

Jesse Lord

Jesse accepted Christ as his personal Savior at the age of six while his family lived up in Massachusetts. He really started to make his faith his own in Junior High, though, when he felt the Spirit of God descend on him at a retreat with his youth group. Since coming to Cherrydale in 1994 he was baptized in high school and subsequently became a member in August 2003. He has been volunteering in the youth ministry here ever since the summer of 1999, and is currently the deacon representative for the ministry as well. He is involved in a men's small group which focuses on personal accountability and growing together in Christ-like character, in addition to leading a high school guys small group. Jesse has been married to his wife Suzie for over six years, has a degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management from Virginia Tech (Go Hokies!) and currently works for Marriott International at their Corporate Headquarters.

Tony Mitchell

Tony is currently a Senior Manager at Areté Associates. Prior to his current position, he served as an officer in the US Air Force for 20+ years. Tony grew up in a Christian family and accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior as a young boy. He and his wife, Siri, have served the Lord in Seattle, Ft Walton Beach (FL), Monterey (CA), Paris (France), Colorado Springs, Tokyo (Japan), Montgomery (AL), and now in Arlington. The Mitchells joined Cherrydale in 2008. Together, they have taught numerous Sunday school classes and led many small groups. Tony and Siri are currently involved in the Marriage Mentoring ministry and co-teach a marriage elective Sunday school class.

Daniel Pierson

Daniel grew up in a Christian home in Kansas City, MO, where he came to faith in Christ at an early age. He first began attending Cherrydale in 1998. He was immediately drawn to the sincere, Christ-centered worship and teaching. Daniel met his wife, Tracy, at Indiana University where they were both involved in The Navigators student ministry. They married in 1999 and have two children--Kevin and Audrey. Daniel teaches the Young Families Sunday class and co-shepherds a small group. He works as a Realtor and performs as a violinist with the Army Strings.

Brooke Roberts

I was born and raised in Birmingham, AL and accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior at a young age. After college, I spent 5 years as an engineer in the U. S. Navy stationed in the Washington, DC area, where I attended Cherrydale and volunteered in the Student Ministry. After getting out of the Navy, I heeded God’s calling to join the Cherrydale staff as the Sr. High Director/Student Ministry Director. I held this position for 3 years, but upon hearing the Lord’s calling to go back into engineering, I was hired on as a government civilian with the Navy working for Naval Reactors. I have continued to work with the Student Ministry, predominantly through teaching on Sunday mornings. I am married to my beautiful darling wife, Heather, and we have two lovely children, Geena and Isaiah.

Jayson Roehl

Jayson accepted Christ as his personal Savior while in high school and was baptized shortly thereafter. He became a Cherrydale member in 1999 and served in Cherrydale’s youth ministry for a number of years. Jayson later had the privilege of serving as a deacon at Cherrydale. He and his wife, Nina, currently lead a Cherrydale small group based in Falls Church. The group is focused on marriage and personal accountability. Jayson and Nina have been happily married for eight years and are proud parents of two beautiful boys, Evan and Chase.

Jon Watada

Jon and his wife Joy live in Cherrydale with their three children, Mari (15), Caleb (13) and Kaemon (10). While Jon and his family have been attending and serving at Cherrydale for the past nine years Jon and his family were baptized and officially became members of Cherrydale Baptist Church in 2010. Jon, his wife and three children are believers and have served as a family in various capacities at Cherrydale including teaching children's Sunday school, preparing communion, participating in a local short term mission trip serving the people in Arlington County and serving in a week long mission trip to minister to the people of the Cherokee nation. This year Jon and his family are returning to Cherokee leading a group of other Cherrydale families to teach the Gospel and share the good news of Jesus Christ with the children of the Cherokee nation. Born in Chicago, the oldest of four children, Jon spent his childhood in several places around the country including Alabama, California and Louisiana. While Jon was in the seventh grade, Jon's family moved to Virginia, where Jon attended Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax. After high school, Jon attended James Madison University and graduated with a Computer Science degree in 1985. Jon and his wife moved to Cherrydale in 1992 and have been blessed with the opportunity to experience living in other places with their children including Israel, England and Hawaii. Although he was raised attending church on a regular basis, Jon truly came to know Christ on my own around the seventh grade. As a youth, Jon attended confirmation class conducted by a gracious minister where the gospel was shared and towards the end of the class the minister would ask if each of us was prepared to put our faith in Christ. As Jon transitioned from being a student and into adulthood, he continued to attend church on a more regular basis and attended a three day weekend “Walk to Emmaus”. The Walk to Emmaus provided Jon with a fresh understanding of having Christ’s presence in his life and the grace that comes with an intimate relationship of our Lord. For the next 25 years, the Lord has constantly reminded Jon of the love that He shares with His followers and the providence that can only come with a close relationship with the Lord.