Brian Howard

Brian is the Teaching Pastor at Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village, California, where he has served with students and adults since 2007. His preaching ministry is built around making disciples who live and love like Jesus Christ. Brian believes that the Holy Spirit changes lives through relentless proclamation of the gospel and careful teaching of the Bible. He and his wife Dani have been married since 2013 and have three children, Grace, Noah and Hope.
Thank you! More coming soon!

Sammy Gayer and City of Worship

Sammy Gayer is a worship leader at Rockharbor Church in Costa Mesa. She has grown up going to Christian camps every year since elementary school and her passion is in leading youth. She and her team seek to create a space where students can learn what it means to follow where the Holy Spirit is leading and encounter Jesus through worship. Her verse for this summer comes from Acts 4: “As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” Sammy and her team are super excited to be back at Forest Home this winter and to see all of the ways God is going to move!

Hannah Helwege

Hannah Helwege is the Student & Family Pastor at New Life East in Colorado Springs, CO. She loves spending time with her best friend/husband Tim, being outside in nature, solving sudoku puzzles, reading good books, and hosting game nights. Hannah would love to hear some of your story, so please stop her to tell her about it! You can learn more about Hannah and reach her via Instagram at @hannah.helwege. 

Ryan Guzman

Ryan is a husband and father of two who loves all things basketball, playing music, and hanging out at the Happiest Place on Earth! He has been serving students for over a decade and currently serves as the Family Ministry Pastor at Oceanside Christian Fellowship. He has his MA in Preaching from Talbot Seminary and loved to talk about Jesus with students!

Marcus Nuiami

I’m Marcus Nuaimi, a pastor at Water of Life Community Church in Fontana, CA. I’ve been part of the church for 25 years and on staff for the last 12. I’m passionate about seeing the next generation live out the fullness of life that Jesus offers us. That passion has kept me deeply involved in our NXTGEN ministry—first as the Youth Pastor for 5 years, then as the NXTGEN Director for another 5.

I love Jesus with all my heart and am all in when it comes to serving Him—wherever He leads. I get to do that alongside my amazing wife of 5 years, Lauren, and our sweet daughter, Molly Joy. Outside of ministry, I’m a big-time sports fan (go Dodgers, Lakers, and Rams!) and I love spending time with our family and church community. My family and I can be found at the beach spending time in the sand, hiking, or doing anything we can to stay active! We love the life God has given us!

Austin Payne

Austin grew up in Quito, Ecuador as a missionary kid, which kick-started his passion for seeing people surrender their lives to Jesus. He now serves as the Director of Student Ministries as 3Crosses in the East Bay with his wife, Paige, and two beautiful daughters, Piper and Phoebe. He has way too many hobbies including surfing, dirt bike riding, golfing, and pretty much any lawn game.

Joshua Royal

Joshua Royal is a worship leader from Huntington Beach, CA. He has served in full-time ministry over the last decade for a variety of churches, organizations, and leadership groups. Joshua has a passion for camp ministry and seeing the next generation of worshippers being raised up in the Lord. He and his wife Hannah have been married for 7 years and welcomed their first child, Jack in May of 2024.

Justin Knowles

Jeff Bachman

Jeff brings over three decades of ministry leadership, serving students, families, groups, and         executive teams through pastoral ministry, coaching, and consulting. As an executive search consultant Jeff is passionate about investing in leaders who then invest in others, and multiplying influence for eternal impact. Jeff is deeply committed to fostering healthy, values-driven team environments and thriving staff cultures that align with mission and vision.

Holding a Master’s Degree in Evangelism and Equipping from Western Seminary, Jeff blends theological depth with practical application. He loves one-on-one conversations, team trainings, or speaking to groups and gatherings.

Jeff and his wife, Shara, along with their three children, make their home in the Bay Area of California. He enjoys concerts, cooking, podcasting, traveling to new places, and sharing meaningful conversations over a favorite beverage, always seeking to connect deeply and inspire others along the way.

Marra Music

Marra, a name used to address friends, is a project started by three friends: Alex, Miah, and Tommy. The three have all had their own individual journeys growing up in musical homes and serving at their local church. In 2023, the trio began their music journey together while serving at various Christian summer camps in which marked their lives for worship and where creating musical art for the church became a central focus. Marra spends most of their time serving at many different youth and young adult events. Marra seeks to influence culture with Jesus-centered worship that directly ministers to the heart of Jesus while leading the people in the room to Him. The group has a heart for young people hosting the presence of God as a generation.

Justin McVey

Justin McVey has been in ministry for 20 years, working as a Worship Leader, Youth Specialist, and Family Pastor. He currently serves as the campus pastor at Sandals Church East Valley. Justin and his wife Heather have three awesome/crazy kids, Teagan(12), Terek(10) and Tinley(7). The McVey Fam currently lives in Redlands, California with their dogs Ty and Tilley. Justin loves sports (GO CHIEFS!!!), pizza, snowboarding, long walks on the beach and binging on Netflix. Justin is the founder of #NEVERALONE and has a passion to reach others with a message of hope so that they can encounter the power and presence of Christ and connect with local faith communities in a meaningful way.

Rusty Busse

My name is Rusty and I have had the privilege of serving as Music Director at Central Christian Church in Gilbert, Arizona for six years and have been involved with a few worship teams & bands including ACU Worship, Central Music, CSM Music Culture, Bonstin, STOX., and more. So stoked to bring together some of my best friends across those worlds to worship God together, serve Forest Home, and make some new friends at Winter Camp!