Lead Area Director
David Forsythe
Lead Area Director
Rev. David Forsythe is the Lead Area Director for Mission Northeast.
David currently serves as the Interim Pastor of First Baptist Church (CBA) in Rockland, Maine following a 26-year pastorate with First Baptist Church (CBA) in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts. Prior to that, he held an 8-year pastorate in Colorado after completion of his M.Div studies at Denver Seminary. He was ordained in 1974 by Faith Baptist Church (CBA) in Cumberland Center, Maine. A former WorldVenture board member, David continues to serve with the Career Interview Committee.
David will represent Massachusetts and oversee additional Area Directors strategically located throughout the region. Their task is to come alongside pastors and churches, providing resources and encouragement for greater church health, leadership development, and church planting.
The Forsythes reside in Manchester where David serves the community as the senior call firefighter and chaplain with the Manchester Fire/Rescue Dept. He is also an active member of the Metro-Boston C.I.S.M. Team. David’s wife, Sue, is the Director of Student Health Services for Gordon College. The Forsythes have two married adult children, Lauren and Scott.
Contact David at D.Forsythe@MissionNortheast.org
Lead Area Director Job Description
Area Directors
Gershwin Grant
Area Director-Hudson Valley
Dr. Gershwin Grant, Ossining, NY will be serving as the Area Director of the Hudson Valley area of New York and additionally will be connecting with the churches of New York City until such time as there is an NYC Area Director.
After earning an architecture degree from the New York Institute of Technology and working in the field for several years, Gershwin accepted the Lord’s call to ministry. He studied at the New York School of the Bible, the Seminary of the East, and Alliance Theological Seminary, finally earning his Masters’ Degree and Doctorate of Ministry from ATS.
During his years in New York City, Gershwin served as the Assistant Director of New York Gospel Outreach and as the Associate Director of the New York Christian Higher Education Consortium. He planted a CB church in the Bronx, the His Glory Bible Fellowship, through Missions Door (formerly Mission to the Americas).
He has served as the Senior Pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Ossining, New York, since 2002. He is currently serving in this multi-cultural, multi-generational church with Cynthia, his wife of 22 years.
Gershwin has a strong CB pedigree, having planted and served CB churches. He is currently the moderator of the CB Hudson Valley Pastors’ Cluster and has served on the board of directors of WorldVenture (formerly CB International) and on the executive board of CB Mission Northeast. Gershwin has also been the Christian Chaplain in the Baptist Division of the Hebrew Home for the Aged for nearly twenty years.
Contact Gershwin at G.Grant@MissionNortheast.org
Dave Johnson
Area Director-Upstate New York
Rev. Dave Johnson serves as the Area Director for Upstate New York. In addition to his time with Mission Northeast, he has served on various state and regional boards in New York, Connecticut, and New England.
As he begins this new role, he is looking forward to forging stronger connections among the churches of central New York, as well as those in the western part of the state and to the east in the Capital Region. To quote, “I hope to serve our churches by helping them accomplish their God-given mission of making disciples. I pray that all our congregations will embrace the vision of a network of vibrant churches empowered by God and mobilized by spiritually passionate leaders to live out and proclaim the gospel with the love of Christ in their communities.”
A native of the Adirondack region, Dave currently pastors in central New York at the Vernon Baptist Church. He began his ministry among CB churches in central New York in 1979 as a youth, college, and young adult pastor then planted a church in Connecticut in the 1980s and spent eleven years on Long Island before returning to the upstate region in 2004. He received his BA in math from the State University College of New York at Oswego. It was during his sophomore year there that Christ entered his life. Following his time at Oswego, Dave received a Master of Divinity degree from Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon.
Dave and his wife, Christina, spent several years providing foster care and adopted four special needs children during their time in Connecticut. God then blessed them with three more children by birth. All are adults now, but Dave and Chris have five grandchildren (with three more on the way) to keep them in touch with ministry to the younger generations. He recognizes the need for our churches to grow both stronger and younger if we are going to be fruitful for Christ in today’s world.
Dave is passionate about communicating the word of God accurately and its centrality to everything we do in ministry. He hopes you will join him in prayer for the fulfillment of our shared mission and vision in New York and throughout the Northeast. Please contact Dave if you have any questions or a need for assistance.
Contact David at d.johnson@missionnortheast.org
Edwin Colon
Area Director – New York City
Edwin is the senior pastor of the Recovery House of Worship-Brooklyn, the flagship church of the Recovery House of Worship church-planting movement. After years of involvement in a 12-step recovery program, Edwin accepted Christ, and along with his wife Liz and best friend Raymond Ramos, started the Recovery House of Worship as a Bible study in his kitchen, reaching out to people who suffer from drug and/or alcohol addiction. The church flourished and has since expanded to campuses in Staten Island, the Bronx, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Southern California, with more in the making.
Edwin is nearing completion of a Masters in Theological Studies from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and plans to work toward a doctoral degree in Ministry. He is a trainer/facilitator with City to City, which recruits, trains, coaches and funds leaders who start gospel movements in cities through church planting. He completed the New York City Leadership Center Leadership Fellows program, which provides faith-based leadership training for Christian leaders engaged in executive positions within the social sector.
Edwin and Liz live in Brooklyn, New York, along with their children Edwin Jr., who graduated magna cum laude from Hunter College; daughters Serenity, Grace, and Lydia; and three-year-old David, whom they recently adopted.
Contact Edwin at e.colon@missionnortheast.org
SCOTTY NEASBITT
Area Director – Rhode Island & Connecticut
Contact Scotty at s.neasbitt@missionnortheast.org