Overseed Board

Board of Directors

Dr. Jim Harrell (President)

Jim launched Overseed in 2008. Jim has over 40 years of ministry experience in discipleship, mentoring, church planting and church renewal. Jim has his Doctor of Ministry in renewal ministries and a Masters of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Jim caught the vision of revitalizing/replanting churches in historic New England congregations while attending Byfield Parish Church during his seminary years. Jim applied his background in church planting, shepherding and training towards developing a plan for this vision. The outcome of that process was the formation of Overseed. It is Jim’s passion to help declining churches to thrive once again by re-embracing the gospel, being intentional about developing disciples and leaders, and by moving out into the community with the message and service of Christ. Jim’s email is jim@overseed.org.

Jim is a certified Auxano Vision Strategist and a certified NCD coach..

Jim is the author of Church Replanter: Learning from Nehemiah’s example of leading change when things are really broken and Praying for Church Revitalization.

Rev. Dr. Steve Treash (Chairman of the Board)

Steve Treash is the chairman of the Overseed Board and Senior Pastor of Black Rock Church in Fairfield, CT. In 1985, while a student at Gordon-Conwell Seminary, Steve began as an intern at Black Rock, continued on in the role of associate pastor and then became Senior Pastor in 1997. Steve is now in his 39th year at Black Rock and enjoys sharing his long-term experience as an encouragement with fellow pastors throughout New England.

Along the way, Steve earned a Ph.D. in church history from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland where he wrote on the 18th century spiritual revival in New England known as the Great Awakening.

Steve and his wife Jen love travel, long walks, and spending time with their adult daughter, son and daughter-in-law.

Steve’s email is streash@blackrock.org

Rev. Dr. Jack L Daniel

Jack is an Overseed Field Director.  He is recruiting and developing a network of Overseed Hub churches to help guide and resource church replanting efforts in their surrounding communities. Jack’s email is jack@overseed.org.

Jack became the Pastor of Free Christian Church, a UCC church, in 1977.  There were about 75 people attending and 35 years later, the church was close to a thousand in attendance, was multi-staff and was one of the few multi-site churches in New England.

A Massachusetts native, Pastor Jack graduated from Eastern Nazarene College, Quincy, MA, and received his Master of Divinity degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Hamilton, MA. He is an ordained United Church of Christ (UCC) pastor and also holds a Doctor of Ministry degree in Pastoral Counseling and Clinical Studies from Andover-Newton Theological School.

Jack retired from Free Christian Church and is now living on Pleasant Pond in Richmond, ME.  He and his wife Kathy raised three married daughters.

Jack is the author of Patient Catalyst: Leading Church Revitalization.

Bill Richards, Esq.

Bill Richards is the Corporate Attorney and co-founder of Overseed Inc.

Bill has a Juris Doctorate degree from the Massachusetts School of Law, Andover, Massachusetts and an undergraduate degree in Biology from Salem State College in Salem, Massachusetts.  Bill’s professional background is in business law, sales, and marketing.  He recently retired as VP of Sales & Marketing for a company that manufactures sensors for medical devices in Wallingford, CT.

He came to Christ in his thirties while attending the Byfield Parish Church in Georgetown, Massachusetts where he has served on numerous committees and taught Sunday school with his wife Aileen for the past 15 years. It is at Byfield Parish Church where Bill was introduced to the renewal movement and came to believe that God was calling him to that area of ministry.

Chris Dubay

Vice President and Chief Engineer at the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). Chris is an experienced senior leader and registered professional engineer with a demonstrated history of global technical leadership and change management with a BS in Fire Protection Engineering from University of Maryland College Park.

Chris is also an elder at Christ Community Church in Taunton, MA. He is also an experienced Community Group Leader. He and wife Andrea have three boy, Benjamin, Nicholas, and Silas.

Rev. Deryk Richenburg

Deryk is the Lead Pastor at Hope Community Church in Newburyport, NH.

Before that, he served as the lead pastor of the First Church of Christ in Wethersfield, CN and prior to that as a patient catalyst pastor of First Congregational Church in Woburn.

Deryk and his wife Christy have two boys, Samuel and Elijah.

Rev. Jere Vincent

Jere is president of Family Builders Ministries and executive director of the NE Mission Foundation. Jere has over 30 years of church ministry and leadership experience in marriage and family ministries. Jere is a graduate of Trinity Seminary

He and his wife, Brenda, have two daughters and live in Durham, New Hampshire. Jere and Brenda enjoy sharing their lives with couples preparing for marriage and those going through challenging seasons.

Rev. Jim Pocock

Jim is the founder and CEO of Elevate New England, a non-profit working in the cities of New England with the mission of building long-term, life changing relationships with urban youth, equipping them to thrive and contribute to their communities.

Prior to launching Elevate, Jim was a Senior Pastor, having served two New England churches and one in the distant land of California. All three were distinct cases of churches in need of renewal. Jim and his wife Beth reside in Gloucester, MA, where in his spare time he builds dry stone walls. .

Jim holds a Masters of Divinity from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. 

Dr. Kevin Lawson

Kevin is the Global Affiliate Professor of Educational Studies at Talbot Seminary. He has recently retired to Maine but continues to teach one course a semester in the PhD and EdD programs and supervise dissertation students in their research.

Kevin Lawson cares deeply about strengthening the educational ministry of churches. For 11 years, he served on church staffs as a minister of Christian education. He holds degrees in Christian education, biblical studies and educational administration, and carries out research on local church educational ministry, church staff issues, theological and historical foundations of Christian education, children’s spiritual formation, and other related topics. Kevin has written a number of books on Christian Education and Thriving as an Associate Minister.

Kevin is married to his wife Patty .

Rev. Rick Francis

Rick is a graduate of the University of Mass in business administration and holds a Master’s degree from Trinity Theological Seminary.  After a 20-year career in agribusiness, Rick was called to the ministry in 1986 and has led churches in NH, MA, and ME. Additionally, he served as the sixth president of New England Bible College in South Portland, ME. 

With a particular interest in helping ethnic and immigrant churches, Rick has worked with established churches helping them to revitalize by intentionally opening their doors to immigrant communities.

Currently serving as New England Consultant for the Cecil B. Day Foundation, he works extensively with ministry leaders throughout New England focusing on whole-life disciple-making.

Rick and his wife Heather have three grown daughters and live in Scarborough, ME.