Vision
The vision of Green Pond Bible Chapel is to love God and love people.Purpose
The purpose of Green Pond Bible Chapel is to glorify God by making and maturing disciples of Jesus Christ.Elders
Green Pond Bible Chapel is led by elders (also known in Scripture as overseers and pastors). The pattern for church government in the New Testament shows that God desires spiritually qualified men to be responsible for shepherding, leading, and overseeing the church. This position is referred to by three different terms, most commonly translated as “elder,” “pastor,” and “overseer.” The qualifications for this position are listed clearly in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9. We believe that this position is limited to men, as taught in 1 Timothy 2:12 as part of God’s created design with no reference to value or ability.
At any given time some of our elders will be vocational pastors who are paid by the church and who have full time responsibilities. Vocational pastors do not possess any greater authority than our non-vocational elders.
Lead Pastor
Ryan Boys
Ryan’s passion in ministry is to see God change lives through the clear explanation of the Bible. His academic passion is understanding the Old and New Testaments in their original languages. His life verse is Ezra 7:10, “For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.”
He earned his doctorate of ministry in Preaching the Literary Forms of the Bible from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He has a master’s degree in Biblical Exegesis and Linguistics from Dallas Theological Seminary, focusing on Greek and Hebrew exegesis, discourse analysis, semantics, theories of grammar, and translation. He earned his bachelor of arts in Bible Exposition from the Master’s College. One of the highlights of his time in college was to spend a semester studying in Israel. Ryan joined the GPBC family in August of 2011. He has been active in worldwide missions in Russia, New Zealand, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, and Italy.
Ryan is a husband and father of four amazing children. He enjoys sports, reading, woodworking, music, and throwing a frisbee for his yellow lab. He blogs on the church and ministry here.
Family Pastor
Josh Barlow
Josh Barlow serves as the Family Pastor of Green Pond Bible Chapel. He desires the youth to come to a personal, saving faith in Jesus Christ and parents to be equipped and encouraged to disciple their children. Josh earned his Masters of Divinity from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2018 with a focus in Family Life and Discipleship. Josh joyfully builds relationships with families and teaches God’s Word to each generation for the sake of the gospel.
Josh has been married to his beautiful and loving wife Jamie since 2013. They have four energetic and fun children, Asher, Owen, Macy, and Cooper who never cease to keep Josh and Jamie on their toes and make everything unboring. As a family they enjoy hiking, cooking (and then eating), hospitality, board games, and movie watching. Personally Josh enjoys drinking black coffee, playing frustrating video games, listening to face-tingling metalcore breakdowns, all things winter, playing games that involve throwing stuff, and historically accurate cannons. You can read his blog on family ministry and the Christian life here.
Pastor of Discipleship & Counseling
Farid Elyas
Farid has a passion for God’s people, and seeing them learn, grow, and be a unified body that glorifies the Lord and takes care of one another. He obtained his undergraduate in biblical counseling along with theology from the Master’s University in 2018, then his masters of divinity from the Master’s Seminary in 2022.
Farid has one son, Benjamin with his wife Danielle, and together they enjoy going on walks, all things coffee, board games, and watching TV shows. He also enjoys sports, particularly soccer, and exploring new areas and cities, and reading while hammocking in the open when the weather is not cruel.
Chairman
Mike Abberley
Mike has attended the Chapel since he and his wife Marie accepted the Lord at a chapel couples club retreat in 1990. Mike and Marie have been married for more than 55 years and have three daughters and nine grandchildren. Mike was a business executive with Sandvik and retired in 2008 after 45 great years. Mike previously served as an Elder at the Chapel before moving part time to North Carolina for eight years. Since moving back to New Jersey in 2018 he has served as an under shepherd and is especially interested in ministering to the widows at GPBC. Mike is also an avid wood worker.
Vice-Chairman
Engle Oostdyk
Engle and his wife Carrie are the parents of five children. He is a co-owner and General Manager of Royal Buick GMC located on Route 23 in Sussex. He has been attending Green Pond Bible Chapel his entire life and his ministry passion is the equipping of the saints for the ministry of the gospel. He enjoys teaching and counseling from the truth of God’s word, and is currently serving on the biblical counseling team at GPBC as a certified ACBC counselor.
Treasurer
Mark Oostdyk
Mark has been blessed to have grown up in a family that attended Green Pond Bible Chapel for many years. He repented and put his faith in Jesus as a teenager. Mark enjoyed working with youth as a youth leader, and watching them mature in the understanding of the gospel. Mark is married to Lisa and they have 3 children Riley, David, and Joy. He works at Royal Buick GMC and enjoys serving and getting to know his community there. He has a passion for sharing the Lord at sporting events, and in the community.
Secretary
Lou Benfatti Jr.
Lou, a lifelong resident of Northern NJ, has been a dedicated member of Green Pond Bible Chapel for many years. He and his wife Jodi are deeply involved in the church’s children’s ministry, teaching Sunday School and nurturing the next generation of believers. Lou, who is celebrating his 27th year in education, values his time with family, including his four adult children, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter. Outside of his church and professional commitments, Lou enjoys watching and playing sports with his kids. His faith is inspired by Philippians 3:10: “My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”
Dan Hric
Dan is married and has been an active member of Green Pond Bible Chapel for many years. Dan has served as a college and career leader where he taught and mentored young adults. Dan’s spiritual gift is exhortation and his passion is to see all followers of Christ become mature in their faith. Dan’s other ministry passions include counseling and discipling others. A meaningful verse to him is 2 Corinthians 13:11 “Dear brothers and sisters I close my letter with these last words: Be joyful grow to maturity encourage each other live in harmony and peace then the God of love and peace will be with you.”
Joseph Kovach
Joe and his wife, Damaris, have been part of the Green Pond Bible Chapel family since August 2020. A native of North Jersey, Joe’s deep roots in the area are matched by his commitment to seeing the local community “mature” in the gospel. Professionally, he works as an engineer, a vocation that informs his detail-oriented approach to teaching catechism in our Sunday school program. Joe and Damaris are the busy and blessed parents of four children. When he isn’t serving in the Children’s Ministry or working, Joe enjoys the simple rhythms of life at home: whether he’s outdoors chopping firewood or in the kitchen whipping up omelettes with fresh eggs from the family chickens. He is grateful for the opportunity to serve the GPBC body and raise his family in the truth of God’s Word.Deacons
Men’s Discipleship
Russell Bauman
Russell has been attending GPBC since 2002. He is a co-owner of Evolve Gym in Rockaway and helps run A B Canine with his wife Gwen. He has strong passion for mens ministry as it has been a vital part of his faith journey. He currently serves on the finance team and facilitates a men’s discipleship group at his home. Russ believes strongly in building each other up. His life verse is Proverbs 27:17 “Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens another.”
Children’s Ministry
Paul Martins
Paul lives in Kearny, with his wife and two young kids. They have been attending GPBC since 2016. He currently serves as a Kingdom Kids teacher and is a member of the Children’s Ministry team.
His favorite verse is Romans 5:1 “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Benevolence
John Voigt
John lives in Rockaway, with his wife, Maryellen and their 4 children. He has been in the Financial Services industry for over 30 years and continues to work in that field. John enjoys skiing, fishing and golf. John’s spiritual journey kicked into high gear when he was 26 after being discipled by a full time Navigator Missionary. Since then, John has enjoyed participating in kingdom endeavors through his church and business ministry groups.
Building & Grounds
Ken Seiter
Ken and his wife Carol are the parents of three adult children. They are also blessed to be grandparents to six grandchildren. Ken has been a lifelong resident of NJ. After retiring from a 35 year career in electrical engineering, Ken is currently using his mechanical and technical skills in his remodeling business. He enjoys spending time with his grandkids, worshiping God through singing, and outdoor activities including hiking, kayaking and biking. His favorite verses describe the attributes of our God such as Exodus 34:6-7 “The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin.”
Fellowship
Betty Walsh
Betty has been a member of GPBC since 2004 and is married to Patrick, with one daughter. As Deacon of Fellowship, she and her team provide meals for most church events and activities. She enjoys being involved in various church ministries especially Upward Basketball, where families are impacted for Christ. She loves cooking, baking, her cats and visiting her daughter whenever time allows. Her life verse is Psalms 73:26 “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, my portion forever.”
Upward
Cole Benfatti
Cole has attended Green Pond Bible Chapel his entire life and came to know the Lord Jesus as his Savior at a young age. He currently works as a manager at Resolution Economics, where he specializes in business valuation and economic damages, providing litigation support to law firms and companies across the NY/NJ area. Cole has always had a love for sports and a passion for youth ministry through athletics. He was blessed to participate in the Upward ministry as a child—an outreach founded by his grandfather over 20 years ago—and has served on the Upward leadership team in recent years. Now serving as the deacon of Upward, Cole, along with his wife Jordan and daughter Sophia, is excited to see how God continues to use the ministry for His glory. His life verse is Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways know Him, and He will make your paths straight.”