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Michael was raised in New York City in a Roman Catholic home. Searching for the meaning of life, the key to unlock the mysteries of life, he found himself in a state of creative discontent after his local parish priest could not keep up with his questions about faith and spirituality. Nevertheless, Michael continued his journey until a pivotal turning point came in a college American history class where a Jewish history professor asked a question of the class that proved critical in Michael's conversion at age 19. Just a year later, in the same school, Michael found his call to the ministry in Philosophy 101 when his professor, tiring of this new Christian's challenges, asked him to a class debate (extra credit!) on David Hume's position on religious knowledge. Nervous but excited for the opportunity, Michael enjoyed the experience of advocating for the Christian worldview in the marketplace of ideas and soon afterward responded by pursuing a call to the ministry.

In the almost twenty years since those formative experiences, Michael served churches in four of the five boroughs of the City, along with a church in St. Louis, where he lived for four years while earning a Master of Divinity degree from Covenant Theological Seminary. Prior to his time in St. Louis, Michael studied at Westminster Seminary, where, as a young Christian, he developed his worldview thinking which he honed into a series of courses that he eventually would teach at New York School of the Bible (Manhattan).

Michael is now an ordained minister with the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). He is happily married to Roseann (almost 17 years) and has two children, Michael, Jr. and Alexandra. He enjoys his three cats - Woody, Bavinck and Calvin. Besides his passion for encouraging people to find life in Christ, Michael loves visiting cities and baseball landmarks, along with listening to his extensive collection of blues, jazz, and rock music.

A St. Louis artist and illustrator writes an interesting account of his encounter with Michael:

The Saint
The Saint II

Stephen is a second generation Chinese-American whose parents immigrated from Hong Kong to Kentucky. He married his wife, Vicki, in 1996 and are the parents of four young boys: Benjamin, Matthias, Isaiah, and Timothy. Stephen served in the Navy and worked for a Department of Defense contractor in various places up and down the East Coast after graduating from M.I.T. After attending Covenant Theological Seminary from 2004-2008, he was ordained in November 2008, and had served part-time as an assistant pastor at Grace and Peace Fellowship in St. Louis. He also worked with internationals as an International Student, Inc. campus minister since his time in seminary. Stephen and Vicki have been a part of both immigrant and multi-ethnic congregations over the years. Stephen served as a ruling elder in a Chinese congregation prior to attending seminary. He joined Ascension in the Summer of 2010.  With their boys and years of working experience, identification with the families around Forest Hills has been natural.

A native New Yorker, Roseann has taught in regular and special education classes in both private and public schools from preschool through high school in NYC and St. Louis, MO. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Social Studies from St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights and Masters of Elementary Education from the College of Staten Island. Roseann takes this wide range of educational experiences to serve the church and the Forest Hills community.

The daughter of second generation Italian-Americans, Roseann was brought up with a great awareness of Jesus as God. However, the historical story of Christ did not seem practically relevant to her teenage life in urban modern society. Encouraged by a high school classmate, she explored the pages of the New Testament and at 15 years of age discovered that the biblical Jesus desired to impact her heart in personal, practical and eternal ways. Through this initial reading of the gospels and epistles coupled with a tangible expression of God's love she experienced at a local Bible church, Roseann became inspired by this life-changing gospel message. She finally began connecting the dots between the God originally defined by her Catholic upbringing with the Jesus of the Bible who, from Genesis to Revelation, reveals His longing to know His people intimately and completely.

Roseann, Michael and their two children, Michael II and Alexandra returned to NYC from St. Louis in 2004 to embark on the creation of a new local church in Forest Hills, New York with Redeemer Presbyterian in Manhattan. Roseann oversees AscensionKids, and encourages both Sunday School teachers and students alike to grow in the knowledge, wisdom and love of Jesus personally and corporately. The coordination of Ascension's annual summer Vacation Bible School offered to children ages 3-13 is one of the highlights of her work. Roseann also coordinates EasterFest and ChristmasFest, which are community events for our neighborhood.

Roseann enjoys making and meeting new friends, leading bible discussion groups, going to concerts, exploring the nooks and crannies of this great city, swimming and scrapbooking. With one child in high school, she is bemoaning the day when her second surpasses her in height.

Liz is a young Christian who is excited about the power of God, faith in Jesus, and His work in individuals and community. A native of Queens with a nonreligious upbringing, Liz knew close to nothing about Christ or Christianity until a few years ago. Ironically, she was surrounded throughout college by close Christian friends and still knew close to nothing. What brought her to start questioning was Bill Maher’s film “Religulous.” She was eager to see it and after watching it, couldn’t stop thinking about it. She had little interest in learning about God or the three major monotheistic religions, but started wondering a whole slew of things. How do people relate to a God or have faith in something that can’t be seen? How could some people use something so personal to exploit or oppress others? And what comes of all this devotion to a particular belief? It all seemed foolish. Needless to say, a whole can of worms was opened.

Through discussion with one of the aforementioned friends from college, Liz was challenged to ask God Himself. She read the Bible without any expectation for a relationship with Him, but just to learn more about what some believed. At Psalm 50, she felt moved by God’s words that assure He is God who knows all and made all, who does not need people’s possessions or rituals, but who wants people to let go of pride and instead be filled with simple thanks. This is a sense of gratitude towards Him but also to fellow neighbors, which allows one to begin relationship with Him and other people.

Liz is happy to have found Ascension, a community that integrates growth in following Jesus and connections with others in Queens and even beyond. With a background and strong interest in design, she lends her skills to the church’s visual communications. She is also inherently organized and helps in administration. On her off time, she loves traveling, reading, knitting, and a good meal.

Music has always been an integral part of Heather’s life. Whether it was the fact that she sang her first song in church at 5 years old or that her husband sang James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain” in her ears as her twin girls were born, music has always been essential. But what has been more central to her life is her relationship with God, which began one summer during vacation Bible school at 7 years old. From there on her music and her faith were intertwined.

As a child, Heather loved singing with a girls quartet at nursing homes and with a kids choir as a part of an annual church cantata. And just as adolescence was about to arrive, Heather realized that music was actually something she was good at when she was selected for All-County. This would be the first of 5 trips to All County and one to Sectional All-State.

As the daughter of a minister, moving was always a dreaded eventuality. And just as Heather was starting high school, her family moved north to Jamestown, N.Y. The difficulty of the move was quickly forgotten when she saw how God had moved her into one of the best music departments in New York state. These highly disciplined programs and the men who ran them inspired Heather and pushed her to hone her talents. The highlight of Heather’s high school career was singing “Fairest Lord Jesus” in St. Stevens Cathedral in Vienna, Austria. It was here that her faith and her rigorous studies collided in one of the most majestic places she had ever been.

Attending Nyack College, despite being her father’s alma mater, was not her first choice. But, financially it just seemed to be a better deal. So in 1989, Heather began her pursuit of a bachelors in music. Little did she know that Nyack College was God’s first choice for her. During her career at Nyack College, she began to understand how deeply important it was for her to be as equally in pursuit of God as she was in pursuit of her studies. She could be found on a Friday night soloing for Handel’s “Messiah”, on a Sunday singing “Amazing Love” with a contemporary worship team in Queens, N.Y., and on a Tuesday afternoon student conducting “How Lovely Are Thy Dwelling Places” with the Nyack College Chorale. It was there that contemporary and traditional worship came together for Heather.

Shortly after graduating from college, Heather began dating the man she was to marry. Heather and Ike Dimitriadis have now been married for 15 years. During that time, Heather has had the opportunity to both participate in and lead worship teams in multi-ethnic settings across denominational lines and in two languages from time to time. Then in 2006, Heather and Ike became the proud parents to Anastasia and Katheryn.