Meet the Task Force
The Archdiocesan Task Force for Youth & Young Adult Ministry is made up of 2 representatives (1 clergy and 1 lay person) from each youth discipline in the Archdiocese: Youth Ministry (Teen SOYO), Young Adult Ministry (ages 19-35), Christian Education, and Camping Ministry. The Task Force is chaired by Fr. Nicholas Belcher. In addition to the 9 members of the Task Force, representatives from each youth discipline on the parish and Diocese level are included on the Steering Committees for the larger work of the Task Force.
Fr. Nicholas Belcher, Chairperson
Father Nicholas Belcher serves as the pastor of St. George Orthodox Church of Little Falls, New Jersey and the chairman of the Archdiocesan Task Force for Youth and Young Adult Ministry of the Antiochian Archdiocese. Before these assignments, Fr. Nicholas served as the hierarchical assistant for His Eminence Metropolitan Joseph. Previous to his work for the Archdiocese, Fr. Nicholas worked for twelve years at Hellenic College Holy Cross – nine years as the Dean of Students and three years as the Assistant director of the Office of Vocation & Ministry and director of CrossRoad. He is a graduate of The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina, and Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary - where he now serves a Lecturer in Antiochian Liturgics.
Anna-Sarah Farha, Christian Education
Anna-Sarah Farha has been with the Department of Christian Education since 2017. Currently living in Jacksonville, FL, she homeschools her youngest daughter and actively serves the Sunday School of St. George Church in Jacksonville, FL. Prior to living in Jacksonville, Anna-Sarah and her family were members of St. John Church (Memphis, TN), St. Anthony Church (Bergenfield, NJ), Saint George Cathedral (Coral Gables, FL), and St. Thomas Church (Snohomish, WA). With a deep love for Christian Education, Anna-Sarah has rotated through the church school roles of teacher, vice principal, assistant director, Creative Arts Festival coordinator, First Confession coordinator, and editor of the monthly Sunday School newsletter. While at St. Thomas in Washington, Anna-Sarah trained in Level I Catechesis of the Good Shepherd.
Erin Ghata, Youth Ministry
Erin Ghata is a Kansas girl living in Oklahoma. She served as the full-time parish Youth Director for St. Elijah in OKC from 2007-2016. She has served as the Program Director and Assistant (to the) Director for Camp St. Raphael for 15 years and was also the Diocese Youth Director for the Antiochian Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America for more years than she can remember. Erin currently serves as Co-Chair and Ministries Director for the Antiochian Department of Youth Ministries. When she's not spending her time working on youth events and camps, she can usually be found winning board games or eating food with her fun-loving husband Joe and their reagle beagle, Cal.
Fr. Nicholas Long, Christian Education
Fr. Nicholas Long and Kh. Nina have been married for 24 years. They have two sons, George (19) and Cosmas (16). Fr. Nicholas serves at St. Elias in Austin, Texas. He is also the Head of the Grammar School for a K-12 private classical school in Austin. Fr. Nicholas has served as a teacher and/or administrator at this school for over 20 years. Prior to that he was in Youth Ministry. He serves in the Christian Ed. Department.
Fr. Michael Nasser, Young Adult Ministry
Fr. Michael Nasser is enjoying his new ministry assignment as the Pastor of St. Nicholas Orthodox Church since 2015, having served previously as a mission priest in both Bowling Green, KY and Tijuana, Mexico, as well as having been blessed with a decade of ministry as both a camp director and in the field of campus ministry. He has been married to Vicky since 1994 and they are blessed with three wonderful children. Fr. Michael studied at St. Vladimir’s Seminary in Crestwood, NY before finishing his M.Div. at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, in Brookline, MA, where he also received his Th.M. following studies at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Beverly, MA, in the fields of Missions and Youth Ministry. He enjoys kayaking and backpacking, following politics and current events and spending time with his faithful beagle-mix, Buddy.
Wayne Parr, Young Adult Ministry
Wayne is the acting Chairperson of our Young Adult Ministry and has served in this capacity since 2018. He is currently a member of St. John Memphis, TN and was formerly a member of Ss. Peter & Paul Potomac, Maryland and St. Ignatius Franklin, Tennessee. In his youth, Wayne was an active member of SOYO and served several summers in various roles at the Antiochian Village Camp & Conference Center. Professionally, Wayne works in the field of eDiscovery and legal technologies. He holds a B.S. from Tennessee Technological University and a current P.M.P. certification from the Project Management Institute.He also serves as a Director and co-founder of the Camp Catanese foundation. He enjoys byzantine music, watching sports, biking, and spending time with his wife, Erika.
Fr. Philip Rogers, Youth Ministry
Fr. Philip is the pastor of St. John in Memphis, TN. In addition to his pastoral duties, Fr. Philip has served as the Diocese of Miami SOYO Spiritual Advisor since 2007 and for NAC since 2020. From 2007-2016, he also served as the Director of Camp St. Thekla, the summer camp for the Diocese of Miami and the Southeast.
Khalil Samara, Camping Ministry
Khalil is the chairperson for our Camping Ministry overseeing the amazing work of our 10 camp programs, assisting each camp with accreditation, program resources, scholarships, and more. Khalil has served in many roles over the years including Parish Youth Director at St. George Church in Boston, Assistant Camp Director at Antiochian Village, Diocese of Worcester & New England Youth Director, NAC President of the Fellowship of St. John the Divine. Khalil is a graduate of Holy Cross School of Theology with a Masters in Divinity and a Certificate in Youth & Young Adult Ministry from the Boston Theological Institute. He is married with 3 beautiful children living in the greater Boston area.
Fr. Christopher Shadid, Camping Ministry
Fr. Chris serves as the Camp Director of the Antiochian Village Camp in Bolivar, PA. He received a Masters in Divinity (MDiv) from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, and also received a Masters in Social Work (MSW) from the University of Pittsburgh, and serves as a Licensed Social Worker (LSW). Fr. Chris has been involved in Orthodox Christian camping since he was 10-years-old when he was first a camper at the Antiochian Village. Growing up, church camp was his favorite place to be, and he loved attending camp as a camper. He then served as a CIT and then served 6 summers on staff at the Village as a counselor and head counselor. After graduating seminary, Fr. Chris began working as an Assistant Camp Director at the Village where he has been blessed to serve ever since, and in 2020 he was assigned as the Camp Director. In 2013 he began serving as the Department of Camping vice-chairman, assisting all of the camping programs in the Antiochian Archdiocese with accreditation, scholarship distribution, resources, and communications. Fr. Chris loves camp and is excited to continue serving in this wonderful ministry!
Steering Committees of the Task Force
*denotes member of the Task Force
Camping
- Khalil Samara*
- Fr. Christopher Shadid,* Antiochian Village
- Fr. Andrew Andrews, Camp St. Nicholas
- Fr. Benjamin Kjendal, Camp St. Herman
- Fr. Alex Mackoul, Camp St. Thekla
- Gayle Malone, Camp St. Raphael
- James Matthews, Antiochian Village
- Dr. Tom Saba, Village Up North
- Nellie Salloum, Camp St. Innocent
- Cade Scott, Antiochian Village
- Fr. James Shadid, Camp St. Raphael
- Fr. Fred Shaheen, Camp St. George
- Concetta Smarius
- Kh. Kara Vollman, Camp St. Mary of Egypt
- Alex Younes, Camp Transfiguration
Christian Education
- Fr. Nicholas Long*
- Anna-Sarah Farha*
- Gregory Abdalah
- Fr. George Alberts, Eastern Dioceses
- Anne Beach, Los Angeles and the West
- Fr. Noah Bushelli – Homeschooling
- Rev. Christopher Rigden-Briscall, Ottawa and Upstate NY
- Mat. Anna Hughes, Worcester and New England
- Robert Snyder, Toledo and the Midwest
- Kh. Gigi Shadid, Wichita and Mid-America
Youth Ministry
- Fr. Philip Rogers*
- Erin Ghata*
- NAC & Diocese Officers & Advisors
Young Adult Ministry
- Fr. Michael Nasser*
- Wayne Parr*
- Fr. Calinic Berger – HOST
- Karen Kinaan – HOST
- Fr. Milad Selim – OYPC
- Irene Pappas – OYPC
- Fr. Alex Mackoul – TELOS
- Adam Murphy/Andrew Garrison – TELOS
- Diocesan Spiritual Advisors and Lay Leaders