Meet Our Amazing Team!
DECLARE could not do what we do without the hard work and commitments of both our staff and volunteers!
Take a moment to scroll through and meet our team.
Board of Directors
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Kirk Lithander
BOARD CHAIR
Kirk is the Pastor of Global Outreach at Fairhaven Church in Dayton, Ohio. He has been involved in ministry for over 4 decades around the world, which includes serving in Bolivia, Canada, Kentucky and now Ohio. Kirk has demonstrated his ability to convene pastors, business professionals, and city leaders in Dayton for over two decades. He enjoys leveraging his extensive network of pastors and marketplace leaders to bring them together for the common good to serve the marginalized and underserved in our communities.
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Jay Williams
TREASURER
Jay was born and raised in Dayton, OH and is a Business Banker at KeyBank. He attends church at Phillips Temple in Trotwood, OH where he also provides financial literacy to local youth and young adults. He believes that once we take the time to listen to one another in love, we will be effective in our efforts to make our world, country, state, city and communities better. -
Lorien Elgersma
SECRETARY
After growing up in Miami County, Lorien has lived many places the last 10+years traveling for missions/ministry. She has worked with ministries focused on evangelism and discipleship of university students, and also has a heart and history building unifying relationships among churches centered around our core convictions of Scripture. Returning to Ohio, she now co-owns 501Core and serves nonprofits administratively in their finances, HR, and compliance. -
Reverend Joshua Ward
Rev. Joshua Daniel Ward is the Senior Pastor of Omega Baptist Church in Dayton, Ohio, where he has served in various ministerial capacities, including Youth Pastor and Assistant to the Pastors since June 2010. In addition to his work at the church, Rev. Ward also served the residents of Dayton as the Senior Civil Rights Investigator for the City of Dayton Human Relations Council from April 2012 to March 2018. He is a proud 2006 graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA., having received his B.A. with honors in Business Marketing and Spanish. He then returned to Ohio to further his education, earning his J.D. from the University Of Cincinnati College Of Law in 2010. Having received a calling to ministry during his legal education, Joshua moved back to Dayton and enrolled in Seminary immediately following law school and received his M.Div. from United Theological Seminary in 2014. Declare is so honored to have his expertise on board!
OUR STAFF
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Caleb Ingram
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Caleb Ingram is passionate about seeing lives changed and cities and communities revived with hope through Jesus Christ! After working in local church ministry for a number of years, he has now been serving full-time with Declare since 2016 to unite the body of Christ to worship and serve together. He loves family adventures with his wife and daughters and prays that through both their family and ministry people will see and encounter Jesus!
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Marcy Walker
MINISTRY COORDINATOR
Marcy Walker is the MInistry Coordinator at Declare. Some of her passions include faith, family, food, and fitness. She is also very passionate about the City of Dayton. “I love my hometown Dayton and want to see it prosper and develop into the “Gem City'' it was once proclaimed to be.” Out of these passions she founded Mission: Fit Dayton, which is a free fitness community that encourages healthy bodies and healthy communities through fun family friendly group workouts, discipleship, healthy eating and community service opportunities. She is a graduate of Central State University class of 2008, the City of Dayton’s Neighborhood Leadership Institutes class of 2018 and Parity Inc’s Black Leadership Program class of 2022. Marcy is the proud mother to sons Nicolas and Eric Collier and honorary son D’Marco Shaw who she had the pleasure of pouring into through the Bridges program which is a program available to young adults once they age out of foster care, and grandmother to D’Marco’s daughter Imiliah!
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Harold Nuss
BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR
Harold was born and raised on a farm outside Cincinnati, OH. After graduating from Ohio University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, he worked in manufacturing as a Sales, Process and Project Engineer. Following a sabbatical, he had a career shift into ministry and joined Declare. He and his wife Gretta just welcomed their first child into the world. They live in Kettering, OH. In his free time, Harold volunteers at his church, local orgs, nonprofits and professional groups. He also enjoys playing soccer, golf, pickle ball, trail running and reading.
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Joe Koenig
PRAYER COORDINATOR
Joe is on his third career in his faith journey. He served in the Air Force and then after a full career went on to teach ten years in public schools and two years as a missionary associate overseas. In retirement he is an active supporter of several organizations, including Soul Winners for Jesus Christ, Miami Valley City Gates Ministry and Declare. He currently is a Deacon at Bethel Christian Assembly in Dayton. -
Onetha Black
Partner Engagement Specialist
Onetha Black is a Columbus OH, native and WSU alumni. Since 7 years old, she accepted Jesus into her life. Whilst learning about who God is & his will for her. It’s her desire to insert her business & social skills into the advancement of Declares community and the body of Christ. She’s excited for this new chapter.