Surge was founded by four like-minded pastors that in the Phoenix area. What we all have in common is a desire to see the Gospel saturate the Valley by multiplying churches. Included are the church bios of all the pastors who started Surge.
Tyler Johnson, Redemption Church – Pastor of City Initiatives
Tyler was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. He moved to Tempe, Arizona in the fall of 1996 to attend and play baseball at Arizona State University. Tyler played for the Sun Devils for five years while getting his bachelor and masters degrees. For the past 9 years Tyler has ministered on college campuses, pastored twenty-somethings and developed and participated on church planting teams. Tyler is currently a lead pastor at Redemption Church while overseeing the church’s city initiatives as well as church planting. He is currently finishing up a doctorate from Bakke Graduate University in Transformational Leadership. Tyler also serves on the advisory boards for Peace Catalyst International, Disciple Nations Alliance, and Apartment Life. He lives in Chandler with his wife Hayley and two sons Braden and Yale.
Vermon Pierre, Roosevelt Community Church – Lead Pastor
Vermon is a graduate of Princeton University and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. After Trinity Vermon served as a pastoral intern at Camelback Bible Church before being called to serve as lead pastor of Roosevelt Community Church in downtown Phoenix. Vermon also serves on the board of Roosevelt Row.
Vermon is the first generation of his family born in the United States. Both of his parents were born in Haiti. He grew up in a Christian home and was blessed to know Christ at an early age. Vermon and his wife Dennae are the parents of three wonderful children.
Chris Gonzalez, Missio Dei Communities – Lead Pastor
Chris moved from Memphis to Tempe in 1997 to study at ASU. A year later, God saved Chris. He graduated, got married, went to seminary, and started working at a church. Finally in 2006, God wrecked Chris with the centrality of the Gospel: the idea that the Gospel is more than the ABC’s of the Christian life, rather it is the A-Z. He has been trying to figure out all the implications of the gospel in his life ever since. Chris enjoys spending time with his beautiful wife, Leslie and three amazing kids.
Luke Simmons, Redemption Church – Gateway Campus Pastor
Luke Simmons and his wife, Molly, moved to Arizona in the summer of 2002 to be involved with the ministry of East Valley Bible Church and be equipped for pastoral ministry and church planting work. Luke joined the pastoral staff of EVBC in 2004, where he ministered until the summer of 2008 when he began building the team to plant Second Mile Church. In 2011, Second Mile Church joined Redemption Church to become the Gateway Campus. Luke is the Campus Pastor for Redemption Gateway and serves on the Leadership Team. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois and is currently pursuing a master’s degree from Reformed Theological Seminary. Luke and Molly have two young daughters.
Scott Brown, New Valley Church – Lead Pastor
Scott was born in W. Lafayette, IN and grew up in Indiana and Central Kentucky. He is a graduate of Purdue University and Asbury Seminary and served churches in Lexington, KY and Cincinnati. In 1999 Scott asked Tim Keller into his heart, and became so infected by the gospel and church planting that he and his wife Becky moved from Cincinnati to South Tempe in June of 2003 to plant New Valley Church (newvalleychurch.org). He and Becky have three boys.