People

One thing you'll probably notice pretty quickly about ECV is that we think church—like life—is best done together. Come a few weeks in a row, and it's unlikely you'll hear the same person teach—or lead worship—every week. Which we think is pretty great, because we get a chance to learn from one another, to gain from each person's unique perspective, life experience, and background.

Paul—one of the leaders of the ancient church—called this kind of community where every person plays their part to build up the whole, the "Body of Christ." He said it was the way to live life to the fullest. We agree.

Anyway, given how important the people are to what makes ECV tick, we thought it'd be best to introduce a few folks you're likely to run across:


ECV's staff team is made up of both paid and volunteer staff who are committed to leading ECV in the day-to-day, week-to-week life of our community.
Josh Williams, Lead Pastor
Josh, originally from Iowa, moved to New Haven for school. While not knowing what was in store, Josh came for an adventure. He found it through studying and trying to live out justice, love, and community. After graduating Yale in the spring of 2008, he decided to stay in New Haven to go to Yale Divinity School for a M.Div, to pursue his future wife, and to invest further in New Haven. Around the same time, Josh plugged into Elm City Vineyard and soon became its first intern. During that process, Josh started a few prayer groups on Yale’s campus and established and grew a connection ECV has with Agape Church for the Housed and Unhoused where Josh serves along with a core group of ECVers. Right before his graduation in 2011, Josh was ordained as a pastor in the Vineyard and accepted a job with InterVarsity where he served as a campus minister for Yale College. Weeks later, he happily married his wife, Tina, in a very musical service followed by a reception with much dancing. They live in the Kensington neighborhood of New Haven where they are seeking to love their neighbors.  Recently, Josh became ECV's first full-time Lead Pastor, and he is thankful and excited for how God is maturing ECV's vision and taking us to new places.

Asha Evans, Family Pastor
A Californian by birth, Asha is delighted to finally experience the beauty of four seasons in New England. Asha received her Bachelor of Science in Applied Physics from UC Davis. After several years teaching and working with university student services, Asha and her husband, Robb, moved to Istanbul, Turkey, where she studied Turkish, taught English to refugee children, and had her first daughter. In addition to three years in Turkey, Asha has spent time in Iran, Uzbekistan, Tunisia, Mexico, and her father's native homeland of India and hopes to travel the world with her husband and three daughters one day. Her work with a peace building organization (Pathways for Mutual Respect) brought her to New Haven eight years ago. Now she works as a childbirth educator and doula, dreams of training as a midwife someday, homeschools her kids, loves being outdoors, enjoys artwork, crochets blankets, and does all the voices when reading aloud. She knows God is up to good work among the children and families in our community and is excited and honored to be serving ECV as the Family Pastor.
Matt Croasmun, Staff Pastor
Matt and his wife Hannah, along with Caleb and Kathy Maskell, planted the Elm City Vineyard in the fall of 2007. He completed his Ph.D. in Religious Studies (New Testament) in the spring of 2014 and serves as the Director of Research and Publication at the Yale Center for Faith & Culture. Teaching is his calling—in the church and in the university setting. Matt loves music, having majored in music composition as an undergraduate (MC '01) and  writing and performing music in a variety of venues. After college, Matt spent a year on staff with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Yale and Wesleyan and then, after getting married, spent 3 years at the Yale Divinity School through the Institute of Sacred Music. He serves on the steering committee for the Society of Vineyard Scholars for Vineyard USA and has a real passion for connecting the life of the mind and the life of faith. Matt also loves soccer (playing and watching), TEDTalks, the Chicago Bulls, NASA, and U2. He will also regularly insist to you that his daughter, Junia, is the cutest little girl on the planet.
Laura Gable, Administrator 
Laura is a native Californian. Before moving to New Haven in 2011, she volunteered with YWAM Europe, working with various urban programs focused on serving the homeless, youth, and the marginalized. During this time she developed her passion for art and loved seeing the powerful and empowering effect it has on communities. In addition to being the administrator, she also works with a non-profit that serves adults with developmental disabilities in New Haven. She is passionate about equipping adults with disabilities to live independent and self determined lives. She also loves cooking, eating all manner of food, hiking in the Connecticut woods, and the long New England winters.

 Tina Colón Williams, Worship Pastor
Tina originally hails from Jacksonville, FL. Since moving to New Haven in 2005, she studied at Yale College and at UConn Law School, became involved with the homeless community in New Haven through Agape Church for the Housed and Unhoused, and married ECV's own Lead Pastor (see above). She's now happily serving as ECV's worship pastor, and in her free time is working as an attorney at Wiggin and Dana. Her favorite things include: singing, worship music, meeting new people, eating all kinds of food, and the pursuit of justice in the world.  She lives with her husband in the Kensington neighborhood.




While there are more than these folks who teach at ECV, these are the folks you're most likely to find teaching. Got a question/comment for this week's teacher? Email teaching@elmcityvineyard.org.

Matt Croasmun
[bio above]

Todd Kennedy, originally from Ohio, found his way to the Vineyard (and Jesus) in the early stages of a church plant as a college student at the University of Chicago and has been in the Vineyard movement ever since. Todd has a Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary and served briefly on the pastoral staff of the New York City (now North Brooklyn) Vineyard as well as in such distinguished roles as Yale library employee, test subject, beer bottler, and sausage maker. He is currently a doctoral student in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament at Union Theological Seminary in New York. In addition to teaching, Todd is involved in the worship and prayer ministries at ECV. He and his wife Michelle serve as elders and lead both a weekly homegroup and regular prayer ministry trainings for the church. Todd and Michelle live in the Westville area of New Haven with their son Silas and daughter Willa.

Liz Moore arrived in New Haven after graduating from Trinity College in Hartford, CT with a degree in Religious Studies. While there, she spent much of her time drinking coffee, discussing socialist literature, and ethically analyzing tv shows. She is now (much to her surprise) a Christian youth minister to boarding school students in New England working for FOCUS (Fellowship of Christians in Universities and Schools). This means she works the opposite of a 9-5 and drives long distances to chat with teenagers about the internet, indie rock, and Jesus. She's probably baking something delicious as you're reading this.

Josh Williams
[bio above]



Our worship leaders are a critical part of our community, leading us into the presence of God (mostly) through song. 

Tina Williams, Worship Pastor
[bio above]

Shyla Louise Powell studied classical voice at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville where she received a Bachelor's degree in Music Performance. Shyla moved to New Haven and became a member at ECV in 2010. As well as serving on the worship team, Shyla also serves as a member of the Pastoral Care team and as a homegroup leader. The thread that connects all of these areas for Shyla is caring for the souls of the people around her, which is one of her greatest passions! Shyla lives with her husband, Leon, in the Tre/Edgewood neighborhood. Shyla and Tina (ECV's worship pastor) have been singing together since they were young teens! Shyla loves being married to Leon, laughing, and eating avocado. She has never been stung by a bee.



The Pastoral Care team shepherds pastoral care at ECV by training and equipping leaders, responding to crises and overwhelming circumstances, and fostering healthy relationships. The team provides group workshops as well as prayer and counseling for individuals and couples. Want to chat with some from the pastoral care team? Email pastoralcare@elmcityvineyard.org.

Robb Evans, Jen Hartley, Shyla Powell, Ethan Smith, and Josh Williams serve on the pastoral care team.


ECV's elders serve the church through providing long-range leadership, vision-casting, and planning. These are folks praying for our community (that means you!); please take some time, too, to pray for them as they help us discern God's voice leading us as a community. Have a question? E-mail elders@elmcityvineyard.org.

Asha Evans, John & Jen Hartley, Todd Kennedy, Ryan & Heidi McAnnally-Linz, Katie Smith, Josh & Tina Williams

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