Our Leadership
Amanda Braun
Originally from the suburbs of St. Louis, I am a KU alum living in a K-State world. After college, I moved to Colorado to work on the youth staff at a Covenant church. While there, I ended up also obtaining a Master’s degree in Youth and Family Ministries from Denver Seminary, after which I moved to Kansas City to work year-round for Youthfront Camp. Eventually I met and married my husband, Ross, and moved to Manhattan, where he was completing his graduate studies. During that time, I worked as a campus minister for a church’s college group. Ross’s post-grad work took us to Indiana for a few years, and we became involved in a wonderful Covenant church, where I volunteered with and eventually headed up the youth group. In April of 2022, Ross took a job back at K-State, and here we are! We hope to put down our roots in this community, and because of that, I am excited to help create a church that can engage the many issues of our world through the lens of the Gospel while growing deeper in faith together. Ross and I have three kids, and you can find our family around town at the zoo, the parks, the library, the pools, the nature trails, or the sports fields. We love Manhattan!
Sam Creagar
Manhattan first stole my heart when I attended K-State as an undergraduate in 2006. At that time I had dreams of being a photojournalist, but God had other (and much better!) plans. During my time at KSU I discerned a call into vocational ministry, which ultimately led me to pursue a Masters of Divinity at Denver Seminary (2011-2015). Alison and I got married in 2012, and she joined me in Colorado where she earned at Masters in Social Work from the University of Denver. After wrapping up our degrees we moved back to Kansas, and God blessed me with an opportunity in pastoral ministry at a church in Manhattan. I spent my time there learning, growing, being broken down and built back up by the grace of God and the goodness of His people. In the years since our return to Manhattan we’ve made friends, bought a home, and enjoyed the tremendous blessing of two beautiful daughters. In 2023 I began to sense a call to new ministry and pastoral opportunities, which eventually led to me meeting with the Evangelical Covenant and pursuing a church plant in Manhattan. I could not be more surprised by this calling; nor could I be more thrilled! This is a city that means the world to me, full of people I love deeply, and work I absolutely believe God has prepared in advance for His followers to do.