Pastor Ron Sallee has served with Village Missions since 1979. Pastor Ron, Marilyn and their four children served six years at Arago Community Church in southwest Oregon before returning to Western Washington. There he pastored Machias Community Church for 31 years. In 1995 he founded Contenders Bible School at Machias, WA.

A driving passion of Pastor Sallee has always been to identify, encourage, equip and send those called into full-time ministry. Through Contenders Bible School, many couples were sent out into ministry with Village Missions and other ministries. Additionally, the church at Machias was strengthened as members of the body were equipped for ministry and learned how to “correctly handle the Word of Truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

The Vision of Contenders was always bigger than just one church. With the help of Village Missions, the Contenders Discipleship Initiative has made Contenders Bible School freely available to all who desire to know what they believe and why they believe it so they are able to “Contend for the Faith once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).

Ken Ainsworth attended church growing up but didn’t come to saving faith in Jesus Christ until 1972 while stationed on a submarine homeported in Hawaii. After marrying his wife Kris, Ken left the Navy and earned his undergraduate degree at Washington State University. He then spent 31½ years with the Marysville School District in Washington as a classroom teacher, athletic coach, staff developer and district administrator.

During those same years, Ken and his family attended Machias Community Church in Snohomish, Washington. In 1999, God led Ken and Kris to enroll in Contenders Bible School. After completing the coursework, they briefly considered entering full-time ministry, but after much prayer, they felt God wanted them to stay in lay ministry at Machias.

Over the next eight years, Ken and Kris had many opportunities to use what they learned in Contenders to serve in ministry. Kris worked with preschool children in the AWANA program, served as financial secretary and played the piano for Sunday worship. Ken led worship music, served on the deacon board, and taught classes at Contenders Bible School. He also had the privilege of serving as a guest preacher at several Village Missions churches. Finally, in the winter of 2009, Ken and Kris felt the Lord was calling them to apply to Village Missions. After acceptance, they raised support, sold their home, resigned from their jobs, and relocated to Coram, Montana, to serve at Canyon Community Church.

Ken has a real passion for Christian doctrine as it defines “the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3 NKJV). He desires to help believers understand those teachings that are absolutely essential to Christian faith and practice and to test every doctrine against the truth of the Bible.

Vernal’s upbringing and education led him on a search for truth which climaxed when he accepted Christ on August 17, 1968, while a student at Westmont College.

At Westmont, Vernal met his wife Cindy. They live on Anderson Island, where he is serving as interim pastor at Anderson Island Christian Fellowship.

Vernal has a Bachelor of Arts in Social Science from Westmont College. He earned a Master of Divinity from Talbot Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry from Faith Evangelical Seminary.

Vernal taught public school in California and earned a lifetime teaching credential for California. Vernal served as a missionary pastor with Village Missions for 22 years. After an internship in Idaho, he and Cindy served fields in California, Kansas, Oregon and Washington. For the last fifteen years of ministry, he served as a Village Missions District Representative for the Northwest District. He has served as an adjunct instructor for Shasta Bible College, California Graduate School of Theology, Alaska Bible College and Moody Bible Institute. He has taught for the Contenders program since 2005.

Cliff grew up in Tacoma, Washington, in a mainline denominational church.

He received Christ as Savior at summer camp at age 11 but struggled for years to grasp the reality of an ongoing relationship with Jesus.

After two dismal years of college, he was led by the Lord to Ecola Bible School in Oregon, where the teaching of the Scriptures and the fellowship of believers led him toward a life of ministry. Completing a B.R.E. at Multnomah School of the Bible (now Multnomah University), Cliff became increasingly involved with youth ministry connected with Village Missions.

Cliff married Casey, Ecola’s Dean of Women, and subsequently served in various youth and associate positions for the next 13 years.

Serving with Pastor Ron Sallee at Machias Community Church was what the Lord used to prepare Cliff for the move to pastor the San de Fuca Chapel on Whidbey Island, WA.

Teaching and preaching through the Scriptures over the past 20+ years has given Cliff an ever-increasing wonder, love and respect for God’s revelation of Himself in the written Word and in the Living Word of God, Jesus Christ. His desire in preparing this survey of the Old Testament is that Jesus the Messiah, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, be seen, known and worshipped as He deserves. He is our true Prophet, Priest and King, and “everything must be fulfilled that is written about Jesus in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

Russell Richardson and his wife Linda have served with Village Missions since November of 1976, the year they graduated from Prairie Bible Institute (in Three Hills, Alberta) and the year they were married. They have served churches in Dubois, Idaho; Cool, California; Clover Valley, Washington and Sauvie Island, Oregon.

Russell was born and raised in Oklahoma City, where he lived until he left for Bible School. He received Jesus Christ as his Savior when he was 8 years old while visiting his father in Texas. His grandparents played a huge part in his life.

He has had a love for the church from his earliest memories. That love has strengthened over the years as God’s word and his experiences with the church taught him, regardless of its weaknesses and failures, the great value and benefit the church is to individuals, families, communities, and ultimately the world.

Pastor Rob grew up in a Catholic home in Southern California, and as the oldest of 8 children, spent much of his childhood helping with the care of his special needs brother, Peter. Rob’s burden for the suffering of his brother and the compassion that was engendered became gifts the Lord focused later in his life. He completed his bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Redlands and at about 28 years old, was led to the Lord by a friend. Shortly after his profession of faith, he moved to the Pacific Northwest and became a logger. During these years he attended a Village Missions church and married his wife Linda.

In 1989, Rob felt the Lord nudging him toward full-time ministry, so the family moved to Portland, where he studied in the Grad Certificate program at Multnomah School of the Bible. Then they were accepted by Village Missions and began serving the rural community of Ariel, Washington at Pleasant View Community Church. Pastor Rob was able to continue his education at Multnomah Seminary and earn his Master of Divinity degree.

After 20 years of ministry, Rob and Linda saw the great need for workers for the harvest and prayed about starting a discipleship program like the Contender’s school that Pastor Ron Sallee had developed. One year later, Servants Bible School opened with partner Pastor Russell Richardson. The Lord provided access to a film studio, so the courses were filmed and made available on the Internet.

After 27 years as pastor of Pleasant View Community Church, Rob retired from Village Missions in the Spring of 2017. Just after retiring, Rob and his wife Linda took the CDI to Malawi, Africa, where they trained 185 pastors in five villages over three weeks.