Gene Breitenbach

Gene was born in Seward Alaska and grew up Longview, Washington. He became a Christian just a few weeks before he left for college. When he arrived at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington, Christians from the local Chi Alpha group, Campus Christian Fellowship, were among the first students he met. He was invited to join a small discipleship group of men and that began his development as a follower of Christ. Instead of becoming a hindrance to his faith, college life become the foundation of a strong faith due to Chi Alpha.

Gene graduated with a degree in English Literature and then gave a year to the Chi Alpha internship. After marrying Lynn Mather, he served as a national campus evangelist for 23 years.

Gene was called to Boston during his senior year of college but was also told it would be a while before the call would be fulfilled. He ministered regularly in Boston for 15 years as part of his national assignment, but in 2005, the full-time call became a reality.

Lynn Breitenbach

Lynn grew up in Tacoma, Washington and studied music education and choral directing at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. She was part of the Chi Alpha ministry at that university and graduated from their ministry internship. She and her husband, Gene, were National Campus Evangelists for Chi Alpha for 20 years. They traveled to universities across the US that had a Chi Alpha group on them and trained students in evangelism and helped fellow campus pastors grow their ministries on their campus.

Gene and Lynn moved to Boston in 2004 and have been at Boston University for 5 years. Lynn loves Boston and will probably live here the rest of her life.

Lynn is also an accomplished singer and songwriter. She loves cooking and eating good food, listening to great music and watching wonderful movies. She has 3 kids, who also happen to be her most favorite people in the world. Lately she is a fan of ‘Falling Skies’, Top Gear, Doctor Who, Nathan Fillion, and, always - chocolate

Thomas Van Der Laan

Thomas Van Der Laan is from Long Beach, California. He came to Boston in the fall of 2002 to attend Northeastern University majoring in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management and is now working toward his Masters in Divinity at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. He enjoys rowing, basketball, slack lining, film, literature, music and games (video and board). Thomas decided to be a campus minister when he was working as an accountant for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and volunteering with Chi Alpha Campus Ministries. He compared the passions God had given him in these two areas of work and realized he had more passion for campus ministry than he did for accounting.