Speakers Bureau

The Rev. Laura Ayala has served as Coordinator of Global Missions since February 2023. Rev. Ayala oversees CBF Global Mission, Chaplaincy and Pastoral Counseling Ministries, and Disaster Response. For nine years, she served as pastor of First Baptist Church of Rio Piedras in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Rev. Ayala is a graduate of Drew University (Masters degrees in Religion) and the Universidad del Turabo in Gurabo, Puerto Rico. She is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Theology from the Interamerican University in San Juan.

Rev. Ayala is passionate to see God’s transformational power in the lives of many in the United States and around the world through the ministries of CBF field personnel. She serves churches by providing needed information to enhance local and missional work, and encourages missions committees and church members to be directly involved in missions praying, going and giving. Rev. Ayala enjoys spending time in nature and is a baseball fan, rooting on her favorite team, the Boston Red Sox.

Dianne promotes the Offering for Global Missions by resourcing churches with materials and sharing stories from our field personnel to emphasize the importance of long-term presence. Having previously served as field personnel in Slovakia and Czechia for over 19 years Dianne is honored and excited to continue to support the long-term presence and ministry of our field personnel around the world.

Javier Perez serves as the director of Global Missions Programs & Impact at CBF, where he provides strategic direction for these programs and strengthens organizational impact in accordance with CBF’s Mission Distinctives. Javier received his seminary education at International Baptist Theological Seminary in Colombia; he also earned a master’s in public administration from the University of Texas. Topics which he can address include missiology from the margins, strategic planning, community development planning, program design, program evaluation, rural development and integral mission.

Ellen Sechrest is a native of North Carolina and is a graduate of both Mars Hill University and Southern Seminary. After serving 30 years in church staff capacities (youth and children, spiritual formation and missions), Ellen came to serve with CBF in 2019. In her role as Director for Mission Engagement, she helps churches deepen their relationships with CBF, with global missions and CBF field personnel. Ellen brings a unique experience of long-term church ministry and a global mission perspective to her work and can assist churches in evaluating and creating thriving mission portfolios, speaking to mission groups and being a worship leader .

Renée Lloyd Owen is a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship-endorsed healthcare chaplain with more than 20 years of experience in meeting the unique spiritual, religious and cultural needs of patients, their families, and healthcare providers. She has served in pediatric hospitals, adult hospitals and hospice in North Carolina, Miami, and Los Angeles. In August 2020, she became the third individual and the first woman, to serve as CBF’s Chaplaincy and Pastoral Care Ministries director and endorser. Just prior to joining the CBF Global staff, she served as the executive director of Spiritual Health for the Wellstar Health System in Marietta, Ga. She earned a Master of Divinity from Duke Divinity School and her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Campbell University. Prior to entering chaplaincy, Renée served on staff at several CBFNC churches in associate minister roles, working with children, youth and in the area of congregational care.

Kasey Jones serves as CBF’s Associate Coordinator of Outreach and Growth. In her work to help grow the Fellowship’s impact, Kasey is most passionate about working directly with churches and individuals to make meaningful connections to do kingdom work together. Prior to joining the CBF staff in October 2017, Kasey served as a senior pastor in Washington, D.C. for 12 years, and also worked previously as a community organizer. She earned her Master of Divinity from Wesley Theological Seminary and Bachelors of Arts from Howard University. She is committed to working toward meaningful transformation within communities and loves working with others to help them live out their faith in such a way that lives and communities can be transformed. Kasey is available to teach or preach, especially focused on CBF’s inclusion work.

Since 2017 Rubén Ortiz has served as Latino Field Ministries coordinator for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. An ordained minister since 2006, Rubén is a spiritual director and spiritual retreat leader and is a member of the Academy Forum, the Spiritual Directors International, the Evangelical Spiritual Directors Association and the Advisory Board of the Academy for Spiritual Formation. With more than two decades of serving Hispanic churches and extensive experience in missions in Latin America, Rubén is a catalytic agent for work in diverse communities. In his role of CBF Latino Field Coordinator, Ortiz is responsible for charting a future for the Fellowship in Latino contexts and implementing related short- and long-term strategies, as well as working to more fully integrate the CBF Latino Network into the life of the Fellowship.

Shauw Chin provides the overall leadership and management of the work of the CBF Foundation and CBF’s fund development strategies.

Shauw Chin is passionate about walking alongside churches and individuals to help them best use God’s resources to fund the work of the Great Commission and the Great Commandment now and into the future. In her role leading the CBF Foundation, she helps churches to plan and manage permanent financial support for their ministries and needs, and also seeks to equip congregations to cultivate legacy gifts among their members. With deep Baptist roots, Shauw Chin came to faith as a result of the work of Baptist missionaries in Singapore. An experienced nonprofit leader and social worker, she is a graduate of Baylor University and the Carver School of Social Work (Master of Church Social Work).

Shauw Chin describes herself as a “huge foodie” and loves to travel, cook and watch a good movie (preferably one that makes her laugh or takes her to a different world).

She joined the staff in March 2020.