Don Hamilton

Senior Pastor

“I remember driving around Indianapolis in my frozen foods delivery truck, telling my friend Gary that I would never become a pastor. That was over forty years ago when God must have chuckled about my comment. I’ve been a pastor for thirty-four years, serving at Vibrant (formerly known as Capital Area Christian Church) the entire time.”

After several “prodigal” years, and a rather dramatic return to the Lord, Don sensed a call to vocational ministry and attended Johnson Christian University in Knoxville, Tennessee. “I had intended to become a youth pastor, but people told me that I had a gift for teaching the Bible in ways that were very practical and understandable. My rough background helped me naturally understand “regular” people. They said I should use those gifts as a preaching pastor, so I decided to major in preaching.”

Don continued his education, earning Masters and Doctorate degrees, while witnessing God reach many people through this church family. “We’ve grown from a small group of Jesus followers, to a large, multi-campus church. But it’s not about bigger numbers, it’s about helping people get connected to God through Jesus Christ - one by one. My favorite challenge to our church family, is to make a difference in someone’s life this week by connecting them to God. Anyone can do that. If my preaching and leadership have encouraged and challenged people to do this, I consider my ministry and this church a success.”

Drew Peterson

Associate Pastor

Drew is joining our staff as our Associate Pastor, soon to be Lead Pastor.

Drew will be partnering with Pastor Don for 6-12 months to grow, learn, and eventually assume responsibility as the Lead Pastor of Vibrant.

Drew comes with over a decade of ministry experience - preaching in small and large contexts, leading teams, and connecting people to Jesus. In his free time, Drew is an avid reader, lover of pop-culture, subpar basketball player, superfan of the St. Louis Cardinals & Green Bay Packers, and loves to spend time with his wife and their 3 kids.

He’s a graduate of Illinois State University and Lincoln Christian Seminary. Drew and his family are excited to build their home in Central PA and be a part of the Vibrant family!

Mike Russell

York Haven Campus Pastor

In 2012 Mike along, with a group of others, started a campus in Etters which relocated to York Haven Boro in September of 2017. Mike has a passion for telling people about Jesus in a down to earth way and sometimes uses cool words like “Incognito.” Mike is a graduate of Lincoln Christian University with a bachelor of arts in general ministry. When not at church Mike is usually spending time with his wife and three kids.

Tj George

Pastor of Care Ministries & Volunteer Services

TJ's job and delight is to get you connected to a place of volunteer service both in the church and out in the community (she describes this as something that can "make your heart sing"). As the Pastor of Care Ministries & Volunteer Services she understands how hard it can be to find your way around a big church, and wants to do whatever she can to help you get to your desired destination.  TJ has been married to Fred for, well, a very long time, and they have two adult sons.  These three men bring her the greatest joys in life and she is grateful that they all know and love Jesus.  If you ever need to find her office - just keep walking through the building until you find the amazingly awesomely blingy purple one – that would be it!

Kristin Russell

Student Ministry Pastor

Kristin earned her bachelor's degree in Communications in 2012 after attending Eastern University and Penn State Harrisburg. Kristin enjoys music and serves on the adult and youth worship team as a vocalist, pianist, drummer, and occasionally on the ukulele. An avid traveler, she's served many missions trips with adults and teens. Kristin has a passion for teenagers and connecting them to Christ. She believes that “every teenager is one caring adult away from becoming a success story.” She, along with her team of adult volunteers, is committed to seeing that happen through God’s work in The Vibe Student Ministry.
Kristin is married to Mike Russell, who serves as our York Haven Campus Pastor, and mom to three awesome kids.

Kristin loves the color pink, cooking, photography, music, and hanging with family and friends. She thinks ice cream is the best food and bunnies are the greatest animal on the planet, especially her pet bunny, Stello.

Sherry Trayer

York Haven Campus Manager

Sherry is happily married to Thomas Trayer, and they have four young adult children. Sherry and Tom began attending Vibrant in 2012 and were a part of the launch team for our Etters campus, which is now York Haven campus. Sherry recalls, “When I first walked into the doors of the Lambs Gap campus, I was touched by the words I read as I moved from the parking lot into the building ‘Love God, Love God’s People and Love God’s World’. Those words pretty much summed up exactly how I was feeling, how I wanted to live my life, and the direction that I wanted to lead my children”. From that day forward; Sherry continued to grow and put her God given gifts to use to aid in the mission of those words she fell in love that first day , “Love God, Love God’s People and Love God’s World”.
Soon after, Pastor Mike learned that Sherry was a registered nurse, and she found herself headed to Haiti on a mission trip, having planned to never step foot on an airplane. Since that first trip, she has continued to travel and looks forward to going to Costa Rica this summer as a youth leader for The Vibe Student Ministry.
Sherry has been involved in many areas of ministry at Vibrant. She serves as a youth leader, assists with children’s ministry at York Haven, serves with frontline team, and has been a vital team member on the York Haven community outreach team.

Gerry Gaugler

Groups and Missions Pastor

Gerry serves as our Groups and Missions Pastor at Vibrant. He is responsible for planning and leading mission trips around the world to serve our mission partners. He also leads our team of life group leaders to help them be successful in leading people to God. Gerry’s experience as a counselor for 20 years, combined with his passion for serving others have him well suited for this position. When he is not at work Gerry enjoys hiking and sports of all kinds, soccer is his favorite, and spending time with his wife Lisa and their 3 “fur-babies”, Daisy, Odie and Mr. Bibbs.

Gerry was called into ministry in 2015 and served as the Director of Youth and Children’s Ministry at a small church in the Philadelphia Suburbs where he learned a lot about how serving God. His favorite quote is “God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called”, and he is excited to be back in Central PA and to continue following God’s calling.

Alex Robinson

Creative Arts Coordinator

Alex is the creative arts coordinator at Vibrant and leads ministry teams related to media, technology, and music. He is passionate about helping people engage with God by creating experiences and environments which challenge them to see Jesus in a fresh way. You’ve heard of the most interesting man in the world, but Alex describes himself as the most boring man in the world (1 Thess. 4:11-12). He likes to spend time with his family, watch documentaries, movies, the latest Netflix Originals, reading theological books, and is curious about the art and science of coffee and beer brewing.

Jamie Robinson

Communications Director

Jamie is our communications director and oversees our website, social media, and print communications. She graduated from Kentucky Christian University where she met her husband Alex, who is also on staff at Vibrant. Jamie enjoys serving as a worship leader and youth leader at the church. She likes playing video games with their three boys, binge watching shows on Netflix with her husband, and enjoying the company of others.

Lisa Gaugler

Financial Secretary

Lisa earned a Marketing degree from Penn State University and has an extensive background in business. As Financial Secretary her primary responsibilities include all bookkeeping, payroll and budget tracking and analysis. When away from work, Lisa enjoys going to the dog park with her husband Gerry and their three dogs and binge watching their favorite shows on TV.

Stephanie Keener

Office Administrator & Special Needs Ministry Leader

Stephanie graduated from Mansfield University in 1994 with a degree in English and has 15 years of experience in the administrative field. She spent 8 years in the US Army - primarily overseas - as an Administrative Assistant to various NATO and US General’s and Base Commanders. After her honorable discharge she had a long career in the administrative medical health field and finally becoming a Hospital Administrator at Pocono Medical Center, before deciding to stay home and raise her young children. She is a long-time member of Vibrant and is now excited to be a staff member, both as the Office Administrator and as the Special Needs Ministry Leader. She enjoys music, traveling, writing, exercising and spending time with her family at their cabin in God’s Country, Potter County, PA.

Stacey McDonald

Community Events Coordinator

Stacey started as a volunteer at Vibrant in 2009 and is now serves as the Community Events Coordinator. She facilitates teams of volunteers that lead and plan events like Egg-a-Rama, Sports Camp, and Movie Night as well as Adventure Park projects. Stacey enjoys the outdoors and moving from one project to the next and is honored to work with the church and community volunteers.

Jim Reyna

Grounds & Maintenance Manager

Jim has 12 years of formal experience in construction, home renovations, and repairs and has been fixing all sorts of mechanical things since high school. As Vibrant's Maintenance Supervisor, he is responsible for all care related to the buildings, grounds, vehicles, and equipment on the 53-acre Lambs Gap campus and the York Haven campus. He's a self-proclaimed music fiend who loves mixing sound for the worship band (and is an aspiring drummer). With the little spare time he has, Jim's an adrenaline junkie and avid skier and mountain biker. Jim and his wife Rachel love The Lord, traveling, British TV shows, and their two awesome cats.