Our Administration

Gary Gibbs

President

Elder Gary Gibbs was born in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania. While searching for Bible truth as a teenager, Gary attended a Seventh-day Adventist evangelistic meeting. There he accepted Jesus as His Savior and joined the Church as the only Adventist in his family. Shortly after joining, Gary attended an Adventist school and entered denominational ministry. Before accepting the call to the Pennsylvania Conference, he served as the Chesapeake Conference Church Growth and Evangelism director. Prior to this, Elder Gibbs was a founding vice president of the General Conference’s global television network, Hope Channel. Gary was the executive vice president of Amazing Facts ministry for ten years, where he founded the Amazing Facts Center of Evangelism. He is the author of several books, including The New Winsome Witnessing and Prophecies of Hope Bible study guides, as well as numerous GLOW tracts. He has served as a church administrator, television and media pioneer, pastor, evangelist, and church growth consultant. Gary and his wife, Sherilyn, have two adult daughters. His desire is to help the body of Christ grow, see people give their lives to Jesus, and advance the mission of our church.

Shawn Shives

Executive Secretary

Elder Shawn Shives was born and raised in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps upon graduation from high school and quickly transitioned from an enlisted rank to a Commissioned Officer. Serving as the director of the Explosive Ordinance Disposal (Bomb Disposal) School, he attended a Bible Prophecy Seminar where he found a wonderful relationship with Jesus and joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church along with his family. Shawn was convicted to leave the Marines, and soon received a call to full-time ministry by the Pennsylvania Conference where he pastored a seven church district in western Pennsylvania and later the Harrisburg First Seventh-day Adventist Church. Shawn also has served in the Georgia-Cumberland Conference including pastoring an 800-member church and day academy which he founded prior to returning to Pennsylvania to serve as Assistant to the President and pastor of the Reading Hampden Heights Seventh-day Adventist Church, He accepted the call to serve as the Conference’s Executive Secretary in 2022.

Shawn holds undergraduate degrees from the University of Maryland and Thomas Edison University. He also has earned two graduate degrees, one from Emory University and another from Andrews University. He and his wife, Nephlen, have five adult children and fourteen grandchildren. Two of their sons graduated from Blue Mountain Academy.

Kevin Costello

Treasurer

Elder Kevin Costello came to us in 2022, from the Southern Asia-Pacific Division of Seventh-day Adventists (SSD) where he served as the Associate Executive Secretary and Human Resource Director, as well as Director for International Service Employees (Missionaries). This work took him to the 14 countries of the Division as he provided direct support and ministered to more than 120 full-time missionaries and more than seventy volunteers each year. Prior to serving in the SSD, Kevin was the Vice President of Finance for the Georgia-Cumberland Conference. With over thirty-five years of denominational experience, he has also served as a conference treasurer for the Oklahoma Conference and as Treasurer/ Pathfinder Director for the Texico Conference and Guam-Micronesia Mission. In addition to being an ordained minister of the gospel, Kevin is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a Master’s degree from Southwestern Adventist University and a Bachelor’s degree from Southern Adventist University.

Kevin and his wife, Teresa, a Clinical Mental Health Counselor, have lived in the Philippines for the past fifteen years. They have been married for thirty-five years and have one adult daughter, Kiona, who works as the Marketing Coordinator for Blue Mountain Academy.

Kameron DeVasher

Assistant to the President

Kameron Devasher began his pastoral ministry in 2000 having graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Religious Education from Southern Adventist University. He was ordained to the gospel ministry in 2007 and completed his master’s degree in Religion with an emphasis in Evangelism in 2010. He has served the Lord in Idaho, Florida, Maryland, and Michigan. He has a deep passion for the end-time message entrusted to the Seventh-Day Adventist Church and is committed to training and equipping church members for effective soul-winning service.

He and his wife, Emilie, have three children; Henry, Edward, and Molly.

Administration Team

Rubi Varner

Executive Administrative Assistant

Liz Miranda

Associate HR Director

Patty Hoffecker

Administrative Assistant

Heidi Lozensky

Clerk