Our Team

Matt Sparks

Lead Pastor (City)

Matt is married to Tash and they have two sons (Judah and Levi) and a daughter (Piper).

After 17 years of youth ministry, Matt and Tash felt called to begin a new work and Anchor Church started in their living room in January 2014.

Matt has a deep passion for the local church, the city of Sydney and the glory of God.

“If we want to see a city-wide awakening to the gospel, it needs to start first in our own hearts and lives.”

James Wong

Associate Pastor

James grew up here in Sydney and longs to see multitudes of people encounter the love of God and be changed by it. He moved to Anchor with his family in 2017 and counts it a joy to invest in this community and watch Jesus transform lives through his goodness and grace. In addition to regular preaching and day-to-day pastoral responsibilities, James oversees our Gospel Communities; coaching and supporting our Gospel Community Leaders, and directs our Intern Program.

Mitch Brice

Executive Pastor

Mitch is married to Sarah and they have two beautiful children, Millie & Beau.
Mitch is Anchor’s Executive Pastor and helps to implement our vision for planting churches by overseeing all of the operational and administrative needs of our three churches in partnership with our staff and Board of Operations.
Mitch is deeply passionate about the local church and believes that the church is the primary way in which the world will experience the love and beauty of God.

Mitch Everingham

Church Planting Resident

Mitch is married to Suz and together they have a one-year old son Jamie. After spending the past few years living in Switzerland, they felt God calling them back to Sydney to, God-willing, plant a church in the future. Mitch is our ‘church planting resident’ and is responsible for Mission and Platform ministries.

Sarah Donovan

Kids Ministry Director

Sarah is originally from the South Coast and moved to the Inner West in 2017, where she soon-after found home at Anchor Church.

Sarah considers it her greatest privilege to oversee Anchor Kids, partnering with families to disciple children and help form them into Christlikeness. She is passionate about creating safe, engaging, and fun environments for children to explore their faith in, with the hope and prayer that they will always personally know, and deeply love, God.

Jacqui Willing

Student Pastor

Jacqui is our Student Pastor, assisting with event planning and overseeing our Connect team whilst completing her Graduate Diploma of Divinity at Sydney Missionary & Bible College (SMBC).

Jacqui is passionate about partnering with people as they grow in their understanding of the gospel and their gospel identity. She feels it is a great honour to welcome people as Christ first welcomed us, into community for the glory of God!

Arnaldo Santiago Jr.

Lead Pastor (South West)

Arnaldo is married to Katherine and they have four energetic and loving kids who keep them both very busy!

A native of Brooklyn, NY, he has made his home in Sydney since 2007 and couldn’t think of a more beautiful city to be a faithful presence in for the glory of Christ.

Arnaldo is Lead Pastor of Anchor South West.

James Ayre

Pastor of Missional Engagement & Teams

James is married to his best friend Bree.

James joined Anchor Church after several years of being involved in church planting in South Sydney. James oversees the missional engagement and teams at Anchor Church South West. This includes overseeing missional strategy, running Alpha and empowering our volunteer teams.
He is passionate about seeing the local church being a city on a hill, seeing people’s lives transformed by the Gospel and seeing people practising the way of Jesus in everyday life.

James Dawson

Lead Pastor (Northern Beaches)

James is married to Callin, who brings vibrancy and colour to his life and father to one delightful daughter Billie.

James is Lead Pastor and Planter of Anchor Beaches that publicly launched in July 2022. He loves investing into younger leaders and seeing the spiritual wanderer come home. He is sold out for the power and beauty of the local church and still hasn’t found a better love and purpose than what he found in Jesus.

Aaron Smith

Student Pastor

Aaron is married to Lara, who brings joy and laughter to his life and grew up in Manly.

Aaron is our Student Pastor, overseeing our Worship, Production & Prayer teams whilst he completes his Masters of Divinity from Sydney Missionary & Bible College (SMBC). He previously completed a Bachelor of Commerce & Philosophy from the University of Sydney, and worked in Education.  He is passionate about rich gospel preaching that interacts with our cultural moment, vibrant & authentic worship, and seeking God for renewal in the Northern Beaches. He is motivated by the abundant purpose and pleasure found in following Jesus.