Staff
FAVORITE TOOL
Sawzall, you can cut anything with it.
John Oostdyk
Executive Director
Hard work and serving others are no stranger to John, growing up in West Milford, NJ. His father instilled a passion for meeting needs in the community at a young age, waking him up every Saturday morning to do community service projects since he was 11 years old. After 6 years of flipping houses, 12 years serving as a youth pastor at Cornerstone Christian Church, and graduating college with an organizational management degree, John transitioned to a part-time pastoral role in order to step into a full-time position as Executive Director of Servant’s Heart Ministry. Since then, John’s been living out his passion for working with his hands, loving people, and seeing lives changed through the gospel.
On his off hours you can find him ATVing or hiking with his wife, Tara, and four boys, Colby, Shane, Hunter, and Chase, or working on one of his many projects in his basement workshop.
FAVORITE TOOL
Grinder for cutting tile because tiling is my favorite.
Christina Mendez
Director of Operations & Marketing
Christina initially started volunteering on Saturdays with Servant’s Heart to spend more time with her dad, learn some new hands-on skills, and serve people in a tangible way. She never expected in 2018 she would be leaving her job as a designer in the fashion industry to work full time for a construction organization, but her passion for serving the community, empowering people, and newfound love for trades work made leaving her job an easy decision.
When Christina’s not running social media, organizing an event, or tiling a wall, she’s eating food with friends, watching Parks and Recreation, and imagining renovating her own fixer upper one day.
FAVORITE TOOL
Router, because it’s a versatile tool for finishing work.
Darren Ojeda
Projects Team Lead
Darren has worked bi-vocationally for the last 15 years, pastoring and working in the trades show industry. As he began volunteering consistently with Servant Heart over 2020, it became clear his gifts for discipleship, serving, and project management would be an incredible asset to our staff. Now Darren is serving full-time, assisting John with development and project management, while dedicating himself to growing Servant’s Heart’s ability to evangelize and build up more servants.
When he’s not making cut lists and striking up faith conversation with volunteers, you can find Darren biking with his son, Jesse, or spending time with his wife, Caryn.
FAVORITE TOOL
Utility Knife, a must have to open or cut almost anything.
David Justnes
Projects Director
After one year at Northeastern Bible College, David felt the Lord leading him to work in construction full-time. Early in his career, David owned his own construction company and continued the next 30 years working for companies in commercial, industrial and railroad construction. David is passionate about teaching construction to those who are eager to learn and employing the spirit of service. When volunteering as an instructor for our Workmanship Program, the Lord tugged David’s heart to join the Servant’s Heart team full-time. He believes that the Lord has prepared him through his diverse work experiences to carry out his new role as Construction Manager with excellence.
When David isn’t sharing his wealth of knowledge about construction, you can find him hunting, fishing, spending time with his family and telling dad jokes.
FAVORITE TOOL
I never go anywhere without a pocket knife.
Brendan Coyne
Projects Manager
With a huge heart for serving and an affinity for hard work, Brendan is very excited to be working with Servant’s Heart again. He took a break from helping out on Saturdays to run his own handyman business and help raise his family: his only daughter, Cassidy, and his three boys, Sam, Isaac and John, with his wife, Jamie.
Brendan’s done everything from auto mechanic, machine operator, machining, facilities manager, and construction, to fine painting and trim carpentry ever since he helped out at Shiloh Bible Camp when he was 7 years old.
In his free time, his passion is fixing up stuff, especially his ‘69 cougar.
FAVORITE TOOL
Impact Driver, never leave for a site without it.
Tim Braunlin
Projects Team
Tim found Servant’s Heart while working in maintenance at a camp in Ulster Park, NY. Wondering who else was ordering lumber in the area when he saw a truck drive by, Tim was led next door where the Servant’s Heart crew was working on a project. It didn’t take long after bumping into the team again on a project they were doing for one of his friends that Tim signed up to volunteer with Servant’s Heart.
In October 2016, Tim joined our team full time, bringing his diverse background and set of skills with him. Years of working in facilities maintenance at a church, camp, and missions organization has brought him unique problem solving experience, which he uses daily on our projects. Tim’s favorite jobs involve applying his diverse experience to solve simple problems that have great impact on a homeowner.
FAVORITE TOOL
Pocket knife, it’s very versatile.
Stan Hankinson
Projects Team
After 40 years working as a plumber and eight years volunteering with us, Stan decided to join Servant’s Heart’s staff full time in 2019. He’s an incredible asset to our team with his diverse experience in construction, including roofing, siding, cabinetry, and mechanics, as well as his awesome heart for serving people. If you get the opportunity to work alongside Stan on a Saturday, you will be blessed by his mentorship, passion for using his gifts to serve others, and maybe even a little singing.
In his freetime, Stan enjoys golfing, fishing, watching baseball, eating perogies, and spending time with his four sons and wife of 30 years, LaDonna.
1/2” Ridgid impact
Tom Wolfe
Projects Team
FAVORITE TOOL
Has to be my Sawzall. Brutally efficient at getting the job done!
Andy Tyler
Programs Manager
Andy spent the majority of his career in sales, 15 of those years working for the wholesale division of Wayne Tile. Although he loved his job and the company, he felt God had another plan, which lead him to launch an agriculture start-up with a partner in Haiti. Unfortunately, Covid derailed the launch, leading to an unexpected year of homeschooling, leading youth, and working at a local farm. Little did he know, his previous boss at Wayne tile would connect him to what he’s doing now at SHM: spearheading Workmanship’s tile course. We believe the Lord’s timing was perfect for Andy to come on board and help get this new program running.
In Andy’s spare time he loves mountain biking and fishing with his kids and getting out on the water in any way possible.
FAVORITE TOOL
Japanese pull saw for its precision and beauty.
Nate Dorka
Development Coordinator
After graduating from Ramapo College with a degree in business management, Nate has been serving in church ministry for the last 10+ years: building out a church youth program, serving as campus pastor for a new campus, and finishing as pastor of community engagement, which lies closest to his gifts and passions. It was in that role, connecting the church to local non-profits and helping people serve with their gifts, that Nate first got connect with Servant’s Heart. Now Nate will be using his gifts for people and passion for serving, to help our team connect with new groups of people, and help individuals get plugged into serving at Servant’s Heart.
When he’s not networking with new churches or listening to volunteers share their story, you can find Nate enjoying craft coffee with his wife Kait, or building a playroom for his 4 kids.
FAVORITE TOOL
Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer for making treats for Servant’s Heart volunteers.
Yvonne Zuidema
Grant Coordinator
Yvonne has 30 years of experience in the nonprofit sector, including 20 years as an executive director of a nonprofit in Paterson. She retired in 2022 and is now consulting to nonprofits in New Jersey having a focus on creating programs that address poverty and specializing in program development, program evaluation and grant writing.
Yvonne has been faithfully volunteering by serving meals to our Workmanship students since September of 2021. We are so excited to have her on our staff, bringing her expertise in grant writing.
In Yvonne’s spare time she loves hiking, kayaking, enjoying the outdoors and spending time with her 3 children.
FAVORITE TOOL
Battery operated caulk gun, it is easy to use and doesn’t strain hand muscles like the manual kinds do.
Deb Hoffman
Office Manager
Deb has joined our team part-time as an Office Administrator. She will be helping our team with internal and external communication, bookkeeping and operational administration. Deb is a true jack-of-all-trades. Over the course of her career, she has worked in administration, program design, logistics coordination, accounting, and sales for HVAC systems. We are so excited to see how the breadth of her skills will push Servant’s Heart’s vision forward in the upcoming years.
When she is not keeping us on task, Deb enjoys unwinding at the beach or with a good book, drama and crafting DIY art and décor for her own and friend’s homes.
FAVORITE TOOL
It depends on the job! But I do love a truly excellent pen.
Tanya Dennis
Communications Manager
Tanya moved from a two-stop light town in Indiana to Kensington (in North Philly) when she was 17. There a life-long passion to impact community took root. She attended Philadelphia College of Bible (now Cairn University) where she majored in missions and earned a degree in Bible. She spent a season providing humanitarian aid in war-torn Bosnia then church-planting in Switzerland before coming home, getting married, and settling in the NYC metro area. In 2013 she co-founded Justice Network, a grassroots anti-trafficking organization here in North Jersey.
As a freelance writer and editor, Tanya has helped bring 28 books to publication.
Tanya loves art, coffee, NYC, travel, food, baseball, and her family (not in that order).
FAVORITE TOOL
Stud finder. A simple yet brilliant invention that always comes in handy when hanging wall decor.
Kait Dorka
Operations Administrator
Kait has always had a heart for people. During her early twenties she went on multiple mission trips to serve people overseas and then graduated from Nyack College with a degree in Inter-Cultural studies. Following graduation, she married her husband, Nate, and they served in church ministry for 10 years. During that time, she also ran her own payroll company and raised their 4 children. She enjoys using her passions to serve others and her gifts in administration and organization to help further the ministry at Servant’s Heart.
When she has free time, you can find her relaxing on the beach, spending time on her paddleboard, or hitting the ski slopes, usually with a few kids in tow. She also enjoys exploring new places with Nate. Summertime and coffee are her favorite things.
My brain. Can’t seem to do much without it.
Rosie Yates
Operations Intern
Rosie is very happy to be to have found Servant’s Heart Ministry and become a part of this team of wonderful people. Rosie has a background in fine art and music and attended Montclair State University, majoring in filmmaking. Rosie has a heart for the Lord and ministry, serving where he leads. She is grateful to be working alongside SHM in their efforts to positively affect their community.
In her free time she loves working on anything creative like music and art, walking with her dog, and spending time with friends and family.
FAVORITE TOOL
Computer, it’s how I get the job done.
Susan Dadekian
Volunteer Controller
Sue started volunteering with Servant’s Heart in July 2015 to manage our finances, and she has been serving faithfully ever since! Her experience as a licensed CPA makes her an incredible asset to our team.
When she’s not crunching numbers for us, you’ll find Sue crafting something beautiful or laying on a beach.
