Board Of Directors

John Gross, Chairman

John became a believer in 1980 and was discipled by Norm for a year before being moved to Louisiana by the company with whom he spent his entire career. He served as an elder at both Christ Community Church in Franklin, TN and StoneBridge Church Community in Charlotte, NC. He is the founder of The Barnabas Group in Charlotte, NC and is currently serving as the National Director of The Masters Program for Churches, a strategic coaching program for kingdom leaders. He lives in Jekyll Island, GA.

Jim Grandholm, Vice-Chairman

Jim became a board member in 1999, when The Spirit of Elijah Ministries first incorporated. Formerly a basketball player in the NBA, he started his own sports agency. He is now founder and president of Green Earth Electronics Recycling and Lake Michigan Asset Solutions. Jim and Carol live in Sawyer, MI and have three married children.

Kari Mitchell, Treasurer

Kari Mitchell is humbled to be called to be a “daughter of the King”, a wife to her husband Rod, and a homeschooling mom to her two sons who have entered into adulthood.  She’s honored to serve on the Spirit of Elijah board having been personally touched through the ministry and being continually renewed in her mind and heart through the Live to Love message. Kari also serves as the CEO of Las Cruces Machine, Mfg. & Engineering and has served on numerous boards which includes a unique blend of corporate, public, and non-profit board room leadership in banking, healthcare, aerospace manufacturing, and education. Additionally, Kari was appointed to the New Mexico State University’s Board of Regents, where she was unanimously confirmed by the Senate and elected as Vice Chair of the board.  Kari co-founded and scaled New Mexico’s first early college high school. She was a founding member of the state’s first private-public sector economic development entity; and was appointed by both Governor Bill Richardson (D), and Susan Martinez (R) to the State Workforce Development Board. Kari receives the honors of New Mexico’s Businesswoman of Influence, Citizen of the Year by the Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce, and the VIVA Award (Vision, Investment, Vitality & Action) by the New Mexico Association of Commerce and Industry. She received her MBA from the University of Houston.

Micah Wakefield

Micah was the business administrator of Elijah Ministries for many years. He began serving on the board of directors in 2015. He is Director of Research and Product Development for Swan Global Investments and lives in Las Palmas, Puerto Rico with his wife, Holly, and their 3 children.

Steven Vaughan

Steven Vaughan has been married to his wife Jennifer since 1985. They have six children whom they have homeschooled from the beginning. As a volunteer for CHEC since 2004, he has served in various positions including Workshops Chair and CHEC Board Member. As a Registered Nurse of 30+ years, Steven owned and operated a nursing business for 20 years which he sold in 2019. Currently he owns Monument Publishing, providing resources, camps, webinars, and private coaching for students who want to learn to speak boldly, think critically, and persuade effectively for the cause of Christ and His Kingdom.

Steven also owns CO-Inspire where he is an Executive Coach, Motivational Speaker, Team Builder, and Leadership Development Consultant. He continues to serve as a Speech and Debate coach for LOGOS, CHEC Board Member, and is one of the co-hosts of Generations Radio. In his spare time, Steven is a teacher, caterer, coffee roaster, cyclist, musician, actor, DJ, and has been known to teach line dancing on occasion.

Rob Wainner

First and foremost, Robert (Rob) Wainner is a disciple of Jesus Christ, a follower, and not just a fan.

He is also a co-founding partner of multiple award-winning companies, which include: Confluent Health, Inc. (a coast-to-coast physical therapy private practice and educational company with over 500 clinics and multiple University partnerships); Texas Physical Therapy Specialists, P.C. (a multi-location private practice); and Evidence-In-Motion, LLC (an evidence-based educational company). Significant achievements include Top 50 Places To Work (San Antonio, Austin), Top 50 fastest growing companies in Louisville, and the Inc. 500/5000 list from 2009 – 2012.

Rob designed and built the leadership development programs, practice patterns, and coaching culture systems across these companies, primarily as Director of Talent and Leadership Development. He is also the founder and President of Coach 4 Leadership, LLC, an executive & professional coaching and consulting business, and has served extensively as an internal and external Executive Coach for multiple businesses across a variety of industries.

In addition to his extensive experience in business, talent and leadership development, and executive coaching, Dr. Wainner’s professional background includes research, education, and health care. As an Air Force Biomedical Science Corps Officer for 20yrs, he led clinical teams, research programs, and faculty while accruing some of the highest-level awards in physical therapy and publishing over 40 peer-reviewed manuscripts.

Driven by a passion for life-long learning, he has completed extensive course work on Western civilization, worldview, philosophy, theology, and US civics-related courses from Hillsdale College and is a Colson Fellow.

Hobbies include reading, learning, gardening, land shaping with a skid-steer, and creating beautiful structures and outdoor spaces. He has been wonderfully married to his wife Diane for 39 years. They are blessed with six children and six grandchildren (so far) and make their home in Bergheim, TX.

Dr. Wainner holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh, is a graduate of the UTD Jindal School of Business’s Executive and Professional Coaching program, and earned the PCC credential from the International Coach Federation.

James Hersey

James began serving on the board of Spirit of Elijah in 2022. He has spent the last 35 years in the information technology industry focused on account management, business development and engineering.

He resides in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho with his wife Janell, and they have seven children.

“one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.”
‭‭John‬ ‭9‬:‭25‬ ‭