- Our People -

New Life Prison Ministries operates through the expertise and passion of its staff and many volunteers.   Under the leadership of our Executive Director, our staff are committed to delivering quality ministry for the inmate, ex-offender, their families and chaplains.  

Find out more about our staff, volunteers and Board of Directors.

Our Staff

Nadia Zeversenuke
Executive Director
nadia@nlpm.ca

 Mackenna
Community Relations & Partnerships
mackenna@nlpm.ca

Linda
Director of Student Care & Outreach
newlife@nlpm.ca

Renee
Student Care
renee@nlpm.ca

Dee
Student Care

David
Inventory & Shipping Coordinator
david@nlpm.ca

Shirley
Bookkeeper
shirley@nlpm.ca

Our Volunteers

The heart of New Life Prison Ministries is our volunteers.  Are you interested in volunteering?  Find out more.

Our Board of Directors

The New Life Prison Ministries’ Board of Directors is comprised of men and women from a variety of backgrounds who are passionate about delivery of quality prison ministry and good governance.

Peter Bolton

In 2017, Peter left a 30-year career as a public high school teacher.  He is currently involved in online Math coaching and has businesses in legal services and health technologies.  Peter is active in Bible teaching and counselling and serves as one of the elders for his local church in Cambridge. He is an instructor for NLPM students, in either English or French.

Ruth Hanna

Ruth has worked in the financial industry for over 25 years. She comes with over thirty years of volunteer experience with various organizations. Ruth lives her faith and has been actively involved in prison ministry for many years.

Doug Holt, Treasurer

Doug’s working career was in accounting and finance in the corporate and public accounting worlds. For many years, he was involved in a youth Bible Quizzing program in a local church and at the district level. He has also served as treasurer for a local church, as well as for a few charities. He has been involved with Prison Ministries for several years.

René Kooistra, Chair

After 34 years at Imperial Oil as a project manager in retail engineering, René retired in 2014. He also spent a number of years serving on the board of Crossroads Prison Ministries Canada. He is constantly inspired by the evidence of unlooked-for gifts and growth to both student and instructor by way of a personal letter. He works to promote this uncommon partnership as a source of God’s hope.

Delores Mackey

Delores lives in the beautiful province of Newfoundland & Labrador and serves as the Celebrate Recovery Representative for the province.   Part of her mandate is to bring this program, as well as NLPM material, inside the prisons across the province.  Bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ inside prison walls is one of the biggest highlights of her week.

Tim Riley

Tim is a former soldier, who for the last 20 years has been the chief union steward/leader in his manufacturing plant. He is also a former student of NLPM and is passionate about helping ensure quality prison ministry and aftercare.

Sami Sappong, Secretary

Sami works as a strategic planner in the financial services sector with a focus on business model transformation with certifications in project management and change management. He is a part time instructor in the business school at Conestoga College. He volunteers his time with the Rotary club on community youth initiatives, as well as in mentoring business students and project managers through his local PMI chapter.

Dave Steenburg

Retired since 2017, Dave has diverse work experience behind him. With a Ph.D. in Religious Studies, he taught sessionally at McMaster and Wilfrid Laurier Universities. He worked at Ontario Police College as a computer network administrator and as an educational program researcher and evaluator. Dave also worked as a proofreader for a trade magazine publisher and as a quality data analyst at CAMI, a car manufacturer. Dave has volunteered with Youth Unlimited/Youth For Christ Woodstock since 2009 as a Steering Committee member, except from 2011 to 2016 when he served as YFC staff and started a bike co-op youth ministry, taking in donated bikes and teaching youth to repair them. In ministry he has been a worship leader, an elder, and a leader among pastors in Woodstock to bring them together for prayer and collaboration. He also volunteers as an editor for New Life Prison Ministries, for whom he wrote Bible studies on porn addiction and prayer. Living in Woodstock, he has been married to Joan since 1978 and they have 3 children.

Carl Wake

Carl is an ordained minister with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. He has five years pastoral experience and thirty-one years of prison chaplaincy experience at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre. He retired on March 31, 2021 but stays in active contact with his prison network through his Released for Good ministry. He also has experience as: A weekend supervisor at a halfway house with the John Howard Society of Ottawa; a founding member of the Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) team for the Ministry of the Community Safety and Correctional Services, Eastern Region; a part-time pastoral counsellor; National Coordinator for Chaplaincy Ministries for the PAOC (three years); a facilitator/trainer in Restorative Justice Conferencing. He is also a recipient of the Governor General of Canada’s Correctional Services Exemplary Service Medal “. Carl is married to Wendy, and has four adult children.