Our Speakers

2023 Keynote Speaker

Juan Marrero

Juan Marrero is pastor of Christ-Centered Church and Executive Director of Crossroads Community Center, both located in the Fairhill section of North Philadelphia. Juan grew up in the neighborhood and gave in to the lure of street life. He attended Second Mennonite Church with his grandmother and mother, “and they loved me at a time when I was not lovable,” he recalls.In 2000 he determined to turn his life around, and Crossroads offered him the position of Youth Minister. He became Executive Director in 2005.

2023 Youth Night Speaker

Dimas Pezzato

Dimas Pezzato has been formally involved in youth ministry for the last 15 years, and is currently the associate pastor at Covenant Community Fellowship, with a focus on Youth Ministry. He is married to Jessica and they have two little boys. Born just outside of Los Angeles, CA, and partially growing up in Brazil, he has maintained a connection to both cultures and has served the church in both countries. During his undergraduate studies at Cairn University, Dimas developed a passion for Greek and Hebrew, as well as Biblical theology, and went on to earn his Masters in Biblical Languages at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Boston, MA. He’s been a book nerd ever since and has a passion for helping youth learn how to use their Bible so that they can have a healthy walk with Jesus.

2023 Breakout Speakers

Kyle Rodgers

Kyle Rodgers is the Pastor of Outreach, Youth, and Young Adults at Franconia Mennonite Church. Kyle has a deep passion to help youth and young adults learn more about Christ and how they can share the Gospel with the community and world. Kyle and his wife Alicia have three children. Kyle loves talking about Christ, deep challenging topics, and enjoys a good cup of coffee.

Scott Smith

Scott Smith lives in the city of Philadelphia with his wife Darlene. In college his life was radically changed by Jesus. After college, he served in full-time urban ministry in Philly for nine years. In the fall of 2019 he and his wife launched "Ripe Creatives," a non-profit that focuses on leveraging the arts to share the message of the gospel and lead people to Jesus. Their team has grown to include 30 artists/creatives over the past 3.5 years. Scott is a child of God, speaker, discipler, event curator and spoken word artist.

Jeremy Nice

Jeremy Nice has lived his entire life in Montgomery County, PA, and grew up attending Franconia Mennonite Church. As a child, the highlight of the year was always attending Spruce Lake Wilderness Camp for a week of camp and going on the off-site expeditions—including backpacking, rock climbing, caving and white water rafting. Spruce Lake is also the place where Jeremy first asked the Lord into his life. He served as a camp counselor at Spruce Lake for four summers and truly enjoyed encouraging campers in their walk with the Lord. Now Jeremy is a member at Grace Mennonite Church in Lansdale and enjoys serving in many ways— leading his Sunday school class, high school youth group, and men’s bible study. He also is the leader of the Refresh Conferences planning team.

Jeremy owns and operates his own home remodeling company. He also loves to use his knowledge of the building industry to serve on construction-related missions trips to camps and disaster relief areas throughout the country. He and his wife Alicia have been blessed with two beautiful girls.

Jay Geistdorfer

Jay Geistdorfer is Senior Pastor of Owego Nazarene Church in Owego, NY.

Pastor Jay began his ministry in Lansdale at Immanuel Church of the Nazarene 15 years ago. Owego Nazarene—or ON, as they call it—recently launched an intentional community-focused initiative with the slogan, “Church is ON!” Over the past year the congregation has experienced a revival that has spurred dynamic growth. Pastor Jay has been blessed to travel to many churches in the southern tier of New York sharing strategic ways to re-engage the Church with the community.

Gibson Largent

Gibson Largent is the founding pastor of Ridgeline Community Church in Telford, a church plant of Riverside Community Church in Horsham, PA, where he served as associate pastor from 2007-2011. He attended the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY, from 2005-2007, after which he and his family moved to the Philadelphia area. Gibson is originally from Norman, OK. He and his wife Julie have four kids and live in Souderton.

Bill Wright

Bill Wright grew up in the Downingtown area before moving to Elverson, PA. He is a graduate of Lancaster Bible College with a Bachelor’s Degree in Bible, and holds two Master’s Degrees and a Doctor of Ministry from Liberty Theological Seminary. He served in youth ministry for over a decade before being called as lead pastor of MCC (Moving Communities to Christ). God has given Bill a passion for preaching the truth of God’s Word in a way that anyone can understand and apply it to their everyday life. He and his wife Sarah have five children. In his spare time he enjoys being with his family and dominating at anything with a ball.

Remembering Basil Marin

Refresh lost a dear friend in 2022 when Pastor Basil Marin died suddenly and unexpectedly in June at the age of 62. Basil has been a great encourager of the Refresh Conferences planning team since the event was launched. He was the keynote speaker at the very first Refresh conference in 2014 and led breakout sessions regularly. Basil was a dynamic preacher with a larger-than-life personality who loved the Lord and others well.

Basil's ministry began in Los Angeles as the Youth Leader, Assistant Pastor, and then Lead Pastor of Family Mennonite Church. In the early 80’s he earned an Associates Degree from Sierra College of Business and a BA from Goshen College. Later he became the pastor of Immanuel Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg, VA, and earned an MDiv from Eastern Mennonite Seminary.

Basil capably served the wider church and the community. He was a Board Member of the Harrisonburg Boys and Girls Club, the Mennonite Missions Network, the Virginia Mennonite Conference, the Living Water Prison Ministry, and the Virginia Mennonite Board of Missions. He also served on the Mennonite Education Agency and traveled every summer to campgrounds to be a resource person for family retreats, youth camps and other ministries.

At the time of his passing, Basil was pastoring a church plant, New Song Fellowship, on the north side of Harrisonburg. Pastor Basil loved the Lord, his family, the people of God, and was an inspiration to many in his desire to reach the world for Jesus. He is dearly missed, and we are forever grateful for his steadfast support of Refresh. We look forward to seeing him again.