DR. GARY CRAWFORD is the visionary and Co-Founder of Amazon Vision Ministries. He graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary with a Doctorate of Ministry. Gary is an Emeritus Pastor at Westside Baptist Church and the founder of Gary Crawford Leadership, through which he currently does leadership coaching that empowers transformational growth. In addition, last year he started Global Missions 365, bringing the hope of Christ “everywhere, everyday to everyone.”

Gary has served on the board of trustees for the Baptist College of Florida, the Florida Baptist Convention, State Board of Missions, and International Mission Board. He has served and led mission trips to over 25 countries.

RICHARD JENNINGS Director of Operations of AVM has served on the AVM Board of Directors since 2021 and has been leading teams with AVM since 2006. Richard’s first trip with AVM was in 2005 to a community named Patacatubal. This is where Richard met Jesus and truly surrendered his life to Christ. He has not only led teams to the Amazonas area, but also to South Africa, Romania, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and Mexico. His heart always returns to AVM to the Amazonas area working out of Manaus and the three frontiers area of Brazil, Peru, and Colombia.

Richard is a retired law enforcement officer of over 30 years and is now doing what God has called him to do and wholeheartedly believes in the vision of AVM,“Bringing the hope of Christ to the West Amazon Basin”.

TIM McLENDON is a staff attorney at the Center for Governmental Responsibility, a legal research institute attached to the University of Florida Levin College of Law. He has worked closely with prosecuters and judges in many parts of Brazil, as well as other parts of Latin America, on comparative law training projects in areas of constitutional law, environmental law, mediation and human rights. In his private legal practice, he has also advised non-profit organizations on matters involving incorporation, organization and securing 501(c)(3) status.

Tim is a deacon and teaches Sunday School at Westside Baptist Church in Gainesville, Florida, where he has been active in the singles and special care ministries. He has participated in various mission projects in Haiti, Florida and elsewhere in the United States. He and his wife, Amy, currently have a daughter, Hannah (5), and a son, Isaiah (2).

F. JAY FRICKER, M.D is board-certified in general pediatrics and pediatric cardiology. He led the pediatric cardiology division at the University of Florida College of Medicine from his arrival in 1995 until 2014. Dr. Fricker was instrumental in establishing the UF Health Congenital Heart Center in 2006, serving as its medical director through 2014, and in making the center among the top congenital heart programs in the country.

Dr. Fricker specializes in the nonsurgical aspects of pediatric heart and lung transplantation and on treating patients with pulmonary hypertension. His research has focused on immune- suppression strategies after heart transplantation in children. He is widely recognized for his expertise in pediatric heart/heart-lung transplantation. Dr. Fricker has been a visiting professor and guest lecturer throughout the country and world.

Jay serves on the board of AVM and has participated in many mission trips to the Amazon, utilizing his medical expertise and training in treating patients along the river.   

ALLISON CREPEAU Need bio

BILL LASSITER has served on the AVM board in various capacities since 2007. He is an Account Manager at OEC Business Interiors, Gainesville, Florida and is a charter member of Westside Baptist Church, which his parents helped found. Bill teaches an adult Sunday school class at Westside, and has been involved in working with the children’s ministry, RAs and Vacation Bible School. He is also very active in the Prayer Ministry at Westside.

Bill has been on eighteen mission trips to Brazil, working with AVM on sixteen of those trips and serving as a team leader five times. Bill is married to BJ, and they have five children.

Bill shares: “The people who live in the remote areas in the Amazon Basin need to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I want others throughout the world to know about these wonderful, gracious people that I love and have much respect for.”

SHERRI LEE has been involved with AVM since 2008. She has served on ten mission trips to Brazil and has also done ministry in Cambodia and Ecuador. She attends Wellborn Baptist Church and lives in Lake City, Florida. She has served in the Awana program, helped in the youth ministry, and has chaperoned numerous youth events and camps.

Sherri explains: “I’m so thankful I’m a part of the AVM ministry. I’ve learned so much and have grown spiritually through my trips with them. AVM can – and has – made a difference to the people groups on the river. What a blessing it is for me to serve on the AVM board.”

TESHA HOWARD serves as the Missions Director at Wellborn Baptist Church. She is an AVM board member, has led a mission team to Brazil and has been going to the Amazon since 2008. Tesha has also been to various places on missions such as Cambodia, Ecuador, Lebanon/Syria and Savannah where her passion is medical missions. Tesha has been a nurse for over 30 years.

Tesha and her husband Brad have been married since 1998.  They have 3 children Alexis, Alyssa and Hayden. Both girls are nurses. In 2023, Tesha had the honor to serve on the mission field in Brazil in the clinic with her oldest daughter Alexis.

REV. STEVE LOY serves as Pastor of Spruce Creek Baptist Church, located in Port Orange, Florida. He is a graduate of The Baptist College of Florida and Jacksonville Baptist Theological Seminary. Steve has served churches in Florida and New York as pastor, church planter (NAMB), and young adult, college, and youth pastor. He has acted as moderator for the Halifax Baptist Association and has also been involved with the Florida Baptist Convention in various facets. He is an AVM board member and has led mission teams to Brazil and various places in the U.S.

Steve and his wife, Leah, have been married since 1993. Leah has worked for the Florida Baptist Convention and is now a teacher with VIPKID and teaches children in China, virtually, how to speak English, using the content areas. She loves serving God as a teacher. Their daughter, Hannah, is in high school and loves singing and going on mission trips to Brazil. She has surrendered to God’s call to be a missionary and one day hopes to be on the mission field in Brazil.

PASTOR ELI PERES is the child of missionary parents and was born in an indigenous tribe in the Amazon. He studied at a missionary school in his youth, where he learned English. Eli worked on the river alongside his father for several years before attending seminary in Recife, Brazil. It was there he met and married his wife, Silvana. They spent 20 years living among another indigenous Amazonian tribe while working with New Tribes Mission.

Eli has been with AVM since it’s start in 2002 and plays a vital role to maintain the AVM boat, guide team’s work along the river, provide Biblical training to new believers, and maintain contact with local pastors after teams leave. Eli and Silvana are passionate about the spread of the Gospel and share that it has been a challenge and blessing to their lives to work with AVM. They have one son and are excited to welcome their first grandchild later this year.

VICTOR OTSUGUA has been involved with AVM and missions in general since 2016. He has served on missions at his local church in Amazonas. He has worked with Overland Missions for years as translator and full time missionary around river communities.

"I'm grateful for being a part of the AVM team. I love taking care of people, spreading the gospel, seeing lives being transformed and touched by the Holy Spirit. Being a part of what the Lord is doing among the river people is an incredible privilege and adventure!"