Our Team
Steve Johnson, President
Rev. Steve Johnson joined Latin America Mission as president in 2009, with three decades of experience ministering in Latin America and among Latinos. Having grown up in California and Arizona, Steve served in youth and pastoral ministry while leading dozens of short-term mission teams to Spain and Argentina. In 1987, Scottsdale Bible Church of Scottsdale, Arizona, commissioned Steve and his wife, Shellie, as missionaries to Argentina with OC International. Besides working in local pastoral ministry and equipping national Christian leaders, Steve served as a leader to the 1991 Buenos Aires Billy Graham Crusade and as Executive Secretary of the Argentine National Association of Evangelicals, the only North American to ever hold such a position.
Since returning from Latin America in 1992, Steve served as the senior pastor of four churches, including two daughter churches of Scottsdale Bible. Just prior coming to LAM, Steve served as the Senior Pastor of Cypress Community Church, in Salinas California. Steve and Shellie have four grown children and four grandchildren. They live in Miami Beach, Florida.
Janet Collazo, VP of Mission Operations
Janet was born in New York and lived in Puerto Rico for many years. She worked as an outreach counselor for 10 years throughout Miami-Dade public schools with ASPIRA of Florida, a nonprofit aimed at equipping Latino youth. She also served for years in prison ministry and as director of a substance abuse facility. Janet joined LAM in 2007, originally serving personnel before becoming Director of Mission Operations. She is a graduate of Trinity International University in Florida.
Kevin Abegg, Director of North American Alliances
Serving as Director of North American Alliances, Kevin joined LAM in 2000 with his family and moved to Miami in 2003 as missionaries to Cuba. In 2008, Kevin assisted in re-organizing LAM’s International Alliance department and in 2010 began development of LAM’s department of North American Alliances. He currently applies his passion for the gospel, discipleship and living out faith as he works with sending churches and other North American ministries seeking to intelligently partner with Latinos in fulfilling the Great Commission.
A graduate of the University of California Santa Cruz and Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, Kevin has worked with ministries in 23 countries, including a four-year assignment in Chile as part of a church plant in the costal town of Pichilemu, where he met and married his wife, Claudia.
Marcos Guerra, International Alliances Assistant
Marcos joined LAM's International Alliance team in 2011. He works closely with LAM executive leadership to strengthen relationships with LAM's Alliance Ministries across Latin America and to forge relationships with new partners. Born and raised in Honduras by a Honduran father and a Texan Mother, Marcos moved with his family to Miami to plant a church when he was 16. He is currently studying organizational leadership at Trinity International University. When not doing that, he is playing soccer, reading a book or playing any number of instruments.
Luis Diego Herrera, International Alliances Coordinator
Luis Diego has served with LAM in various capacities since 2007 before becoming Coordinator for International Alliances. He manages relationships between LAM and its many allied ministries across three continents, working to also help LAM expand into new communities by forging strategic new partnerships. A Costa Rican businessman, Luis Diego has worked in design and corporate image consulting for three decades in both Miami and Costa Rica. He has taught at the University of Central America and serves on the boards of various ministries in Costa Rica. He and his wife, Marielos Matamoros, live in San José, Costa Rica, and have four children.
Shellie Johnson, Director of Member Care
Shellie has served in pastoral ministry with her husband, Steve, for over 35 years. They have served through Scottsdale Bible Church in youth, college and singles ministry, as well as planting two churches. In 1990, SBC sent Steve and Shellie as missionaries with OC International to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where they lived and ministered for five years. Shellie has served on the Board of Maranatha Christian High School, in Monrovia, California, and has served in various leadership capacities at churches Steve pastored. She was also a high school registrar for six years in Scottsdale, Arizona. She studied at College Del Rey and studied psychology at Arizona State University, and is also certified in biblical counseling. Shellie and Steve have four grown children and four grandchildren.
Danny Levi, Mission Pastor
Danny pastors what he calls "a congregation of 170 missionaries in 15 countries." He has been with Latin America Mission since 2000. While a young student at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School preparing for ministry, Danny got involved with Young Life and Youth for Christ. After earning his Master of Divinity degree, he worked with Youth for Christ in Chicago and then Atlanta. Moving his family to Miami, Danny became first a youth director and then an associate minister at Granada Presbyterian Church in Coral Gables, where he credits the loving congregation with helping him "grow up" as a preacher and pastor. After pastoring a church in Gulfport, Mississippi, Danny moved his family back to Florida to work as Associate Pastor at Old Cutler Presbyterian Church. He earned a Doctor of Ministry from Westminster Seminary and returned briefly to Granada Presbyterian as the interim senior pastor, before joining LAM. He and his wife, Suzanne, thoroughly enjoy their five children and seven grandchildren, as well as anything that can be done on or near the water.
Elena Moncayo, V.P. of Finance
Elena has served with Latin America Mission since June 2001. She began as a volunteer, serving in the Finance Department and eventually becoming Vice President of Finance. She considers herself blessed to both love her work and be able to serve God though it in ministry. One of the aspects of Elena’s job that she enjoys the most is getting to know many of LAM’s missionaries and their stories over the years. Originally from Quito, Ecuador, Elena moved to Miami in 1999. She and her husband, Carlos, and have been married for 12 years.
Shirlee Morrow, MSO Projects Manager
Shirlee served as Assistant to the President for 10 years before becoming MSO Projects Manager. Shirlee works directly with the Vice President of Operations and Personnel, coordinating mission-wide projects with Latin America Mission support staff and field missionaries. Shirlee has lived in Miami for over 50 years and considers herself a native. Previously, she was Executive Director of the Advertising Federation of Greater Miami, also working on and with various nonprofit boards and serving as a women’s ministry leader in her local church. She recently married her husband, Michael, who volunteers at LAM’s Miami office in his spare time.
Andy Olsen, Director of Communications
Originally from Kentucky, Andy joined Latin America Mission’s U.S. staff in 2011 as Director of Communications. He was shaped by his early work as a writer and photographer in the newspaper and magazine industries, covering politics, business, religion, and U.S. Latino culture. His work has appeared in publications such as The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune and Delta Sky Magazine. Andy ran a commercial photography business with his wife, Erika, before serving as media director for a Christian relief agency in Haiti. While there, he documented devastating hurricanes and the Port-au-Prince earthquake of 2010. Andy studied Spanish and journalism at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky.
Erika Olsen, Mobilization Coordinator
Erika serves in Latin America Mission’s U.S. office as Mobilization Coordinator, connecting the next generation of missionaries with opportunities to live into their God-given calling and passion. Originally from Maine, Erika spent years as an outreach worker with an agency providing health and educational services to U.S. migrant communities. She has also taught high-school Spanish, coordinated short-term missions teams in Mexico and, most recently, served as staff development coordinator for a Christian relief agency in Haiti. Erika studied Spanish and Latin at Asbury University, where she met her husband, Andy.
Ashley Orlando, Mobilization
Passionate for missions from a young age, Ashley developed an interest in Latin America during high school when she befriended a Costa Rican exchange student. In her years at Taylor University, where she studied Spanish education and piano pedagogy, she traveled and studied in six Latin American countries. After college, Ashley worked at her home church supporting the missions pastor and taught on the side, before serving in Mexico City with LAM’s Spearhead program. Those diverse experiences prepared her to serve on the Mobilization Team at LAM's U.S. offices in Miami. One of her favorite Scripture passages is John 15:16: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit, fruit that will last.” Ashley views her work as part of building the global church, supporting new missionaries and strengthening ties between North American and Latin American churches.
Alejandro Ramírez, Mobilization
Alejandro Ramírez joined Latin America Mission’s mobilization team in 2012, assisting candidates to the missionary field by helping them discover where God is leading them. Born in Medellín, Colombia, Alejandro moved to Miami at age 14 along with his mother and brother. His experience away from his extended family enabled him to meet the Lord, and he has not looked back ever since. When not at LAM, he concentrates on his studies in political science and history at Florida International University, as well as serving at his local church in the worship ministry. Alejandro is an avid reader and enjoys watching movies, playing soccer and spending time with his friends. He relies in Philippians 2:12-16 to remind him about the kind of community Jesus compels believers to be: "Therefore, my dear friends...do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life."
Conchita Ramos, Donor Services Coordinator
Conchita Ramos has been Donor Services Coordinator at LAM since 2010.Born in Cuba, she came to the United States in 1968. Prior to working for LAM, she worked for Editorial Unilit in Miami as Executive Assistant to the President and Program Director of Expolit, a widely recognized annual Spanish Christian literature convention. She also worked for the University of Miami, which gave her a balanced first-hand experience of both ministry and secular work. Conchita earned a B.A. in Psychology and English Literature from the University of Miami, is married and has two adult children.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Gene Wahlberg - Chairman
Sr VP Lucent Technologies, Nexabit Networks (Ret)
VP Bay Networks (Ret)
Naples, FL
Clayton L. Berg, Jr.
Former LAM President, Missionary (Ret)
Penny Farms, FL
Willard Dickerson
Director of Education, American Booksellers Association (Ret)
Former Executive Director of Logos Bookstores
Bolton, MA
David M. Howard
LAM missionary and former LAM President (Ret)
Fort Myers, FL
Steve Johnson
Latin America Mission President (Current)
Miami, FL
Shirley Jamison
LAM Missionary (Ret)
Greensboro, NC
Charles Morton
LAM Missionary and former LAM VP of Administration and Operations (Ret)
San Antonio, TX
Carol Morton
LAM Missionary and former LAM Chief Financial Officer (Ret)
San Antonio, TX
Norman Mydske
Director of Latin American Ministries, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association
Fairview, NC
Ron Neptune
LAM Field Missionary
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Benjamin Rodriguez
Creative Consultant
Puyallup, WA
Arlene Schaefer
Certified Management Accountant
Cincinnati, OH
Jack Voelkel
LAM missionary (Ret); InterVarsity Staff Volunteer
Former LAM Interim President
Tucson, AZ
