Board of Directors
CRM is governed by the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee. The CRM Bylaws also assign specific governing functions to several standing committees of the Board. Ad hoc committees are appointed by the CRM President as necessary.
Lori Bryan
Boone, NC
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Lori Bryan (Lori), a native of Lakeland, Florida, was raised in a Christian farming family that valued God, community, and family. At age 21, she committed her life and the right to determine her path to God. That decision took Lori on a journey that she could not have ever envisioned.
Lori has traveled to more than eighty countries, worked long-term in nine, and lived almost fifteen years of her life outside the United States. She has worked in both the corporate world and with multiple international humanitarian/mission-oriented organizations in a variety of roles—including teaching Vietnamese refugees in the Philippines; participating in and/or leading multiple short-term mission trips for World Changers and CRM; serving as an IT consultant and program manager in the Middle East, North Africa, Italy, South Sudan, and the West Bank; and teaching and serving as a dorm parent at the Rift Valley Academy in Kenya. During her career, Lori has created and overseen multiple programs benefiting various marginalized third world people groups, including leprosy village residents, the physically disabled, the elderly, students, survivors of genocide, persecuted Christians, the deaf community, internally displaced persons, war refugees, T1D patients, and African refugees.
Lori has over 300 hours of concentrated trauma/first responder/critical incident stress management training from the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF) and other local and international organizations. She has utilized this training to create a 3-day debriefing program for an international humanitarian organization employing aid workers. Her current focus is teaching war victims and refugees about the effects of and healing from trauma.
When in the United States, Lori is based in Boone, North Carolina. She is an active member of Christ the King, a fellowship of Christians that worships God in the Anglican tradition.
Sonya B. Coffman
Houston, TX
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Sonya Coffman is an accomplished trial lawyer and Certified Public Accountant—albeit retired. She received a B.B.A. in Accounting from the University of Memphis, where she was the valedictorian of her class, and a J.D., with honors, from the University of Texas at Austin. Before practicing law, Sonya worked for an international Big 8 public accounting firm (Ernst & Young), worked in the Federal Express strategic planning group, and worked as a securities broker for Smith Barney. She also taught accounting courses at Austin Community College.
Family law was the focus of Sonya’s law practice. She was Board Certified in Family Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, AV peer-review rated by Martindale-Hubbell, and designated a Texas Super Lawyer (Family Law), from 2017-2023.
Upon retiring from the practice of law in June 2023, Sonya enrolled at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, where she is currently taking remote classes in pursuit of her Master of Divinity degree.
Sonya also is active in civic and charitable organizations, having served as an officer (including Treasurer), director, and/or event chair for the Symphony League of Beaumont, Julie Rogers Gift of Life, Neches River Festival, Beaumont Community Partners for Children, Beaumont Rainbow Room, and the Hope Women’s Resource Clinic. She is currently on the Board of the Junior League Houston Sustainer Transfer Club.
Sonya and her husband, Richard, are long time CRM supporters and short-term mission trip participants. They attend Second Baptist Church in Houston.
Family law was the focus of Sonya’s law practice. She was Board Certified in Family Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, AV peer-review rated by Martindale-Hubbell, and designated a Texas Super Lawyer (Family Law), from 2017-2023.
Upon retiring from the practice of law in June 2023, Sonya enrolled at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, where she is currently taking remote classes in pursuit of her Master of Divinity degree.
Sonya also is active in civic and charitable organizations, having served as an officer (including Treasurer), director, and/or event chair for the Symphony League of Beaumont, Julie Rogers Gift of Life, Neches River Festival, Beaumont Community Partners for Children, Beaumont Rainbow Room, and the Hope Women’s Resource Clinic. She is currently on the Board of the Junior League Houston Sustainer Transfer Club.
Sonya and her husband, Richard, are long time CRM supporters and short-term mission trip participants. They attend Second Baptist Church in Houston.
Austin Henry
Strawberry Plains, TN
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Austin Henry (Austin) is the owner of B & G Catering in Knoxville, Tennessee, one of East Tennessee’s largest catering companies. He is a longtime CRM Board member and previously served as the CRM Treasurer for over five years.
Austin has been on over a dozen CRM-sponsored short-term mission trips to East Africa, including planning and leading CRM-sponsored construction trips. He has an eye for detail and thrives on logistics. Austin especially enjoys taking folks on their first short-term mission trip to see what God does in the lives of those who follow the Lord’s leading and step out of their comfort zone.
In 2021, Austin took a part time on-call position with Samaritan's Purse Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART). He has been deployed several times all over the world on DART-sponsored disaster relief trips, including the devastating earthquake in Antakya, Turkey, in 2023.
He met his wife, Annie, while working at Camp Ba Yo Ca, a Baptist youth camp in the Smoky Mountains. They have been married over twenty years and have three children.
Austin and Annie live in Strawberry Plains, Tennessee. They have been members of Chilhowee Hills Baptist Church for thirteen years where they both serve in the college ministry and Austin serves as a deacon.
Kenneth W. Holbert
Powell, TN
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Kenneth W. Holbert (Ken) is a lawyer in Knoxville, Tennessee. He received both his undergraduate degree in metallurgical engineering (1964) and law degree (1966) from the University of Tennessee.
Ken’s law practice is focused in the areas of corporate, construction, real estate, wills, trusts, and estates. As General Counsel of the Knoxville Community Development Corporation, Ken directed all legal activities pertaining to the evaluation, acquisition, demolition, and disposition of land for the redevelopment of downtown Knoxville, including the Summit Hill Drive/TVA Towers, East-West Mall (Centre Square/Hilton Hotel), Whittle Communications Building (U.S. Federal Courthouse), and the Lower Second Creek/1982 World’s Fair Project.
In addition to CRM, Ken serves (or has served) as a director for several other nonprofit organizations engaged in local and international ministries, including C.A.U.S.E. Uganda, Get Away Days USA, Inc., Gene & Florence Monday Foundation, Tennessee Right to Life, and the Boys and Girls Club of America, where he coached basketball and baseball for thirty years.
Ken and his wife, Shirley, live in Powell, Tennessee, and are members of Wallace Memorial Baptist Church. They have been married for over 55 years and have two sons and six grandchildren. Ken and Shirley are long-time supporters of CRM.
Sarah Messer
Knoxville, TN
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Sarah Messer (Sarah) and her family are members of Chilhowee Hills Baptist Church (CHBC) in Knoxville, Tennessee, where she serves as the staff Executive Assistant and Office Manager. She also is the Director of Embrace Grace, a CHBC ministry that loves on and encourages young women experiencing unexpected pregnancies through discipleship, community, and practical, spiritual, and emotional support.
Prior to serving at CHBC, Sarah worked on the executive team and marketing team of a regional credit union, focusing on marketing various products and services to different age and demographic groups via a multi-platform approach. She will use these skills to design, implement, and monitor CRM’s outreach programs.
For as long as she can remember, Sarah has felt called to serve with local and international missions, specifically with women and children. In 2021, she participated in her first CRM-sponsored short-term mission trip to Kenya where she taught the original story cloth at a local school. She has since developed a love for the people of East Africa. While the 2021 trip to Kenya was her first short-term mission trip, Sarah vows it will not be her last.
Sarah is married to Theo and together they have three grown children and one granddaughter.
Lester Nail
Moore, SC
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Lester C. Nail (Lester) is a retired attorney. During his thirty-five-year legal career working for Walmart, Food Lion, Inc., Paramount Parks, Inc., and Denny’s, Inc., Lester’s practice focused on labor and employment law. He also served as General Counsel for Food Lion and Paramount Parks.
Lester surrendered his heart to our Lord Jesus Christ many years ago and has been richly blessed ever since. He has served on the boards of several Christian organizations and traveled to Cuba and Guatemala on short-term mission trips.
Lester and his wife, Lindacarol, have been married for thirty-seven years and live in Spartanburg, South Carolina. They are members of First Baptist Spartanburg where Lester is a deacon and Sunday School teacher. He previously served on the Finance Committee.
Lester and Lindacarol have two adult daughters. They are long-time supporters of CRM.
Rev. Dan Riley
Knoxville, TN
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Dan Riley (Dan) graduated from Union University and then Mid America Seminary. After serving as a pastor in the Memphis area for several years, Dan moved to Knoxville, Tennessee in 1985 to serve as one of the assistant pastors at Calvary Baptist Church. He transitioned to senior pastor in 2001.
Dan has a heart for missions and spent many Saturdays praying for Africa with John Shepherd, CRM’s founder. He has been a CRM board member for several years and trained pastors in Kenya on several CRM-sponsored short-term mission trips. Dan is honored to serve and brings a pastor’s perspective to CRM.
Dan and his wife, Kathy, live in Knoxville, Tennessee. They have three grown children and three grandsons.
Edward Sharp
Knoxville, TN
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Edward Sharp (Ed) is president and co-owner of Erection Specialist, Inc., a steel erection and crane service, in Knoxville, Tennessee. He is also a proud Vietnam veteran.
Ed and Dorinda, his wife of over thirty-five years, have three grown children and four grandchildren. They attend Carter Community Church and live in the Carter community of Knox County, Tennessee.
Ed has been a board member since CRM was founded in 1998. He and Dorinda are longtime supporters of CRM by praying, going, and giving. They have been on several short-term missionary trips to Kenya and Tanzania with CRM, as well as to Nicaragua and Ukraine.
Mark Shepherd
Maryville, TN
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Mark Shepherd (Mark) graduated from Tennessee Tech University in 1990 with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering. Thereafter, he worked for over twenty-eight years at DENSO Corporation, a global automotive components manufacturer, where he held several engineering and manufacturing management positions. Mark retired from DENSO in 2018 after serving as the Southeast Regional Project Leader responsible for new product and manufacturing deployment in North America.
Mark is active in the community, serving on the Tennessee Tech University Engineering Accreditation Board and working with various local charities, including Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee and the United Way of Blount County.
Mark is married to his wife, Jennifer, a retired physical therapist. They have two children who are both pursuing their education at East Tennessee State University. Mark and Jennifer live in Maryville, Tennessee.
