“I long for nothing more earnestly than to serve God with all my might.”
~Charles Spurgeon
Church Leadership Team
About Our Pastor
Pastor John I. Snyder: Born and raised in California, John is an international pastor, conference speaker, and bestselling author of Sheltered With God: Finding God’s Peace in a World of Fear, Resenting God: Escape the Downward Spiral of Blame from Abingdon Press and Your 100 Day Prayer: The Transforming Power of Actively Waiting on God from Thomas Nelson Publishers.
John received his Master of Theology and Master of Divinity degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey, and he received his Doctor of Theology degree magna cum laude in New Testament Studies from the University of Basel, Switzerland. He has pastored and planted churches in California, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, and Switzerland, training pastors and leaders in evangelism, prayer, outreach, and building healthy churches.
John has been featured on Focus on the Family, Moody Radio, Fox News, Faith Radio Network, Cru, American Family Radio Network, In the Market with Janet Parshall, The Bottom Line with Roger Marsh, Miracle Channel, Bill Martinez Live, and many more.
John is host of the podcast The Walk on Theology Mix. The Walk is about our faith walk, the way we live out our faith in our daily life. It brings together conversations of faith from all aspects with writers, pastors, friends, musicians, entrepreneurs, and others. Inspiring guests include George Barna, Rev. Anthony Thompson, Dr. John Lennox, Rev. Percy McCray, Deb Wolfe, Ty Manns, and many more.
John is also part of the Neutestamentlichen Kolloquium of the Evangelisch-Theologische Fakultät of LMU (Ludwig Maximilians Universität, München).
He is married to his beautiful wife, Shirin, and together they refer to their two children as their “most precious treasures and best gifts from God.”
Favorite books of the Bible: Genesis and Acts, records of the fantastic and inspiring faith history. Genesis declares the works of God and Acts records the works of the risen Christ.
A Favorite Bible verse: Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. –Ephesians 3:20-21.
Hobbies: John loves to take walks, read, watch old black and white films, and travel!
Favorite vacation spots: Italy and Switzerland.
About Our Leaders
Alastair Hayward: Warm, outgoing, with an engaging smile for all, Alastair Hayward has been a part of Starnberg Fellowship for several years. He serves on the Church Leadership Team as well as the preaching team.
Originally from the UK, Alastair has lived and worked in Munich since 2016. He is currently employed as a Chartered Accountant with a large, Munich-headquartered insurance company. Alastair has worked with the company for the last 30 years in various roles, previously living in Kenya, London, and Chicago, USA.
Although he grew up in a churchgoing family, Alastair didn’t become a Christian until his first year at Bristol University when he gave his life to Jesus in a personal way. He and his lovely wife Susan have three grown-up children.
Ministry beyond the church: Alastair enjoys helping on InterAction bilingual Christian camps for teenagers. He adds, “They are a lot of fun and it is really exciting to see the campers engage with the Bible.”
Hobbies: Alastair enjoys running and has completed 4 marathons in the past, but has now dropped down to half-marathons as he says that a full marathon is a very long way! (He also promptly accepts invites for ice cream!)
Favourite Book of the Bible: Ecclesiastes, as it is about the search for meaning in life. His search for an answer to the question, “What is the point of life?” was an important part of his becoming a Christian and his faith certainly brings purpose to his life.
Favourite Vacation Spot: Definitely a safari—a legacy of his time in Kenya. Don’t forget to ask him for stories about it!
Mike Page: Mike Page has been a part of Starnberg Fellowship since its founding in 2008. He serves on the Church Leadership Team and SF Vorstand as well as the preaching team. You can also find him taking an active part in the annual Christmas pageant.
Originally from the UK, Mike has lived and worked in Munich since 1990. Mike received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Wales and currently works with patents in the field of biotechnology.
Although he grew up attending a small village church, Mike didn’t become a Christian until his first year at Aberystwyth University. After 6 months of hearing the Gospel at least once a week on Sundays, the message drew him in. He laughingly says, “I’m a slow learner!”
Mike is married to his wonderful wife, Sharon. Together, they have been involved in church ministries in the Munich area since the early 90s. Rhiannon and Joshua, their two dynamic children, generously give of their time to SF ministries and are an active part of the church family.
Hobbies: Mike will be out and about in the countryside with a camera in hand in his free time. He also sings with Herrenbesuch, Munich’s foremost male barbershop choir.
Favourite book of the Bible: Hebrews—because of the way it puts the Old Testament into the context of Christ and the cross. Without the Old Testament, we can’t comprehend the need for the cross, and without the New, we can’t see the hope of the cross.
Favourite vacation spot: Pretty much anything involving a mountain. If you really want to pin him down, then he’d say the Dolomites in northern Italy.
Sharon Page: Sharon Page moved to the Munich area in 1993 after meeting and marrying Mike Page. She works as a lab manager for a gene therapy company in Munich. Sharon joined Starnberg Fellowship in 2008 and is a member of the Church Leadership Teams and chairs the Children’s Ministry Team and the Congregational Life Team. She is also the co-chair of our Annual Family Church Retreat.
Born and raised in Cambridge, Sharon never went to church, “Not even at Christmas or Easter,” she smiles. It was only in 6th Form (ages 16-18) that she had a chance to gain some understanding of what faith is from the witness of her Christian friends. But she didn’t go to church then either.
From Cambridge she moved to Wales to attend the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, where she received her B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Zoology and Developmental Biology respectively. Again, God surrounded her with a lot of Christians. She joined the hiking club, who were a much better evangelical group than the CU at the time.
Semi-interested in what all the Christians believed, Sharon didn’t really think it was for her. Then God dramatically stepped into her life on a typical winter hiking trip that suddenly turned “interesting” when a white-out transformed the landscape to a winter in Narnia! (For those who may not know, Wikipedia describes a white-out as a weather condition in which the contours and landmarks in a snow-covered zone become almost indistinguishable with no visible horizon.)
Stuck on a frozen mountain, with no visibility, Sharon made a pact with God. If he got the group home safely, she would go to church. God got her off the mountain, and Sharon found herself in church, beginning her faith journey. Since then, Sharon has generously given of her time and talents to the church. She enthusiastically participates in all aspects of children’s ministry as well as utilizing her gift of hospitality to share her wonderful culinary skills.
Sharon and Mike have two wonderful children, Rhiannon and Josh.
Hobbies: Hiking, cross-country skiing, photography, cooking, and baking.
Favourite books of the Bible: Ecclesiastes and Hebrews.
Favourite vacation spots: Mountains—the Dolomites. She loves the south of France, but not in high summer!
Will Powell: World-traveler Will Powell has found exciting adventures in North America, China, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and South Korea. He moved from the UK to Munich in 2006, and states, fondly, “Cambridge will always be special to me, simply because so much of my life and fond memories are linked to it.”
Will joined Starnberg Fellowship in 2010 and serves on the Church Leadership Team, SF Vorstand as well as the preaching team. Will also leads the Tuesday evening Prayer and Bible Study Group.
Will received his Ph.D. in Computer Vision from the University of Manchester in 1997 and currently works in the mobile telecommunications industry in Test & Measurement.
After growing up in the UK and attending his local Anglican Church, Will went on to be part of the University Christian Union. This led him to work with Austrian Student Mission (ÖSM) in Vienna for two years following his first degree. The “ÖSM-Christians at University” is a collection of Christian students at Austrian universities who want to show that belief in God is logical, rational, and of particular relevance to students.
Will is married with two wonderful children. He loves spending time with them—sometimes playing music and sometimes just hanging together throwing a frisbee or playing table tennis.
Will enjoys playing the cello and shares his gifts during regular worship services as well as special events. He loves walking in beautiful countryside. A little known fact: Will is a highly accomplished ballroom dancer.
Favorite book of the Bible: The Gospel of John. It brings together so many threads about who Jesus is and how he cares for us.
Favorite places are linked to favorite people and memories: Crantock in Cornwall and Pooley Bridge in the Lake District are special for him. He includes the beautiful locations of the coast of Brittany, around Lake Garda, and Nin in Dalmatia.
