Our Staff

Peter began ministering to youth in 1978 through Youth for Christ on Long Island. In 1981 he joined the staff of Long Island Youth Mentoring and worked as an Area Director for mentoring ministry. He helped develop a mentoring ministry with incarcerated juveniles and later served as the Field Staff Supervisor. In 1996 Peter moved to Massachusetts to become the New England Director for Straight Ahead Ministries. In 2000 he became the National Field Director where he helped develop the School of Juvenile Justice Ministry.

Peter returned to Long Island in 2003 to direct the Christian Mentoring Institute. Along with his duties at CMI, Peter was a part-time faculty member at Gordon College from 2000-2008 where he taught courses in counseling and at-risk youth. He has a Masters in Social Work from Fordham University.

Donnovan is our National Field Director and lives in Wichita, KS.  Donnovan works with mentoring ministries throughout the country and oversees many of our CMI trainings. He has been involved in Christian mentoring for over 14 years.  He was on staff with Youth Horizons for almost 12 years where he was a house parent in their residential program for 3 years, mentoring supervisor for 6 years, and mentoring director for 3 years.  Donnovan got acquainted with CMI in 2006 after hearing about it from a Focus on the Family radio broadcast and then attended a training in Owensboro, KY.  After receiving and applying to CMI training, Donnovan and his team at Youth Horizons grew their mentoring ministry to over 160 one-on-one mentoring matches. 

An avid Christian mentor for the past 22 years, Carl brings a wealth of knowledge in the area of understanding relationships between the mentor and their match. He has also spent the past 35 years in executive management positions with three Fortune 500 companies. He understands and implements “go to market” strategies.

A friend of Peter Vanacore, Carl was asked to join the team in March of 2011.

Before taking the position as CAYM Regional Director of Brooklyn and Queens, Lynette served as Site Director for the Princeton Baptist Church in the Bronx. She is a member of Evergreen Baptist Church where she is Team Leader  for the churches mentoring ministry. She also volunteers at PS299 in Brooklyn. Lynette is a native of Youngstown Ohio and currently resides in Brooklyn, NY with her husband Gary and sons Daniel and Benjamin. Having served as a foster parent for over 40 children Lynette has long been committed to ministring to at risk youths as well as single mothers with substance abuse challenges. her compassionate service caught the attention of Stu Epperson some six years ago and their common concern for mentoring youth is now expressed through CAYM  

David Parsons is a missionary with the North American Mission Board (NAMB). He works in the community and church with youth, young men, and men...connecting, mentoring, and discipling.  David and his wife Kathy, an elementary school teacher, live in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and are members of Calvary Baptist Church. David mentors youth weekly and trains churches and the community to develop Christian Youth Mentoring programs for school-age boys and girls.  He coordinates one-to-one youth mentoring, weekly sports and discipleship activities, adventure outings, and trips to Christian camps and conferences. David coordinates mentoring for CAYM throughout North Carolina. www.DavidParsons.org