Anne Edward (formerly Paulk): Executive Director / Board Member
Anne Edward's mission in leading the organization is to restore hope to those broken by sexual and relational issues, especially those impacted by homosexuality.
Anne explains, “I know it’s possible to be set free from sexual confusion because that is my story. It is the testimony of thousands just like me. We at Restored Hope want to make sure all who seek the same healing we’ve experienced through surrendering ourselves to Jesus can have it be their story, too.”
Anne has spotlighted the transformative power of Christ in television, radio and magazine interviews that she began doing in the ‘90s and continues to do today. Oprah, Good Morning America, The CBS Evening News, The 700 Club, Family Talk, Coral Ridge, and Focus on the Family and have profiled Anne, as have People magazine and Newsweek – which put her on its cover.
She has appeared on Dr. James Dobson’s FamilyTalk, In the Market with Janet Parshall, Equipped with Chris Brooks (Moody Radio), Dr. Michael L. Brown’s In The Line of Fire, Joni and Friends/Table Talk (Daystar TV), The Eric Metaxas Show, Total Living Network with Jerry Rose, among other broadcasts.
Author of Restoring Sexual Identity: Hope for Women Who Struggle with Same-Sex Attraction and co-author of Love Won Out, Anne also has written for Spirit-Led Woman, Charisma, and The Gospel Coalition. Anne lives in Colorado and her greatest joy is being mom to her three grown sons and daughter-in-law.
Jeff Simunds: Board Chair
Jeff Simunds is the founder and director of Tower of Light Ministries, a ministry focused on helping those with unwanted LGBT issues, providing support for parents, and equipping the church on how to have a loving, biblical response to LGBT issues. Jeff has led this ministry for 15 years. Prior to this, he worked in mid-management for a high-tech company, as the president of an international humanitarian nonprofit, and as a missions pastor. Jeff has an MBA from the University of Washington as well as degrees in Chemistry and Computer Science.
Jeff is single and loves travel (he’s visited 104+ countries), foreign films, ethnic food, foreign languages, foreign music….. (you get the picture).
Dean Greer : Vice Chair
Dean Greer has been on staff with Desert Stream Ministries since 2001. Serving as the National Coordinator of Living Waters USA for 20 years, he is now the coordinator of DSM Care. His ministry to the sexually and relationally broken developed organically, the result of God transforming his own life away from the bondage of same-sex attraction and an HIV diagnosis.
Dean lives in Kansas City, MO with his wife Chrystal, and their son, Jeremiah. They attend the Vineyard Community Church of Overland Park, KS, and are part of the leadership team for the Living Waters program there. Originally from San Francisco, Dean and his family enjoy the many urban cultural offerings available in Kansas City.
Mike Manzie: Treasurer
Mike Manzie currently serves as the executive director of Fresno New Creation Ministries, had served for over twenty years in law enforcement, worked as a consultant for NASA, and built two successful businesses from the ground up. In his roles, Mike saw firsthand the damage that sexual brokenness caused in the lives of men, women, and their families, including his own. As a leader in the church, he also led Christ-centered recovery groups for sexually broken men and has a passion to see men healed.
Mike has presented on the topics of sexual addiction and sexual brokenness in numerous California churches. His unique background in the behavioral sciences offered him insight into how the sexually addicted brain functions. He has served on the boards of several churches and non-profit ministries and has developed policy and training materials used in business and by law enforcement departments around the nation. Best of all, he listens to the Lord and obeys Him. Mike and his wife Joy live and serve Christ in Fresno, California.
Jim Venice : Board Secretary
Rev. Jim Venice had his own struggle with homosexuality as a young man. He married his childhood sweetheart Debbie in 1986 thinking that getting married would “fix” his unwanted same sex attractions. He soon discovered that getting married did NOT fix things at all. They were divorced for a few years while Jim embraced homosexuality.
In 1996, Jim had an encounter with God that changed his heart and started his journey out of homosexuality. When he learned that he had believed a lie - that homosexuality was genetic and then discovered that change was possible, he and Debbie remarried.
Together they started Pure Heart Ministries in Saint Louis MO in 2002. Since then, they have had the opportunity to minister and bring the hope of Christ to countless men, women, families, and churches impacted by LGBT issues. In the last several years he has been able to minister to men and families all around the world. They reside in Saint Charles MO and attend Restoration Church in Saint Peters MO. They have 2 adult children and 1 grandchild with more on the way.
Melinda Patrick : Board Member
As Director of Parent Support for His Wonderful Works since 2013 and host of the award-winning podcast, The Bridge Between Us, Melinda Patrick has been able to minister to many families with children and loved ones who have embraced an LGBTQ identity.
Having a daughter involved in the LGBTQ community for over 11 years, Melinda knows what it is like to grieve the choices our loved ones have made and understands the helplessness when things aren't as we had hoped. Through her healing journey and the healing relationship with her daughter, she is passionate about emboldening and equipping parents to see beyond what their eyes see, and heart feels and join God where He is at work in their life and family.
Along with meeting families one-on-one, Melinda has had the opportunity to speak life into the lives of many families through radio, TV, podcast interviews, and guest blogging. She is an international speaker who often speaks at family conferences, church ministry events, and parent groups to equip families and the church to love well while not compromising Truth.
You will find Melinda and her husband, Ron, on the south side of Atlanta, Georgia. Together, they have four children and four grands. Her kitchen is notorious for impromptu dance parties, and her porch is loved for long talks, slow swinging, and sweet tea. The outdoors is where she loves to spend most of her time hiking, reading, and enjoying lazy lake days.
Rev. Sam A. Andreades, D.Min : Board Member
Pastor Andreades is on a mission to help people restore the gender binary, to celebrate the precious identity God gave us when He said, “Let us make man in Our Image…male and female.” His 2015 book, enGendered: God’s Gift of Gender Difference in Relationship, won World Magazine’s Accessible Theology Book of the Year. The book grew out of his qualitative research on men with a same-sex attraction background who are now married to women.
Counseling scores of singles, engaged and married couples precipitated his 2021 book, Dating with Discernment: 12 Questions for a Lasting Marriage, which has helped many begin lasting unions on a firm “intergendered” footing. Dr. Andreades’ most recent book, Across the Kitchen Table: Talking about Trans with Your Teen, based on his experience helping the gender troubled, became Amazon’s #1 Best Seller in New releases in Christian Relationships in the month it released (2023).
Sam’s work as a minister spans twenty years, having pastored churches in New York City and Pennsylvania. In 2008, he founded Higher Ground NYC, a Restored Hope Network member ministry of Christian discipleship serving those with unwanted same-sex attraction.
Sam also travels around the U.S. as a seminar speaker helping Christians to build a theology of gender. He regularly affirms gender as a real gift from God with weekly posts on his website, AffirmingGender.com, and frequently speaks on how to understand transgenderism from a Biblical perspective.
Gretchen Stockman, LMFT : Board Member
Gretchen is a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT) and EMDR trauma therapist serving in Lakewood, Washington. She works with adults, adolescents, couples, and families on a variety of life challenges providing counseling and therapeutic intervention from a Biblical perspective.
She received a Bachelor of Science in Health and Lifestyle Promotion from Central Washington University and a Master of Arts in Psychology from Chapman University. She has over eighteen years' experience working as a Registered Counselor in the State of Washington, focusing primarily on young girls and women struggling with eating disorders and other addictions. Gretchen currently offers classes for those caught in the cycle of food abuse.
In 2011, Gretchen expanded the scope of her practice after receiving a Master's degree. Her professional goal is to continue working with addictions and relationships, as well as other areas of expertise, providing counseling and therapeutic intervention from a Biblical perspective. Her specialties stem from life experiences that she has dealt with personally or in relationship with a loved one, therefore she delights in and derives an enormous sense of purpose when assisting those struggling with similar issues. We aren't talking about just theories here--Gretchen has walked it out!
Amidst the experience of her own family crisis, Gretchen launched a ministry in 2019 to support broken-hearted Christian parents and grandparents of prodigal children, the majority of whom are struggling with sexual and relational brokenness and who are often estranged from God and those who love them. Most recently, Gretchen developed an online workshop to guide family members in moving forward in confident trust and with abundant life, while providing practical tools for grappling with enormous fear, loss, and pain.