Jim Yates is the Senior Vice President of Engineering & Technical Support for Barnhart Crane and Rigging Company. He is a graduate of the Naval Academy and served on nuclear submarines for 7 years. He has Master’s degree from the University of Connecticut.

After the Navy, Jim worked in nuclear power plants as an operations and engineering manager. He left the nuclear industry 13 years ago to join Barnhart. Mr. Yates is a registered Professional Engineer in Tennessee and Alabama.

Jim Hall is the CEO of Engineering Ministries International (EMI). Jim joined the founder of EMI in 1988 and led design trips until 1996. He then became the Director of a development organization in Central Asia. Jim has experience in designing, building and managing development projects.

Jim is an electrical engineer and an ordained pastor. Jim rejoined EMI as the CEO last August, 2008. Jim has been married 35 years and is the father of two grown children with two grandchildren.










Murray Sanderson heads up the worship ministry at Otter Creek in Brentwood, Tennessee. Murray grew up in a musical family, and is following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather as a worship minister. A former CPA and church administrator, Murray has other gifts to bring to the table in addition to leadership that have served him well in ministry over the past 13 years.

After college (Harding University, BBA in Accounting ’90), Murray worked for four years as an auditor for KPMG, an international accounting firm. Though the work experience was rewarding, Murray soon realized that his life’s work needed to involve music somehow. After working for a Christian radio station in Dallas for a time, he had the opportunity to lead worship at his home congregation (Preston Road in Dallas, TX at that time) on a part-time basis. Part-time ministry grew into full-time ministry as it often does, and the rest is history. Through the generosity of a friend, Murray was able to attend Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary for formal music and theological training in the late 1990’s and graduated in December 1999.

Since graduating from seminary, Murray has served churches in Dallas, in Fairfax County (Virginia) and in Indianapolis before coming to Otter Creek.

How does one go from being a CPA to a worship minister? Only God knows, literally. In His infinite wisdom, God knew that Murray would be able to combine the skill set needed as a professional accountant with both his love of music and passion for God’s people in the setting of the local church.





Matt and Aimee Stefanick met while playing music at a college retreat over a decade ago. Within a year, the two were collaborating on their own music and playing everywhere from coffee houses to youth conferences, opening for the likes of Bebo Norman and Ed Cash along the way. They graduated from Tennessee Technological University, and were married while Matt finished a MS degree in engineering. They moved to Spring Hill, TN and Matt began working for DSM, a research and development company in Franklin, TN. In the years to follow, God blessed them with two beautiful daughters, Phoebe and Selah. It was a time of excitement and joy, but also a time of laying their musical gifts down at the feet of God and asking for His will to be accomplished. Two years after their move, the Lord again opened the door for music to play a major role in their lives when they were asked to lead a worship team at New River Fellowship in Franklin, TN. In addition to leading worship on a regular basis, Matt and Aimee have recently finished studio work on a record of original music that will be released independently in summer of 2009.