Artizo is staffed by able, qualified ministers and teachers, and supported in each training church by mentors, practising pastors, and their congregations.
Staff
Rev. Canon Ben Roberts
Director of Training, Executive Director
Ben has been active in gospel-centered Anglican ministry for 20 years, serving first as a full-time youth minister before pursuing an M.Div at Regent College in 2008. This study, alongside an Artizo apprenticeship at St. John’s Vancouver, prepared him for pastoral work while sparking a special interest in the work of training. Ben began serving as a pastor at St. John’s Richmond in 2011 and was ordained a priest in the Anglican Communion in 2012. Since becoming Artizo’s Director of Training in 2018, Ben first redesigned and then extensively developed Artizo’s new curriculum to ensure robust and comprehensive ministry training with a special focus on the development of preaching and teaching. He pursued the work of “training trainers” to extend Artizo’s reach, expanding the program to include multiple training churches, resourcing and equipping active local pastors to serve as partners and Artizo trainers. In 2021, Ben was made Canon of Catechesis in the Anglican Diocese of Canada, tasked with overseeing and encouraging robust teaching, training, and curriculum development. In addition to his role as Director of Training, Ben was named Executive Director of Artizo in 2025, succeeding our Founder Emeritus, Canon David Short.
Rev. Phillip Pearson
Assistant Director of Training
Phill has extensive experience in many different education settings. Phill’s own education started with a bachelor’s degree in religious education and Christian studies from Heritage Bible College in Ontario in 2012. From there, Phill became lead pastor at the Embassy Student Church at Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo, recruiting and developing volunteer leaders, while preaching weekly and partnering with local churches. In 2014, Phill joined Nexus Church in Kitchener and participated in the Preacher’s Guild, critiquing sermons and encouraging others. After moving west, Phill spent seven years leading, training and mentoring in a very different environment at a major restaurant chain. Then, in 2023, Phill became associate pastor and ministry director at St. Peter’s Fireside Church in Vancouver. Phill oversaw the development of Artizo apprentices there and his enthusiasm has resulted in St. Peter’s becoming a strong supporter of Artizo training. Phill was ordained in 2025.
Susan Norman
Trainer
Susan has been teaching the bible for many years to women in a variety of women’s groups, to university students, to youth and seniors, in churches, university campuses, at retreats, and in her home. She has a long history of training Christian leaders working for Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship and currently works with IVCF mentoring, training, directing, and participating in ministry with leaders and students. She has a deep love for God and a sincere passion for his work.
Training Church Trainers
Jeremy Graham
Jeremy Graham is the Rector of King's Cross, an Anglican Diocese of Canada church plant in Vancouver launched in 2023. After graduating from Regent College and finishing his Artizo apprenticeship, Jeremy served for ten years as family minister at St. John's Vancouver where he worked as part of a team to develop the God's Big Story curriculum which is used by Anglican churches in many dioceses. He's passionate about building and growing gospel centred intergenerational communities and contextualizing the good news about Jesus in a way that connects with his unchurched neighbours. King's Cross is thrilled to be a training church for three Artizo apprentices.
Phill Pearson
Phill has extensive experience in many different education settings. Phill’s own education started with a bachelor’s degree in religious education and Christian studies from Heritage Bible College in Ontario in 2012. From there, Phill became lead pastor at the Embassy Student Church at Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo, recruiting and developing volunteer leaders, while preaching weekly and partnering with local churches. In 2014, Phill joined Nexus Church in Kitchener and participated in the Preacher’s Guild, critiquing sermons and encouraging others. After moving west, Phill spent seven years leading, training and mentoring in a very different environment at a major restaurant chain. Then, in 2023, Phill became associate pastor and ministry director at St. Peter’s Fireside Church in Vancouver. Phill oversaw the development of Artizo apprentices there and his enthusiasm has resulted in St. Peter’s becoming a strong supporter of Artizo training. Phill was ordained in 2025.
Sean Love
Sean serves as Rector at St. John's Richmond Church in Richmond, B.C., which he planted 20 years ago with a dedicated group of families. He is an Archdeacon in the Diocese of Canada, assisting with clergy care in B.C., and also the Diocesan Ordination Chaplain, shepherding people through the process to become ordained as ministers in the Anglican Communion. He is a Vancouverite by birth and lived in New Mexico for nine years where he was a youth minister and High School teacher. Sean returned to Vancouver in 2002 and completed his MDiv at Regent College, as well as an apprenticeship with Artizo. He is married to Penny and has three sons, Graham, Thomas (married to Audrey), and Dylan. Sean is ambitious that Christ is proclaimed, and that Christ's church grow in maturity: with healthy doctrine, devotion, duty, and delight.
SJR description: St. John’s Richmond Church meets on Sunday Evenings at 6pm in the centre of Richmond, meeting at Trinity Lutheran Church. We planted in 2005 , beginning with mid-week Bible Studies and Youth and Children’s ministry, before launching Sunday services in January 2007. We are a Christ-centered, biblically faithful, gospel-sharing Anglican Church worshiping God following the classic Book of Common Prayer. SJR is multi-ethnic, reflecting the population of Richmond. We love declaring and living out the mercy of God to humanity through his Son Jesus Christ. We strive to be relaxed and welcoming, yet reverent and witnessing to the truth of God’s revelation of himself in the Bible.
Anson Ann
Anson was born and raised in Hong Kong and moved with his family to Vancouver in 1992. He later spent ten years on the U.S. East Coast, where he studied and worked as a software engineer and computer scientist. Sensing God’s call to full-time ministry, he returned to Vancouver to complete a Master of Divinity at Regent College. He then served at Good Shepherd Vancouver for eight years as associate priest before becoming a church planter at Good Shepherd Richmond in 2019. He is married to Charis, and they have three teenage daughters.
Called by God to be a “bridge-builder,” Anson seeks to bridge first and second generation immigrants, ministering to their needs with an appreciation and understanding of both Eastern and Western cultures. He is passionate about bringing together the heart and the mind, contemplation and action, tradition and innovation, and faith and science, so that all may know that in Christ all things hold together (Col. 1:17).
Mark Tubbs
Mark Tubbs – St. Timothy's
Aaron Roberts
Aaron Roberts – St. John's Vancouver
Board of Directors
Artizo has a small board of directors who review progress, direct strategy, approve budgets, and oversee the legal compliance and general governance necessary for charitable organizations.
Rev. Canon Ben Roberts
Director of Training & Executive Director
Lesley Bentley
Director & Chair
Rev. Sean Love
Director & Secretary
Anita Anderson
Director & Treasurer
David Avren
Director
Stephen Hale
Director
Alexandra Richmond
Director
Mike Searle
Director
David Howard
Director Emeritus
Peter Jefferson
Director Emeritus
John Mackay
Director Emeritus
Dr. Ronald McNeill
Director Emeritus
Rev. Canon David Short
Founder Emeritus