Our Leadership Team

Our Base is officially called Youth with a Mission, Commonwealth Ministries and we have two, soon to be three, locations in Virginia. YWAM Richmond is the flagship campus for YWAM in Virginia and currently the largest YWAM team in Virginia but our Virginia Beach team is growing fast.

At YWAM Richmond, we are committed to community. Our staff is composed of about 30 members not counting our other locations, with a recent growth in the number of families. We are from many nations all driven by the desire to Know God and Make Him Known!

Our staff are highly involved in both community life on campus as well as serving in various areas of the city. Whether it’s working at the local community center, being active in the Civic Association, working with churches, distributing from our neighborhood food pantry, or teaching English to refugee children, we show our love for Richmond!

As a staff we are also very committed to the nations. Every year, we send teams all over the world to share the love of the Jesus in the nations. Recently, we have been sending teams to Brazil, Bolivia, Tanzania, Kenya, Mongolia, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia & Scotland!

Chris Zinchuck

Base Director: YWAM Commonwealth Ministries

Hailing from Michigan and North Carolina, God showered Chris with favor in his business career. By the age of 28 he had managed thousands of people with a well known Fortune 500 Company. In 2001 God spoke to him to “leave it all” and commit his life to full-time missions. Since then Chris has championed young spiritual leaders in over 20 nations.

Kara grew up in YWAM. She holds a Bachelors of Science in Urban Studies and a Masters Certificate in Nonprofit Management from VCU. She is a key community leader in the East End of Richmond Virginia and develops YWAM staff as the Personnel Director for our staff team.

In 2006 Chris and Kara were married. Chris became the Director of YWAM VA (now YWAM: Commonwealth Ministries) in 2008 expressing the vision to “Passionately Follow God & Champion Young People.” Together they love to pastor young spiritual leaders and to pioneer cutting edge ministries with their children Isaac, Hannah Grace, and Jonathan.

Since 2019, since the launch of our second location, Chris’ leadership of YWAM Commonwealth Ministries has served as an umbrella for the leadership and campuses in both Richmond and Virginia Beach.

Jesse Carmichael

Campus Leader: YWAM Richmond

Jesse Carmichael grew up in coastal Virginia in Hampton. He finished college with degrees in Outdoor Education and Environmental Studies. In 2012, Jesse came to volunteer with the ropes course and do the Discipleship Training School and has been here ever since. Jesse has a passion and a gifting for teaching and equipping young people to fulfill the Great Commission. God has laid the inner cities of the United States and the nation of Brazil on his heart to pray for and minister to. Jesse is the pioneer of the Reach Richmond initiative to give every home in Richmond the opportunity to hear the gospel and have a Bible. Jesse also launched the Trilingual DTS in English, Spanish, and Portuguese in order to disciple and equip missionaries from other countries to reach the nations for Jesus.

Madeline Carmichael is from Everett, Washington. In 2012, she came to do a Discipleship Training School here in Richmond, VA and came on staff with Jesse after they were married in 2013. She is a licensed cosmetologist and has a passion for ministering to young women through beauty. In addition to serving YWAM with worship, 1 on 1 discipleship and hair cuts, she works at a local hair salon where she is building the skills and resources to fulfill her dream of starting her own Christ centered salon.

The Carmichaels love serving the Lord in in Richmond and in the nations.

Fauger Baptista

Campus Leader: YWAM Virginia Beach

Fauger and Ana have been married since 2001 and serving together with YWAM since 2003. Fauger did his DTS in Contagem – Brazil , in 1999. Ana also did her DTS in Contagem – Brazil ,in 2000. They served together in Adelaide – Australia from 2003-2009. After that they helped Pionner YWAM Curacao in the Caribbean and lived there for almost a year. During that time they were asked to Re-pioneer YWAM US Virgin Islands where they served as base directors from 2012 to 2016. Fauger and Ana are both from Curitiba Brazil. They have 2 kids, Nicholas, born in 2008 in Australia and Olivia, born in 2013 in St.Croix USVI.

Ministry wise, Fauger has served YWAM in the area of worship/prayer, evangelism, teaching, counseling and maintenance.Ana has served YWAM in the area of arts(dancing), leading small groups, accounting, prayer/intercession, evangelism and counseling.

They joined YWAMVA February 2017 and their passion is to see families and individuals engaging in a deeper and healthy relationship with God through Worship/Prayer/Healing and Counseling.They also love pioneering new visions, help and guide young people to find their calling, dreams and purpose. And also serving full hearten in any area of need.

Jadon Franklin

Leadership Team: YWAM Richmond

Jadon and Bailey have been serving together with YWAM Richmond since 2016, and both joined staff directly after their Sports & Fitness DTS. Bailey went through her DTS in Spring 2016, and Jadon in the Fall of 2014. Bailey has served in several key ways on the base, such as: accounting, kitchen management, housing management, Personnel liaison, and Prayer & Counseling Seminar staff. Jadon has served consistently in musical worship operations at the base since the beginning of his staffing. He’s also served as Volunteer coordinator, Landscape management, and one of the leaders of neighborhood outreaches. Both of them led several consecutive DTS lectures and outreaches over the past few semesters, and carry a strong passion to see young people thrive under God’s heart for global revival and reach. They both also share a specific love for the nations of Kenya and Tanzania.

David and Augusta Barreto