The Board of Directors is the governing body of Agape Way. Its members are active within the organization. They are also tasked with making policies and decisions on personnel. The board must approve the annual budget, and also get to work with fundraising.
John Swem (Board Chairman) and Beverly Swem grew up in a small town in Michigan and met in elementary school. They married in June 1970 shortly after finishing college and then spent 2 years on Taiwan with the U.S. Army. In 1985, God led them to a team that was going to use business training and educational services as a platform for Christian professionals to work long-term in China with their families and they spent most of the next three decades there. John and Beverly have five children and ten grandchildren and now live in Greensboro.
Maria Li (Treasurer) has served in a variety of positions in higher education for over a decade. As a staff member, she leads institutional research, assessment, and effectiveness. As a faculty member, she conducted research and taught courses in literacy education, first year seminar, and English as a second language.
Walter Ostrowka has been associated with Agape Way since March 2008 while visiting China for the first time through the Agape Way Cultural Exchange Program. He was part of the Shichuan Earthquake Relief Expedition in September 2008. In 2016 Walter became a missionary with the Evangelical Covenant Church serving in Nanjing China. Upon his arrival back to the United States in 2019 Walter rejoined Agape Way family first as a volunteer advisor and then a Board member.
David Huang and his family live in Philadelphia. He is a church leader and a statistician.
Min-I James Chang (Advisor) is a Ph.D. in Engineering Science from New York State University at Buffalo. He accepted Christ during his freshmen year in college in Taipei. Before coming to the United States for his advanced studies, James was a co-worker with Intervarsity. He loves to share the Gospel with students where he lives. He retired in 2006 from Raytheon and started his full-time student ministry with universities in the Greater Washington DC area until 2015. Presently he is with Mason Fellowship serving visiting scholars from China.
Woody Freeze (Advisor) is the senior pastor at Lowe’s Grove Baptist Church in Durham, NC. He is a graduate of the University of Mount Olive and Campbell Divinity School. Before entering the ministry, Pastor Freeze was a firefighter in Cary and also served as a firefighter at the Swift Creek Fire Department in Raleigh, NC. He has been married for thirty years to Elisa Freeze with two children, Wil, and Rebecca.
Rev. Dr. Marc Putnam (Advisor) is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Covenant Church and has served at Trinity Covenant Church in Greensboro, NC since 1992. Pastor Marc was introduced to the Chinese Church in 1966 through the ministries of Pastor Stephen Wang, Ms. Mary Wang, and the Chinese Overseas Christian Mission. Partnerships with the Christian family across the world is an integral part of Pastor Marc’s vision and ministry.