Board of Directors

Theresa Renee Arriaga, RN, MSN, FNP is a native Houstonian and registered nurse who received a Masters in Nursing Family Nurse Practitioner degree from Houston Baptist University in 2004. She previously served as a traveling nurse for 12 years and currently works as a nurse practitioner in the Clinic of Dr. Henry Mentz, a prominent plastic surgeon. She has been active in Christian ministry and missions for over 20 years, serving with the Lakewood Church Beyond the Walls ministry for local and foreign missions. Since 2003, she has participated in numerous medical mission trips to Mexico, Central and South America. As part of the Mentz Foundation, she will lead future mission trips to Roatan, Honduras. She assists Christian Alliance in foreign missions planning as well as support of the Port Houston outreach ministry, bringing food, clothing, over-the-counter medications and wellness instruction to local residents.

Nabirundu Chikala is a native of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and for 6 years served as an operations and distribution specialist for Christian Alliance, delivering food and relief supplies during disasters and to poverty stricken areas of Houston. He currently is employed as a Pharmacy Technician at Methodist Hospital, and is working towards his pharmacy degree.

Richard A. Evans, MD, received his medical degree from Tulane Medical School. His post-graduate studies were done at the University of California-San Francisco and at Stanford University School of Medicine. He received a fellowship in surgical oncology at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Houston working under Dr. John Stehlin, a pioneer in breast-con-serving surgery. Certificated by the American Board of Surgery, he has been practicing medicine in Houston since 1978. He is the author of “Making The Right Choice”, a guide to understanding and using limited surgery in the treatment of cancer published in 1995 by Avery Publishing Group, Garden City Park, New York. Dr. Evans is member of First United Methodist Church of Houston and has served as a member of the Missions Ministry Team and on the Administrative Board. He is also an active member of Rotary International.

Robert C. Farr serves on the Board of Directors. He is the President and Chief Operations Officer of American Security Resources Corporation. Mr. Farr brings a 34 year diversified business background in operations leadership complete with examples of improved productivity and increased profits. His broad experience with several Fortune 500 companies includes marketing, customer relations, administration, finance, operations, new products and worldwide vendor section/purchasing. Mr. Farr’s experience also includes securing and structuring debt and equity funding, both domestic and international, for public and private companies. Mr. Farr earned a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Mississippi State University and was a Naval Officer during the Vietnam conflict.

John Garcia, is a Captain in the Houston Fire Department, and also serves as a youth pastor in his local church. He and his wife Vera are Directors of the Traveling Disciples Ministries, Inc. They are a collaborative ministry with Christian Alliance since 2004 in food distribution to the poor, youth outreach, and they also lead mission trips to Mexico.

Miguel Lopez serves on the Board of Directors as Vice-President of Christian Alliance. Mr. Lopez has been involved in humanitarian and civic efforts for the last twenty-five years. His involvement in helping his fellow man started when he was a member of the Houston based Lakewood Church in 1982. In 2003 he organized a non-profit organization called the East Side Mobile Resources Collaborative where he served as Chairman until 2008. Mr. Lopez has made numerous missionary trips to Mexico and Guatemala. His personal mission to make a difference to improve a person’s life is the reason Mr. Lopez volunteers his time on a daily basis to the humanitarian and civic duties to which he is involved.

Tracy E. McDonald RN, BSN, MS, serves on the Board of Directors as Secretary of Christian Alliance. Ms. McDonald has been employed by Memorial Herman Healthcare System since 1980 and she currently works as the Memorial Hermann Heart and Vascular Institute – Southwest as the Clinical Manager of Cardiovascular Imaging. Ms. McDonald earned a Masters of Science from the Texas Woman's University School of Nursing in 2007, with a major in Health Systems Management and a minor in Healthcare Administration. In 2003 Ms. McDonald graduated from the University of Texas, School of Nursing with a Bachelor of Science degree. She received her associate degree in nursing from Houston Community College in 1982. She has participated on Mexico mission trips as a member of First United Methodist Church of Houston.

Lenny Primus, a native of Grenada, is a retired Kellogg, Brown and Root employee with over 31 years of service. He served as a petroleum refinery maintenance specialist. He has been active with Builders Without Borders which provides housing to poverty stricken areas of the world. This ministry collaborated with Christian Alliance in 2004 to send a medical clinic to Grenada. Mr. Primus provides assistance on a weekly basis in the area of food distribution and allocation.

Frances T. Stokely serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors and has also been the administrator for the last ten years. Prior to joining Christian Alliance, Ms. Stokely was the secretary and treasurer of a publicly-held company with the responsibility of filing SEC reports, managing the company’s audits and accounting to shareholders. From 1979 through 1990 she was employed by Dannenbaum Engineering Corporation as payroll and employee benefits administrator. Prior or joining Dannenbaum Engineering Corporation, Ms. Stokely was the administrative assistant to the president of a regional bank where her duties included preparing loan and closings documents. After her education at South Georgia College located in Douglas, Georgia she joined the banking firm of Stockton Whatley and Davin, located in Jacksonville, Florida. Ms. Stokely is also member of First United Methodist Church of Houston and has served on the Mission Ministry Team and as a member of the Administrative Board.