Meet our
Lead Pastors.
Clint & Deidre Patchett moved to Bream Bay in 2015 to plant Encounter Church here. A decade later, this is home — and the church has grown into a vibrant family of believers from right across the region.
Clint & Deidre Patchett
Clint & Deidre were sent out from Encounter Auckland in 2015 to begin pastoring at what was then the Assembly of God church on Marsden Point Rd. Before that they served voluntarily at Encounter Auckland, helping run a young-adults group called ConneXions and pouring into youth — Bream Bay was their first paid pastoral role, and it took them all of a few months to fall in love with the community.
They've raised four children and now lead a church family that turns up Sundays expecting to encounter Jesus and to leave loving each other better than they did the week before.
You'll usually find them somewhere in the building before service — Clint with a coffee, Deidre with her arm around someone who needs it. If you're new, find them and say hi.
Beyond the pulpit, before the calling.
Pastors are people too. Here's a bit of what shaped Clint & Deidre before God moved them north.
Sales rep, sportsman, cycle mechanic
Clint's career has run the gamut — sales rep and sales trainer, three years owning a bike shop with Deidre, and a long love of cycling that's stuck with him ever since. A former North Harbour rugby rep who's also played football and trained as a football coach.
Badminton rep, advocate, builder of people
Deidre played representative badminton for New Zealand and has spent her career in admin and advocacy roles — including with Action on Smoking NZ helping people quit the habit. That heart for helping people get free still shapes how she pastors today.
Four kids, the Bay, and a long obedience
Clint and Deidre raised four children. The youngest started at Bream Bay College the year they moved up. A decade on, the Bay is home — they're not going anywhere.
A vibrant family in Bream Bay.
Encounter Bream Bay started life as the Assembly of God church on Marsden Point Rd, and is run today in association with Assemblies of God NZ. We're part of the wider Encounter Church family — sister communities in Auckland and across the country — and we send our youth and young adults down to the Breakthrough Conference together every King's Birthday weekend.
We're not a big church. We're a real one. People know each other, life happens around tables and in homes through the week, and on Sundays we gather to lift our eyes to Jesus together.
