Board of Directors

Joseph ‘Joey’ Gentempo is the Founder and Executive Director of His Father’s Heart Ministries. 

Joey has an affinity, a special place in his heart, for marginalized populations, especially returning citizens and their families. Joey is the visionary Founder of CrossWalk Center, Houston’s Hopeful Re-entry Hub. CrossWalk Center serves the willing portion of the nearly 15,000 ex-offenders that return to Harris County each year, with coaching, discipleship, ministry and critical social service links. He is a CrossWalk Center founding board member. 

Joey is an ordained minister through The Assemblies of God International Fellowship and is a Board-Certified Restorative Therapist through Faith Based Counselors Training Institute.

In 2015, Joey launched The Journey into His Father’s Heart, the integration of Christ-centered ministry and prayer to bind together the wounded and broken pieces of the human heart caused by devaluing and trauma. In 2017, he and His Father’s Heart Ministries was awarded the Governor’s Criminal Justice Nancy Hees Volunteer Service Award for HFHM’s work with Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) parole division. In 2020, Joey began the Law Enforcement Prayer Network (LEPN), a prayer support network for first responders in Texas that has grown nationwide. In 2021, Joey opened the Redemptive Justice Center and self-published his first three books.

Prior to His Father’s Heart Ministries’ founding in 2001, Joey Gentempo served as Program Director for the Inner Change Freedom Initiative Program in the Carol Vance Unit, Richmond, Texas. In addition, he worked eight years as a civilian jailer for the Harris County Sheriff’s Department, was a missionary in northwestern England, and worked as a biologist for a Houston-based oil and gas company.

Joey serves as pastor for the Church at His Father’s Heart Ministries. He and his wife, Denise, have three grown children, and two grandchildren.

Denise helped found the Mother’s Day Out program at His Father’s Heart Ministries. She holds a Director’s Certificate in early childhood education and has more than 20 years’ experience working with young children. Denise has a passion for helping children know, understand and experience the power of the Gospel in real and tangible ways with a truly child’s heart.

Prior to the MDO at His Father’s Heart Ministries, Denise served as a Teacher’s Aide for HISD, as a pre-school teacher and as a per-school Assistant Director.

Johnyne is a faith-based counselor and teacher serving in Waller County, Texas. As such she has been highly instrumental in the expansion of His Father’s Heart Ministries to the City of Hempstead and the surrounding region. For a number of years Johnyne has faithfully served as a volunteer facilitator for the Waller County Jail. Through her regional, national and global relationships, Johnyne has steadfastly spread the word of His Father’s Heart impact while travelling here and abroad with her husband. Both she and Tom have been a tremendous source of spiritual discernment, direction and financial assistance.

The Rees, Johnyne and Tom, reside in Hempstead, Texas. They have three grown children and almost too many grandchildren to keep count of that Johnyne loves beyond measure.

Tom has over forty years of experience in the oil and gas business with a majority of those years with Occidental Oil and Gas Corporation, where he currently serves as Vice President of Major Projects.

Tom and his wife Johnyne are active members of Hempstead First Baptist Church, where he is a member of the Finance Committee.

Larry joined His Father’s Heart Ministry board of director’s in 2016, bringing a background of IT planning and IT architecture to the ministry.  Larry is highly skilled at understanding business goals, business problems, and appropriate technical solutions, which he readily taps into to serve the ministry.

More importantly is Larry’s genuine servant heart that His Father’s Heart Ministry benefits from greatly. He has served as both Deacon and an Elder for St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, as well as chair for the Youth and Missions Committees over the years. Larry also served on the Board of Directors for St. Andrew’s School of Fine Arts.

More recently he played an integral role as one of 10 members of the development team for what would become CrossWalk Center, Joey’s vision that has been realized, which was to establish a centralized re-entry hub that ministers to and serves a portion of the nearly 15,000 ex-offenders returning to Harris County.

Larry is married to Tracy Taylor-Gelbaugh, former science teacher, and presently the Director of Women’s Ministry for His Father’s Heart.  Tracy also serves as a Harris County Jail chaplain and is a student at Fuller Theological Seminary in Houston. Larry and Tracy have two sons,  Deion and John.

Kristal Scott has been a member of His Father’s Heart Ministries since 2007, and recently joined the Board in 2020. Kristal is presently an Attorney specializing in Real Estate, Contracts, Wills & Estate Planning, and Business. She is also a licensed Texas Realtor.

Kristal was admitted to the Texas Bar in October of 2019. She received her law degree from Thurgood Marshall School of Law in May of 2019. In 2007 she received her Bachelor of Science in Social Studies Education followed by a Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Houston. She is a former Educator, specifically, a middle school social studies teacher who sponsored several student clubs and organizations. Kristal taught in the Houston Independent School District in where she made many valuable connections with parents and students in the community. She also wrote curriculum, trained new teachers, and led her department as a Department Chair.

His Father’s Heart Ministries has made a tremendous impact on Kristal and her son Isaiah. She is excited to be a part of the Board and a member of the ministry.

Bob is currently serving as a team member in the Inner Healing/Deliverance ministry Journey to Freedom. Prior to that he served as Ministry Coordinator for First H.O.P.E., a job ministry of Houston’s First Baptist Church.

Bob served as Chairman of the Board for the US Prayer Center, a ministry of Eddie and Alice Smith. He also served as Senior Elder at the church Houston House of Prayer. In 2001 he was ordained and served as Pastoral Care Pastor at New Destiny Fellowship in the 3rd Ward.

Bob has over thirty-five years of experience in IT Services. He has worked in Mission Control at NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston. He has also worked for Coopers & Lybrand (PricewaterhouseCoopers) as a consultant in Management Consultant Services. He graduated from the University of Houston with a BA in 1974. He attended Rhema Bible College from 1984 to 1985.

Bob and his wife Nancy live in Houston, Texas and attend Antioch Central Church. He has been on multiple mission trips to several countries including Argentina, Kosovo, Nigeria and China.

Nancy has worked in the areas of Consumer Education, Personal Finance and Business Management throughout her career. She worked with the University of Missouri Extension Service where she developed programs in Family Finance, Finances for Children and Household Management. While there, she was honored to be a part of launching the education arm of the Head Start Program, now well known for reaching low income families. In the early 2000s, she became licensed in securities and worked with a firm that served middle income families with the goal of educating that market in sound financial stewardship.

In the business arena, Nancy used her skills in Marketing, Sales and Management initially in the hotel industry. She then joined Top Brass, a commercial cleaning company, where she was a part of the sales team in Kansas City, Missouri. She was then transferred to Houston, Texas to open one of their first branches. Additionally, Nancy has spent many years as a successful entrepreneur in the network marketing arena.

Nancy graduated from Iowa State University in 1971 with a BA in Consumer Education. She has also attended Trinity University in San Antonio.

Nancy is currently serving as a member of an Inner Healing/Deliverance team, Journey To Freedom. She and her husband Bob reside in Houston, Texas.