Our Staff
Senior Staff
Nick Duke
Senior Pastor
Nick is the husband of Kristie and the dad to five exceptionally cute kids: Annika, Sarah, Ryan, and 'the twins'—Thomas and Lottie.
Nick and Kristie have a great love of work with university students and moved to work at the University of Canterbury (UC) in 2006. Nick has studied Psychology and Theology. He has a background in IT, but please don't hold that against him. For a number of years he ran a software development business and through that has an interest in the Christian understanding of work and business.
Nick leads the staff team at Cornerstone and preaches at our public meetings.
Ministry Area Leaders
Jordan Peterson
Assistant Pastor
Jordan is married to Anna and they have 3 kids. Jordan enjoys the outdoors, talking to people from different cultures, and eating delicious healthy food. His greatest passion in life is the Lord Jesus Christ. He loves seeing people come to know Jesus through hearing and understanding the gospel. You can get in touch with him at jordanpeterson@cornerstone.org.nz. Don't be shy - flick him an email!
Veronica Hoyt
Pastoral Worker
Veronica was taught the gospel at an early age, but the older she gets the more convinced she is that this truly is the best news of all time. She loves to teach the Bible and speak about the Lord Jesus to others, and is on the team as a pastoral worker. She has a background in Arts and Teaching and recently completed a Master of Theological Studies at Queensland Theological College.
Veronica is married to Berwyn, and has a university-aged son. She enjoys spending time with her family, reading widely, walking in peaceful places, and reducing the weeds in her garden.
Dee Burnell
Kids
Dee is a life-lover. You'll probably hear her laugh before you see her! She was raised in a Christian home, but is loving how God continues to transform her to live more for Him each day. She met Ben, her husband, whilst studying Primary Teaching at Canterbury. They got married in 2009 and shifted to Hamilton to work and teach. Children followed soon after and they now have 4 children - Alyssa, Tyler, Levi and Madelyn. After shifting back to Christchurch in 2020, they joined Cornerstone Church and absolutely love that it is a gospel-centred Church.
Dee loves getting outside and soaking up the sun through walking, camping, strolling the beach and just generally exploring. If a book is opened, good luck talking to her for the next couple of days as she'll be immersed! She has a passion to see kids mature into well-rounded individuals and that they will come to understand just how much God loves them, so that they will live a life that honors Him.
Kristie Duke
Membership
Kristie is married to Nick who is the senior pastor at Cornerstone. They moved over from Australia in 2006 with 2 young kids and a baby. Along the way they have acquired a set of twins, 2 cats and a hedgehog. This means their '97 Estima gets a good work out with transporting people & animals in all directions and the dishwasher is pretty much loaded while still running.
Kristie helps make sure newcomers at church make a good transition into our Cornerstone family. She leads bible study groups, and trains other women in church to love and serve the Lord. She is constantly coming up with new and crazy ideas on better ways to do just about anything you are currently undertaking much to the frustration of all around her. To calm down from dizzy heights of new ideas she crochets, bakes sourdough bread or walks and listens to sermons.
Ministry Apprentices
Emma Williams
Ministry Apprentice
Emma was born in London and moved to Aotearoa with her family in 2012. She came to UC to study Art History, Philosophy and English in 2018 and completed a Master of Arts in Art History at the beginning of 2022.
She grew up familiar with the church environment but after becoming involved in Campus Church at university, it was then that she really realised how much we need a relationship with God through His son Jesus. This convinced her to prepare herself for a lifetime of serving God and His church by starting a Ministry Apprenticeship with Cornerstone.
In any spare time she gets, Emma loves to soak up all and any form of culture through reading, going to art galleries, film, live music and experimenting in the kitchen.
José Billington
Ministry Apprentice
José moved from Chile with his family in 2006 in search for a better life. Growing up Roman-Catholic and giving up the faith in high school, José was challenged to rethink it all upon being invited to Campus Church at the end of his first year at UC. After challenges through Christianity Explorer, other groups and events, God had won him from death to life. Now José has joined the apprenticeship program and being involved in a variety of ministry life such as Kid-space and Mission.
José is married to Caitlin and enjoys reading, learning the piano and a good BBQ!
Caitlin Billington
Ministry Apprentice
Originally from South Africa, Caitlin moved to Christchurch in 2016 to study law at UC. Finishing her degree in 2019, she went on to a variety of work in 2020, including legal work, working for a podcast and being a school librarian. After marrying José in December 2020, they both started apprenticeship together at the beginning of this year.
Caitlin’s decision to start an apprenticeship comes from a deep conviction to see people won for the gospel - to see the Word of God proclaimed, and His kingdom grown. Her areas of ministry include leading in kids church, growth groups, and in the area of music on Sunday nights.
Caitlin spends her free time painting, running, and cooking.
Support Staff
Elena Blair
Elena is married to Mike and they have two daughters. Elena came to faith while living and working in Sydney, after their flatmate had persistently invited her to come to church for more than a year.
Elena has been part of the Cornerstone family since late 2014 and now works on the staff team, supporting the work and the growth of Cornerstone ministries.
She enjoys gardening, walking in nature, and going on 4-wheel drive trips with the family.