Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk, welcomes two church planters, Sean Boone and Eric Stiller, who both planted churches in the St. Louis area. Boone shares his experience of planting The Bridge North County in Ferguson while Eric Stiller talks about his story of planting Central West End Church in another section of the city.
Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk, welcomes South Regional Church Planting Director, Richard Rieves, to talk about trends in the culture and how church planting remains a unique solution to reaching the world with the Gospel.
Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk, welcomes pastor Dr. Mike Moses to talk about reaching the unchurched and the importance of church planting in that process. Mike also gives practical self-assessment questions for possible future church planters to ask as they engage with the idea of whether the Lord might be calling them to church planting. Mike is the founding and lead pastor of the Lake Forest Family of Churches.
Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk, welcomes Elizabeth Gibson of the Northampton Church Planting Network, as they talk all things church planting from assessments to information that will help those wrestling with a possible call to church planting.
You can connect with Elizabeth at elizabethgibson@nhcpn.org.
Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk, welcomes Justin Garrett, church planter and pastor at Athens KC. In this episode, Justin shares his heart and story the story behind planting a church in Kansas City, Missouri, while giving encouragement and practical advice to ministry leaders.
Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk, welcomes the EPC’s National Director of Church Planting, Dr. Tom Ricks, for an authentic discussion on church planting. Many church plants don’t make it and Tom and Dean discuss the lessons we can learn from these past attempts.
Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk, welcomes Michael Morefield, author and pastor at Gashland EPC in Kansas City, Missouri, as they consider how the generations must work together in the church to “run after” God’s mission, as well as within the family as Michael shares about his heart for family discipleship.
Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk, welcomes Rufus Smith, pastor at Hope Church in Cordova, Tennessee, where the EPC will be having its 44th General Assembly and Gospel Priorities Summit. Rufus touches on General Assembly and all they have planned at Hope, and also shares about the Revelation 7:9 Task Force within the EPC and the importance of striving for a church that reflects the body of Christ we will witness in eternity.
Dave Robinson, EPC Teaching Elder, author, and Executive Director of Church Movements at CRU, joins host, Dean Weaver, for this new episode of “In All Things”.
Dean and his guest discuss global church movements and his new book “Unwavering Resolve: A guide for apostolic leadership” an essential guide for church planters, missionaries, pastors and anyone working to share the gospel with the unreached.
Episodes are available on a variety of podcast platforms, including Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Spotify, and others. Search “In All Things” on any of these services.
The audio recordings also are available on the EPC website at www.epc.org/inallthings.
Pete Roman (dark shirt with guitar) leads worship and serves as Pastor of The Village Church at St. George, an EPC church plant in rural St. George, S.C.
Which came first—the chicken or the church plant? For Pete and Renee Roman, the two were hatched together.
“Our first official service for The Village Church at St. George was under some oak trees on our farm,” Pete said. “We started at eight in the morning because it was summer, and we needed to meet before it got unbearably hot.”
A shady spot under some oaks trees was the first “Sanctuary” of The Village Church at St. George.
After serving in Bulgaria for seven years, in 2017 the Romans returned to South Carolina with their three daughters. Their plan was to make a go of small-scale farming alongside his parents and to plant a rural church in St. George, a community about 50 miles northwest of Charleston.
“One thing that intrigued us in Bulgaria,” Pete said, “is that while it was hard to make connections in the city, when we’d travel with visiting teams to the villages it was easy to talk to people and build relationships.”
The Romans believe those same principles apply in rural America, and set out to create a warm, relational, community church environment. They started inviting neighbors to join them for a Sunday evening Bible study, but soon realized that small-town traditions are hard to break.
“We discovered that in the South, church happens at 10 o’clock on Sunday mornings,” he said. “Even though we had over 20 people who regularly attended our evening Bible study, they all had other churches they went to on Sunday mornings.”
When COVID hit and everyone pivoted to online church, it soon became evident that their home group had dissolved.
“We had three people attending, and two of us were related,” laughed Renee.
They decided to try hosting an in-person service but hold it outdoors to comply with COVID restrictions. People started coming right away—many of whom had been starved for relationships over the months and were seeking community. The church now has about 32 regular attenders, including several children and youth. Most of the attendees are previously unchurched or travel from other communities in the area.
Pete Roman involves all ages in the life of the church.
Renee says there is one young family with two little boys that has been a highlight on their journey.
“The wife started coming to our home group, but the husband was a paramedic so could not make it on Sundays,” she said. “She was really introverted and quiet, and as time went by she came less and less often.”
The Romans continued to see her around town and would always greet her warmly. Then one morning the entire family showed up. The husband had quit his job as an EMT and opened a tire shop, which freed him to come to church.
By this time, winter had arrived and the outdoor service had moved indoors.
Wood stove worship service
“It was the middle of winter, and was getting cold,” Renee said. “We had started meeting in the room where we process chickens, huddled around a wood stove.”
The setting did not deter the young family.
“Once they started coming again, they were all in,” Renee said. “God had been working the whole time. The husband now invites the customers at his store to come to church—and has become quite the evangelist. We have even held our Sunday service at his tire shop.”
Pete added that “it has been exciting to see the hunger that he and several others have to know more. We have a group of five or six guys who meet regularly together for coffee. God just keeps opening doors.”
As they laid the groundwork for the church, Pete contacted the EPC’s then-Presbytery of the Mid-Atlantic and talked to Bucky Hunsicker, who was serving as missional executive director.
“He told us they had been praying for someone to spark a rural church planting movement,” Pete said, noting that Hunsicker’s response mirrored his and Renee’s ministry vision.
Family and community are Pete and Renee Roman’s vision for The Village Church at St. George.
“We want to be a small, intentional church that reflects the community we live in,” he said.
Renee said they have “an amazing group of people” who are hungry for the gospel and to learn the Bible, and who have a heart for the community and serving.
“Yet they are normal, messed-up sinners like the rest of us,” she said.
“The people who are coming are not looking for stellar preaching and amazing music—they are coming because it’s a family and community, and they are getting the truth,” Pete added.
The Romans live by a motto adopted from the life of 18th century Moravian reformer Nikolaus Ludwig, count von Zinzendorf.
“His most famous quote is ‘preach the gospel, die, and be forgotten,’” Pete said. “I’ve heard leaders on the mission field talk about their legacy and how they want to be remembered. But if our church stays the size it is … if no one ever knows the name Pete Roman … that’s fine with me. I just want to be faithful to God, preach the gospel, and let the Holy Spirit do His work.”
by Kiki Schleiff Cherry
EPConnection correspondent
Dave Strunk, planting pastor of Church of the Redeemer in suburban Knoxville, Tenn., is the guest for episode 77 of the EPC’s podcast, “In All Things.” Strunk is a Teaching Elder in the Presbytery of the Southeast and served on the EPC’s National Leadership Team (NLT) from 2019-2023.
Host Dean Weaver and Strunk conclude a 5-episode series on Church Planting by discussing Strunk’s journey to the EPC from a Baptist background, including how he started Church of the Redeemer and how church planting is a viable evangelism strategy for established churches. In addition, Strunk reflects on his service on the NLT and how trust serves as a form of leadership currency.
Episodes are available on a variety of podcast platforms, including Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Spotify, and others. Search “In All Things” on any of these services.
The audio recordings also are available on the EPC website at www.epc.org/inallthings.
Jerry Iamurri, Executive Director and CEO of inFaith, is the guest for episode 76 of the EPC’s podcast, “In All Things.” Iamurri is a Teaching Elder in the Presbytery of the East and served as EPC Assistant Stated Clerk from 2017-2022.
Host Dean Weaver and Iamurri discuss how inFaith ministers among the most underserved and underreached communities in the U.S., as well as how the organization serves church planters with a variety of administrative support functions. In addition, Iamurri describes how governance serves mission and vision, and how his experience as Assistant Stated Clerk informs his leadership at inFaith.
Episodes are available on a variety of podcast platforms, including Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Spotify, and others. Search “In All Things” on any of these services.
The audio recordings also are available on the EPC website at www.epc.org/inallthings.
Abe Radmanesh, member of the EPC’s Church Planting Team, is the guest for episode 75 of the EPC’s podcast, “In All Things.”
Host Dean Weaver and Radmanesh continue a series on church planting by discussing how an established church can begin a church planting movement, based on Radmanesh’s experience at Colonial Presbyterian Church in Kansas City. Radmanesh also describes how his experience in the business world provides fresh perspective in church planting, the value of entrepreneurial skills in church planting; and the benefits that established churches receive by starting new churches.
Episodes are available on a variety of podcast platforms, including Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Spotify, and others. Search “In All Things” on any of these services.
The audio recordings also are available on the EPC website at www.epc.org/inallthings.
The EPC’s 43rd General Assembly / Gospel Priorities Summit features training and equipping sessions based on the denomination’s four Gospel Priorities of Church Planting, Church Health, Global Movement, and Effective Biblical Leadership. The Assembly takes place June 20-22 at Cherry Hills Community Church in Highlands Ranch, Colo.
Opportunities occur each day to learn more about how every EPC church can become a parent, patron, or partner of church planting.
Tuesday, June 20
Wednesday, June 21
Thursday, June 22
Online registration with a cost of $295 per person runs until May 15. The registration fee includes lunch each day, while on-campus dinners Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are optional at a cost of $30 per person. The $50 early registration discount ends on May 15, when the fee increases to $345 per person. Late registration begins June 15 with a fee of $395 per person.
For more information and to register, see www.epc.org/ga2023.
Shawn Robinson, Pastor of Clayton Community Church in Clayton, Calif., is the guest for episode 74 of the EPC’s podcast, “In All Things.”
Host Dean Weaver and Robinson continue a series on church planting with Robinson telling the story of how he planted Clayton Community Church in 1996 as part of the EPC’s Key Cities Initiative. He also describes the EPC’s strategy of “every EPC church a parent, patron, or partner of church planting” and how people loving their neighbors is foundational to a church maintaining an outward focus.
Episodes are available on a variety of podcast platforms, including Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Spotify, and others. Search “In All Things” on any of these services.
The audio recordings also are available on the EPC website at www.epc.org/inallthings.
Jack Cathey and Tom Ricks are the guests for episode 73 of the EPC’s podcast, “In All Things.” The two are founding members of the EPC’s National Church Planting Team. Cathey is a Ruling Elder for the Lake Forest family of churches in Charlotte, N.C.; Ricks serves as the EPC’s National Director of Church Planting.
Host Dean Weaver, Cathey, and Ricks kick off a series on church planting by recounting how church planting in the EPC has gone from being aspirational to operational. They also discuss steps churches can take to get involved in starting new churches, and how relationships are the key to successful church planting.
Episodes are available on a variety of podcast platforms, including Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Spotify, and others. Search “In All Things” on any of these services.
The audio recordings also are available on the EPC website at www.epc.org/inallthings.
Online registration for the 43rd General Assembly/Gospel Priorities Summit is now open. The Assembly meets June 20-22 at Cherry Hills Community Church in Highlands Ranch, Colo. The theme of this year’s annual meeting is “Sharpen,” based on Ephesians 4:12, “… to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ …”
The three-day gathering features plenary speakers each day and breakout sessions on Thursday, all focused on the EPC’s four Gospel Priorities of Church Health, Church Planting, Effective Biblical Leadership, and Global Movement.
“The EPC exists to carry out the Great Commission, and those four priorities are the way we do that,” said Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk. “In the past, our Leadership Institute concluded on Wednesday. This year our equipping is interspersed with business across each day—that’s the ’Gospel Priorities Summit.’ Based on feedback from last year’s attendees, we will have more of a conference feel as opposed to primarily a business meeting with some equipping at the front.”
Plenary session topics include:
For complete information about the speakers and topics—as well as details on the Thursday breakout sessions—see www.epc.org/ga2023gospelprioritiessummit.
The first of five business sessions convenes on Tuesday afternoon, June 20, at 3:00 p.m. (Mountain).
Worship service speakers include:
Other gatherings include a wide variety of Networking Lunches each day, as well as meetings specific to World Outreach, women’s ministry, ministry wives, and more.
Early registration runs until May 15, with a registration fee of $295 per person. New this year is that the registration fee includes lunch each day, while on-campus dinners Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are optional at a cost of $30 per person. The $50 early registration discount ends on May 15, when the fee increases to $345 per person. Late registration begins June 15 with a fee of $395 per person.
For complete information and to register, see www.epc.org/ga2023.
Marc de Jeu
Marc de Jeu, Church Health Coordinator and Mission Mobilizer for the Presbytery of the Alleghenies., is the guest for episode 66 of the EPC’s podcast, “In All Things.”
Host Dean Weaver and de Jeu discuss a variety of avenues for church health, including the role of a mentor in the life of the pastor, how healthy churches are those that are outward-focused and relational, how mission catalyzes community, and how church health and church planting intersect under the EPC’s goal for churches of “faithfulness in the neighborhood.”
Episodes are available on a variety of podcast platforms, including Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Spotify, and others. Search “In All Things” on any of these services.
The audio recordings also are available on the EPC website at www.epc.org/inallthings.
The EPC’s Gospel Priorities Team: (from left) Bob Stauffer, Tom Ricks, Gabriel de Guia, and Michael Davis.
Four members of the Office of the General Assembly staff are collaborating as the EPC’s Gospel Priorities Team to shepherd the denominations four strategic priorities of church planting, church health, global movement, and effective biblical leadership. With the formation of the team, the priorities have been officially renamed “Gospel Priorities.”
The quartet, under the leadership of Assistant Stated Clerk Michael Davis, includes Gabriel de Guia, Executive Director of EPC World Outreach; Tom Ricks, National Director of Church Planting; and Bob Stauffer, National Director of Church Health.
“The Gospel Priorities Team was developed from the vision of the EPC,” said Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk. “It is our desire to carry out the mission of God as the people of God. This team will achieve that goal by equipping and resourcing Teaching and Ruling Elders to build the Kingdom of God for the glory of God.”
Davis noted that ongoing collaboration between World Outreach and the Church Planting Team is an example of how the group is fostering teamwork across the various ministry efforts of the EPC.
“The synergy between World Outreach and the Church Planting Team is a growing endeavor to see our global church planters and domestic church planters collaborate on serving immigrant communities,” he said. “And our Church Health and Effective Biblical Leadership teams are collaborating to assess the health, viability, and needs of our churches and pastors through surveys and other assessment tools.”
Ricks agreed that the group’s purpose is to help create a culture that matches the EPC’s mission and vision.
“We are trying to be who we say we are,” he said. “The four Gospel Priorities are how we are going to tackle those opportunities and tell people about Jesus. My heart is that the EPC would habitually be planting churches that become multiplying churches—churches planting churches planting churches.”
Stauffer noted that healthy churches and healthy pastors are closely associated.
“I am really excited about what the Lord is doing in the EPC,” Stauffer said. “Healthy churches lead to healthy pastors, which in turn lead to healthy churches. I look forward to collaborating with Michael, Tom, and Gabriel to develop and implement strategies to reach our communities and the world for Christ.”
“It’s exciting that we are approaching the Gospel Priorities with unprecedented unity,” de Guia said. “We are working together to make each other more effective and stronger as we pursue the Great Commission. It’s motivating to collaborate with my brothers Tom, Bob, and Michael in seeing how we can be of one mind, one spirit, and one purpose.”
Davis added that he is “excited to see the Gospel Priorities Team facilitate a pathway that the family of churches in EPC will flourish to benefit their local context and for generations to come.”
For more information about the EPC’s Gospel Priorities, see www.epc.org/gospelpriorities.
Sean Boone, Pastor of Woke Bridge Community Church in Ferguson, Mo., is the guest for episode 52 of the EPC’s podcast, “In All Things.”
This week, host Dean Weaver and Boone discuss his personal journey from gang life and prison to freedom in Christ, and from an independent, historically Black church to planting a Southern Baptist church, to planting Woke Bridge in the EPC. Boone explains how Woke Bridge Community Church got its name, and his vision for how the gospel can transform Ferguson and grow a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural congregation.
Episodes are available on a variety of podcast platforms, including Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Spotify, and others. Search “In All Things” on any of these services.
The audio recordings also are available on the EPC website at www.epc.org/inallthings.
Donations to the 2022 EPC Thanksgiving Offering will help provide ongoing church planter care by way of a fund to support counseling for planters and spouses.
“We had licensed counselors at this year’s Church Planters Retreat, and their time slots were completely booked,” said Tom Ricks, EPC National Director of Church Planting. “Planting a new church can be lonely and difficult. And while most of our planting pastors have other pastors they can talk to, the challenges specific to church planting are often outside the wheelhouse of pastors of established churches. This is where the Church Planters Care and Counseling Fund comes in. We want to provide this resource throughout the year—not just at our annual October retreat.”
Secure online donations to the Thanksgiving Offering can be made at www.epc.org/donate/thanksgivingoffering. Individuals also can utilize text-to-give by texting “epcthanksgivingoffering” to 50155 from any smart device. Donors who prefer to send a check should put “Thanksgiving Offering (041)” on the memo line and send to:
Evangelical Presbyterian Church
Attn: Finance Office
5850 T.G. Lee Blvd., Suite 510
Orlando, FL 32822
For more information about church planting in the EPC, including how churches can be a Parent, Partner, or Patron of EPC church planting, see www.epc.org/churchplanting.
Michael Flake, planting pastor of Storyhill Church in Davidson, N.C., is the guest for episode 40 of the EPC’s podcast, “In All Things.”
This week, host Dean Weaver and Flake discuss his church planting DNA in the EPC. Flake recounts his childhood at then-church-plant Hope Church in Memphis, followed by involvement with during his college years with EPC church planter Mike Moses at Lake Forest Church in Huntersville, N.C., and culminating after seminary by serving as Lake Forest’s first church planting pastor at the Lake Forest Davidson campus—which localized as Storyhill Church in December 2021. He describes how the EPC’s vision of every local church being a parent, partner, or patron of church planting is embedded in Storyhill, including possibly planting churches in other college towns.
Flake also discusses how he bridges the generation gap as a 38-year-old pastor with the large Davidson College student population that attends Storyhill, and their perspective as Christians in a culture that is increasingly antagonistic toward Christianity.
Episodes are available on a variety of podcast platforms, including Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Spotify, and others. Search “In All Things” on any of these services.
The audio recordings also are available on the EPC website at www.epc.org/inallthings.
Tom Ricks
Tom Ricks, longtime Chairman of the EPC’s Church Planting Team, has been named the EPC’s National Director of Church Planting. This new role at the Office of the General Assembly in Orlando will oversee the denomination’s strategic priority of Church Planting.
“I am thrilled to lead our efforts to continue to build a church planting culture in the EPC in a full-time capacity,” Ricks said. “We have made incredible progress in church planting as a denomination over the past 10 years or so. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us over the next 10 and beyond as we look to inspire every EPC church to be a parent, partner, or patron of church planting.”
A Teaching Elder in the Presbytery of Mid-America, Ricks planted Greentree Community Church in Kirkwood, Mo., in 1999. He served as the congregation’s Senior Pastor until retiring from the role in early 2022. Under his leadership, Greentree planted five daughter churches: The Crossing in Columbia, Mo.; Riverside Church in Webster Groves, Mo.; City Church in St. Louis, Mo.; River City Church in St. Charles, Mo.; and Woke Bridge Community Church in Ferguson, Mo.
“Anyone who knows Tom knows his infectious passion for church planting,” said Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk. “While he has led the EPC’s church planting strategy in a part-time capacity since 2011, I am very excited that he will now be able to devote his full energy to our strategic priority of church planting. Under Tom’s leadership, the EPC will be intentional about evangelism through church planting and developing a pipeline of church planters.”
Prior to planting Greentree, Ricks served in variety of pastoral roles at Central Presbyterian Church in St. Louis from 1990-1998, including Interim Lead Pastor. He also served as Director of Youth Ministries for Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga, Tenn., prior to joining the EPC.
“We have about 50 active church plants in the EPC right now—about eight percent of the total number of EPC churches,” Ricks said. “We would love to see that double in the coming years. Studies have revealed over and over that new churches have some of the highest rates of first-time salvations. Church plants also often make an impact for the gospel in their communities that outpace more established churches. The EPC is well-positioned to capitalize on this, and I am looking forward to hitting the ground running.”
“Over the past several years I have been privileged to serve on the National Church Planting Team under Tom’s leadership,” said Michael Davis, EPC’s Chief Collaborative Officer. “The Lord has blessed him with a heart for church planting in the EPC. It has been a joy to watch.”
A native of St. Louis, Ricks is a graduate of Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Ga., and holds Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis.
He and his wife, Cindy, have been married for 40 years and have three children and seven grandchildren. He is a spirited St. Louis Blues fan, and in his spare time enjoys golf and reading historical biographies.
The congregation of The Avenue Community Church in Memphis, following the service of localization held on March 20, 2022, at Highland Heights Baptist Church in Memphis.
Embracing diversity has fueled the mission and growth of The Avenue Community Church (TACC) in Memphis—leading to achieving local church status in the Presbytery of the Central South in March. Local church status means a congregation is self-governing with its own elected and installed officers, including Ruling Elders and Deacons.
“We know from Scripture that God’s true church is diverse, from every nation, tribe, tongue,” said Lead Pastor Tim Johnson. “So as the local church, we strive to be diverse as well.”
Tim Johnson
Johnson noted that TACC’s goal is to be not only multi-ethnic, but also multi-class and multi-generational.
“We have to seek to reach people from all types of backgrounds,” he said. “Our heart is to do what every other faithful church has been doing since its inception, and that is to be working for the God of the Bible reverently, passionately, and faithfully. There’s a blueprint to the church that the Lord left us and that’s what we want to fulfill. We want to witness, we want to worship, we want to edify the body until He comes back.”
TACC has been focused on the community in and around—and is named for—Summer Avenue since its launch in September 2018. Running east-west on the north side of central Memphis, Summer Avenue is one of the most diverse areas of the city. In fulfillment of Johnson’s vision for ministry in the community, TACC acquired and is renovating the old Highland Heights United Methodist Church property on Summer and hopes to hold its worship services in the historic Gothic structure within the next year or so. TACC has met at a local school for the past three and a half years.
“The new location places us right in between two communities we would love to wed and be a bridge and bring together,” Johnson said. “One has the highest dollar amount per square foot, and the other is a very multiracial, lower-middle-class. We strategically have always prayed to be on the Avenue. Now that we are officially on Summer Avenue, we can truly be The Avenue sitting right in the middle of all the intersection of all the people who are doing business on our streets.”
The Summer Avenue corridor in central Memphis is the focus of The Avenue Community Church’s ministry.
Johnson and TACC are accomplishing the work that Second Presbyterian Church of Memphis envisioned in the pre-pandemic days of 2017, according to Dan Burns, Second’s World Missions Pastor.
“We were dreaming and praying about how to help plant a diverse, multi-ethnic church in one of our ‘edge’ neighborhoods,” Burns explained. “There are many dividing lines in Memphis where economic and racial patterns tend to divide the community. We were praying about launching a church ‘on the line’ that could serve the community on both sides and draw them into a common fellowship.”
Burns said Johnson has both the vision and passion to pursue this vision.
“He sensed the Lord lead him and his core team to Summer Avenue, immediately got engaged in the community through youth work and community connections, and launched The Avenue a year later,” Burns said. “The Lord soon gave them energy, direction, and resources to launch—and they weathered the pandemic and racial tension of 2020 with gospel grace.”
And the gospel ministry of TACC will now reach literally around the world.
“I was overjoyed to see the first couple from The Avenue commissioned at the 2022 EPC General Assembly to serve as World Outreach global workers in the Middle East,” Burns said.
Johnson said the journey to local church status wasn’t as encumbering as he anticipated.
“The administrative commission from Second Presbyterian and the delegates from the Presbytery just really made it seem more relational, and that we are brothers and sisters and that we’re excited about this process,” he said. “It did not feel like an interrogation—like with the hope that you would fail—but was a discovery and birthing of a new relationship and friendship. That was quite refreshing.”
Tim Foster, Senior Pastor of Highland Heights Presbyterian Church in Memphis, prays over Tim Johnson during the service of localization held March 20, 2022.
Seeing God’s hand in the formation of TACC and its success led to a “marvelous day of God’s grace” when TACC was constituted as a local congregation, said Ken Van Kampen, Stated Clerk of the Presbytery of the Central South.
“It was, in one sense, the climax and closing of one chapter and the opening of another chapter in the life of the church,” he said, explaining that the timing of TACC’s localization was evidence of God’s blessing.
“The Lord graciously upheld the congregation during COVID,” Van Kampen said. “It was during this time that the leadership of The Avenue—who were ordained and installed as the initial class of Elders and Deacons on March 20—was raised up and trained. In the midst of this it was clear that the Lord prepared the congregation for localization. It was all the power and grace of the Lord.”
Johnson said he has been humbled to see God work through TACC from the very beginning.
“We believe the nations are literally in our backyard: Black, white, Hispanic, rich, poor. We believe that God has placed us uniquely and strategically in the middle of all those people,” he said. “And we think He has placed us in the middle of all those people to preach the gospel, to preach it faithfully, and to preach it indiscriminately to whomever we encounter.”
by Tim Yarbrough
EPConnection correspondent
Episode 29 of the EPC’s podcast, “In All Things,” features Doug Walker, Pastor of River City Church in DeBary, Fla.
This week, host Dean Weaver and Walker discuss how evangelism is a catalyst to a growing faith, as well as Walker’s journey from the financial services industry to the pastorate. In addition, Walker describes his experience integrating his faith and work in a marketplace ministry, and his expectation as a pastor that the members of the church view themselves as missionaries.
Episodes are available on a variety of podcast platforms, including Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Spotify, and others. Search “In All Things” on any of these services.
The audio recordings also are available on the EPC website at www.epc.org/inallthings.
