Topic: Church & the Ministry

Brian Davis

Brian was born and mostly raised in Detroit. Though he was not born into a Christian family, he came to know the love of Christ in his late teens. Now, he claims the same testimony of Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). In 2010 he married his wife, Sonia, and they have three beautiful children: Spurgeon, Sibbes and Noelle. After completing some pastoral training opportunities, they moved back to Philadelphia in 2014 to help plant Risen Christ Fellowship. Brian pastored there until the summer of 2021, and he now serves at Del Ray Baptist Church.

John Onwuchekwa

John Onwuchekwa, a native of Houston, Texas, was born into a Nigerian home where the gospel was cherished deeply and modeled excellently. After graduating from college, he studied at Dallas Theological Seminary. He’s served at churches in both Texas and Georgia and in 2015 moved into the Historic West End to help plant Cornerstone Church with his best friends. He and his wife, Shawndra, have been married since 2007. They’re eager to see the hope of the gospel restore a sense of family, dignity, and hope to their neighborhood through their local church of ordinary people.

Kempton Turner

Kempton Turner was raised in East St. Louis, Illinois, but has spent most of his life in Houston, Texas. Most recently, he served on the pastoral staff at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for 7 years before becoming the Church Planting Pastoral Resident under the oversight of the elders. Kempton’s prayer and hope is that the Lord would establish a joyful, loving, Christ-magnifying local church in his hometown. Kempton and his childhood sweetheart Caryn have been happily married since 1999 and the Lord has blessed them with four children: Christian, Carysse, Kalia, and Caleb.

Matt Schmucker

Thabiti Anyabwile

Thabiti Anyabwile is the pastor of Anacostia River Church in Washington, D.C. Prior to that, Thabiti served as the pastor of First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman for seven years. He is a native of Lexington, North Carolina. Thabiti holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in psychology from North Carolina State University. He is the author of Captivated: Beholding the Mystery of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection, The Gospel for Muslims: An Encouragement to Share Christ with Confidence, The Decline of African-American Theology, The Life of God in the soul of the Church, Finding Faithful Elders & Deacons, and What is a Healthy Church Member?. He is the happy husband of Kristie and the adoring father of three children. A former high school basketball coach and bookstore owner, he enjoys preaching, reading, sports, and watching sci-fi films.

Ian McConnell

Ian serves as Lead Pastor at Covenant Community Church (Philadelphia, PA). One of Ian’s main shepherding responsibilities at Covenant is the proclamation of the Word. He also serves as Director of Church Planting & Mission for Sovereign Grace Churches promoting and coordinating church planting domestically by working with our Regional Leaders and Regional Church Planting Committees as they assess, equip, and deploy church planters.

Mark Prater

Mark is Executive Director of Sovereign Grace Churches ensuring the successful operation of the Leadership Team through leadership, strategic planning, support, evaluation, and communication and leading using our mission to plant and build churches with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Mark has served as an elder at Covenant Fellowship Church since 2002. In 1996, he helped plant a church where he served as senior pastor until 2002.

Albert Mohler

R. Albert Mohler Jr. serves as the ninth president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr. Mohler is a theologian and an ordained minister, having served as pastor and staff minister of several Southern Baptist churches. He came to the presidency of Southern Seminary from service as editor of The Christian Index, the oldest of the state papers serving the Southern Baptist Convention. Dr. Mohler is a member of Third Avenue Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky. He is the author of The Gathering Storm: Secularism, Culture, and the Church, The Apostles’ Creed: Discovering Authentic Christianity in an Age of Counterfeits, The Prayer that Turns the World Upside Down, We Cannot Be Silent, The Conviction to Lead, He is Not Silent, Culture Shift: Engaging Current Issues with Timeless Truth, and Atheism Remix. He is also the general editor of the new Grace and Truth Study Bible. He is married to Mary, and they have two children, and are the proud grandparents of Benjamin, Henry, and Margaret.

John MacArthur

John MacArthur is the president of The Master’s College and Seminary and featured teacher with Grace to You. In 1969, after graduating from Talbot Theological Seminary, John took the pastorate at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California. The emphasis of his pulpit ministry is the careful study and verse-by-verse exposition of the Bible, with special attention devoted to the historical and grammatical background behind each passage. Since completing his first best-selling book, The Gospel According to Jesus, in 1988, John has written hundreds of other books and study guides, including Our Sufficiency in Christ and The MacArthur New Testament Commentary series. John and his wife, Patricia, live in Southern California and have four married children. They also enjoy the enthusiastic company of their fifteen grandchildren.

Ligon Duncan

Ligon Duncan is Chancellor/CEO of Reformed Theological Seminary, and John E. Richards Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology. Born in Greenville, South Carolina, and reared in a Christian home, he did his studies at Furman University, Greenville, SC (BA); Covenant Theological Seminary, St. Louis (MDiv & MA); and the University of Edinburgh, Scotland (PhD). Ligon and his wife, Anne, have two children. Ligon has edited, written, and contributed to numerous books, most recently including: The Gospel As Center, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, Preaching the Cross, Fear Not: Death and the Afterlife from a Christian Perspective, In My Place Condemned He Stood, and Does Grace Grow Best in Winter?.

Bob Kauflin

Bob Kauflin is director of Sovereign Grace Music. He equips pastors and musicians in the theology and practice of congregational worship and serves as a pastor at Sovereign Grace Church in Louisville, Kentucky. He writes at worshipmatters.com and is author of True Worshipers: Seeking What Matters to God. Bob and his wife, Julie, have six children and a growing number of grandchildren.

Keith Getty

Keith Getty occupies a unique space in the world of music today as a preeminent modern hymn writer. Keith and his wife Kristyn have written hymns that are used increasingly both in contemporary and traditional circles, being included in most modern hymnbooks (with a number of these now listing “Getty” as the most-featured composers), while in the more contemporary church, more than 60 of their songs are featured on top 2,000 CCLI charts between the UK and USA. Keith and Kristyn live between Northern Ireland and Nashville with their daughters, Eliza Joy, Charlotte, and Grace.

Matt Boswell

Matt Boswell is a pastor at Providence Church in Frisco, Texas, and hosts the Doxology & Theology Conference, a biennial conference focused on corporate worship.

Matt Merker

Matt Merker is Director of Creative Resources and Training for Getty Music. Matt has contributed to several modern hymns, including “He Will Hold Me Fast.” He is the author of the book Corporate Worship: The Church Gathers as God's People. Matt and his wife, Erica, are members of Trinity Church and live in Nashville, TN with their two children.

Matt Chandler serves as lead pastor for teaching at The Village Church in Dallas, Texas. He assumed this role in August 2002 after several years of serving on a local church staff and as an itinerant preacher. Matt is involved in church planting around Dallas and across the world through The Village Church and other partnerships such as Acts 29, at which he serves as president. He is the author of The Mingling of Souls, The Explicit Gospel, and Creature of the Word. He and his wife, Lauren, live with their three children in Highland Village, Texas.

Albert Mohler

R. Albert Mohler Jr. serves as the ninth president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr. Mohler is a theologian and an ordained minister, having served as pastor and staff minister of several Southern Baptist churches. He came to the presidency of Southern Seminary from service as editor of The Christian Index, the oldest of the state papers serving the Southern Baptist Convention. Dr. Mohler is a member of Third Avenue Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky. He is the author of The Gathering Storm: Secularism, Culture, and the Church, The Apostles’ Creed: Discovering Authentic Christianity in an Age of Counterfeits, The Prayer that Turns the World Upside Down, We Cannot Be Silent, The Conviction to Lead, He is Not Silent, Culture Shift: Engaging Current Issues with Timeless Truth, and Atheism Remix. He is also the general editor of the new Grace and Truth Study Bible. He is married to Mary, and they have two children, and are the proud grandparents of Benjamin, Henry, and Margaret.

Mark Dever

Mark Dever serves as the senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC. A Duke graduate, Mark holds a M.Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, a Th.M. from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. in Ecclesiastical History from Cambridge University. He is the president of 9Marks and has taught at a number of seminaries. Mark has authored several books and articles, most recently, Compelling Community, Baptist Foundations, The Gospel and Personal Evangelism, What is a Healthy Church?, and Nine Marks of a Healthy Church. He and his wife Connie live and minister on Capitol Hill. They have two adult children.

C.J. Mahaney serves as the Senior Pastor for Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville and is the author of several books, including Living the Cross Centered Life, Humility: True Greatness, Don’t Waste Your Sports, and Sex, Romance and the Glory of God. C.J. and his wife, Carolyn, have three married daughters, one son, and twelve grandchildren. They reside in Louisville, Kentucky but C.J. cheers for his hometown teams the Washington Redskins, Nationals, Wizards, and University of Maryland basketball.

Mark Dever serves as the senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC. A Duke graduate, Mark holds a M.Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, a Th.M. from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. in Ecclesiastical History from Cambridge University. He is the president of 9Marks and has taught at a number of seminaries. Mark has authored several books and articles, most recently, Compelling Community, Baptist Foundations, The Gospel and Personal Evangelism, What is a Healthy Church?, and Nine Marks of a Healthy Church. He and his wife Connie live and minister on Capitol Hill. They have two adult children.

Matt Chandler serves as lead pastor for teaching at The Village Church in Dallas, Texas. He assumed this role in August 2002 after several years of serving on a local church staff and as an itinerant preacher. Matt is involved in church planting around Dallas and across the world through The Village Church and other partnerships such as Acts 29, at which he serves as president. He is the author of The Mingling of Souls, The Explicit Gospel, and Creature of the Word. He and his wife, Lauren, live with their three children in Highland Village, Texas.

Michael Lawrence is a pastor at Hinson Baptist Church in Portland, OR and holds an M.Div. degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a PhD from Cambridge University. Michael is married to his wife, Adrienne, and they have five children.

Jeff serves as a pastor at Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville. As Director of Theology and Training for Sovereign Grace Churches, Jeff is dean of the Pastors College, leads pastoral and theological training, and is responsible for seeing that ordination standards and testing are in place to serve Regional Ordination Committees.

Mike McKinley was raised in suburban Philadelphia. He received a B.A. in Religion and Classics from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and an M.Div from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. In 2004, Mike was brought onto the pastoral staff at Capitol Hill Baptist Church as a church planter. In 2005, he brought a small group of people from CHBC to Guilford Baptist Church in order to help revitalize the church’s ministry. He served as Guilford’s pastor until 2013, when Guilford merged with Sterling Park Baptist Church, where he now serves as Senior Pastor. Mike has been married to Karen since 1997, and they have five beautiful children: Kendall, Knox, Phineas, Ebenezer, and Harper. In his free time, Mike loves to spend time with his family, reading all kinds of books, and daydreaming about the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Eagles.

Russell Moore serves as the eighth president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, the moral and public policy agency of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. A widely-sought cultural commentator, Dr. Moore has been recognized by a number of influential organizations. The Wall Street Journal has called him “vigorous, cheerful, and fiercely articulate” while The Gospel Coalition has referred to him as “one of the most astute ethicists in contemporary evangelicalism.” An ethicist and theologian by background, Dr. Moore is also an ordained Southern Baptist minister and the author of several books including Onward: Engaging the Culture Without Losing the Gospel. A native Mississippian, he and his wife Maria are the parents of five sons.

Mark Dever serves as the senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC. A Duke graduate, Mark holds a M.Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, a Th.M. from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. in Ecclesiastical History from Cambridge University. He is the president of 9Marks and has taught at a number of seminaries. Mark has authored several books and articles, most recently, Compelling Community, Baptist Foundations, The Gospel and Personal Evangelism, What is a Healthy Church?, and Nine Marks of a Healthy Church. He and his wife Connie live and minister on Capitol Hill. They have two adult children.

Thabiti Anyabwile is the pastor of Anacostia River Church in Washington, D.C. Prior to that, Thabiti served as the pastor of First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman for seven years. He is a native of Lexington, North Carolina. Thabiti holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in psychology from North Carolina State University. He is the author of Captivated: Beholding the Mystery of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection, The Gospel for Muslims: An Encouragement to Share Christ with Confidence, The Decline of African-American Theology, The Life of God in the soul of the Church, Finding Faithful Elders & Deacons, and What is a Healthy Church Member?. He is the happy husband of Kristie and the adoring father of three children. A former high school basketball coach and bookstore owner, he enjoys preaching, reading, sports, and watching sci-fi films.

Matt Chandler serves as lead pastor for teaching at The Village Church in Dallas, Texas. He assumed this role in August 2002 after several years of serving on a local church staff and as an itinerant preacher. Matt is involved in church planting around Dallas and across the world through The Village Church and other partnerships such as Acts 29, at which he serves as president. He is the author of The Mingling of Souls, The Explicit Gospel, and Creature of the Word. He and his wife, Lauren, live with their three children in Highland Village, Texas.

C.J. Mahaney serves as the Senior Pastor for Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville and is the author of several books, including Living the Cross Centered Life, Humility: True Greatness, Don’t Waste Your Sports, and Sex, Romance and the Glory of God. C.J. and his wife, Carolyn, have three married daughters, one son, and twelve grandchildren. They reside in Louisville, Kentucky but C.J. cheers for his hometown teams the Washington Redskins, Nationals, Wizards, and University of Maryland basketball.

Tony Carter serves as the Lead Pastor of East Point Church. Tony is married to his beloved, Adriane Carter, and their marriage has bore the fruit of five wonderful children.