In All Things

Episode 43: Church polity and governance with Bob Garment

Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk, welcomes Bob Garment, longtime Stated Clerk of the Presbytery of Florida and the Caribbean and the EPC’s new Chief Parliamentarian.

The two discuss Garment’s path to the EPC from his former denomination, including how a newsletter from an EPC church in Louisiana started the process.

Garment also describes how his relationship with Howard Shockley, longtime Stated Clerk of the Presbytery of the Mid-Atlantic, resulted in his own service for more than 30 years as Stated Clerk of the Presbytery of Florida and the Caribbean, and how polity serves the mission of the church.

Episode 42: Multicultural Spanish-language ministry with Luis Quiñones

Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk, welcomes Luis Quiñones, pastor of Iglesia Presbiteriana Evangélica Nación Santa (Holy Nation Evangelical Presbyterian Church) in Haines City, Florida.

The two discuss Quiñones’ spiritual journey from Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, to serving as pastor in Philadelphia, Pa., to planting Nación Santa in Central Florida, and how prayer in an EPC Presbytery of Florida and the Caribbean meeting solidified the decision to transfer the church to the EPC from its previous denomination. Quiñones also describes how Nación Santa lives out Revelation 7:9 as a Spanish-language congregation but with multiple Latin nationalities and cultures in its membership.

Episode 41: Wholistic church ministry, integrating faith and work with Case Thorp

Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk, welcomes Case Thorp, Senior Associate Pastor of Evangelism for First Presbyterian Church of Orlando, Florida (FPCO). The two discuss Thorp’s spiritual roots in evangelistic camp meetings in Georgia, FPCO’s church planting efforts, and his ministry in Orlando through missions, evangelism, and leadership of The Collaborative—designed to help people bridge the secular-sacred divide by integrating their faith and their work.

Thorp also previews the World Reformed Fellowship’s sixth General Assembly, to be held October 27-30 at FPCO, and The Collaborative’s podcast, “Nuance,” launching in mid-September.

Episode 40: Church planting DNA in the EPC with Michael Flake

Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk, welcomes Michael Flake, pastor of Storyhill Church in Davidson, North Carolina.

The two discuss Flake’s church planting DNA in the EPC, including his childhood at then-church-plant Hope Church in Memphis, followed by involvement 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. Flake 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.

Episode 39: Leadership involvement with Enid Flores

Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk, welcomes Enid Flores, Ruling Elder for Iglesia Presbiteriana Westminster in Bayamón, Puerto Rico.

The two discuss Flores’ involvement in the EPC’s Next Generation Ministries Council and Revelation 7:9 Task Force, as well as her recent service as Moderator of the Presbytery of Florida and Caribbean. Flores also describes her vision for developing pathways of service for younger leaders in the denomination, as well as her desire that every EPC church member would be engaged in the work of the larger Church.

Episode 38: EPC finances with Pat Coelho

Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk, welcomes Patrick Coelho, the EPC’s Chief Financial Officer.

The two discuss Coelho’s upbringing as a first-generation American and his role as CFO of the denomination. Coelho also explains how he serves as a resource for EPC churches, including how the EPC set up online giving for churches at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and his leadership of the annual gathering for EPC Executive Pastors and church administrators. In addition, he describes the EPC’s fiscal year, annual financial audit, and the recently approved change in funding formula from Per Member Asking (PMA) to Percentage of Income (POI).

Episode 37: EduNations and the EPC of Sierra Leone with Samuel Sesay

Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk, welcomes Samuel Sesay, missionary evangelist with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Sierra Leone and President of EduNations. The two discuss Sesay’s journey to faith from a Muslim background within the syncretic religious environment of Sierra Leone. Sesay also describes the mission and vision of EduNations, which operates 15 Christian schools with more than 3,500 students in predominantly Muslim villages in the West African country, as well as how the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Sierra Leone—which has witnessed more than 1,000 baptisms in the past eight years—was birthed from the ministry of EduNations.

Episode 36: “Purposeful Pain: What Your Troubles Achieve” with Bryn MacPhail

Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk, welcomes Bryn MacPhail, Senior Pastor of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Kirk in Nassau, Bahamas, and author of Purposeful Pain: What Your Troubles Achieve. The two discuss how God uses suffering to make believers more like Jesus, and how repeated pain and suffering—unlike manual labor that develops strength and durability—results in a heavy burden that only being yoked to Christ can relieve.

Episode 35: “The Apostate: My Search for Truth” with Mark Christian

Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk, welcomes Mark Christian, member of the EPC’s Covenant Presbyterian Church in Omaha, Nebraska, and author of The Apostate: My Search for Truth. The two discuss Christian’s upbringing in Egypt in a family of the Muslim Brotherhood, becoming an imam at age 12, and how a journey of questioning the claims of Mohamed for a deeper understanding of Islam resulted in a failed attempt on his life and ultimately to faith in Christ.

Episode 34: Pastor and spouse care with Jim and Shari Hobby

Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk, welcomes Jim and Shari Hobby, facilitators of the House of Gladness in Thomasville, Ga. The Hobbys—both of whom are ordained in the Anglican Church in North America—were the guest speakers for the EPC’s 2021-22 pastor/spouse retreats. The three discuss how the Psalm 13 passage they taught from at the pastor/spouse retreats helps those in ministry walk through—but not stay too long in—the process of lament so they can look to and embrace hope. The Hobbys also describe their House of Gladness ministry and the importance of pastors and spouses connecting with other pastors and spouses.