In All Things

Episode 46: Small church and rural church ministry with Kent Mathews

Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk, continues his discussion with Kent Mathews, President and Academic Dean of Heartland Theological Seminary in Kansas City and Director of the EPC’s Mentored Apprenticeship Program for seminary students.

In the second of a two-part conversation, the two discuss strategies and resources for preparing pastors to serve in small churches and rural churches, including how Commissioned Pastors and the EPC’s CEEP (Candidates Educational Equivalency Program) serve the church by offering a pathway to ordination for prospective ministers who do not have an MDiv degree.

Episode 45: Theological education, rural church pastor pipeline with Kent Mathews

Dean Weaver, EPC Stated Clerk, welcomes Kent Mathews, President and Academic Dean of Heartland Theological Seminary in Kansas City and Director of the EPC’s Mentored Apprenticeship Program for seminary students.

The two discuss the challenges and opportunities in preparing people for vocational ministry, and how Heartland Seminary and the EPC Mentored Apprenticeship Program combine rigorous academic preparation with practical, mentor-partnered application.

Mathews also describes the need to develop a pipeline of ordination candidates for ministry in rural churches—including the benefits of serving in rural communities—and how small churches can be better equipped for fostering community.

Episode 44: EPC churches in Memphis respond to tragedies

EPC Stated Clerk Dean Weaver and Assistant Stated Clerk Michael Davis discuss a week of tragedy and grief in Davis’s home city of Memphis, Tenn., following the murder of Eliza Fletcher and a series of shootings in the days following. The two also reflect on the commitment of EPC churches in the city to continue to proclaim the gospel in their community.

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.