How did you become the pastor of Praise Community Church?
I grew up in the United Methodist church, attended Asbury Seminary, and was planning to be a United Methodist pastor, but I felt the Lord tell me not to do that when I was 25. A nearby congregation, the York Church of God [now Praise Community], was looking for a youth pastor; I applied and got the position.
In 2009, it became known that the senior pastor had committed adultery. I had been there for four years. Rodney Jeffords was the state overseer of Pennsylvania at the time. He came to our elders’ meeting and asked me who I was. I said I was the youth pastor. He asked, “Are you filled with the Holy Spirit?” and I said no. He said, “You will be in one month.”
Within a month, a buddy of mine prayed for me at my house, and I was filled with the Holy Spirit. Bishop Jeffords was waiting for that to happen; he then appointed me as the senior pastor.
The former pastor committed suicide, and we went from a church of about 400 people to about 150. We were left with a group of young people from the church who were my age. The giving was absurdly low; we were getting ready to shut the doors because we had too many bills.
One day, the church treasurer, Stan Yost, came to me and said, “I’ve been thinking about our financial situation. What if you began to give away a certain percentage each month? And if we’re in the black, let’s give away another percent.” We started doing that, and over the course of two years, we reached 30 percent of the total going out, and we’ve never lacked since.
How do you decide where the 30 percent goes?
We give to people we know personally who have goals and are doing something. We want transparency and to maintain a relationship [with them]. There are probably about 30 ministries we give to, starting with the Church of God.
Tell about a couple of those ministries.
New Life for Girls in Dover takes in women who have been abused, been on drugs, and have made poor choices. They have four feeder centers across the nation. Those women who are serious enough will come to Pennsylvania for one year and get nonstop Jesus. The presence of God on that campus is beautiful. Those women are set apart. Miracles happen there.
One girl had snorted gasoline fumes until she completely destroyed the mucus membranes in her nose. We laid hands on her and prayed. She didn’t feel anything happen, but that night, when she went to bed, she reached for her tool to clean her nose out and decided not to. She woke up the next morning and blew her nose for the first time in a decade!
A few ministries come out of our own house. One of them is Faith Like Birds. It’s a conference-based ministry that reaches young people and brings them to the altars to be baptized in the Spirit. I’ve been friends with the founder since I was 19; he’s the one who laid hands on me when I received the Spirit.
Please explain your church’s “Ministry Room.”
During COVID, there was dissatisfaction. People were saying, “We’re not going back to normal,” and I prayed, Lord, if You’re really doing something different, I’d like to know. We had altar calls, but it seemed there was no time for God to minister during the service.
We are in a former school building, with a cafeteria seating about 350 and a nice-sized stage. There was one door in and one door out. I started thinking: What if this room were divided into small sections, with ministers and a host who helped people connect with the right person? So, we did this.
Our prayer teams began praying for words of knowledge. Every Sunday, a few words of knowledge are given on medical or spiritual conditions, and we read them after the first song during worship. We say, “If any of this is going on in your life or if you have anything else going on that you want prayer for, go to the Ministry Room.” We have about eight ministers in those cubbies, making it feel private, and they will minister to anyone with a need. We have testimonies every week, and we share one testimony every Sunday to encourage people to go there for prayer.
It’s just taking the “altar,” putting it in a room, and making sure the people feel loved. If they are going to be vulnerable enough to come forward for prayer, we want to make sure we handle them with care.
How do you equip those Ministry Room leaders?
They have to attend our church for a year. We have certain training sessions and videos to watch. They’re also paired with somebody for six months.
One of our standards is that we “see in part and know in part” (see 1 Corinthians 13:9). It’s about humility and making sure a person feels cared for. If someone goes back there and isn’t healed immediately, they will still walk away and say, “I’m so glad I came here because I feel so loved.”
What is Helping Hands?
Helping Hands was originally a ministry that fed the homeless on Saturdays and Sundays, when the homeless shelters don’t feed them. We came alongside Helping Hands and took over their Sundays. On Sunday mornings, we make 150 bag lunches. A volunteer team makes lunches with turkey sandwiches, apples, bottles of water, and extra sandwiches. Six volunteers set up tables and hand out lunches to the homeless. They know where we are and where to meet us.
We were able to give out 100 sleeping bags this winter, which were so needed. I’m so glad God put that on our hearts. We try to make sure we’re representing the full Gospel.
How has your pastoral ministry developed?
In the beginning, we were so spiritually focused that our main goal was to meet God in our meetings. And now, God does show up, but we want to make sure we show up practically for this community. It’s challenging. We want those people who work 40 hours a week to take it home.
“Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21) is your church’s theme verse. How did that come about?
When I was younger, I was reading the parable of the minas (Luke 19:11-27), and the fear of the Lord fell upon me. I wondered why this was never preached in church. I knew I never wanted to be that “wicked servant” (v. 22). I prefer to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” It’s not a phrase that says you’re saved; it’s a phrase that says you did a good job.
“Well done” is obedience; “good” is our relationship with God, which shapes our character; “faithful” is stewardship; and “servant” is humility.
Testify about someone who has been impacted by your church’s various ministries.
A.J. and Jess Dixon have always been in the Church of God. They got married when they were young. They were already at the church when I got here. I was 25, and they were, too. They have three kids. She’s a counselor, he’s an electrician. They’ve taken mission trips to Africa, and out of the man’s passion for bikes, they have created a ministry called “Zangi Bikes.” Every year, they fly 300 bikes to rural Kenya and give them to pastors, so they have a mode of transportation. The Dixons have so much on their plate—they both own businesses and have three kids—yet they run their own nonprofit, giving their lives to ensure pastors have transportation.
What else would you like to say?
The real goal of a pastor is not to do ministry, but to equip people to do ministry. I believe that if you, as a pastor, decide that you’re going to make sure you’re doing as little ministry as possible and as much equipping as possible, that’s the kind of church where God is going to send people.