Gospel Community Church Providence

Meet Pastor Tim and his wife Brittannie

“There are many different reasons why people pursue church planting. Unfortunately, not all of those reasons are healthy or even godly. Our journey to church planting was one of seeking and discovering God’s will. From the moment I surrendered my life to Jesus I knew that I was headed towards a life of ministry but as time went on I quickly realized that this calling could take many different forms. As I grew in maturity in Christ I did my best to faithfully serve in whatever ministry capacity the Lord had me in. By the time I graduated college I had experienced worship ministry, student ministry, college ministry, camps ministry, and to some degree, counseling ministry. While I found pleasure serving in each of these capacities, it became evident to me as I was graduating that Jesus had more in store for me than any one of those alone.

Seminary was really a journey of discovering what the Lord had planned for me. I knew I wanted more education and I wanted to see how the Lord would use this training to direct and shape my future ministry. As I was pursuing a Master of Divinity I also became heavily involved in my local church and was exposed to many forms of church planting through my job. While everyone around me was talking about planting churches, I wanted to be careful to not jump on the bandwagon simply because everyone else was doing it. In my mind, if the Lord were to call us to plant a church, He would have to make that abundantly clear in His time.

During this season a few very important things happened. First, I met and married my wife, Brittannie. Her passion for ministry as well as sensitivity to the Spirit really helped bring peace to my heart when the time came answer the call.

Second, I became heavily involved in discipleship at my local church through the avenue of Community Groups. It was during this time that I began to realize that my greatest joy came from making disciples and pastoring the group of people that the Lord had entrusted to me. I wasn’t aware of it at the time, but the Lord was using this season to prepare us for church planting.

Third, while my seminary education was helpful, I realized that I needed more on-the-job training before I could think of leading a church plant. Jesus provided this through the form of a two-year residency with my local church focused on exposing me to the various facets of church and pastoral ministry.

Finally, through the leading of the Spirit, the confirmation of the elders, and the support of my wife, we came to the conclusion that if the Lord was calling us to make disciples, church planting was the best way for us to do that.

In September of 2017 my wife and I, along with a small team, moved our lives to Providence, Rhode Island. Our heart’s desire is not to start the “next best thing” in Providence but rather to establish ourselves as missionaries in this city. We long to see the people of Providence come to know and love the Jesus we have all chosen to serve.”

The Gathering is proud to sponsor this church plant in Providence!