Shane and Pam are the founders and lead pastors of The Bend Church. Cookeville natives, they felt God calling them back home and returned to the area after sixteen years leading a thriving church in north Louisiana. They are graduates of Lee University in Cleveland, TN. Pastor Shane is also a sought-after speaker in churches, corporate, and educational environments. His personal ministry website can be found here.
Steve serves as our associate pastor and men’s ministry director, and Kathryn serves as our women’s ministry director. Former Southern Baptist pastors, in addition to their roles at The Bend Church, Steve and Kathryn founded and run Autumn Hope Ministries, which has planted numerous works in Kenya and Liberia. They originally hail from South Carolina.
Adam serves as our worship pastor at The Bend Church. He is completing his master’s degree from SUM Bible College and Theological Seminary and teaches music and voice. Adam, who was born in Tennessee, met his wife Qui, who is completing her master’s degree in clinical social work, in north Louisiana.
Marcus and Alicia serve as the youth pastors of The Bend Church. They possess a passion to reach, teach, and empower the youth of the Upper Cumberland. They bring their considerable ministry experience to us all the way from California.
Jerry and Regina lead our young adult ministry, and Regina serves as our children’s ministry director. They felt the Lord drawing them to The Bend Church and what the Lord is doing here after pastoring in California.
Noah serves as creative pastor and Liz serves as our small groups director as well as Pastor Shane’s assistant. Noah has a background in information technology, live music production, photography, and videography. Liz graduated from Brownsville Revival School of Ministry and served as a missionary in Japan for several years. She is from south Louisiana, Noah is from Dallas, TX, and they met in Hawaii.
Lars and Mareshah serve as our outreach directors at The Bend. They met on the mission field and continued to serve after marrying as missionaries in Africa for several years before returning stateside. They have long been friends of many of our other staff and recently moved to Tennessee to be part of what God is doing in our region.
