Will Stanard

Assistant Pastor

On May 17, many of you had the opportunity to witness and celebrate a significant moment in the life of our church as Will Stanard was officially ordained in the Presbyterian Church in America and called by the Session to serve as Assistant Pastor at CPC.

Ordination in the PCA is a weighty and meaningful process that involves years of preparation, theological study, examination, and discernment by both church leaders and presbytery. Through ordination and the laying on of hands, the church publicly affirms and sets apart a man for ordained pastoral ministry. We are deeply grateful for the hard work, faithfulness, and perseverance Will has demonstrated throughout this process and thankful for the Lord’s call to pastoral ministry in his life.

Many of you have already experienced Will’s ministry firsthand through his leadership in youth ministry, discipleship relationships, teaching, preaching, and shepherding here at CPC. While many aspects of his ministry will continue as before, his ordination and call as Assistant Pastor now allow him to take on additional pastoral responsibilities within the church. These responsibilities include administering the sacraments, officiating weddings and funerals, increased pastoral visitation and shepherding, and more regular preaching and leadership alongside the Session in the spiritual oversight and care of the congregation.

Please join us in congratulating and praying for Will as he steps into this new season of pastoral ministry among us!

Virginia Tillery

Family Ministries Coordinator

As Brandon Ellis shared last Sunday, the Session has created the position of Family Ministries Coordinator and is excited to announce that Virginia Tillery has stepped into this new role!

We wanted to take the opportunity this week to share more about this new role, the heart behind it, and how we hope it will help support and strengthen the life of CPC.

Last year, CPC introduced a new vision statement that defines who we aspire to be as a congregation: warm, pliable, prayerful, and worshipful, a place where people both belong and are sent.

Over the past several months, the Session has been considering how we can continue growing toward that vision in practical ways, particularly through strengthening our family ministries and deepening connection across the life of the church.

During that same time, The Play School experienced a leadership transition as Laura Wilder stepped down as director. Emily Todd, who was previously serving as assistant director, has since stepped into the role of Play School Program Administrator. With this transition, the Session also saw an opportunity to provide additional leadership, vision, and support to help ensure that The Play School continues to flourish as a ministry closely connected to and aligned with the mission and life of CPC.

From those conversations and opportunities, the Session made the decision to create the Family Ministries Coordinator role. At its heart, this role aims to help people move from simply attending CPC to truly belonging, participating, serving, and growing in leadership within the body of Christ. As we continue to grow toward our vision, this role seeks to deepen connection, spiritual growth, and engagement among families, strengthen partnership and communication between ministries, support and encourage volunteers and emerging leaders, and help cultivate a more connected intergenerational church community.

While this role is rooted in relationships, connection, and discipleship, it also includes several practical leadership and support responsibilities, including:

  • Chairing and helping lead both The Play School and children’s ministry committees

  • Helping strengthen communication and partnership between children’s ministry, youth ministry, and school ministries, moving toward a unified goal of family discipleship

  • Designing relational connecting points, gatherings, and family-oriented events that encourage both members and newcomers to CPC to connect more deeply into church life

  • Providing leadership support and mentorship to The Play School Leader and children’s ministry leadership

  • Helping identify, encourage, and equip volunteers and emerging leaders within the church, connecting them to meaningful areas of service within the church body.

While this role works closely with both The Play School and CPC children’s ministry, the Family Ministries Coordinator position is distinct from the day-to-day leadership roles within those ministries and is broader in scope, helping provide connection, support, vision, and continuity across several family-related ministries within the life of our church.

Because this is a newly created role, we also expect that some aspects of it will continue to develop and take shape over time as we learn and grow together in this area of ministry.  

Lastly, we wanted to say that we are incredibly grateful for the ways Virginia’s relational gifts, ministry experience, creativity, leadership, and a long-standing investment in our church and its family ministry communities so naturally align with the vision behind this role.

As part of this transition, we also wanted to note that Virginia will no longer be teaching her preschool class at The Play School. While we know so many children and families will miss her presence in the classroom, this change will allow her to fully devote her time and energy to the broader responsibilities of the Family Ministries Coordinator full-time position. 

We are very blessed in the ways that God continues to guide and provide for CPC, and we are excited to support Virginia as she steps into this new role, beginning June 1!

Virginia can now also be reached at her new email address: cpcministrycoordinator@gmail.com.