Our Staff

Joe is the founding pastor of The Message Church. With many years experience in ministry, he also has many years experience working in the “real world” that most of us live in. God has given him a vision and a passion for the church in southeastern North Carolina, for helping people meet Jesus and for helping them create a vibrant, powerful faith that has practical application in our daily lives.

He is the don quixotic founder of Gospel for Brazil and takes multiple trips yearly into the desert northeast where he loves to hug on children living in extreme poverty, train pastors and layworkers and demonstrate the power of Jesus to those without hope. He is married to his queen, Arimar, has two married daughters, a married son freshly out of the military and eight grandchildren.

Joe’s blog, Ruminations, offers an unfiltered presentation of his thoughts about life, church, Jesus and just about anything else that flies across his radar.

Paul is an attorney who has been practicing law for 30 years (yes, he’s that old), but is more fully occupied with the greatest adventure of life to be a servant of God. With Pastor Joe, Paul and his wife, Sandy, have founded The Message Church to reach hurting and broken people who need a savior, just as they do. Paul’s heart is for people to find more than eternal security in Jesus, but also to find intimacy with God that empowers them with the authority of Heaven against which neither the gates of hell nor the strain of this broken world shall prevail.

Paul and Sandy have three grown children (yes, they’re that old) – Josh, Taylor and Peyton – and enjoy living at the beach because it cuts down on travel time for vacations. Paul is a member of the board of directors of Gospel for Brazil and has accompanied Pastor Joe on trips to northeast Brazil. Paul loves playing music for God and plays guitar, keyboards and bass guitar with The Message’s worship team.

Jonathan is passionate about two things – his relationship with Jesus Christ and His lovely wife, Kristie. He met his bride at Oral Roberts University where they both served on the Missions and Outreach Staff. Jonathan believes that winning souls for Jesus and seeing people live successful Christian lives is his divine assignment on earth.

He earned a Master’s Degree in Divinity from Oral Roberts University in 2007. He was a Regional Coordinator over the continent of Africa and oversaw the training, preparation and logistics of many mission teams being sent to Africa and other continents. He has led mission teams to Uganda, Togo, Panama, Honduras and trained in Juarez multiple times. Jonathan has served many church ministerial staff positions and has spent the last 10 years preaching the Gospel across the nation and around the globe.

Jonathan also holds a degree in Business Administration from Dowling College in Long Island, NY and completed the Basic Law Enforcement Training Academy and an Advanced Law Enforcement Academy within the State of North Carolina.

Josh is a recent transplant from New York City. His passion for music is contagious and his skills with an instrument are astounding. As one of the newest, and youngest, staff members at The Message, he hopes to bring a fresh outlook to the ministry through music. His heart and devotion to worship has put a certain electricity in the air that we can’t quite put our finger one. But, spend one Sunday worshipping with us at The message and you’ll know exactly what we’re talking about!

Shoot him an email via this website on how to be a part of the worship team.

Sandy is the proverbial “jack of all trades,” however, unlike the adage of being master of none, she is master of them all! Sandy’s heart overflows with hope and help. She is the perfect fit as our liaison with the community, constantly searching out ways The Message can serve and assist.

Married to her high school sweetheart, Paul, she juggles being mom to three grown kids, wife, volunteer at Phoenix Ministries and friend to scores of folks. It is a constant topic of amazement to all at how she accomplishes all that she does.

Barbara is lover of children. Kids see her coming and instantly light up.

Her interest in, and love of, children drive her to provide the absolute best learning environment that children can possibly encounter. She is constantly searching, researching and talking about ways to better and more effectively stimulate children to reach their potential and encounter a real Jesus who has significance for their lives.

Married to Charlie, they have three children and one new grand baby that she loves to cuddle.

Bruce is on our leadership team.

More bio to come…

Kevin is on our leadership team.

More bio (and photo) to come…