Elders

The terms elder, pastor, and bishop all describe the same role in the church.  Elder describes the office, whereas pastor and bishop describe functions of the office.  The term pastor literally means to shepherd or feed.  The term bishop means to oversee.  All qualified Elders must be able both to feed (teach) and lead (oversee) the church (1 Pet 5:1-4; Acts 20:17,28; 1 Tim 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9).  Some are specially gifted as pastor/teachers and called vocationally to devote their lives to the preaching and teaching ministry (Eph 4:11-13), but are co-equal within a plurality of elders.

GTCC currently has the following three elders:

RICK HENSLEY

Rick Hensley graduated from Talbot School of Theology, out of Biola University, in December, 2000.  He served two years as an Assistant Pastor with weekly preaching responsibilities and six years filling the role of Senior Pastor in the same church, before starting GTCC.  Rick has served as Lead Pastor at GTCC since July, 2009.  He is married to Kari, and they have been blessed with ten children.  Rick has enjoyed several trips to Zambia, Africa, to teach theology at a Bible College he and others have been involved in building.  He also has the privilege of teaching a class on Biblical Worldview at Wilmington University in Dover, DE. He has served as a Pastor/Teacher, even before starting GTCC, since January of 2001.

CHUCK PUSEY

Chuck Pusey graduated from William Penn High School in New Castle, Delaware in 1968 and attended Delaware Technical and Community College. He also served in the Delaware Air National Guard for six years. Chuck has served as a children’s Sunday school teacher for several years in his previous church. He also served as an Elder for six years, a worship team member and in the choir in the same church. Chuck has been a part of GTCC from the time that the doors opened in 2009. He has been married to Mary since 1995 and between them they have four sons and eight grandchildren. Chuck has also been on several short term mission trips to Zambia, Africa to share the Gospel in schools in Lusaka and throughout the surrounding areas and he also participated in several building projects over the years. Chuck has served as a Deacon for seven years at GTCC and also as a worship team leader. Chuck was nominated for Elder by Pastor Rick and confirmed by the congregation in 2017.

LEROY DEMAREST

LeRoy Demarest graduated from Wesley College in 2013. He works as an environmental scientist, remediating groundwater. He also teaches a variety of science courses and a critical thinking course for Wilmington University in Dover, DE and for Grand Canyon University. He is married to Meg and they have four wonderful children. He was saved by grace as a preteen and served as a deacon for three years before serving as an Elder in the May of 2018. He loves reading an array of random books, stumbling down (aka running) the road and occasionally digging something out of his weedy garden.