Leadership Team

Pat Dirrim

Pat graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in English in 1993. He has been in the residential construction industry for over 15 years after having previously served in the U.S. Army. Pat has taught in the children’s ministry since the inception of Grace Fellowship and prior to that at his two former churches as well. He and his wife, Barbara, have been married since 1995. Together they enjoy their six (soon to be seven) children-Jacob, Rachel, Ethan, Rebekah, Jonah, Ezra, and, coming soon, Pablo Lux Alonso. Pat’s desire is to see the fame of God spread throughout his family, the church, and the community.

Eric Farr

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As a founding member of Grace Fellowship, Eric has a passion to serve the church and see it become what its founder, Jesus Christ, had in mind for it: people coming together in vital fellowship to grow in the grace and knowledge of God and extend His kingdom. Eric is grateful to be able to earn a living doing something he loves — developing software. He is blessed to share his life with his lovely wife Donna, who serves as the Women’s Ministry Director, and two children, Austin and Savannah.

Kevin Hosner

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Kevin Hosner has been involved in church ministry for many years and is now serving on the Leadership Team at Grace. He is incredibly thankful to be a part of this church and wants to see God change people’s lives by the power of the gospel. Kevin and his wonderful wife, Angela, have two boys, Caleb and Joshua.

Dan Miller

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Dan graduated from Word of Life Bible Institute, Word of Life School of Youth Ministries and Philadelphia Biblical University (formerly known as Philadelphia College of Bible). Dan has served in local churches as a Student Pastor for over 14 years. Dan joined the Leadership Team at Grace Fellowship in May of 2004 to give oversight to the teaching, philosophy of ministry, and day-to-day organizational functions of our church. Dan is married to an amazing wife, Vicki, and together they enjoy their six children, Benjamin, David, Alexa, Zachary, Nathan and Anna. The Millers have lived in the Cumming area since 1997 and enjoy playing sports, video games, hiking, camping and sitting around the fire talking with friends.

Ken Rutherford

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Ken Rutherford has been teaching the Bible in some capacity for over twenty-five years. Ken holds a B.A. in Bible with minors in Biblical Languages and Philosophy. He currently teaches one of our adult Bible classes at Grace Fellowship and has extensive experience in student ministry as well as music ministry. In addition, Ken is an avid soccer player, coach, and fan. His love for the sport has opened many doors to the community and has allowed him to run evangelistic soccer camps for the past several years. Ken is currently employed as the Creative Director at the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce. Ken has been married to the lovely Carla since 1983 and has one daughter, Amanda, and two sons, Taylor and Kyle. Ken and Carla have lived in the Atlanta area since 1984.

The Role of the Leadership Team In the Church

We function as an Elder-led church. We use the term “leadership team” to represent the Elders in the organizational structure of the church.

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We view leadership as the backbone of a healthy church. The leadership of Grace Fellowship have the primary function of teaching, caring and guiding, those who attend our church. At Grace Fellowship we have chosen to use the term “Leadership Team” instead of “elder board,” “council,” or designations of rank, such as “senior pastor.”

We do this because these terms carry a cultural baggage that can create definitions based on one’s past church experience rather than Biblical function and quality. We are trying to be free of many of the connotations and nuances that the term “pastor” has had imposed on it due to our church culture.

Who Is The Senior Pastor?

In the early church we see a plurality of leadership expressed within a group of godly men acting as shepherds in the church called pastor/elder/bishop. The New Testament is clear that there is no “seniority” among elders/pastors/bishops and we feel that a title like “senior pastor” actually hinders the Biblical intent of pastoral leadership. How can one man care for, disciple, teach, and equip all the people of a church? Therefore, we have decided to not have a designation of rank among our pastors since it helps us to model the Biblical structure of leadership.

Common Questions About Leadership

We definitely seek to fulfill the intent in the role of elders and, at times, may even refer to individual leadership team members as pastor or elder when we speak of the individual member, regardless of their vocational status. We have chosen to use the term “leadership team” to help counteract the stereotype of modern day understanding in order to not misrepresent the biblical intent of an elder/pastor/bishop.

Position Paper

The Biblical Role of Elders

While there may be many ways to organize leadership within a church, if a church is to provide an environment conducive for the spiritual health of its people then there can be no substitute in fulfilling God’s commands in the qualifications and functions of church leadership.

It is vital to have a clear and uncompromising understanding of how church leadership is to be organized. It is to this end that this position paper has been prepared. (450KB : PDF)