STAFF
Our Leadership Vision for Trinity Fellowship Church
Trinity Fellowship is a church with a community of servant leaders, not a church based on the leadership of only one or two people. The vision and direction are fleshed out by the Elder Team (elders and lead pastor), as they seek to follow the leadership of Jesus Christ. But the church has many servant leaders (small group leaders, children ministry volunteers, worship team, etc...) who work together to grow and guide the church. The body works together, each member serving out of their passions and gifts, in order to build a healthy, healing, alive church family.
The role of the elders and pastors is to "equip and encourage each member to serve" (Ephesians 4:12) and lead as God has gifted them, so that our church body "grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work" (Ephesians 4:16).
Lead Pastor - Dodd Drake
Our Lead Pastor is Dodd Drake. He works with the elder team to lead and shepherd the church. His greatest joy, besides Jesus Christ, is his wife of 20 years, Becky, and their three children; Aubrey (17), Austin (14), and Brennan (12).
Dodd has made North Carolina his home for 16 years, the past 12 in Hickory. He is originally from Texas, and a graduate of Texas A&M in 1984. He served on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ for 14 years (1984-1998), the majority of that time being a missionary and shepherd to college students.
He is a 1993 graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary, and became a pastor in 1998. Dodd and Becky, with the steering team, launched Trinity Fellowship in the summer of 2004.
Dodd's heartbeat is to lead people into the presence of Jesus Christ, where they will never be the same. He is passionate about creating a place where people genuinely experience intimacy with God, and find Him as their all-satisfying, all-glorious treasure. All else that he and the church seeks to accomplish---building an authentic and loving community; equipping people to make a difference by releasing their gifts and passions; experiencing real life-change as we wholeheartedly follow Jesus; intentionally loving those outside faith in Christ and leading them to a growing relationship with Christ--he seeks to do out of an overflow of a love relationship with God.
His hobbies include hanging out with his family, fly fishing, kayaking, camping, hiking, being in the mountains, and reading. His three favorite books are DESIRING GOD by John Piper, PURSUIT OF GOD by A.W. Tozer, and ABBA'S CHLD by Brennan Manning. His favorite authors, besides the previously mentioned, are Larry Crabb, Henri Nowen, Richard Foster, J.I. Packer, and Jan Karen (on the lighter side...enjoys the Mitford series). These are the ones he goes back to over and over.
Worship Leader - Matt Taylor
Matt Taylor has been our Worship Leader since the summer of 2008. His desire is to use what God has given him in order to help Trinity continue to transform lives for Christ in his hometown. Matt is a graduate of Gardner-Webb University, where he completed his degree in Communications. Although not his major, it was on this small college campus where he began to actively pursue his calling to write and perform music. Matt began learning how to play guitar for the purpose of leading worship for on-campus ministries and his hometown youth group. From there, he went on to start the band, "Evoka", in which he still performs today.Matt married his wife, Katie, in the summer of 2007 and together, they look forward to serving Christ through the outreach of Trinity Fellowship.
Children's Director and Administrative Assistant- Elizabeth Alexander
Our Children's Director is Elizabeth Alexander. She and her husband Jeffery grew up in Charlotte. She is a 2000 graduate of Charlotte Christian School and a 2003 graduate of Lee University with a BA in Political Science and a minor in Religion. She and Jeffery relocated to Hickory in July of 2008 seeking a quieter, smaller town to raise their 2 children; Lily Grace (3) and Tripp (2). In addition to being the Children's Director here at Trinity, Elizabeth also teaches preschool in a 2 year old class two days a week.
Her desire as a Mom and a Children's Director is that "my children and any children around me would fall in love with the Lord as I have." Elizabeth sees the role of the church as coming alongside, supporting, and encouraging the parents as the shepherds and disciple-makers of their kids. Proverbs 22:6 "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." She is looking forward to further developing Trinity's time of ministry to our children in ways that turn their hearts toward God. She firmly believes that the children are the most important aspect of the community and family of Trinity Fellowship and is so excited to see them grow as they encourage their family to grow as well.
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