Speakers
Walt Alexander
Walt & his wife Kim have lived in East Tennessee for over 20 years. They—along with their 3 children moved to Athens in 2018 to help start Trinity Grace Church, where Walt serves as the lead pastor. Walt enjoys reading, hiking, backpacking, and all things coffee.
Jace Hudson
Jace graduated from the Sovereign Grace Churches Pastors College in 2010. He served on staff at Covenant Fellowship Church in the Philadelphia area until in 2012 when he joined the pastoral team of Covenant of Grace Church, where he serves as lead pastor. He and his wife, Jenny, reside with their six children in West Akron, OH.
Jon Payne
Jon has served in pastoral ministry in Sovereign Grace for the last 19 years. In 2013, he and his family moved to the suburbs of Austin, Texas to plant Redemption Hill Church where he serves as the senior pastor. He also serves on the Sovereign Grace Churches Leadership Team as the Ministry Director. In this role, he provides care for regional leaders in the U.S., serves and equips pastoral teams, and supports the leaders of multiple ministries within Sovereign Grace. Jon also hosts the Ordinary Pastor Podcast for Sovereign Grace and oversees www.sgcpastors.com.
Mark Prater
Mark Prater has served as an elder at Covenant Fellowship Church since 2002. In 1996, he led a church-planting team to Pittsburgh in order to begin Providence Church, where he served as senior pastor until 2002. Mark is the Executive Director of Sovereign Grace Churches. Mark and his wife, Jill, have three adult daughters and ten grandchildren. They make their home in West Chester. Mark loves spending time with his wife Jill and they love getting as much time as they can with their grandkids, especially at the beach.
CJ Mahaney
C.J. serves as the Senior Pastor for Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville. He has authored several books, some of which you'll find on our resources page. C.J. and his wife, Carolyn, have three married daughters, one married son, and thirteen grandchildren. C.J. cheers for The Washington Football Team, Washington Nationals, and University of Maryland basketball, and he cheers against the Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees, and Duke basketball.
Jared Mellinger
Jared Mellinger is the Senior Pastor of Covenant Fellowship Church in Glen Mills, PA, and he serves on the Leadership Team for Sovereign Grace Churches. He resides in Glen Mills, PA with his wife Meghan and their six children. He enjoys reading, rollerblading, poetry, drinking coffee, building fires, and listening to Josh Garrels.
Josh Blount
Josh Blount is an associate pastor at Living Faith Church in Franklin, WV. He and his wife Anna have three children. Josh is a graduate of the Sovereign Grace Pastor’s College, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div, 2017), and Westminster Theological Seminary (PhD, 2023).
Dave Taylor
Dave Taylor graduated from the Sovereign Grace Pastors College in 2001 and joined the Pastoral Team of Christchurch, UK until June 2010 when he moved to Sydney, Australia with his family, to plant Sovereign Grace Church, where he continues to serve as Lead Pastor. Dave serves on the Sovereign Grace Churches Leadership Team (Global) as Director of Global Missions. He lives in West Pennant Hills with his wife, Emma, and their five children, and spends his free time enjoying NRL, SuperCoach, McDonalds, fine wines & anything that tastes like lollies.
Jeff Purswell
Jeff Purswell is the Director of Theology and Training for Sovereign Grace Churches and the dean of the Sovereign Grace Pastors College. He also serves as an elder at Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville. He and his wife Julie have two sons, a daughter-in-law, and the world’s most adorable grandson.
Ricky Alcantar
Ricky has primary responsibility of overseeing vision, preaching and leadership of the pastoral team at Cross of Grace Church in El Paso, TX. He has served the church full time since 2010. He's married to Jenn and has three amazing sons. Ricky loves stories in every form, the craft of writing, and exploring his city. His greatest achievement is probably winning the "Adulting" award at the RELAY 2024 conference.
Joel Shorey
Joel Shorey serves as the lead pastor at Redeemer Fellowship where his primary pastoral responsibilities include preaching, leading the pastoral team, developing new leaders, and finding ways to serve the community. Joel grew up in Toms River, NJ, went to school at Washington Bible College in Latham, Maryland and pastored at Covenant Fellowship Church from 2005-2018. Joel and his wife Ashley have four children.