Grace Community Fellowship celebrated God’s faithfulness by welcoming Andrew J. Lewis as their new lead pastor in Hillsboro, Kansas last month. Andrew (AJ) brings many years of experience as a youth pastor and as an associate pastor, along with a passion to spread the good news of Jesus Christ to Hillsboro and Marion Counties. “Over half the people in these small towns don’t attend church anywhere,” AJ says. “We get to be part of a church that’s pursuing people.”
Originally from northern Ohio, AJ and his family stepped out in faith along with his family to apply for the lead pastor position. Since then, he has connected with and received much encouragement from the elder team at Grace. Jason Unruh, Elder, said God brought clarity about AJ just when the team needed it. Two very capable candidates were being considered which made it challenging to discern who to choose. Another elder told Jason, “I bet God will show us which one it is.” The next day, the other candidate removed his name from consideration and AJ was chosen. “It was cool to see that God made the decision,” Jason says.
After the previous lead pastor stepped away in March 2023, Jason witnessed God’s faithfulness as people at Grace stepped up to help. Fifteen to twenty individuals within the church served to fill the many gaps, from a church secretary picking up more administrative tasks to someone coming out of retirement for volunteer support in the office.
AJ’s first Sunday as lead pastor was February 11th. “The people of Grace Community Fellowship are a gracious, gracious people,” he says. He described an excitement amongst the church body and was greatly encouraged.
