
Bear Creek Church is led and overseen by a plurality of elders – what we believe to be the biblical model given to us in God’s Word. Biblically speaking the titles of “pastor” and “elder” are the same, and BCC only makes a distinction to communicate who is on staff (pastors) and who is not (elders), while maintaining that all are (biblically speaking) elders, and all are accountable to the elders as a whole. We use the title of “preaching pastor” simply to communicate which elder is responsible for this area of ministry. This is not intended to communicate a CEO-style of leadership, as we hold to the biblical model of a church being led by the elders.
According to the New Testament, elders are responsible for the primary leadership and oversight of a church. The function and role of an elder is well summarized by Alexander Strauch in his book Biblical Eldership: “Elders lead the church [1 Tim 5:17; Titus 1:7; 1 Peter 5:1–2], teach and preach the Word [1 Timothy 3:2; 2 Timothy 4:2; Titus 1:9], protect the church from false teachers [Acts 20:17, 28–31], exhort and admonish the saints in sound doctrine [1 Timothy 4:13; 2 Timothy 3:13–17; Titus 1:9], visit the sick and pray [James 5:14; Acts 6:4], and judge doctrinal issues [Acts 15:6]. In biblical terminology, elders shepherd, oversee, lead, and care for the local church” (16).
Pastor Brian Phelps – Pastor of preaching, pastorbrian@bearcreekchurch.org
Pastor Bill Pritchett – Administration and counseling, pastorbill@bearcreekchurch.org
Jim Cartwright – pastorjim@bearcreekchurch.org
Steve Murphy – eldersteve@bearcreekchurch.org
Tom Eastwold
Andrew Gettman
Ron Green
Shawn Herberholz
Justin Knight
Gabe Morgan
Jim Servoss