Hello!  My name is Wes Carpenter and I work with the teens and outreach here at EMCC.  The teens are wonderful and they have a heart for outreach.  It is my hope and prayer we further position ourselves to be a ministry whereby teens reach teens in East Marion!  

I grew up in Midland, NC and Jesus became my Lord and Savior when I was ten years old.  I knew then I wanted Him to be my Lord.  It wasn't until I was around 18 and working as a summer camp counselor that it made sense that He had to die for me; that that was the only way to bridge the gap sin had created between me and my Father.  I completed my undergrad studying math and political science at UNC where I met my soon to be wife, Andrea.  I then took almost a year of seminary courses at Gardner Webb University.  Thereafter, I married my love and we later began a family.   We are now the proud parents of three boys ranging from elementary to high school.  She teaches kindergarten and I work FT teaching math and PT ministering to teens.  

My testimony most definitely includes the hardest part of our lives when we lost our daughter at full term and the ensuing heartache and anxiety that swallowed up our lives.  During this time, I hit such a low and life was so out of control, that God taught me in the brokenness.  He taught me that "it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives within me, and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave His life for me."  I was not in control, He was, and the only way forward was to allow Him to live through me as a vessel.  Forget the legalistic control.  Forget the worry.  I had no control.  Life was up to Him.  He began restoring my soul and rebuilding my family.  

I love sharing my testimony, because while it is hard to share, it encourages me and hopefully encourages others that through trial, God reveals Himself and can restore any situation to bring Himself glory as the God of all hope!

To contact Wes, please email: wes@embc.church

I was raised in a Christian home and came to Christ in second grade during children’s worship at our local church. Throughout my childhood and youth, I was very involved in both church and an area-wide youth group where I served and through which I memorized chapters and books of the New Testament. In middle school, I began to drift toward the idol of popularity and prioritize friendships at school. God used a season of being bullied to show me that I cannot put my trust, hope, and identity in things or people of this earth, a lesson I am still learning. While I am a work in progress and inevitably fail, He has graciously drawn me closer to Him throughout my life. Although there are many passages I can no longer recall precisely, God used my childhood of scripture memorization to speak to, convict, encourage, and comfort me throughout my adult life through His word.

I received my Bachelor of Arts in Political Science in 2006 from Malone University in Canton, Ohio. After college, I worked for the executive branch of the federal government in Washington, DC. I received my Juris Doctor in 2013 from the Charleston School of Law in Charleston, SC. After admission to the South Carolina bar, I practiced family law in Charleston, SC.

I have a wonderful husband, Jeremy. We’ve been married since 2008. After struggling with infertility for a period, we were happily blessed with two children: Caroline and Calvin. Our family moved to Marion, NC in 2021 and have been so thankful to be a part of EMCC since that time.

To contact Maggie, please email: maggie@embc.church

During an elementary school lunch hour a man came to my school and proclaimed the reality of our sin and the good news of Jesus Christ. I was convicted that I was a sinner in need of repentance and marvel now looking back at that miracle because that would have been the last thing on my heart apart from the work of the Holy Spirit. Several years later God called me to ministry with the simple words he had spoken to Peter, “Feed my sheep.” Since then I’ve had the privilege of studying at Bible college and seminary and being on staff leading worship in Baptist and Presbyterian churches. His Word continues to affect my philosophy of worship. Andrew and I have been close friends for 14 years and enjoy much unity in ordering services that incorporate both hymns and contemporary worship anthems.

The Lord has given me three incredible children and a wife who is the goodness of the Lord to me in the land of the living. Come join us for worship and before you come pray for a sense of the presence of God.

To contact Jack, please email: ramjack815@gmail.com

I was raised by a very devoted and hard-working single mother and had two very involved grandparents. I made a profession of faith as a very young child and believe that God began a slow work of growth at that time. As a young teenager, I became very involved in my youth group, but in my later teen years began to drift from God and my interest in the things of God began to decrease. At the age of 17, at a time I wasn’t walking with the Lord as I should, I sensed a call on my life that I would one day be involved in ministry, and more specifically that I would be married to a pastor. Fast forward one year, at 18, I re-committed my life to Christ and began an ebb and flow journey of following Him. I met and married Andrew in 2007 and we began dreaming of the day that he and I could work together in full-time ministry. In 2020, I started working at EMBC as the Administrative Assistant, and we were able to see the desires of our heart fulfilled (Psalm 37:4).  

Andrew and I have two wonderful children - Leah, who came to us by the blessing of adoption, and Everly who surprised all of us when we discovered she was coming. Her extremely premature birth in 2017 has forever changed my life and my faith in Christ. At a time of great fear and anger - I cried out to God in my desperation. He was so kind and merciful to meet me in that moment and brought me to this simple, yet profound conclusion -- He is good and He is sovereign; therefore I can trust Him with all things. This truth is the bedrock of my faith and the thing to which I most dearly cling.

To contact Danielle, please email: danielle@embc.church

Growing up I was raised in a churchgoing family. My faith centered on being morally upright - for me, being a Christian was about being "good enough". Because of other insecurities, I also placed most of my identity in being intelligent. Always drawn to the sciences, I eventually came to the belief that the Christian faith was false. As an "intellectual" I convinced myself that I was unable to believe in something equivalent to a complex fairytale - I decided I was agnostic. In time this led to existential despair and deep depression as I realized that the natural consequence of this belief was complete meaninglessness. Providentaily, it was during this time that my eyes were opened to the truth of the Gospel for the first time - it's not about being good/moral enough or smart enough, it's acknowledging that I am in fact neither, and am in desperate need of a savior. A decade and a half later, I still frequently struggle with my faith - I constantly pray "I believe, help my unbelief" (Mark 9:24). The Lord has been merciful to me however, and despite all else that I struggle with, He has given me a deep trust that Jesus provides us with all the answers (and meaning) that we need. 

I am blessed to live here in Marion with an incredible family, my wife Erin and two daughters Julia and Elise. I work here locally as a primary care physician which is an incredible privilege. EMCC has become a wonderful home and a church that I am proud to be a part of and serve in. Despite all our individual differences, struggles, and failures, it is a church body that prioritizes the one who should be the priority above all else - Jesus. 

To contact Paul Fletcher, please email: jpfletcher2015@gmail.com

I was fortunate to have great parents and grandparents that raised me in church. I honestly don’t remember not being in church every week. At the age of 9, I accepted Jesus as my Savior and Lord. When I was 16, a friend asked me to go to the alter with her at a youth event I helped chaperone. Little did she know I needed to go forward as well. You see, there were times I had doubts about my salvation. I left all those at the alter at the Youth Encounter in Illinois where I lived until 2017. 

Music has always been a large part of my worship and I was fortunate to sing with the Victory Singers Gospel Quartet for 13 years. I am so thankful for being raised around music. My mother sang in a gospel quartet as well when I was growing up and I had the pleasure of singing bass in the church choir next to my grandpa. I am so honored to get to play the piano and sing at EMBC.

When I was 26 and a newlywed, East Salem Baptist Church gave me the opportunity to serve as a Deacon. I felt very called to this and have been able to serve as a Deacon at East Salem, North Benton Baptist Church, McLeansboro First General Baptist Church and EMBC. It is such an honor to be installed as an Elder at EMCC in 2021.

In 2016, I went through Created to Be God’s Friend bible study with a friend. God challenged me to spend more time doing things with eternal value. I had given God most of me, but still wanted to be “in charge” of many aspects of my life. I surrendered and asked God to use me. Shortly after this, Robin and I heard of jobs in North Carolina. We had never considered moving East, but prayed and told God to open the door wide, or close it shut. The longer story can be found by searching “Life Journey 101 - Gibbs Move East” on Facebook. In the matter of three and a half months, God gave us jobs, found us a home, sold our house in Illinois, and brought us to EMCC to serve. On Easter Sunday 2017, we walked into EMCC and knew we were HOME! We have not doubted where God brought us a single moment since that Sunday.

To contact Eric, please email: gibbsericduane@gmail.com