About Us
Our Pastor
Josh was born and raised a child of the church in western New York State. He received a Bachelor’s degree in history from Roberts Wesleyan College (Rochester, NY) in 2002, his Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary (NJ) in 2005, and a Certificate of Advanced Theological Studies in Pastoral Leadership from Columbia Theological Seminary (2022).
When he was a student at Princeton Seminary he met his wife, Sommer, who is also a Presbyterian Church (USA) pastor. Josh and Sommer have two children: Cade and Dianna.
Josh’s passions in ministry are preaching, teaching, and studying the culture in order to build bridges across divisions in the local community.
When he is not pastoring or parenting, he fills his time with binge-watching Netflix, praying his Buffalo Bills will win a Super Bowl in his lifetime, reading, and laughing as much as possible.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
GOD
We believe in God, who created the world good and makes everyone equally in God’s image, male and female, of every race and people to live as one community. Nothing in life or death can ultimately separate us from God’s love that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Gen. 1:1—2:25; Matt. 28:20; Rom. 8:38-39; PCUSA Brief Statement of Faith)
THE BIBLE
We believe that Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God, fully revealed the true nature of God, and that the Holy Spirit bears unique and authoritative witness to Jesus through the Bible, the Holy Scriptures, the written Word of God. The Scriptures are not a witness among others, but the witness without parallel. We receive the books of the Old and New Testaments as the word of God by which our faith and obedience are nourished and guided.
(John 1:14; John 14:9; 2 Tim. 3:14-17; PCUSA Confession of 1967)
SALVATION
We believe that we all rebel against God and ignore God’s commandments. Turning from God, we violate the image of God in others and ourselves, accept lies as truth, and exploit neighbor and nature. We deserve God’s condemnation. Yet God acts with justice and mercy to redeem the creation.
In everlasting love, God chose a covenant people to bless all families of the earth. Loving us still, God makes us heirs of the covenant through Christ.
(Rom. 3:23; Gen. 12:1-3; Eph. 2:11-14; PCUSA Brief Statement of Faith)
JESUS
We believe that Jesus was fully human and fully God. Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God: preaching good news to the poor and release to the captives, teaching by word and deed, blessing the children, healing the sick and brokenhearted, eating with outcasts, forgiving sinners, and calling all people to repent and follow him. Unjustly condemned, Jesus was crucified, giving his life for the sins of the world. God raised Jesus from the dead, vindicating his sinless life, breaking the power of sin and evil, and delivering the world from death to eternal life.
(John 1:14; Mark 1:14-15; Luke 4:18-21; Mark 10:14; Matt. 9:10-13; Matt. 27:32-50; Col. 1:15-20; PCUSA Brief Statement of Faith)
THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that the Holy Spirit gives and renews life, justifies us by grace through faith, sets us free to accept ourselves and to love God and our neighbors, and binds us together with all Christians in the one body of Christ, the Church. The Spirit guides our faith and life through Scripture, claims us in the waters of baptism, feeds us with the bread of life and cup of salvation in the Lord’s Supper, and calls women and men to all ministries of the Church. In our broken and fearful world, the Spirit gives us courage to pray without ceasing, to witness among all people to Christ as Lord and Savior, to hear the voices of peoples long silence, and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace. Empowered by the Spirit, we strive to serve Christ in the Church and in our individual lives.
(Eph. 2:4-10; 1 Cor. 12:12-27; 1 Thess. 5:16-18; Matt. 28:18-20; PCUSA Brief Statement of Faith)
