Lead Pastor / Elder / ReGeneration Director

Andrew is no stranger to Mt. Juliet, having grown up here as a rambunctious young lad traipsing (that is, trespassing) like Huckleberry Finn from fishing hole to fishing hole. After graduating from high school, he embarked upon a grand college tour—that is, he enrolled and transferred between seven different schools, a standing Guinness World Record for someone who doesn't have an MD or PhD after their name. Nevertheless, he eventually finished his undergraduate studies and found his academic stride in grad school, earning a Master of Science in Psychological Human Development and Religion from Vanderbilt University. 

After spending a dozen years as an associate pastor in Crossville, Tennessee, Andrew hit the road with an up-and-coming technology company called Media Shout, crisscrossing the nation running media on various major tours like WorshipTogether, DCLA, Youth Specialties, and events with other musical artists.  Eventually, Andrew’s heart was drawn back to the little (but getting bigger) town in which he grew up trespassing. In 2002, he founded The Church At Pleasant Grove (then called Life Assembly) and has been trespassing here ever since. With a sincere and infectious positivity (after all, he is an Enneagram Type 7), Andrew loves eating a cup of shredded cheese with a single cracker at 3pm and calling it lunch, spending time with his wife, Julie, and their three grown children and expanding quiver of grandchildren, traveling overseas helping underserved people groups, building things, tinkering with the things he has built incorrectly, inventing new words, and living honestly among real people who are willing to acknowledge they have real problems. 

Andrew’s story of transformation through the grace of Christ that revealed his true, deep need for everything he thought he already had (even as a pastor) propels him forward to joyfully walk with others through the same journey.