At Bonsack Since: 2014
Family: I’ve been married to Heather since August of 1997. We have two daughters, Ashlyn and Addie. Our house is run by a cat named Noel, a golden retriever named Buddy, and his tiny sidekick, a yorkie named Toby.
Chris Cadenhead
Pastor
Schooling:
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Furman University
Master of Arts in Psychology from Wake Forest University
Master of Divinity from Duke Divinity School
Doctorate of Ministry in Worship Studies from Northern Baptist Theological Seminary
How would you describe your passion? My passion is, first, to see people experience what it means to know that you are loved unconditionally by a God of grace and mercy, and, second, to see people discover their giftedness as they serve the church and the world around us. To say it differently, I want to see people both receive and give ministry in the power of the risen Christ.
Why should someone come to Bonsack? No church is perfect, including this one, because the church is made up of sinful and imperfect people. However, the church is the bride of Christ because of his work within us and among us. This means that the fullest experience of God anyone can have happens within the local church. While God is not limited to the walls of an institution, the risen Christ has promised to be present in His church. To borrow a line from the musical Hamilton, when you participate in the church, you get to be “in the room where it happens!”
Testimony: I grew up as the son of a pastor and schoolteacher, so church has always been a safe and nurturing place for me. My father baptized me when I was 8 years old, and I have never not been involved in church. However, when I became a young adult, I had to wrestle with God to determine whether vocational ministry was truly my calling or only something that I was familiar with because of my family background. After attempting to go in a different direction, I realized that ministry was where I needed to be. I graduated from seminary in 1998 and have been serving as a pastor ever since.
Hobbies:
Boating (when it runs)
Golf (when I don’t run out of balls after the first two holes)
Yard work, and paying for whatever my daughters are up to at the moment!
Fun Facts: I once had a brief phone conversation with heavy-weight boxing champion Evander Holyfield.