Leadership

Jesus Christ is the Chief Shepherd of His flock and Head over His Body — the Church. He sent His Spirit to govern His Body in His physical absence and the Spirit governs through the written Word of God and the gifts of grace He bestows upon the members of the Body. He desires all members of His Body to participate in the works of service.

Dean Ropp

Pastor Ropp and his familySenior Pastor : dean@midwaycc.org

Dean Ropp has been the pastor of Midway Community Church since 1997. Members and visitors alike are blessed by his weekly worship messages, which are carefully grounded in scripture and informed by years of study and experience. His joy in presenting the gospel each week is evident in both his words and his easy, sincere smile. Dean and his wife Cherie have been married since 1981, and they are the proud parents of three children: William, Rebekah, and Samuel.

Prior to leading Midway, Dean was associate pastor of Atlanta’s Mount Vernon Baptist Church for three years, beginning in 1994. He previously served as the director of Student Life at Bryan College in Dayton, Tenn., from 1990 to 1994. In the second half of the 1980s, Dean was state director of Georgia Fellowship of Christian Athletes for four years, and he began his career as youth pastor of the First Baptist Church in Libertyville, Ill., where he served from 1981 to 1986.

Dean earned his Master of Divinity degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in 1985. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in history and Greek from Bryan College, where he graduated in 1981.


Bill Massey

Bill and his wifeWorship Associate : bill@midwaycc.org

Bill grew up loving both music and photography. He attended the University of Alabama and North Alabama, and after obtaining his Commercial Photography degree, worked as a Medical Photographer at the University of Alabama In Birmingham (UAB), then enjoyed a career in both Sales and Marketing for Eastman Kodak.

Bill and Bridget have three Children: Bailey, Britta and Will. After living in New York and then California, they moved to Atlanta in 1992. Bill left Kodak and established a photography studio, and soon thereafter began leading worship in several local Churches. Bill has a particular interest in blending the visual and musical arts. He and Bridget answered the call to serve at Midway Community Church in 2002.


Marc Lilge

Marc and his wifeYouth Pastor : marc@midwaycc.org

Marc is a lifelong learner who loves Jesus, students, music, and coffee. He graduated from Kennesaw State University with a B.A. in Business Management and is near completion of a M.Div from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

After his undergraduate work, Marc lived in Mexico City for two years planting churches through the Journeryman program of the International Mission Board. It’s there he met his wife, Kristen, who was also serving as a missionary. At Midway, Marc is committed to helping people catch a glimpse of the beauty and satisfaction of a relationship with God through faith in Christ.


Joe Creighton

Associate Pastor : joe@midwaycc.org

A member of Midway since its first year, Joe has been passionate about building community here and helping people find their place for serving God. He is privileged to serve and care for them by working with teams of people who desire to glorify God.

Joe loves to teach and to equip followers to grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ. Joe graduated with a B.S. from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Eighteen years later he returned to school and received a M.A. from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. His wife, Leigh Anne, is a Registered Nurse. Their sons are Alex and Scott.

Elders

The Lord has ordained and He has gifted some men in particular to lead each local church to fulfill His purposes. The Word of God provides for the leadership of the local church through the work of two bodies of Godly men: The Elder Body and the Deacon Body.

Our Elders

  • Ron Haigler
  • Dean Ropp
  • Dan Smith
  • Ron Young

The Elder Body is made up of men who have been recognized by the church as men who meet the qualifications of Scripture (1 Timothy 3:1-10 & 1 Peter 5:1-3) concerning the office of “overseer,” “elder,” “pastor,” and “ruler.”