OUR STORY
At the beginning of 2019 Matt and Devon Guertin had little details about where God was calling them to serve. For the first time in his 13+ years of ministry, Matt sensed he was called to be a lead pastor. They were in a season of transition and knew they weren’t to walk it alone. God started bringing others alongside to journey with them and discern their next steps. Out of that season Local Church was birthed in August 2019 with 30 adults and 19 kids.
The vision of Local Church is “to know God, to know Him together, to make His glory known.” We seek to accomplish this by walking with one another in humility and love, keeping the gospel of Jesus Christ the center of all we do. We want our lives and interactions to be marked by hospitality, generosity, care, grace, and truth.
PASTORAL TEAM
We believe that the Bible gives us a model of church leadership that is more than just one local pastor - a plurality of elders. These are men that God has called to lead a local church as servant shepherds. Pastor Matt serves as the Lead Pastor and is joined by Pastor Wes Moore (non-staff) and Pastor Logan Thrasher (staff).
Pastoral Oversight
For the first two years of our existence, Pastor Bill Schroeder and Pastor Bob Shull served alongside Pastor Matt as an ‘Advisory Board’ until the Lord called Wes and Logan as elders. Bob and Bill provided prayerful oversight, accountability, wisdom, and care throughout that time and we are incredibly grateful that they continue to do so in a less formal way.
Bill Schroeder
Bill and Darlene Schroeder retired from pastoral ministry in 2017 after 30 years of fulfilling God’s call to found and lead the Chapel in Sandusky, Ohio. Currently they are involved in member care with SEND International, mentoring and encouraging workers in eastern Europe both virtually as well as travelling there several times a year. They have two married children and three grandsons who all live in Ohio, which is a gift because one can never spend too much time at Cedar Point. Bill enjoys reading, Mitchell’s and taking long walks with his best friend, Darlene, talking about life, ministry and the goodness of God. Bill also publishes a blog giving fourth quarter reflections on ministry leadership.
Bob Shull
Bob has been an ordained Presbyterian pastor the past 30 years, serving four different churches during that time in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Bob and his wife, Linda, a Christian life coach, have been married 42 years. They raised three sons and now enjoy three daughters-in-law and three grandchildren in their family circle. Bob is now on the staff of Fieldstone Counseling serving as a biblical counselor in the greater Akron-Cleveland area. He has a special heart for helping pastors, ministry leaders, and their families. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, golfing, reading, creative writing and drawing, exercising, watching sports, house projects, and exploring new places with Linda.
What we believe
Harbor NETWORK
Just as we believe that we were created to know God together, we also believe that God calls churches to walk together. We are a church plant of the Harbor Network - click the logo to explore more about Harbor and what we believe.