Pastors/Elders
Currently, Christ the Redeemer Church has two elders, Dr. Chip Zachary and Mr. Nate Wilson. Chip is a local physician, and his service to the chuch is avocational. Nate serves the church as a full-time vocation. If we can talk Chip into writing a bio, we'll put it up here!
Pastor Nate Wilson
Nate Wilson's parents, Rev. Ken & Leslie Wilson, taught him to love God and love His Word at a very early age. His wife, Paula also grew up in a Christian home and became a Christian at an early age. As a boy, Nate saw a video at his church (Briarwood PCA, Birmingham, AL) of Dr. J. Edwin Orr stating that every revival in history began with prayer meetings led by students. This instilled in Nate a passion to see the church in America revived. Right away, Nate started leading prayer meetings at Briarwood High School, begging God to bring revival, Nate also worked for many years as a counselor at Camp Briarwood, impacting the lives of the children in the church. Meanwhile Paula was busy making a stand for Christ at her public high school and being very involved in her church youth group (Spanish River PCA, Boca Raton, FL).
When Nate went to Covenant College, he joined a prayer group right away. The president of the group began discipling Nate in missions and took Nate to hear Bob Sjogren's Bible teaching on missions. As a result, Nate's vision broadened from seeing America revived, to seeing world missions completed in his lifetime! Nate also met Paula there, and together they led the student mission fellowship at Covenant College. To further promote student activism in prayer and missions, Nate joined the staff of InterVarsity Missions, and began to disciple, encourage, and equip student leaders of mission fellowships at dozens of Christian colleges throughout the Southeast U.S. Nate and Paula married shortly thereafter, and Paula settled down to making a great home and discipling other women.
In 1992, Nate transferred to Caleb Project in Denver to be more strategically positioned in mission mobilization. Through Caleb Project, God widened Nate's ministry from serving students in the Southeast to serving Christian leaders all over the world in mission mobilization. Earning an M.Div. from Sangre de Cristo Seminary has further strengthened Nate in this position of serving church leaders.
In 2004, The TentMaker Project, a church-based international mercy ministry, issued a call to Nate to serve as Director of Development. Nate accepted this because of his desire to work more closely with a local church. He worked there for almost two years to develop administrative structure, promote the mission, and help equip the church in Uganda so that they may fulfill the Great Commission.
Pastor Wilson and his family moved to Manhattan in May, 2006 to assume the role of organizing pastor of Christ the Redeemer Church.
Pastor Wilson believes that God has used all these experiences with student ministry, missions, development, and church ministry to equip him and his family for the multifaceted challenge of church planting. But he cannot do this in his own strength; he is depending upon God's strength and the prayers and support of God's people to walk in this path of ministry!
God has blessed Pastor Wilson and his wife with twelve children (plus two in heaven). The Wilsons believe that building a Godly family is the foundation of their ministry of equipping Christian leaders to fulfill the Great Commission.
To find out more about Pastor Wilson and his family, visit the Nate Wilson Family Website.