our History


  • 1980

    Fall –Bible study begins as a precursor to the Satesboro PCA Mission

    1981

    January –Central Georgia Presbytery issues a call to Rev. Roland S. Barnes to be the organizing pastor of the Statesboro PCA Mission

    April 19–Pastor Barnes leads the first worship service as Organizing Pastor of the Mission; six couples, eight children, and a couple of college students; the sermon was from Matthew 16:18 and Isaiah 9:6-7 “Christ Our King” From a small beginning of 20 people Trinity Presbyterian Church has added almost 600 people to its roll (of course many have moved on to other places) and 177 of that 600 have been added by profession of faith (adults, covenant children, and reaffirmation of faith).

    Evening services are often held at the home of Bob and Grace Counts

    A men’s prayer meeting was held at 6:00 a.m. on Tuesdays at the Hickman’s

    May 24-a commission from Central Georgia Presbytery installs Pastor Barnes as the organizing pastor of the Statesboro PCA Mission

    May 31-the first administration of the sacrament of baptism is administered to Laurel Bailey by Pastor Barnes and to Jennifer Barnes by Dr. Jay E. Adams


    Time Saver, Grove Lakes
    Time Saver, Grove Lakes


    October 4-the Statesboro PCA Mission moves to the Time Saver in Grove Lakes, east of Statesboro. The Mission is now called “Trinity Presbyterian Church” The new facility was dedicated on October 18, 1984

    October 31-the first Reformation Day Celebration was held by showing a movie on the life of Martin Luther

    November 25- the first Thanksgiving Service was held

    December 7-the first Inquiry Class was held

    January 10-the first Adult Education Hour Class was held

    February 26-the first Missions Conference Speaker was Don Williams

    1982

    Summer -TPC holds its first Vacation Bible School

    November- TPC begins a College Bible Study at the home of the Martins


    tpc_history_zett_location
    Church Building on Zetterower and Savannah Avenues; Dr. and Mrs. Emory Smith


    1983

    December-the Mission moves to the church building on the corner of Savannah and Zetterower Avenues

    As of December 31, 1983 TPC had 71 members (communicants & noncommunicants) on its roll

    1984

    February 19-the mission is organized as Trinity Presbyterian Church of Statesboro with two ruling elders: Mr. Charles Davis and Mr. Randy Hickman; the congregation then issued a call to Rev. Roland S. Barnes to be their pastor

    February 22-the Session of TPC addresses it first discipline case

    February 22-the Session receives an offer of land from Mr. Gates Peed

    March 14-the Session adopts a budget of $55,000

    March 22-the first CFMs [Congregational Fellowship Meetings] begin

    May 4-the Session has an informational meeting with Mrs. Helen Davis about the establishment of a Christian School. Mrs. Davis volunteered to move to Statesboro and teach at Trinity, without pay, to help establish a Christian school at Trinity Presbyterian Church

    July 4-a motion passed to constitute a provisional school board under the authority and jurisdiction of the Session…

    July 11- the first Sunday School class for High School students was taught by John Quattlebaum

    July 11-the Session of TPC decides not to receive any more funding from Central Georgia Presbytery and TPC is now self-supporting


    tpc_history_firstclass
    Some of the first students at TCS


    September-Trinity Christian School is established with eight students

    1985

    Fall –the Statesboro chapter of the Christian Action Council is established. Later it becomes the Statesboro Crisis Pregnancy Center

    1986

    August 2-the TPC Building Fund is established

    1987

    May 3-Mike Peed, John Marshall, Gayle Bailey and Paul McDonald are elected as ruling elders, and David Marshall, Rob Mayo, John Quattlebaum, Vinny Kochetta, and Peter Martin are elected as deacons

    1988

    August 24-plans are being made for a RUF ministry at Georgia Southern College

    October 2-At a congregational meeting the decision is made to begin with building plans

    Reformed University Fellowship is established at Georgia Southern University; Rev. Craig Higgins is called as the Campus Minister and is ordained and installed on August 6,

    1989

    Fall-Campus Outreach Augusta sends staff to labor on the GSU campus

  • 1990

    May 16-the Session endorses the first candidate for the Gospel Ministry, Mr. Joseph Martin (Marty) Fields

    tpc_history_consnewbuild
    Construction of church building on East Main Street (Highway 24)

    November 18- approved to pursue a loan of up to $275,000 for construction

    1991

    December-TPC and TCS move into its newly constructed facility on East Main Street/Highway 24

    1992

    January 12-at 3:00 p.m. the building is dedicated with Dr. Douglas Kelly preaching

    August-Mr. Mike McKenna is hired as the Headmaster of Trinity Christian School

    1993

    July-TPC hosts a meeting of Central Georgia Presbytery

    January 24-Vinny Kochetta is elected to the office of elder and Pat Calhoun, David Channell, and Chip Bray are elected to the office of deacon

    1994

    February 13-the congregation approves the plan to build Reformation Hall

    August 8-Craig Higgins and family leave for Rye, NY to begin a church planting ministry in that community

    1995

    January 18-Daryl Madi begins his work as the RUF intern at GSU

    January 18-the Session establishes five weekly men’s prayer meetings

    February 19-a Day of Prayer and Fasting is held

    April 7- the Tenth Anniversary of Trinity Christian School is celebrated with Dr. Jay Adams speaking

    September 10-the David Wilson’s are received as members

    1996

    April 7-the ground-breaking ceremony is held for Reformation Hall

    December 1-the Session votes to consider the calling of an Associate Pastor

    1997

    March 9-TPC begins two morning worship services

    March 19-Mr. Damon Scharff begins leading the Youth Group

    April 16-a call is issued to Mr. Chris Hutchinson to be the Associate Pastor at TPC

    1998

    April 19-Mr. John Quattlebaum is elected as an elder, and Travis Grubbs, John Godbee, and Wade Murray are elected to the office of deacon

    July 1997 the first MTW-Impact Trip is taken to San Pablo Oztotepec, Mexico; July 1998 the second trip is taken to Mexicon; July 1999 a trip is taken to Ecuador where Phil and Shelby Mullinax are serving as MTW-Impact Missionaries; In July 2000, 2001, and 2002 trips are taken to Cajamarca, Peru

    1999

    Summer-a ministry to Hispanics is begun; English Language Classes are taught and a home Bible study is taught

    May 2-Matt Sauls is hired as a Summer Youth Leader under the supervision of Rev. David Wilson

  • tpc_history_reformhall
    Construction of Westminster Hall

    2000

    April 30-the congregation approves a plan to build Westminster Hall

    August-Mr. David Lattner is hired as the Headmaster of Trinity Christian School

    2001

    Fall-Westminster Hall is dedicated

    2002

    March 27-TPC commits support to the efforts of the Peru Mission

    Spring and Summer-Covenant Hall is renovated and new offices are established for TPC

    June 2-Tony Gilbreth and Pat Calhoun are elected as elders, and Keith Kibler, David Dowdell, and Tray Miller are elected as deacons

    September 18-the Session gave its endorsement to Marc Harrington to become a candidate for the Gospel Ministry of Central Georgia Presbytery

    2003

    August-Phil Mullinax transitions to a full-time position at TCS

    2004

    January-Matt Sauls is hired as the Director of Youth Ministries

    2005

    April 10, Robert Wagner called to be the Assistant Pastor of TPC, beginning in August.  He will replace Chris Hutchinson and his focus will be on developing ministry with young couples.

    2006

    March 19- Robert Wagner’s status is changed to that of Associate Pastor of TPC.

    March 22- Assistance is offered to Sacha Walicord to procure an internship at TPC.  Pastor Barnes met Sacha at a Spring Theology Conference at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.  Sacha and Martina and their children moved to Statesboro.  Barb McKenna graciously allowed them to move into her home while Sacha finished up his seminary degree on line at GPTS.  Sacha and Martina are Austrian and desired to return to a German speaking nations.  Pastor Barnes sought to assist them in establishing the German Reformation Project.  However, after some consideration it was thought that it would be best for them to stay in the USA and look for ministry opportunities here.

    June 28-Craig Rowe called to be the Assistant Pastor to serve as Director of Counseling Ministries.  This was a long-time goal of Trinity, even before Pastor Barnes moved to Statesboro.  Dr. Rowe was certified Fellows with NANC (counseling ministry), and now is a certified Fellow with ACBC (NANC renamed).  Pastor Barnes was trained in counseling at the Middle Georgia Pastoral Counseling Center in Macon, GA, a ministry associated with FPC in Macon.  Dr. Rowe contacted Pastor Barnes through a mutual counseling acquaintance, Lou Priolo.  After some discussions and a generous gift from on of Dr. Rowe’s friends, the Session decided to call him to begin the Counseling Ministry at TPC.  Before Dr. Rowe became a possibility, the Session was seeking to hire a youth minister and had actually offered a man the position.  When this person turned down the position, we were free to look elsewhere but were uncertain of how to proceed because if we called Dr. Rowe we would have two ordained ministers in addition to Pastor Barnes.  So, Robert Wagner volunteered to change the focus of his ministry to youth and education which allowed us to hire Dr. Rowe for Counseling and met the need for ministry to our youth.

    October 15-the family of Sammy Rhodes are received as members.  Sammy was called as the Campus Minister for RUF at GSU by Savannah River Presbytery.  Sammy was taking David Wilson’s place.

    This same year Phil Mullinax began to function as director of Hispanic Ministies and Missions.  Phil and Shelby had served with MTW in Colombia and Ecuador.  Pastor Barnes and Phil taught several Bible studies to Hispanic immigrants in the community through this year and several following.  Also ESL classes were taught, mainly to Hispanics, but in the following years Koreans and a Japanese couple were added.

    2007

    March 11-Craig Rowe’s status was changed to that of Associate Pastor of TPC

    2008

    May 23-Groundbreaking ceremony held for the new facility/gym.  The gym will eventually have an upstairs with several classrooms that will be used by Trinity Christian School.

    June 1-Matt Sauls is elected as elder; Bryan Drury, Bill Hall, Mike Myers, Ben Oldham, & David Raith are elected as deacons.

  • 2010

    October-Dedication service held for gym

    2011

    July-the family of Ro Taylor is received as members.  Ro received a call from Savannah River Presbytery to be the Campus Minister at GSU, following Sammy Rhodes.

    2012

    April-Lucy Anne Adams hired as Music Director.  Lucy Anne was a student at Wesleyan College in Macon, GA when Pastor Barnes was on the staff of FPC and was ministering to college students and singles.  Lucy Anne was in the Bible study that met at Pastor Barnes’ home.  She was married to Todd Adams, the oldest son of Dr. Jay E. Adam, founder of the Biblical Counseling movement.  Lucy Anne and Pastor Barnes began a conversation about the possibility of her coming to Trinity to be the Director of Music Ministries after they met at a Reformed Worship Conference in Powder Springs, GA at the Midway Presbyterian Church.  Lucy Anne’s husband had died and she was looking for a new venue for ministry.  Again, there was a financial challenge to overcome if she were to be hired.  Kay McKeever, one of the original participants in the “Statesboro PCA Mission” had passed away and left her residence to TPC.  When it was sold it provided some funds to assist Trinity in hiring Lucy Anne as our first ever full time Director of Music.  Lucy Anne provided accompaniment for worship services, directed the choir, and taught music at TCS.

    April-Damien Scott & Eric Gray elected as elders; David Lattner & Chris Smith elected as deacons

    2013

    2014

    April-Henry Beaulieu called to be the Assistant Pastor in charge of Counseling Ministries.  Pastor Rowe had decided to retire and we needed someone to replace him and to continue to develop the counseling ministry.  Pastor Barnes and members of the Session had met Pastor Beaulieu as a result of several visits to the counseling ministry of Eastwood PC in Montgomery, AL.  Pastor Beaulieu was considering a move, and Pastor Rowe was considering retirement.  All of these factors were wonderfully orchestrated by the hand of providence and Lord graciously sent Pastor Beaulieu and his wife, Gretchen and three youngest children (Grace, Jonathan, and Jackson) to Trinity.

    April-The congregation voted to begin the 2nd floor of the gym, the sanctuary expansion, and the renovation on Covenant Hall.  During this season the Lord provided somewhere around $1.3 million of unsolicited gifts to Trinity which enabled us to expand our facilities for both church and school.  The Sanctuary was doubled in capacity to seat around 450-500, and the upstairs of the gym completed so the Highschool classes that were located in Covenant Hall (east wing) could be moved to the second floor in the gym.

    Lucy Anne found a mate, an elder of the PCA Church in Blacksburg, VA, pastored by our first Associate Pastor, Chris Hutchinson.  Pastor Barnes eventually officiated their wedding and they moved to Blacksburg.  We then had to begin to search for her replacement.

    2015

    Pastor Wagner accepted a call to be an Associate Pastor at Denton Presbyterian Church where David Wilson is the Senior Pastor.  The Session began a search for his replacement and through contacts in the PCA Jeff Windt was called as Assistant to focus on Youth Ministry.  Jeff was a student at RTS in Charlotte so he came to Statesboro and we assisted him in completing his Masters of Divinity.  He was then ordained by Savannah River Presbytery.

    James Glass hired as Music Director for TPC and TCS.  James was found by Peaches Barnes through an acquaintance in Chattanooga, TN while attending the PCA General Assembly along with Pastor Barnes which was meeting in Chattanooga.

    2016

    November-Jeff Windt’s status was changed to Associate Pastor for Youth Ministries

    2017

    November- the family of Josh Keel is received as members.  Josh Keel was called by Savannah River Presbytery to assume the position of Campus Minister at GSU.  He took the place of Ro Taylor.

    2018

    Jeff Windt accepted a call from Second Presbyterian Church in Greenville, SC to be their Direct or of Youth Ministries.  In June-Gunther Griffin was hired as Youth Leader.

    2019

    June-Andrew Sears hired part-time as the Director of Assimilation, Mobilization, and Outreach.  Andrew will be focusing on ministry to young couples.  Andrew’s full-time job is Director for Campus Outreach Augusta.

    October-Ben Gilbreth & Gates Peed are elected to the office of elder; Ted Difuntorum, Cameron Durden, & Brian Mitchell are elected to the office of deacon

    Gunther and Sam Griffin leave Trinity in order to move to Charlotte, NC so Gunther can begin seminary studies at RTS.

  • 2020

    May-Caitlin Frasure hired as Church Musician

    July-Jacob Harper hired as Youth Ministry Director

    August-the family of Nathanael Miller is received as members.  Nathanael accepted a call from Savannah River Presbytery to assume the position of Campus Minister with RUF at GSU.

    March of 2020 the COVID-19 crisis begins, and worship services are online only for six weeks. The seating capacity in the sanctuary is reduced by more than half in order to practice social distancing.  All events planned for 2020 were cancelled: picnics, retreats, etc.  The Christmas Party was held in the gym.

    2021

    April 23-25 -TPC Celebrates the 40th Anniversary of the life of the church. Pastor Wagner returned as the guest speaker.

Former members who are now serving Christ in various Ministries

Tim Phillips, ordained minister in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church

Marty Fields, ordained minister, now serving in Mississippi as a chaplain in the Armed Services.

Trey Holloway, Ph.D. Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, PA

Marc Harrington, ordained minister, Associate Pastor of Midway Presbyterian Church, Powder Springs, GA

John Blancato, Sally Chipman, Allyson Ogle, ELI – China

Troy Wilson, PCA Church planter in California

Carson Pittman, PCA pastor pursuing church planting

Lydia Counts Sweet, Youth Ministry, with her husband Robbie, MTW, Scotland

People associated with Tpc Who are now serving in various ministries

Steve and Marie Lindenmeyer, CO Thailand

Clint and Peggy Watson, CO Perimeter Church, Atlanta

Neal Gooch, Pastor in South Africa

Pete Ketterman, CO South Africa

Tom and Molly Mullis

Matt Ballard, PCA Pastor in Tennessee

Men Who were ordained to the gospel ministry at tpc

Craig Higgins, now the pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church, Rye, NY

David Wilson, RUF Minister at GSU, Statesboro, GA

Chris Hutchinson, Associate Pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church, Statesboro, GA

Ro Taylor, RUF, Georgia Southern University

Sammy Rhodes, RUF, University of South Carolina

Robert Wagner, Associate Pastor, Trinity Presbyterian Church, Statesboro, GA

Former members who are now serving as officers in the church

David Vial, Deacon in the PCA in Northern Alabama

Mike Peed, served as an elder at the Vineville Presbyterian Church, Macon, GA

Bill Rountree, serves as a deacon at the Dayspring Presbyterian Church, Forsyth, GA

Sermon Series by Pastor barnes


Matthew:  138 sermons

Mark: in process 48 sermons as of 07-23-06

Luke:  26 sermons

John:  91 sermons

Acts:  93 sermons

Romans:  16 sermons

Galatian:  21 sermons

Colossians:  31 sermons

First Thessalonians:  22 sermons

Second Thessalonians:  11 sermons

First Timothy:  37 sermons

Titus: 32 sermons

I John: 19 sermons

II John:  4 sermons

III John: 4 sermons

Jude:  5 sermons

Revelation 1-3:  Letters to the Churches; 10 sermons

Special Speakers

Dr. Jay Adams

Dr. Henry Krabbendam

Rev. Gary DeMar

Dr. John Gerstner

Dr. Douglas Kelly

Rev. Al Baker

Dr. Jim Baird

Rev. Harry Reeder

Rev. Hal Farnsworth

Rev. Scott Sauls


Rev. Sid Anderson

Dr. John Grauley

Rev. John Oliver

Rev. Gordon Reed

Rev. Oliver Claasen

Rev. Joe Novenson

Rev. Terry Johnson

Dr. Morton Smith

Dr. Richard Watson

Dr. Richard Belcher