Leadership

Pastor Steve has served as the senior pastor of Westwood since 2010.  A graduate of Lee University, he completed both his Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.  After ten years in banking and management, he entered pastoral ministry to serve churches in TN, FL, KY, and GA.  In addition to serving in ministry to the local church, he serves as the board chair for The Caring Place, is a part-time professor and advisor at Lee University and Grand Canyon University, has been a visiting professor at the Kyiv Theological Seminary in Kyiv, Ukraine, and is a hospital chaplain for Tennova Healthcare. He and his wife Cheryl have four adult children, three daughters-in-law, and eight grandchildren.

Paul was born and raised in Cleveland.  He and his family have attended Westwood since he was five years old. After 17 years of working in a corporate job in the paper & packaging industry and in real estate, he was called to join the ministry team at Westwood in 2004. After serving as Minister of Education for four years, he moved into an executive pastor’s role with responsibilities in administration and educational ministries.  He now continues in this role as the Associate Pastor.
He is a graduate of Lee University and holds an MBA in Ministry from Bryan College.  He is furthering his education through doctoral studies at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Paul and his wife Connie have two canine sidekicks named Spencer and Baxter.

Nolan has served Westwood as pastor to senior adults since 2014.  He is a graduate of Furman University and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary having earned Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Divinity and Master of Divinity degrees.  He has served as a church planter in Ohio, and as a pastor in SBC churches for 56 years.  His longest tenure as pastor was 40 years at University Baptist Church in Middletown, Ohio.  He and his wife, Anne, are parents to 5 children and 7 grandchildren.

Wayne and his wife, Linda, became members of Westwood in 1981 after being regular attenders for 2 years.  Wayne graduated from East Tennessee State University in 1969 with a B.S. in Education and from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 1974 with a M.Ed. in Administration and School Counseling.   He graduated from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in 1979 with an Ed.S. in Educational Psychology and Counseling.   While working as a school counselor at Northwest High School in Tunnel Hill, GA, where he worked for 23 years, he began doing pastoral counseling at Westwood and started teaching Sunday School.  Wayne joined the church staff when he retired from education in 2003.  Ordained at Westwood as a deacon in 1988, he was licensed as a minister in 2009 and ordained as a pastor in 2015.   Wayne serves the Westwood family and surrounding community in pastoral care and biblical counseling.  He and his wife Linda have 3 adult sons, 2 daughters-in-law, and are patiently waiting for grandchildren.

Neil joined the Westwood staff in 2017 and currently serves as an Assistant Pastor giving oversight to our extended ministry to other churches in our community.  Neil also serves as a part-time faculty member at Bryan College, Lee University, and UTC.  Neil holds a D.Min. from Liberty University, a Th.M. from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and an M.Div. from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.  He also anticipates completing a Ph.D. in May 2024.  Neil grew up in Florence, S.C., and began following Christ at a young age.  He relocated to Cleveland in 1999 and retired from a career in law enforcement in 2019.  He also retired as a Lieutenant Colonel from the U.S. Army Reserve in 2016.  Neil and his wife, Laura, have two children: Ashley and Riley, both students at Lee University.

Adam is a Cleveland native and a lifelong member of the Westwood family. He graduated from Carson Newman University with a BA in Biology & Chemistry and followed up with seminary studies toward a Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.  He served more than ten years as a church planter, strategy trainer and regional strategy leader over the Central American & Caribbean countries of Latin America.  He is passionate about teaching, creating disciples, and church planting.  After being gone from Cleveland for 18 years, Adam returned to serve in our pastoral ministry in September 2015 giving direction to our missions ministry.  He and his wife Jennifer have three children, Arabella, Corban and Ali Beth.

Debra has been a member of Westwood since 1996 and joined the staff in 2003.  Prior to joining our ministry staff, Debra worked in the corporate world as an executive assistant followed by several years as a stay-at-home mom.  She is passionate about building relationships with members of the church.  Debra and her husband, Mike, have one son, a daughter-in-law, and two sweet granddaughters ... and six dogs.  In her spare time, Debra enjoys playing with her granddaughters and her dogs.

Originally from Texas and a graduate of Harding University with a Bachelor of Music Education, Matt moved to the Volunteer State to attend the University of Tennessee where he completed his Master of Music in Choral Conducting.  Since completing his degree, Matt has led high school choirs in Knoxville area schools and continues as a professor of music/choral conduction and voice at Johnson University in Knoxville.  He and his wife Hailey have two beautiful baby girls, June Magnolia and Dinah Grace.

Melissa has served as the Music Ministry Assistant for the last eight years. Prior to coming on staff at Westwood, She was a medical practice manager for many years here in Cleveland. Her lifelong passion for music is evident in her service to the Westwood church family.

Shane has ministered to our families here at Westwood since 2012.  A graduate of the Lee University College of Education K-8, he holds a Masters in Educational Leadership from Lee University and an Educational Doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction from Liberty University. After eleven years as a public school teacher in the Bradley County School system, he entered full-time ministry to serve here at Westwood. He now serves on our pastoral staff giving oversight to our ministry for families with children.  In addition to his ministry here,
Shane is an assistant professor of education in the Lee University Helen DeVos College of Education where he trains pre-service teachers for classroom teaching.  He and his wife Sarah have two daughters and one son, and serve as foster parents for children who find themselves in need of a home for love and support until reunification with their birth families can occur.

Andrew serves as the minister of students and as a pastoral associate. Andrew is a graduate of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary with a Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies. Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, he earned his bachelor's degree in RTVF and a master's degree in Exercise Science from Auburn University. Andrew is passionate about discipleship, biblical fellowship, evangelism, and world missions seeking to help spur the body of Christ to walk in obedience to Jesus' command to fulfill the Great Commission. He and his wife, Ashley, have been members at Westwood since 2019 and have two children, Graysen Elyse, and Emersyn Leigh.

Justin has been a follower of Christ since he was 8 years old. He is a graduate of Cleveland State Community College with an associate’s degree in Business Management. He enjoys traveling with his wife Hannah and spending time with family and friends. Justin began serving in student ministry while in college but it wasn’t until 2018 that he felt God calling him to pastoral ministry. He is currently a student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary while he maintains the full-time job of finance manager of Ag Pro Companies.
Justin is passionate about preaching the gospel to students and teaching them how to properly interpret and apply God’s word to their lives.

Laura joined the Westwood staff as the Pre-school Ministry Director in 2017.  She holds a Bachelor of Science from Lees McCrae College with a double major in Communications and English.  She has used her education to serve in the area of child care administration for a total of more than (15) years in various settings, including day care, a Christian school and a local church staff.  Laura moved to Cleveland in 1999 with her husband, Neil.  She and Neil have two children, Ashley and Riley.  Laura enjoys reading, making crafts and spending time with her family.

Dena graduated from Nazareth College of Rochester in Rochester, NY with a BS in Music Therapy. She and her late husband served as worship leaders and in bi-vocational music ministry in Southern Baptist churches in the Rochester, NY area for 5 years.  After returning to Alabama, Dena was a stay at home, homeschooling mom, and served her church in Birmingham as its children’s choir director, sunday school teacher, and music assistant.  In 1997 Dena’s family moved to the Atlanta area where she continued to serve as a sunday school teacher, and spent 14 years in the classroom as a middle school teacher and director. Now at Westwood, she serves as the ministry assistant for our Ministry to Children and Young Families. Dena has a grown son in Louisville, KY and a daughter and son-in-law who worship and serve here at Westwood.

Adam serves as a pastoral associate working with the educational ministries. He was born and raised here in Cleveland before moving to Cookeville to obtain his bachelor’s degree in Biology from Tennessee Technological University. Since returning to Cleveland, he has held a position with the TN Department of Health as an Environmental Health Specialist (Health Inspector). Currently, Adam is pursuing a Master of Divinity in Christian Ministry at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Adam is passionate about the Word of God being accurately taught that the church may be sanctified and God glorified. He and his wife, Sandy, joined Westwood in 2019. They have two sons and a daughter, Justus, Cole, and Noelle.

Kathy has been at Westwood since 1986 and has served in various ministries as a member of the church. Kathy worked for several years in the banking industry before choosing to be a work-at-home mom. She joined Westwood's administrative ministry in 1999 after spending twelve years at home with her young children. Kathy currently serves as the Church Administrator and Office Manager. She and her husband, John, have two adult children and a son-in-law, and one very precious grandson.  They enjoy traveling and hunting for antiques.

Shannon joined our Westwood Staff in the Spring of 2022.  Shannon’s relationship with the Lord began when she was a young girl, and her relationship with the Lord is more important to her than anything else.  Shannon has been a member of Boanerges Baptist Church in Polk County for thirty years.  During those years, she has served in various ways, such as teaching Sunday School and Vacation Bible School classes and by helping in drama productions and children’s ministry.  Shannon also treasures her family; she lives in Polk County with her husband, Jeremy, and their three daughters, Allie, Alyx, and Anna.  Prior to working at Westwood, she was employed in the banking industry for over thirty years.  Shannon said she feels very blessed to have the privilege of working with such a great staff here at Westwood and treasures the blessings of having a second church family like Westwood.

Chad has been serving as our minister over media/communication and LifeGroups since 2021. He and his wife Lauren were married in 2003 and have grown a wonderful family of 7 children. They have served the local church in many areas of ministry since they were dating. They personally love marriage ministry and discipling newly married couples.  Chad is a student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a firefighter for the Cleveland Fire Department.

Ethan has worked as sound and media director at Westwood since 2013.  He graduated from Lee University in 2015 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Digital Media with an emphasis in Studio Production.  Since becoming a member of Westwood, he has served in various capacities with the music and youth ministries and now gives oversight to all areas of media presentation, audio, visual, and online.

Michaela has served in the media department for over a year, and has attended Westwood with her family since she was born. She graduated from Lee University in 2020 and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications. She has had a love for missions since moving to Honduras with her family in her childhood, and is passionate about sharing the truth and hope of God's word through every possible platform. She has served within many ministries of the church since she was in high school, and began working at Westwood in 2019 as Receptionist and Student Ministry Assistant.  Since then, she has started working in the media department and now manages the app, website, social media, and graphic design across platforms.