Brad launched Lakeside Church in Folsom, Ca, by means of a telemarketing campaign in 1987, which means he embraces adventure. He has served as Lakeside’s lead pastor through the honeymoon phase, in the shiny years of abundance, during times of crisis and heartbreak, and through a pandemic. He has pastored a start-up church, a small church, a growing mid-sized church, and a megachurch—all in the same location. He doesn’t know it all, but he has seen a lot.

Brad has a passion for the whole church. In the early days of Lakeside, along with two other local pastors, Brad gathered the pastors of Folsom together for prayer. That group has been praying together every other week for over 30 years. Brad also served for three years as the Executive Director of NextGen Churches (now Venture Church Network) of Northern California and Nevada. He has been actively involved in encouraging other pastors throughout his ministry career.

Brad also loves to engage his community. He helped organize and lead the Folsom Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast. He serves on the steering committee of the Folsom Community Service Day. He is actively involved in the Folsom Chamber of Commerce. He believes the good news of Jesus is for the whole world, so he looks for ways to get into the world with people.

Brad and his wife, Donna, have been married for 44 years. They have three adult kids, two sons-in-law, and three grandchildren. Brad is a graduate of Westmont College (B.A.) and Western Seminary (M.Div.). He earned his Doctor of Ministry from Bethel Seminary.

For fun Brad loves to play softball, enjoys golf, tolerates running—he has completed two marathons—and loves to pull his teardrop trailer into the woods for a camping adventure. Yes, he still loves adventure.

Paul spent 40 years serving five congregations, ranging in size from 50 to 2,000, in various settings including rural, urban and suburban environments. He is uniquely gifted in the areas of administration, pastoral care, and teaching. He is passionate about, and loves, seeing churches transition from being inward focused to looking outward and accomplishing the mission of God. Since retiring in 2020, Paul has had the opportunity to serve three congregations as the interim pastor, while the churches complete their search for a replacement.

Over the years, Paul has had the opportunity to serve on a variety of nonprofit boards, working in the fields of education, church health, and missions. He feels privileged to have had the opportunity to travel extensively providing pastoral care services, relief work and teaching with at least 15 different mission agencies in 25 countries. In addition to the relief work abroad, Paul has led a number of teams on educational and ministry trips around the world. (For those of us who have experienced it firsthand, Paul’s gracious approach to leading tours in the Holy Land made the trip that much more fantastic.)

Paul has studied and earned degrees as follows:

• Cedarville College, Interdisciplinary Studies – (B.A).
• Grand Rapids Theological Seminary—(M. Div.)
• Asbury Seminary in Preaching & Leadership—(ABD)

Paul has been married to his wife, Karen, for years. They have two adult sons and one daughter-in-law who reside in Washington DC and Colorado Springs, respectively.

Greg spent over 30 years in public service, the last 30 for the community in which he grew up. During that time, he managed the budget and finance department operations as well as the human resources and risk management functions. He served on the Board of Directors, most recently as President, of a risk sharing authority on behalf of the City. As the Finance Director, Greg managed the accounting for, and investment in, a multitude of capital projects and ongoing operations in excess of four hundred million dollars.

Greg has been an active member of his church for many years, often serving as a member of the Elder Board. In addition, he has served as a Director on the Boards of various non-profit organizations, including the Yucaipa Community Foundation, Foundation at First and others. Currently, he serves on the Advisory Board of Lifehouse Theater.

Greg is married to Sidney (39 years), has four adult children and eight grandchildren. Greg graduated from the California State University, San Bernardino with a degree in Business Administration, with a concentration on Management. He recently retired from city government and he and his wife like to travel as much as possible. His favorite sport is baseball, has been to the Field of Dreams in Iowa, and enjoys woodworking. He makes furniture until his wife reminds him “…you know, we don’t really have a place for that.”

Inviting Paul Edwards to be the interim pastor was the best decision South Hills Church made in 2020. Not only did Paul help the church face the ongoing challenge of Covid 19, but he successfully helped prepare the church for a new lead pastor after the departure of their beloved pastor of 33 years.

Paul’s experience as a leader, gifting as a teacher, and warmth as a pastor was exactly what South Hills Church needed. Of equal value was Paul’s ability to positively encourage and shepherd the staff through a difficult season of transition and challenge. Looking back, several staff members credit Paul for keeping them from walking away from the church and in one case from ministry in general.

As the new lead pastor coming in, I’m grateful for the groundwork Paul laid from the top level of leadership all the way to the broadest congregational level. Paul brought stability to the church, healing to the staff, and was the catalyst South Hills needed to open the door for healthy transition and change.

Scott Paulson
Lead Pastor at South Hills Church