Leadership

Allen Close was born in Dallas, Texas, and lived in Texas for eleven years until he moved to Weyburn, Saskatchewan Canada.  After high school, Allen attended Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas, where he received his BA, MA, and the Masters of Divinity in 1993. While he was at ACU, Allen met and married his wife Laura. Laura was raised on the mission field of Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) until her family moved to Lubbock, Texas, when she was fourteen. In 1987, Allen and Laura moved to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where he served as the campus minister.  While in Saskatoon, all three of their children—Luke, Ashley, and Brianna—were born. In August, 1998 the Closes moved to Lexington, South Carolina where Allen served as the Pulpit Minister at the Lexington Church of Christ for 18 years and Laura taught at Pleasant Hill Elementary School. In February 2017, Allen and Laura joined our Waynesboro church of Christ family.

Alfred Toole serves as our Youth Minister and primarily focuses on outreach to Teenagers and their Parents. He teaches the teens on Wednesday nights. He coordinates trips like Winterfest, Impact, and Powerhouse. He helps organize congregation wide events like VBS, Church Family Weekend, and special Devotionals. He serves as an Agape Group leader, and preaches whenever asked.  Lastly, he officiates wedding ceremonies when participants complete the Wedding Course.  While Alfred does all of this, his wife Angie holds it all together at home with the 5 boys. 

Glenn Brown became an Elder in 2016. He was born and grew up in Hinton, West Virginia.  He moved to Crozet, Virginia with his wife, Judy in 1973.  They moved to Waynesboro in 1986.  Glenn was baptized 46 years ago at the Waynesboro church of Christ after several Bible studies with Roger Powell (former minister at the Waynesboro church of Christ).    Glenn served as a deacon at the Waynesboro church of Christ for many years.  He also preached for the Wintergreen church of Christ intermittently during a time when they were without a minister.  Glenn has been a mechanic since 1973.  He has worked at Morton Frozen Foods, Truck Enterprises, Conagra Frozen Foods and has retired from the Virginia Department Of Transportation.  He was also co-owner of a truck repair shop.  Glenn served in the US Army in Vietnam.   He and his wife, Judy have been married for 50 years.  They have been blessed with a son Eugene and his wife Kelly and a daughter Valerie and her husband, Lance.  They have 5 grandchildren, Preston, Kylie, Christian, Bradley, and Meagan..  Glenn’s favorite verse is Matthew 18:20.   He is comforted by the fact that when we are together, we are in God’s presence. His favorite worship song is “Farther Along”  because the words of the song say a lot to him.  Glenn enjoys attending car shows and working on his ’65 Galaxie and ’57 Fairlane.  He also enjoys spending time with family and friends. 

Jim Childress became an Elder in 2008. He was baptized at the age 16 at the Waynesboro church of Christ. The Denney family introduced  is family to the church and his parents were long-time faithful members.
Jim has been in the car business 48 years. He currently works part-time at CMA’S Colonial Auto Center in Charlottesville as a photographer and transport driver. He met his wife Kathy at Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN. They both graduated in 1974. Kathy has been teaching youth bible classes at the church to since 1975. They have 2 daughters. Karla graduated from Lipscomb and Purdue University Grad School, and lives in Texas. She is married to Sam and they have 2 children. Kristin graduated from Abilene Christian University and Texas A&M Grad school and lives in Colorado.
The Great Commission found in Matthew 28.18-20 speaks to Jim. He is a great firm believer that we should share the gospel with everyone. Some of his favorite songs are, “I am Crucified with Christ,” “I’ll Fly Away” and “The Battle belongs to the Lord.”
As a youth, he loved space exploration and never missed a launch. He is an Eagle Scout and devoted 21 years to Scouting, and served all positions. He and Kathy have traveled to Hong Kong, China, Japan, England, France, Mexico, Belize and several islands in the Caribbean. Their most favorite trip was camping with the girls in Alaska. He loves to watch NASCAR racing, travel to the Outer Banks, and spend time outdoors camping.
Jim’s favorite part about being an Elder is being asked by members to come pray with them.

Rob Griffin grew up in a Christian home and that worshiped at the Nebraska Avenue church of Christ in Tampa, Florida. He was baptized at the age of 15 and moved to Waynesboro in 1975 with his family. He began working with teens at the Waynesboro church of Christ. Rob became an elder in 1994. Prior to becoming an elder, he served as a deacon and church treasurer. He served in the Army as an officer, worked as an engineer with General Electric, owned a Truck repair business and recently retired from Munters Corporation in Buena Vista, Virginia. He continues to work as a consultant with them. He is married to Shirley & they have been blessed with 3 sons and 9 grandchildren. Rob graduated from the University of Florida, with a degree in Industrial Engineering. His favorite verse is Matthew 6:33 because it helps him to know where his focus needs to be… Seek First the kingdom. Further, it tells him that God will take care of the rest. He loves to sing “In the Garden.” It’s the first song he remembers hearing when he was very young. His Mom sang it while hanging out clothes. He enjoys fishing & golf.

Brent became an Elder in 2016. He is married to Lori, his angel from God, for 33 years. They have been blessed with 5 children, Seth, Justin, Christian, Gabriel, and Isaiah. They have been doubled blessed with 5 grandchildren. Brent was baptized in 1980 at the Central Church of Christ in Clarksburg, WV by Lori's dad Ken Norris.  Brent is a graduate of Sunset International Bible Institute with a Bachelors Degree in Biblical Studies. He has served as a Deacon, Bible School teacher for both the youth and adults, and also as a song leader. His favorite song is The Greatest Commands. Brent also served as the minister at Central Church of Christ in Clarksburg WV. He enjoys helping our youth minister with mentoring the teen group. His favorite scriptures are from Psalm 103:1-12 and Colossians 3:12-17. Brent served as a law enforcement officer in WV prior to moving to Virginia. He enjoys the outdoors and coaching his sons sports teams. Brent enjoys sharing the gospel with others, especially when working with Lori as a team for Christ! 

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Ron Cook was born in Lexington, North Carolina into an Air Force family where he moved regularly as his dad received new assignments. At the age of 12 his parents divorced and he, his sister, and mother settled in Waynesboro with his grandmother. Ron met his wife, Janice in high school and got married shortly after graduation. Ron and Janice have two boys, Ronnie and Charlie and three grandchildren Aisley, Stazia, and Brisa. Janice is a food service worker for the Waynesboro City Schools. Ron worked for 20 years as a Manufacturing Engineer for Lofton Corporation and 23 years for the City of Charlottesville as a Systems Analyst where he is currently. In addition to his analyst duties, Ron is a licensed drone pilot and robotic inspector for the city. His hobbies are bowling, model building, antique cars, and adventure type PC games. Ron is responsible for church building maintenance and security, leads small group bible studies, and regularly hosts teen events.

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Andy Mask was born and raised in Staunton, Virginia. He graduated from Radford University then went on to Parker College of Chiropractic. Afterwards, he practiced with his Father and Sister in Staunton. He first went to a Church of Christ while living in Dallas, Texas. He met what would become one of his best friends, Ginger, whose father was a preacher at that church.  She introduced him to his future wife Jennell. Jennell and Andy have a daughter named Jossalyn. Andy likes to build things. He has made birdhouses, a hobby horse and other things out of wood. I am most proud of my sweet daughter. She is so bright and loving. I am proud to be a member of the Waynesboro Church of Christ. Andy has been a member of the Waynesboro Church of Christ or 20 plus years and loves his church family very much. 

Stephen and his wife Jennifer have been members of the church since they moved to Waynesboro in 2005. Although they originally thought they would only live here for a short time, they were led by the relationships they built at the church and the beauty of the area to make the Valley their home. They have enjoyed participating in VBS, Bible classes, agape groups, and other activities with the church. Their family of four boys--David, Westly, Luke, and Barrett--has been raised here. Both of them were raised in the church (Stephen at the Cawson Street church in Hopewell and Jennifer at the Piedmont church in Farmville) and they hope to help keep Waynesboro a loving community of believers that support each other.  

As a deacon, Stephen has served in roles with our education, VBS, and moving crew ministries.  He enjoys teaching classes for adults and youth. Stephen is an attorney at a law firm in Waynesboro and is involved in coaching and playing soccer.  

Dave Velten was born in the small town of Monett, Missouri in 1956 and lived in the area for the first 20 years of his life.  
In 1974  he met his lovely wife to be, Marsha, and they were married in June of 1975. They have two sons, Jeremy and Justin, daughter-in-law Laura, and two grandchildren Sadie and Hayden. For the first years of his career Dave worked for a machine shop in tool and die area and did their CNC computer programming.  In 1999 he took a job working for an Architectural Aluminum manufacturing company of southwest Missouri, and in 2003 had the opportunity to move to Virginia and take on the Operations Manager position at their satellite  facility in Verona, Va. After moving to the area they soon came to love the Shenandoah Valley and the great people who live here. Some of Dave’s hobbies include shotgun sports, golf, and fishing which he gets to enjoy quite often since his retirement in 2019. One of the most rewarding things Dave has ever done was to become a child of God over 40 years ago and to see new growth in God’s kingdom.

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Brittany King has served as our secretary since 2016. Her job has a wide range of tasks from answering the phone, emailing, assisting people’s needs at the church, and publishing the bulletin to name a few.
She is married and they have 2 energetic children who love Agape Groups.