Community Presbyterian Church has a knowledgable and dedicated leadership team made up of our staff and a hardworking volunteer base. We are blessed to have such a diverse group of believers working tirelessly each week to ensure that our Beaches community is thriving in faith. We encourage you to get more involved!

Pastor Rusty Benton

PastorRusty@cpcab.org

Pastor

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First and foremost, I am blessed to be loved by God and to be able to serve in parish ministry in the Christian Church. Over the past many years, I have served in a variety of capacities in churches in Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida.

It is wonderful to now call Florida home and to be able to minister alongside so many wonderful people in the Community Presbyterian Church family of faith.

Prior to parish ministry I served in the United States Navy, earned a B.A in Philosophy and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. After college I attended Columbia Theological Seminary and earned a master’s degree in divinity. 

In addition to service in the church and to God, I enjoy lots of the great things that God has provided to keep life interesting, including: playing music, writing, rock-crawling and boating, classic and adventure movies, science fiction, hanging out with dogs, exploring and debating theology and philosophy, being on the beach/ICW, fishing/shrimping, landscaping, the theater, sports, meeting new friends and spending time with long time ones, and enjoying and growing deeper in love and care with my family.

Meet Ashley. Ashley Black is the director at CPPK and is extremely blessed to work with this devoted program and church. She was born and raised in Beatrice, Nebraska, and moved to Florida in 2009 with her loving husband Jonathan. They were married in 2010, and now have two children, Benjamin and Eliza. Ashely received her Bachelor of Science from University of Nebraska in education and human sciences. Out of college she worked with Head Start before moving to Jacksonville and teaching for nine years in VPK. In 2015 she completed her director’s credential with VPK endorsement and have been serving CPPK since 2018. Ashley loves hiking nature trails and enjoying the outdoors with her family. She and her husband have always loved Disney and feel like kids at heart; so, they now enjoy sharing those experiences with their children. Her indulgences are coffee and chocolate, but they will never make her as happy as watching children learn and grow. Ashely is passionate about guiding teachers to their full potential, following legislation, and impacting it in the right direction for CPPK children.
Robert McCrary
robert@cpcab.org

Minister of Community Life

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Meet Robert. Robert is an ordained minister and has been in youth ministry for almost 25 years! He is on the National Response Team for Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and has led Community Presbyterian’s mission teams who respond to disasters all over the south east. As the leader on Community Presbyterian’s Living Water team, the church has served in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, and The Dominican Republic. Besides serving in his ministry his passions are his family and surfing (been surfing for 50 years). Robert is married to Trish, and they have two sons, Andrew and Brian, as well as six grandchildren. 

Melissa Daniel
melissa@cpcab.org
Director of Christian Education
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Meet Melissa. Melissa Daniel is the Director of Christian Educator at Community Presbyterian Church. Since taking this position, Melissa has maintained and grown popular programs such as 1st and 3rd Wednesday night dinner, VBS, Sunday School, Advent and Lent events, Women’s Retreat, and Church Retreat. She has also led (or participated in) adding new programs such as Christmas VBS, Spiritual Care Ministry, and monthly meetings with other area Christian educators to support one another and share ideas. Prior to working at Community Presbyterian, Melissa was a stay-at-home mom, as well as an engineer (she holds both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in engineering). In her spare time, Melissa enjoys spending time with her three girls – Mia, Chloe and Alex – and husband Brian.  She also likes to run, read, and advocate for children through her involvement in PTA.

Ashley Black
ashley@cpcab.org
Director of Preschool
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Meet Ashley. Ashley Black is the director at CPPK and is extremely blessed to work with this devoted program and church. She was born and raised in Beatrice, Nebraska, and moved to Florida in 2009 with her loving husband Jonathan. They were married in 2010, and now have two children, Benjamin and Eliza. Ashely received her Bachelor of Science from University of Nebraska in education and human sciences. Out of college she worked with Head Start before moving to Jacksonville and teaching for nine years in VPK. In 2015 she completed her director’s credential with VPK endorsement and have been serving CPPK since 2018. Ashley loves hiking nature trails and enjoying the outdoors with her family. She and her husband have always loved Disney and feel like kids at heart; so, they now enjoy sharing those experiences with their children. Her indulgences are coffee and chocolate, but they will never make her as happy as watching children learn and grow. Ashely is passionate about guiding teachers to their full potential, following legislation, and impacting it in the right direction for CPPK children.

Session Members

Moderator:

Pastor Rusty Benton 

Stated Clerk:

Lisa Herrold

Class of 2024

  • Ek Cottrell
  • Kelly Craddock
  • Bruce Floyd
  • Heather Kopp
  • Paula Renfro
  • Jim Simmons
  • Glenn Yeakel

Class of 2025

  • Sherill Brown
  • Jenn Burchfield
  • David Herrold
  • Marsha Kreuz
  • Maria Luckey
  • David Matchett

Class of 2026

Mike Davis
Ross Dicken
Jay Faulkner
David Matchett
Jerry Redfield
Barbara Ruby

Deacons

Class of 2024

Leah Davis
Vonnie Friers
Toni Gindlesperger
Trish McCrary

Class of 2025

      • Claire Bartolett
      • Janet Martin
      • Jacqui Matchett

    Annie Meierdierks
    Courtney Simmons
    Celest Wadkins

Class of 2026

Bob Burch
Laura Hyde
Nancy Bell Ruppert
Laurie Whitacre

Trustees

Class of 2024

Jan Shields
Tracy Synan

Class of 2025

Jim Gann
Beech Watson

Class of 2026

  • Cindy Anderson
  • Brain  Daniel

Property

Manages campus including maintenance, repairs, and improvements.

Chair:

Bruce Floyd

  • Bob Burch
  • Mike Davis
  • Tony Gindlesperger
  • David Lambert
  • David Hoppens
  • Brian Kilby
  • Frank Tappin
  • David Herrold

Finance

Manages all budgeting and church finances.

Chair:

David Matchett

  • EK Cottrell
  • Jenn Burchfield
  • Jay Faulkner
    Ray Fischer
    Brian Daniel
    David Hoppens
    Tim Stalter
  • Ross Dicken
    Jim Gann

Mission

Oversees and coordinates church mission work.

Co-Chair:

Jim Simmons
Sherrill Brown

  • Melinda Goins
  • Heather Kopp
  • Emma Cottrell
  • Eric  Wild
  • Glenn Yeakel 
  •  

Congregational Life

Coordination with the Deacons for all church events, such as funerals, church dinners, and other activities (subcommittee of the Deacons).

  • Lisa Herrold
  • Beth Cottrell
  • Emma Cottrell
  • Marsha Kreuz 

Worship and Music

Chair:

Maria Luckey

  • Carol Brennan
  • Claire Brennan
  • Kelly Craddock
  • Dave Kerchner
  • Bunny Kerchner
  • Phyllis Haeseler
  • Pati  McMenemy
  • Vonnie Friers
  • Naci Faulkner
  • Jerry Redfield

Christian Education

Chair:

Marsh Kreuz

  • Beth Cottrell
  • Emma Cottrell
  • Lisa Herrold
  • Liz Hullender
  • Traci Kilby 
  • Barbara Ruby
  • Marcella Yonkosky

Memorial Garden Committee

Co-Chair:

Nancy Faulkner &  Hank Isaacs

  • Toni Gindlesperger
  • Phyllis Haeseler
  •  

Personnel Committee

C0-Chair:

EK Cottrell & Paula Renfro

Kelly Craddock