Pastor Drew
Drew Henley is our Pastor at Redeemer Community Church and has been a resident in the neighborhood since February of 2008. Born in Atlanta and raised just north of the city, Drew is a passionate Braves/Falcons/Hawks fan (i.e. he’s used to heartbreak) and loves calling Atlanta home. After living in Vine City for a year, our parent church, Trinity Anglican Mission, invited him to be a part of their church staff (2009) to provide oversight and pastoral care to the growing ministry/partnership that Trinity had in the community. Drew’s role evolved over time, and when the Lord moved us forward with the church plant (2012), it became clear that Drew was called to be our Pastor.
Drew has been married to his wonderful wife, Diane, for 10 years. They have 3 girls (Anna, Evelyn, and Emma) and 1 little boy (Luke) who have all grown up in this community. After completing his undergraduate degree at Furman University, Drew worked in the city for a few years, and then returned to school to study at Reformed Theological Seminary to obtain a Masters Degree in Divinity. Diane and Drew love being a part of this community, raising their family here, and can often be found taking walks, at the playground, or spending time with neighbors on their front porch!
Pastor Mac
Leon McKenzie comes to Redeemer from Riverdale, GA. He and his mother moved to the South Atlanta area from Brooklyn, NY one year after his father's death. As a young man growing up in Brooklyn, Leon was blessed to have a solid family and home life. However, they were not the church going type. The morning of his father’s death, some friends offered to take him to church and his experience that Sunday morning would begin to change his life forever. There he met a community of people who loved and comforted him during the most difficult time of his life. Struggling with deep depression, he and his mother began attending church regularly and noticed that they both found a sense of peace there.
After moving to Georgia, they found a church home in Forest Park, GA. It was there that Leon finally understood the Gospel and the Lord radically saved him. Soon, he began to sense a call to preaching ministry. Believing that this call was from the Lord, Leon preached his first sermon on February 17th, 2006, one day before his 18th birthday. That summer he would intern at his home church and receive several more opportunities to preach and teach God’s Word.
Sensing that he had found his calling as a preacher, Leon went to Emmanuel College to pursue his bachelor’s degree in Christian Ministries. He is currently completing his Master’s in Biblical Studies at Reformed Theological Seminary. After interning with Redeemer for a little over a year, we were pleased to have him join us full time as our associate pastor.
Pastor Mac lives in the neighborhood of Adamsville/Collier Heights about ten minutes west of Vine City, with his beautiful wife, and professional harpist, Nichole. Pastor Mac and Nichole enjoy serving on the worship team together, working out, discovering new restaurants, taking in a good movie and traveling.
Leaders within Redeemer
As we all know, it takes a LOT of people to handle all of the responsibilities necessary to serve each other on Sunday morning and we are SO THANKFUL for everyone's willingness to jump in to help. Redeemer is blessed with worship leaders and a team of musicians that lead us in vibrant Christ-centered worship every Sunday. Redeemer Kids has a plethora of volunteers, as well as an incredible volunteer coordinator that keeps things running smoothly. Youth ministry consists of men and women who are so giving of their time and energy to serve and share life with the teenagers in our community. From the cafe, to building maintenance, to decorating, to the myriad of youth ministry activities, the list goes on and on. If you're new to Redeemer, know that you are invited to find out where your gifts can be used in seeing the Kingdom come!
At Redeemer, we firmly believe that church works best when we are truly operating as the body of Christ, as Paul speaks of in 1st Corinthians 12:12-30. We seek to affirm Paul's words that "each one is a part" of the body and these parts are called "to have equal concern for each other" by encouraging the men and women who call Redeemer home to play key leadership roles in the church. It is an absolute joy to see God's people not only being served, but thriving in serving each other, while using their unique gifts that God has given them, and building deep friendships with those whom they are serving alongside.