Leadership

Jesus Christ alone is head of the church. He, however, exercises his care through elders appointed to oversee the church primarily in providing spiritual care. This group of men includes the pastor, who is the teaching elder, along with others who serve together with the pastor as ruling elders. The deacons make up another office in the church, serving alongside the elders, whose responsibility is in the area of mercy and caring for the outward needs of our congregation.   

Elders

BRYAN RIGG

BRYAN RIGG

Pastor
bryan.rigg@mercypres.org

Bryan was born and raised near Lancaster, PA. Liberty University originally brought him to Lynchburg where he received a Bachelor’s of Religion and met and married his wife, Kate. After graduation, they moved to Philadelphia, PA, where he attended Westminster Theological Seminary.

After seminary, Bryan and his family moved back to Lynchburg to begin working at Mercy’s sister church, where he served for five years. He then served as both an assistant and associate pastor at Mercy before being called as head pastor in February 2020.

Bryan and Kate have two children, Naomi and Charlie – both wonderful blessings from God! Their family ministers to the community through foster care, and they’ve had the privilege of caring for 5 additional children in long-term placements. Bryan enjoys fixing houses (he’s flipped/rehabbed 10 in total). He also loves playing basketball, coaching volleyball, watching his kids play sports, visiting the National parks, and spending summers outside at the lake.

Chris Deneen

Chris Deneen

JOHN EAST

JOHN EAST

SHAWN GEORGE

SHAWN GEORGE

STEPHEN HOBSON

STEPHEN HOBSON

scott long

scott long

chris misiano

chris misiano

Ruling Elder
Sabbatical

WYNN SHACKLEFORD

WYNN SHACKLEFORD

RUSTY SMITH

RUSTY SMITH

RICK ULMER

RICK ULMER

Deacons

tim dailey

tim dailey

Deacon
Sabbatical

 

mike ellsworth

mike ellsworth

graeme leitch

graeme leitch

AUSTIN OLSON

AUSTIN OLSON

Tony Pearson

Tony Pearson

RYAN ROBERTS

RYAN ROBERTS

scott robinson

scott robinson

jim shimp

jim shimp

RYAN WHITE

RYAN WHITE

staff

JEREMIAH SHEETS

Director of Music and Youth
jeremiah.sheets@mercypres.org

Jeremiah is from Palm Beach County, FL. In 2002 he began serving in his home church, Wellington Presbyterian Church, leading worship for the youth ministry. Falling in love and feeling called to ministry work he spent several years doing worship, youth ministry, and serving as a deacon. In 2014 he felt called to church planting and spent 6 years working with two church plants in Palm Beach County. Jeremiah started working at Mercy Pres in August of 2020 as the Director of Music and Youth.

Jeremiah and his wife Kandy have been married since 2008. They have four children: Jemma (2011), Malachi (2014), Jewel (2017), and Gideon (2019). They love being outside together and have gladly traded the beaches of South Florida for the mountains of Virginia!

nATE fOWLER

Pastoral Intern
nate.fowler@mercypres.org

Nate grew up in both Ecuador, South America and Bangor, ME. From 2010-2014, Nate studied Worship Music at Liberty University, then worked for Mercy Pres. as Director of Music and Youth from 2017-2020, before being sent by Mercy to Westminster Theological Seminary, where he received an MDiv in 2024.

Nate now returns to Mercy as a Pastoral Intern (the Book of Church Order calls this “candidate for the Gospel Ministry”), to help in a host of pastoral capacities for the benefit of Mercy, her community, and as training for his future pastoral ministry.

Please pray for him and his wife, Katie, and two sons, Justus and Salem, as the Lord guides and directs them through this internship.

Emilee Ellsworth

Administrator
emilee.ellsworth@mercypres.org

Emilee grew up in Orlando, FL, and moved to Lynchburg in 2009 to attend Liberty University. The following year, she met her husband, Mike, who now serves as a deacon at Mercy, where they have been members since 2016. They were married in the snow in January of 2016 and welcomed their daughter, Juliana, to their family in March of 2020. The Ellsworths live in Bedford and enjoy a variety of outdoor activities in the area.

Emilee joined us after working 5 years in communications. She joined the Mercy staff in April of 2019.

LINDA WAUGH

Administrator
linda.waugh@mercypres.org

Linda was born in Central Florida, is the youngest of 4, and has an identical twin. She grew up in Southern California due to her dad being a Chaplain in the Navy. Linda eventually moved back to Florida, graduated from UCF and after college worked at CRU headquarters in Orlando.

While there she was set up by her mom’s best friend on a date who became her husband, Jonathan Waugh.  They have been married almost 28 years and have three adult children – Alia (2000), Ian (2002) and Adria (2003). 

Jonathan is a Professor at Liberty University which is what brought them to Virginia in 2020.  They joined Mercy shortly after and enjoy living in Virginia. Linda joined the Mercy staff in September 2024.

ERICA FOX

Nursery Coordinator
nursery@mercypres.org

Erica is originally from Augusta County, VA. She and her husband, Mike, met through their church in eastern North Carolina while she was attending East Carolina Univeristy for grad school. They moved to the area in 2022 to be closer to family. They have two children – Henry (2022) and Hazel (2023). The Foxes live in Bedford and love spending their free time at Smith Mountain Lake.

After working several years with adults as a Speech Language Pathologist, Erica now stays home full time with her kids. She joined the Mercy team as the Nursery Coordinator in August 2024.

STEPHEN JOSHUA

Sound Team Manager
sound@mercypres.org

Stephen is originally from Lancaster, PA. He moved to Lynchburg in 2009 with his family and began working for Liberty in 2016, where he is currently a System Administrator in the IT department.

Stephen has attended Mercy since 2017, where he began serving on our worship team, first as a guitar and cajon player. As his expertise in managing our sound needs grew, along with his love of sound and technology, he was hired on staff in 2018 as our Sound Team Manager.

Stephen married his high school sweetheart, Liz, in 2019. They have two daughters: Madeleine (2022) and Evelyn (2024).