While the idea may seem unconventional to modern audiences, John explains the biblical reasoning behind having co-pastors. We [Garry and I] had a very similar philosophy of ministry. And a big part of it was that we couldn’t find a pastor in the Bible. We could find elders, but no one who was the pastor. This was after a lot of study—four years of study at Dallas. And we [wondered] if it wouldn’t be wise to go as co-pastors, so that no one man is at the top
Speaking to the idea of having two equal pastors, Jerod Gilcher, Christ Community Bible Church’s current pastor since 2019, says, This is somewhat similar to our view as a church today, which views all the elders as pastors.
Although he’s technically the lead pastor, Jerod has referred to himself and the other elders as your pastors,
noting that in the New Testament, ‘elder’ and ‘pastor’ are synonymous.
The other two current elders, Rich Caskey and Tommy Thomason, do the same work of teaching and shepherding that Jerod does. Jerod in his role preaches most often on Sunday mornings, but the other elders, or pastors, also teach equipping classes, lead small groups, and fill in for Jerod in the pulpit when he’s unavailable. Jerod explains, While they may have somewhat different roles and functions in the day-to-day life of the church (e.g., Jerod as the ‘lead’ pastor, or ‘leader among equals’ who handles a bulk of the pulpit and strategic vision setting), they nevertheless have the same qualifications (cf. 1 Timothy 3:1–7) and the same mandate to shepherd the flock (cf. 1 Peter 5:2).
Steve Van Rooy, who also previously served as an elder under Jerod, describes the same mentality. He considers them equal all the way around, whoever’s an elder. In other words, they’re all elders and all equipped to be able to preach and teach.
But Jerod wasn’t the first pastor of this fellowship to think along these lines. Believing in the equality of elders according to the biblical model, John and Garry both became the next pastors of what was then called Believers Bible Church.
A Tale of Two Pastors
Janis Burdett recalls the process when Craig Prather wanted to hire a full-time pastor for the church. They reached out to Dallas Theological Seminary [DTS],
Janis recalls. They met John Wecks and Garry Hogan….and they studied together, and ... they wanted to do a co-pastorate. It was kind of a new trendy thing, and the church was all for it.
Originally from Oregon, John had come to Dallas for seminary. He was a typical age for a graduate student and first became a pastor at age 25. But my husband was a little older,
recalls Judy Hogan, Garry’s widow. Born in 1941 in Huntsville, Alabama, Garry was already in his thirties by the time he and John came to the pastorate. Garry had been a chemistry teacher, both at the high school and college levels, until he felt the call to pastoral ministry and began pursuing his Master of Theology at Dallas.
Despite their differences in age and background, John and Garry became good friends. Garry and I got to know one another at Dallas Seminary, and we hit it off,
says John. We were kindred spirits with regard to what should be done in a pastorate.
When they decided to seek a co-pastorate together, they didn’t know that God was already preparing just such an opportunity for them. John recalls:
We met weekly for prayer at the seminary, just the two of us. And we noticed that, every Thursday, God started to really move. It became a joke to the two of us, that God was gonna do something—Thursday’s coming! And we found out later when we met with the men [from Believers Bible Church] who were praying on Wednesday night in a trailer in a field off of Carrier Parkway. We met with them, and we heard the story. Every Wednesday night, they would pray, and they got down on their knees. I bet there were fifteen or twenty who got down on their knees and prayed earnest[ly]. They meant business with God. And when Garry and I found that out, it's like, oh, okay. Here we thought it was our prayers. But the church was also praying, and it was very obvious that this was of the Lord.
Craig Prather ... knew that they would be looking for a pastor,
John continues. And the joke was ‘we’re looking for a pastor, not two pastors.’
Nonetheless, John and Garry were hired as co-pastors, coming to the church with their families in late 1974. I moved at that point out to Grand Prairie to live, so I rented a house from one of the elders, Randy McCracken,
says John. So that’s how it all started.
Once they were hired, there was still a lot for John and Garry to figure out. It was the first time pastoring for them both, much less being co-pastors and shepherding a brand-new church in its early years. They did a lot of praying, and they asked a lot of questions,
Judy remembers. They were not afraid to ask questions of some of those that were older.
John recalls working out how the day-to-day pastoring work would look under these circumstances:
We had been exposed to the concept of co-pastoring but didn't like the models that we were told about because they split the duties. And we were very afraid of one-upmanship, or one man emerging over the other. A true co-pastorate is what we wanted. And so this is how we did it: Garry had 100 percent of the responsibilities, and I had 100 percent of all the responsibilities.…
We alternated preaching. We would be through a book of the Bible, and I would take one Sunday, and then he would take the next passage in that same book the next Sunday, and then I would take the passage after that Sunday. After that we just alternated Sundays in preaching.
And another dynamic that we really benefited from, both of us, was [to] practice preaching to one another….And so we were evaluating one another's sermons in a practice session, and I think we both benefited, and the church undoubtedly benefited as well.
It was really neat, because Garry Hogan and John’s teaching styles were very different, but they were both so good,
Janis recalls. They just taught the Bible, taught the Word, and the church just grew and grew.
They did many things together,
Judy remembers. They did dramas together….And they did things like making [a drama of] the book of Job, or something like that….They just had fun doing it together, and so they enjoyed being co-pastors.
Doing ministry so closely together forged a deep bond of fellowship between John and Garry. We were way too like-minded,
John recalls. We became very close—I would say inseparable. It was a very good relationship.