Elders
Ruling Elder
Jack is a Maryland native and a UNC Chapel Hill graduate. He served as Williamsburg city manager until retiring in 2015, and he’s a retired USNR captain. He and his wife Susan have four adult children and five grandchildren. He likes woodworking and history.
RULING ELDER
Steve grew up in Charlottesville, Virginia and attended Virginia Tech. He first met his wife Cris, who grew up in Williamsburg, when they volunteered together with Young Life in Blacksburg. Work brought Steve to Williamsburg and he and Cris individually joined GCPC in 1992. They dated, married in 1995 and raised their 2 now grown daughters in the church. Steve was trained, elected and ordained as a Deacon at Grace Covenant PCA Blacksburg in 1987 and served as a GCPC Deacon from 1995 - 2010. He was trained, elected and ordained as a Ruling Elder in 2010. Steve has worked more than 35 years in hospitality and meeting management, recently retiring from William & Mary's University Events team after 21 years of service.
RULING ELDER
Bryan Simpers was born in Japan. He was eclectically educated in various places and currently serves as a teacher in a small Christian school nearby. He has attended GCPC since 1999. Bryan and his wife Amy have been married for over 31 years and have three adult children, five dogs, and two cats. His hobbies include movies, history, reading, writing, and gardening.
RULING ELDER
Bob was born and raised in Northeast Ohio. The U.S. Navy brought him to Virginia in 1990 and a few years later he met and subsequently married Laura, a Williamsburg local. They have 3 adult children. The Smole family began attending Grace Covenant in 2010 and joined the following Spring. In 2012 he was ordained as a Ruling Elder. He has served the last several years as Clerk of Session.
Bob earned his undergraduate and masters degrees from Old Dominion University and his employed by HII as an engineering supervisor, while Laura is a graduate of Radford and teaches Rhetoric at Providence Classical School.
His current interests include homebrewing, weightlifting, and enjoying the company of his wife and children.
RULING ELDER
Aaron was born and raised in beautiful northwestern New Jersey. He attended college at the Mary Washington College (now the University of Mary Washington) in Fredericksburg, VA where he met his wife Dena. They were married in 2005 and lived in the Fredericksburg area where they both worked for the Navy in Dahlgren, VA. Following the birth of their 3rd child in 2014, they moved to Williamsburg, VA to be closer to family.
Aaron, Dena and their 3 children have attended Grace Covenant PCA since moving to Williamsburg. He teaches the high school Sunday school and came on session in 2022. He currently works as a program manager for the United States Army in Fort Eustis, VA.
His interests include photography, reading, mountain biking, and traveling with his wife and kids.
RULING ELDER
Tim was born in Naples, Italy but grew up in Northern Virginia. He met his wife Larisa in high school at the local skating rink and they have been together since.
Tim earned his undergrad at The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale and also has a Masters in Theology and Church History from Regent University.
Tim and Larisa moved to Williamsburg in 2014, as she is a William & Mary alum, and he loves the historic area. Their son was born here and baptized at Grace Covenant. Tim was ordained as a Ruling Elder in 2022.
His interests include photography, history, Tolkien/Lewis, and ice hockey.
Dalton Hylton, Elder Emeritus
Ron Pohl, Elder Emeritus
Lanning Anderson, Elder Emeritus
Allen Slade, Elder Emeritus
To contact all the elders please email: elder@gracecovpca.org
DEACONS
Deacon
Bradley M. Allen was born in Arkansas and moved to Virginia at a young impressionable age with three siblings. His father was called into the ministry. He grew up in the church where he learned about Reformed theology membership and service. He was really inspired by his father's service as a pastor. Famous quote “this Jesus thing is real and tell people about him.”
Shortly after high school, he met his loving wife Jennifer. They have been blessed with 3 covenant children and 4 glorious grandchildren. He has been a dedicated member of Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church for 20 years serving on the diaconate handling facility building needs. He is an HVAC contractor, car enthusiast, likes fishing and just love fixing things.
DEACON
Born and raised in North East New Jersey. Air Force veteran. Retired mechanical engineer. Started attending Grace Covenant in 2005. Seven children from 27 years to 14 years old.
Enjoys woodworking and sailing in his spare time.
DEACON
Tim grew up on a small farm in upstate NY. He earned a degree in Chemical Engineering from MIT and is a licensed professional engineer (mechanical engineering.) He met and married his wife, Candy, (a Williamsburg native) when their paths crossed in Lancaster, PA. Following Tim's 18-year career in the food manufacturing industry, they moved to Williamsburg in 1999 when he joined Candy's family homebuilding business as managing director. Tim has served as a deacon at GCPC for over 20 years. Candy and Tim have two adult children: a son, Andrew, and a daughter, Taryn. Tim enjoys fly fishing for mountain trout, and is an avid sporting clays shooter, instructor, and coach of the College of William & Mary shotgun team.
DEACON
David and his wife (Amy) moved to Williamsburg in 2008, but were attending Grace since 2004 shortly after they got married. Originally from Staunton VA, David grew up on a dairy farm and attended the University of Virginia to study mechanical engineering. Upon graduation, he moved to the Hampton Roads area where he began a career at Newport News Shipbuilding as a Test Engineer. Some 20+ years later, he remains there and has built a solid career currently overseeing the test program for new construction aircraft carriers. David and Amy were married in 2004 and now have 3 kids (Josh, Katie, and Ben). David became a deacon at Grace Covenant in 2020 and was elected the chair of the deacons shortly thereafter. In his free time, David loves hiking, biking, and running as well as spending time with his wife.
DEACON
Peter grew up moving around the country in a Navy family. He met his wife Molly at Vanderbilt. Peter studied economics at Yale and came to Williamsburg to join the faculty at William & Mary. He and Molly have three kids. The McHenrys play music at Grace Covenant. As a deacon, Peter focuses on mercy ministry activities.
DEACON
Daniel grew up in rural Western NY, and after receiving his Associate's Degree in Horticulture (SUNY Morrisville) and Bachelors Degree in Landscape Architecture (Cornell University) he moved to Williamsburg in 2003. He Married his wife, Lauren, in 2004. They have three daughters, Amelia, Daphne, and Winnie. Daniel works at Stantec Consulting, where he manages Ecosystem Restoration projects (basically fixing broken streams and wetlands). When he’s not playing in the woods for work, he can be typically found in his vegetable garden, woodworking, running, biking, or cooking with fire. Daniel’s favorite part of being a deacon is being the hands and feet of Jesus, by serving those in need.
DEACON
Joshua joined GCPC in 2018 and serves in the AV team, youth, and children’s ministries. He was born in Portsmouth, but moved to Williamsburg in 2001. Along with his three siblings, he was homeschooled and currently works as a lead technician at Canon VA. When he’s not at work or church, he enjoys learning about new tech, exploring the area with a camera, discussing theology and politics, or playing softball on the men’s softball team.
DEACON
Justin is a native of Illinois with stops in Indiana and Massachusetts, before joining William & Mary as a Physics Professor in 2016. He and his wife Jaime have two teenage boys who keep them busy with everything from ultimate frisbee to mountain biking.
Josh Murray, Deacon Assistant
John Walrath, Deacon Assistant
Dick Turner, Deacon Emeritus
Greg Harris, Deacon Emeritus
To contact the deacons please email: deacon@gracecovpca.org
