Our Staff

Ministry Staff

Billy Godwin

Senior Pastor

Billy grew up in Collierville, Tennessee, a town just east of Memphis. He responded to God’s call to preach the gospel while he was a sophomore at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. After graduating from Baylor, he went on to receive a Master’s Degree from Dallas Theological Seminary. His educational experience in Dallas was enriched by his involvement at Prestonwood Baptist Church where he served as pastoral intern and interim College Minister.

After graduation from DTS, Billy returned to his home church of First Baptist, Collierville and served as Assistant to the Pastor and Minister of Youth for several years. It was during this time on a trip to Georgia that he met Miriam Harris through a mutual friend. Miriam’s dad is Gerald Harris who pastored for 40 years and is the retired editor of the Georgia Baptist state paper - The Christian Index. Billy and Miriam married in April of 1992 and they moved to the Atlanta area in January of 1993 when Billy was called to be the pastor at Ephesus.

During his first few years at Ephesus, Billy earned his Doctor of Ministry degree from New Orleans Baptist Theological seminary. Under Billy’s leadership at Ephesus, the church has grown from being a smaller family church to a growing community church and now a mission-minded regional church which is impacting West Georgia and the world for Christ.

Billy is a self-described "Andy Griffith fanatic." Billy and Miriam both love music and have sung together over the years at several churches throughout the convention. Miriam is the church pianist. They have three grown children and two grandchildren.

Billy is excited about what the Lord is doing in and through Ephesus. His daily prayer is, “Lord, help me to hear YOUR VOICE above all others.”

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Matthew Isennock

Minister of Education

Matthew Isennock came as Minister of Education to Ephesus in August 2002. He has over 30 years of ministry experience including Christian camping, youth ministry and Christian education. Growing up just an hour north of Baltimore, Maryland, Matthew got spoiled on fresh seafood from the Chesapeake. Christian schools were attended throughout his educational experience. He graduated from Tennessee Temple University with a Bachelor of Religious Education and later received his Master of Arts in Religious Education from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Titus 2:11-15 are some of Matthew’s favorite Scriptures.

Before coming to Ephesus, Matthew served as a Children’s Director and Camp Director, Youth and Education Minister in two churches. Three and a half years were spent at FBC in Ashburn, GA, near all the peanut farms, and six and a half years were spent at Chattanooga Valley Baptist Church in Flintstone, GA, at the foot of Lookout Mountain. He also served 4 years as children’s minister and summer camp director for a rescue mission in Columbus, GA, before going to seminary.

Matthew is happily married to Phyllis, who is an elementary school teacher. They feel blessed to be the parents of two adult children, Hannah and Christopher. The Isennocks welcomed Shannon into their family as Christopher’s wife in 2018. Hannah works locally as a graphic designer. Christopher and Shannon are currently residents as medical doctors in Memphis, Tennessee. The family enjoys missions, traveling and soccer. Matthew also enjoys home improvement projects and yard work.

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Frank Gillespie

Minister of Music

Frank was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina, but grew up in Valrico, Florida. His family became involved at Bell Shoals Baptist Church where he was saved at age seven. He feels blessed to have been influenced by many great leaders during his time there.

He met his wife Jennifer at the University of Mobile where he earned a degree in Music Composition. While a student at UM, he also worked at Integrity Music. Franks holds a Masters of Arts in Worship Studies and Leadership and a Doctor of Worship Studies from Liberty University.

Frank came to Ephesus in June of 2002 having previously served at First Baptist Church of Destin, Florida and Moffett Road Baptist Church in Mobile, Alabama. Not only does he oversee the Worship Ministry, but he also works with our Senior Adults and helps design our publicity material like this website.

Frank believes he is called to help bridge the generations and encourage hurting people. Isaiah 26:3, "You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you," is a verse that has meant a lot to him recently.

Frank and Jennifer have 4 children, 1 son-in-law, and 3 grandchildren.

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Daniel Courson

Student Pastor

Daniel was born and raised about half an hour outside of Jacksonville, Florida in a small town called Macclenny. Daniel attended Glen Baptist Church for the majority of His life. It was in their Student ministry where he felt a calling to ministry as a teenager. He was able to pursue that call by serving multiple internships in that same ministry.

Daniel attended Liberty University where he graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Next Generation Ministries. He is continuing his education by attending Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary where he will be studying to achieve his M.DIV in Preaching and Pastoral Ministry.

Daniel’s wife Karlee is a major part of his ministry. She serves by leading the youth worship team on Wednesday night. They both have a love for students and want to make a lasting impact in their lives. Daniel models his ministry after his favorite verse, Matthew 5:16. He desires to lead students to live the same way he strives to live, as a light for Christ.

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Lori Lewis

Director of Preschool Ministries

Lori Lewis grew up in Winston and Ephesus Baptist Church. She served many years as a layperson in preschool ministry. Working with preschoolers and ministering to their families soon became her passion as she realized God's call on her life to work in this area.

Lori attended West Georgia College and has a degree in Marketing/Public Relations from Georgia State University. After receiving her degree, she worked in the Marketing Department at the Commercial Bank in Douglasville as Director of Public Relations. She also attended Immanuel Baptist Theological Seminary.

She joined the staff of Ephesus in April of 2000 after teaching for six years in the Early Learning Center of First Baptist Church of Douglasville. She has over 30 years of experience in her field, training preschool leaders on the associational, state, and national level.

Lori is a self-described nature person. She loves the beach and mountains and enjoys planting flowers. She enjoys music, reading, and eating out with friends, especially if it's an Italian or Mexican restaurant. She clearly gets her work ethic from her favorite verse Colossians 3:23-24.

Lori and her husband, Jeff, have four wonderful daughters, four sons-in-law and 7 grandchildren (and one more on the way)!

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Krista Stone

Director of Children's Ministries

Krista Stone was born and raised here in Winston, Georgia. She has been a part of Ephesus her entire life. As a child, she attended Sunday School and Girls in Action every week. God began molding her young heart to love God and love His people. When she went on her first overseas mission trip to Romania in 9th grade, she started to wonder if God may be leading her to a life overseas. After a few more trips, that calling was confirmed.

Krista attended Truett-McConnell College where she received her Bachelor of Arts in World Missions. She then served a 2-year term in Kosovo. Upon returning to the States, Krista attended Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary where she received her Master of Arts in Biblical Counseling. Still feeling the call to serve overseas, she then spent 2 years in Central Asia.

Throughout her time in CA (which just so happened to be the first 2 years of the Covid era) God continuously reminded her that His plan will never fail. Though Krista’s plan was to stay in Central Asia for many years to come, God had a different plan in place. She would have never thought that He would bring her back to serve as the Children’s Director of the church that built her. Yet, that is exactly what He did.

Krista is that goofball aunt that everybody warns you about before you meet her for the first time. Though she has only two nieces and one nephew in her family, she has dozens of kiddos who she considers her honorary nieces and nephews. Her not-so-hidden-talent is having a song for everything and being able to remember all the VBS songs dating back to her kindergarten year…1996…Olympic theme…Go for the Gold! Though her native language is sarcasm, she also speaks bits and pieces of English, Turkish, Albanian and a tiny bit of Romanian.