Leadership

Pastors & Staff

Jedidiah Coppenger

Lead Pastor

Dr. Jed Coppenger started Redemption City Church in 2013 with a handful of people who wanted to build a church with the gospel that would be a preview of and pathway to the future, heavenly Redemption City in Rev 21-22. He loves preaching, leading, encouraging the people of Redemption City, and reaching the lost with the gospel. Pastor Jed has served in a wide variety of ministry roles since he was called to the ministry in 2002 at North Greenville University, both in America and around the world. He earned his M.Div. at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and his Ph.D. at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Pastor Jed edited Retreat or Risk: A Call for a Great Commission Resurgence (B&H 2010), contributed to Theology and Practice of Mission: God, the Church, and the Nations (B&H Academic 2011), and authored 21 Days to Childlike Prayer: Changing Your World One Specific Prayer at a Time (Harvest House 2022). He helped co-found Baptist 21, which is a pastor led voice for gospel centrality in the Southern Baptist Convention.

Pastor Jed is married to Melanie and they have three kids, Josiah (14), Susannah (13), and Judah (10). They all love sports, the beach, traveling, and people.

Micah Christopher

Worship Pastor 

Micah has a deep love for Jesus and seeing others pour out worship to Him. He desires to see God’s people engage in deep community and write songs out of what God is doing in the local church. Micah loves to see ministry teams come together as family to advance the mission of the church.  Micah brings over ten years of church staff experience serving in the worship and creative ministries.

Rachelle Harwell

Kids City Director

Rachelle was born and raised in sunny California. Growing up in a home that was rooted in faith, at the age of 6 years old, Rachelle made the decision to follow Christ and set out on a journey with Him that would greatly impact her life and set the foundation that has kept her feet upon the rock. She and her family moved to Tennessee over 24 years ago. In 2013, she married her amazing and supportive husband, Tim. She has served in multiple ministries throughout her life through worship, working with women, and, most importantly, investing in the hearts of her two precious girls, Kharis and Felicity. Rachelle has a heart for children and fostering the hearts of the younger generation. She desires to walk alongside and partner with parents in fostering the hearts of their kids to love Jesus and equip them with the tools that will help them grow in their faith and discover who they are in Christ. 

Director of Kids City

Trevor Walker

Pastor of Groups, Missions, and Operations

Trevor was born and raised in East Tennessee. He experienced God’s redeeming grace when he was eight years old through his family and church leaders’ faithful teaching of the gospel. Trevor stayed in the East Tennessee area for college, attending Maryville College to pursue a career in Physical Therapy. While there, he met his wife, Makayla, and they were married in July 2020. Though he set out for a career in Physical Therapy, God had other plans. After graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science, Trevor applied and was accepted to The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Trevor and Makayla have attended Redemption City Church since the week following their wedding when they moved to Nashville, and Trevor has served on staff for two years as a Pastoral Intern and later a Pastoral Assistant.  As of May 2023, Trevor completed his Master of Divinity program at Southern. He is now the Pastor of Groups , Missions, and Operations  at Redemption City. Aside from his love for serving the Church, Trevor enjoys spending time with his wife and two dogs, Charlie and Milo, backpacking, fitness, cooking, and coffee. 

Hunter Sims

Creative Arts Pastor

Hunter serves as the Creative Arts Pastor at Redemption City and oversees production and communication. Hunter was an OG at RCC where he and his wife, Bethany, were members from January of 2015 to November of 2019. Hunter worked at Capitol Christian Music Group/Worship Together while they were in Nashville. God called Hunter and his family to Pensacola where he served as the Director of Communications at First Baptist Church Pensacola. Hunter and his family are pumped to be coming back to Redemption City and serve this faith family. Hunter and Bethany have three kids, Anne-Marie [6] and twins, James and Ruby [3]. Hunter loves to do anything outside from fly-fishing, paddle boarding, and playing either golf or tennis.

Kathy Browning

Interim Director of Connections

Kathy was born and raised in Central Illinois on a corn/soybean/cattle farm. Her parents raised them to honor Christ and follow his teachings. She has lived the past several years in the Nashville area working in the management fields of Hotels/property management and then the Medical field. Kathy also worked 5 years at the church she was attending in Wilson County as the Congregational Care Coordinator.

Kathy has a daughter, Lauren, who lives in Louisville, KY and two step-daughters, Jennifer and Jessica, who live in Texas. She loves spending time with her dog, Finnegan, she is an avid football fan (Titan Up), and loves visiting family back on the farm, which allows her to spend time with another love - horses!

Abby Dixon

Creative Resident

Abby’s love of collaboration brought her to Nashville in 2020 to pursue a degree in Songwriting and a minor in Design Communication at Belmont University. Here, she discovered how her passions for music and sharing the gospel intersected in worship ministry. Through serving on worship teams with campus ministries across the states, her desire to write and lead songs that bring God glory continued to grow. 

She has been a member at RCC since 2021, serving on the worship and connect teams. Some of her favorite activities outside of music and art are: fellowship with friends, paddle boarding, playing volleyball, and trying out new coffee shops.

Ashton Irby

Ministry Assistant

Ashton and her husband, Joe, grew up in the Franklin and Green Hills areas. After obtaining her degree from Lee University, Ashton returned to Middle Tennessee and started serving with the PreK class at RCC. In 2020, she joined the RCC staff to assist the Kids City ministry. She loves seeing kids learn the truth of God's saving love for them and then mature in their faith as they grow older. Ashton and Joe welcomed their first child in 2022.

Cilla  Deal

Hope for the Hungry Farm Coordinator 

Priscilla (Cilla) Deal was born, raised, and still lives on the same family farm in Leipers Fork, TN. She has a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education from Middle TN State and a Masters degree in Supervision and Leadership. Cilla was a teacher for over 10 years in Dickson. During that time and since, she has raised 4 children, Jax, Nola Grace, Mela and Gave. Cilla loves her farm and animals, especially her goats and has always loved dirt, gardening, and helping people. She became a Believer in 2000 and soon after God laid ministry on her heart.  Cilla is so excited to see that God has made a way for her in Ministry by combining her love of dirt, people and serving God at our church farm leading the Hope for the Hungry Ministry.Her prayer is to grow food for those in need, minister to volunteers and those that receive the food, and make disciples for the glory of God and His kingdom.