Jordan Olshefski
Senior Pastor

Jordan grew up in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania and met his wife, Evyn, while attending Elon University. After graduating from Reformed Theological Seminary in 2011, he helped plant and establish Cross Park Church in Charlotte, NC, serving there as Associate Pastor until October of 2021, when he accepted the call to be Senior Pastor at Uptown. Jordan & Evyn have been married for 18 years, during which time the Lord has blessed their family with four children (Walker, Eleanor, Knox, Evelyn), and the recent addition of an international student (Eseosa). Jordan enjoys planting things in the ground, playing golf, reading with his kids, and as a former Catholic, hopelessly cheering for Notre Dame football.

jordan@uptownchurch.org

Cheryl Anne Butts
Director of Operations

Cheryl Anne grew up in Charlotte and met her husband, David, when they worked together at a summer camp. After serving full-time in camping ministry for 8 years they moved back to Charlotte and joined Uptown in November of 2018. Shortly after, she began working for the church part time as Events & Volunteer Coordinator and now full time as Director of Operations. Cheryl Anne has two daughters, Jane and Margaret, and her favorite place is gathered with them around a bonfire. She kind of bakes, kind of runs, and is kind of a Panthers fan, but whole-heartedly loves serving on staff at Uptown.

cherylanne@uptownchurch.org

Jeremy Goodwyne
Worship Director

Jeremy is a musician and a liturgist at heart who is passionate about facilitating encounters between God and his people. He believes that at the core, humans are worshippers, and what we worship shapes us into the people we are becoming. With that in mind, he endeavors to craft liturgies that glorify God, narrate the total gospel, engage the whole person (body, mind and heart), and give voice to the full range of human experience and emotion. Jeremy moved to Charlotte with his wife, Julie in 2009 to be the Worship Director at Uptown Church. They have a son named Abel (Abe), a daughter named Aurelia (Rilly- pronounced like “Billy” with an “R”) and an old pooch called Chloe. They live in the Biddleville/Smallwood community and Jeremy also performs around town as the front man for local rock band Brother Watts and as a solo act doing more intimate folk and indie music.

jeremy@uptownchurch.org

Tyler Miller
Director of Community and Mobilization

Tyler has a heart to equip and mobilize the church to love God and love their neighbor in word
and deed. Growing up in Wilmington, the gospel of grace changed everything when a group of
surfers invited him to hang out and study the Bible. After attending NC State he met his wife,
Brooke, while serving with Cru. They have called Charlotte home since 2010 and have two fun
kids, Garrett and Brynn. After graduating from Reformed Theological Seminary, Tyler came on
board at Uptown Church to serve as the Director of Community and Mobilization. He enjoys
anything that gets him outside and moving, escaping to the mountains or the beach, the
occasional woodworking project, and watching any of his favorite teams play.

tyler@uptownchurch.org

Kensley Jones
Operations Coordinator

Kensley is originally from Lynchburg, VA, moved to Charlotte in 2017, and became a member at
Uptown shortly after. In 2018 she met her husband, David. They got married at Uptown and now
have a daughter (Brooke). Together, they love good food, coffee, walking their neighborhood,
and having friends over for game nights.

kensley@uptownchurch.org

Ashley Mink
Director of Women’s Ministry

Ashley Mink has worshipped at Uptown for more than 15 years. She serves in Uptown’s children’s ministry because she loves the church, loves young children, and loves young families. Married to Jay for 19+ years, they have three teenage children (Juliana, Phoebe, and Thomas). Ashley loves reading and her book club, learning about almost anything, and cooking. She also works part-time as a middle school history teacher at a Classical school.

ashley@uptownchurch.org

Anne Rogers
Bookkeeper

Anne has been a member of Uptown Church since 1997 and joined the Uptown staff during the summer of 2018. A NC native, Anne graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill and holds an MBA from Wake Forest. She is married to Derek Rogers, and they have 3 boys, Emerson, Aiden and Noah. In addition to using her gifts in the Bookkeeper role, Anne is also involved with the Women’s Care Team, helping lead a life group, and spends many volunteer hours in her community. Anne enjoys running in her free time, and spending time friends old and new.

anne@uptownchurch.org

John Sittema
Teacher in Residence

John rejoined the Uptown Church staff as Teacher in Residence in 2022 after serving as Interim
Pastor 2020-2021. He and Carol retired to Rock Hill after a long pastoral career. Now a short
hop from Uptown Church and from 3 of their 4 kids and 10 of their 12 grandchildren, retirement
3.0 is a busy blessing.

johns@uptownchurch.org

Christy Talamo
Interim Uptown Kids Coordinator

Christy has been a member of Uptown Church for 18 years. Over that period, she has served
the Children’s Ministry in multiple capacities, including as a former CM Director. She’s married to
Joe Talamo and has three children, Patrick, Rosie and Walker. Christy has a BS in Bible from
Columbia International University, was an elementary school teacher for 8 years, and is excited
to be back again to serve our kids and parents!

christy@uptownchurch.org

Bethany Broesder
Worship Assistant

Bethany has been at Uptown since 2017. She spent her childhood in Florida, then moved with her family to North Carolina in high school. After high school she attended Cedarville University in Ohio, where she majored in music education. From Ohio, Bethany moved to China where she taught music for 6 years at an international school before returning to the US. She currently teaches elementary music in the Charlotte area. She dabbles in graphic design, loves painting and anything coffee, and spends most of her free time trying to keep up with her very energetic dog. At Uptown, Bethany assists Jeremy with various administrative jobs, as well as designing and printing the worship guides weekly. She also volunteers with the production team and the missions committee.

Anna Coker
Intern

Anna moved to Charlotte from Oxford, MS, in the Fall of 2020 and joined Uptown Church
because of the community she found there. Anna went to the University of Mississippi and was
heavily involved with RUF (Reformed University Fellowship) as a student. She lives with her
cats, Carla and Dave, and loves to cook, go on walks, and game nights. She also works as an
Office Administrator at a real estate company.

anna@uptownchurch.org

Nathan Ecarma
Intern

Nathan is a student of the Bible who moved from Chattanooga, TN to Charlotte to study at
Reformed Theological Seminary in pursuit of an M.Div. He enjoys reading, laughing with friends,
smoking a pipe, and watching TV. Along with school, he works as a salesman selling Bible
software. He is married to Emily who is studying to be a counselor. Together they love to cook,
to explore coffee shops, and to eat good food. At Uptown, Nathan works with the youth,
teaching Sunday school and helping with discipleship.

nathan@uptownchurch.org

Matthew Reichenberger
Pastoral Intern

Matthew moved from Bloomington, IN to Charlotte in August of 2020 to pursue a MDiv at RTS. In Bloomington, he spent the past four years completing his undergraduate degree in Piano Performance at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and graduated in the spring of 2020. While at Indiana University, he was heavily involved in Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) as a student on the leadership team and also served on part-time staff with Hope Presbyterian Church, PCA as a worship leader. He has two wonderful parents and a younger brother who reside in Florida. On most days, you can find him reading, talking and laughing with a friend, and singing and playing a hymn on the piano. Matthew loves spending time with people, cultivating meaningful, Christ-centered relationships, and hopes he can do lots of that and more at Uptown.

matthew@uptownchurch.org

Zach Riddiough
Intern

Zach is originally from Oostburg, WI and moved to Charlotte in December 2021 to begin the
MDiv program at RTS. He married his wife, Lexi, shortly before making the move. Zach’s love
for the Lord was greatly cultivated while studying philosophy in college, where he realized the
importance of placing Christ at the center of how we think and live. He finds great joy in forming
meaningful friendships and hopes to serve the Lord through pastoral ministry or mission work in
the future. Zach and Lexi enjoy playing board games, eating good food, hiking, and kayaking
together.

zach@uptownchurch.org

Joseph Tan
Adult Education Intern

Joseph is from Malaysia and moved to Charlotte in the summer of 2019 to pursue the M. Div. program at RTS. His wife, Debra and two college-aged daughters (Eliza and Eunice) are here with him as he pursues God’s calling for the ministry. For close to two decades, Joseph has run a leadership development and coaching business where he finds tremendous joy in investing in the leadership potential of both teams and individuals. During this “new season”, he looks forward to being equipped for greater ministry effectiveness before returning home to Malaysia.

joseph@uptownchurch.org

Charles Beck
Elder

Charles became a Christian in college after trying and failing to find happiness and meaning in worldly things, and after seeing the transformational conversion of his mother. Charles met his wife, Elizabeth, at Wake Forest, and they lived in Birmingham, Atlanta, Beijing, and Chicago before arriving in Charlotte in 2018. They have been married for 12 years and have four boys: Charlie, Thomas, James, and Dotson. Charles works at Red Ventures, and Elizabeth is a PA at Novant Presbyterian. Uptown was among the first churches they visited in Charlotte and quickly became their home. They have enjoyed investing in relationships for the gospel through life groups, prayer triads, and informal neighborhood outreach.

Forde Britt
Elder

Forde is a Charlotte native and is married to Jessica. They have three boys: Braxton, Sullivan, and Knox and reside on the west side of Uptown. As a land broker, he is active in the Charlotte metropolitan area representing buyers and sellers in the negotiation and entitlement process. He enjoys spending time following Gamecock athletics, spending time with his family, and exploring all of Charlotte, and the world beyond.

David Butts
Elder

David grew up in Grand Haven, MI, and graduated from Western Michigan in 2003 with a degree in Recreation Management and a desire to pursue camping ministry. This took him first to Colorado and then to Lake Lure, NC, where he worked at Camp Lurecrest for 12 years. He met his wife, Cheryl Anne, at Camp Lurecrest, where they shared 8 married years on staff together and found great joy in watching the freedom of the gospel change lives (including theirs). In 2017 they moved to Charlotte where he is currently a general contractor and Cheryl Anne works on staff at Uptown. They have two daughters, Jane (8) and Margaret (6).

Jeremy Carroll
Elder

Jeremy was born and raised in Zimbabwe. He met his wife Sarah, a Tennessee girl, while at college in South Africa — got married in Tennessee — and took Sarah back home to Zim a week after the wedding: a long story which they’d love to share with you over some tea and rusks. After four and half years soaking up the African sun, Sarah and Jeremy left his family behind and moved to Charlotte, partially to be closer to Sarah’s family for a while but mostly because our God opens doors that no one can shut.

They have come to love the Queen City — part of the reason was finding Uptown Church and another was starting our family here (we have two boys, Oliver and Milo). They have made friends here at Uptown that they could not imagine living life without and have come to know and love this community. And so, as it pleases the Lord, they are happy to serve in this next chapter at Uptown.

Adam Dyer
Elder

Adam is married to Lindsay Dyer and they have 5 kids(!): Caleigh, Andrew, Caitlin, Hudson, and Mary Carson. Adam owns and operates a promotional marketing firm, Insight Branding. Outside of work, he enjoys golfing, coaching baseball, skiing, hiking and running. Lindsay and Adam love to travel and explore the world. They have been members of Uptown since October 2005.

Drew Harris
Elder

Drew is married to Laurabeth and has three kids, Lounora, Henry, and Charlie. They all enjoy reading, being outside, and having friends over. They have been in Charlotte since 2008. Drew works as a Financial Advisor. Previously, he taught Bible in high school, so he is always excited to teach about Jesus when the opportunity presents itself.

Jay Mink
Elder

Jay grew up in both L.A. and Toronto, then God brought him circuitously to Charlotte in 1997. He met his wife, Ashley, through Young Life and they were married in 2001. They have three amazing children who are now in college and high school. Jay and Ashley have been at Uptown since 2000, except for 6 wonderful years in the middle with an Uptown church plant, Cross Park Church. They returned to Uptown in 2016 and Jay joined the Uptown Session in 2020. Jay serves as Director of Outreach for the National Christian Foundation of the Carolinas where he delights to help people exercise Biblical generosity more effectively. He loves mountain biking, snowboarding, clay shooting, chopping wood, tending a fire, traveling with his family, fast cars, and good movies.

Tom Queen
Elder

Tom grew up in New England, attending college in Boston, before moving to the Carolinas in
2001. He started attending Uptown in 2007, joining the Session four years later. In 2009 he met
Angela and they were married in 2010, and now have three boys: Jack, Caleb, and John. Along
the way, he has wondered where all the time has gone.
Tom works in the high tech industry, and in his free time can be found watching the boys play
sports, reading most anything, learning Italian (slowly), watching the Red Sox, Celtics, and
Liverpool, and continuing to feed his family with homemade pizza.

Derek Rogers
Elder

Derek has been at Uptown Church since 1997. After a 23-year career at Bank of America managing large projects and enterprise strategic programs, he left there in 2017 and joined C12 Group, an advisory organization working with Christian CEOs and Owners as they grow their businesses. Derek became Deacon at Uptown in 2001, was Chairman of the Diaconate for many years, and in 2018 joined the Uptown Session as an elder. He is married to Anne, and they have 3 sons, Emerson, Aiden and Noah.

Tim Shorey
Elder

Tim was born and raised in NJ and met his wife, Brooke, at Bryan College. They were married in 2006 and have three kids, Timothy, Neph, and Carolyn. They moved to Charlotte in 2017 and have been members of Uptown Church ever since. As a family, the Shoreys enjoy golf (though Tim’s game leaves a lot to be desired), food, and reading. Tim has been a slow-burn RTS student for a while and, as a pastor’s kid, has had a life-long love of the church and of theology. When he’s not working, studying, or spending time with the family, you’ll probably find him planning his next elaborate cooking project.

Jeffrey Wallis
Elder

John Ashworth
Deacon

John is a Charlotte native and is married to Shana. They have two daughters and a son. John and Shana originally met at an Uptown Retreat in 2000 and married five years later. John runs a property management company in Charlotte and enjoys pursuing entrepreneurial ventures. In his free time he enjoys spending time with his family in the Charlotte area or adventuring in the mountains and beaches of the Carolinas.

Ron Branch
Deacon

Ron is from and grew up in Wilmington, NC. He graduated from UNC-Wilmington before attending the College of Architecture at UNC-Charlotte. He’s been at Uptown since its first anniversary (the year he was born). He currently works for The Wilson Group Architects and has been a deacon at Uptown for over a decade, currently serving on the property team.

Brandon Davis
Deacon

Brandon grew up in small towns around the foothills of North Carolina — Newton, Conover, Shelby and Statesville. He moved to Charlotte after college and joined Uptown Church more than 20 years ago. He met his wonderful wife, Teresa, at a Lifegroup bible study through Uptown and they have two kids. By day he is the Executive Operations Director for National Christian Foundation Carolinas and in his spare time he enjoys tennis, golf, snow skiing and cheering for the Tar Heels.

Craig Lowder
Deacon

Craig is originally from and grew up in Chesapeake Virginia and is married to Janet. They met
and got married at Uptown and have two sons. Craig graduated from the University of Virginia
and attended UNC Chapel Hill for grad school before moving to Charlotte to start his career in
financial services. Craig has been a deacon at Uptown for over ten years and has also served
as youth mentor group leader, nursery volunteer and finance committee member. In his spare
time, he enjoys outdoor activities like fishing, swimming and most of all spending time with
family and friends.

Michael Richter
Deacon

Michael was born and raised in Appleton, WI prior to attending Clemson University, where he graduated with bachelor’s degrees in Financial Management and Economics. He is the holder of a CFA charter and works in Corporate Treasury at Wells Fargo. Michael has been at Uptown since 2006 and has served as a finance deacon since 2014. He and his wife Elizabeth were married in 2010 and they have two children, Matthew (2013) and Tess (2015). Michael loves to golf, smoke meat on his big green egg, and root for the Clemson Tigers football team.

Jim Vaughn
Deacon

Jim graduated from the University of Central Florida and is an avid Florida Gators fan. He’s been married to his wife Chris since 1993 and they have 4 children; Rachel (24), Nicole (23), Rebekah (21) and Payton (18). He’s worked in the Insurance industry for over 30 years as an agent, underwriter and manager of teams. He currently works for Hood Hargett & Associates and manages a large Independent Insurance agency.

Jim has been a deacon at Uptown since 2004 and has served primarily in the area of Mercy. He is currently the staff liaison for the Diaconate and serves on the new Personnel Committee.