Garrison Greene Commissioned for Veritas Dayton

On August 30th, Garrison Greene was ordained and commissioned by Veritas Community Church to plant a church in Dayton, OH. Garrison has walked with us as a member, staff, community group leader, and pastoral resident while discipling others and serving our church.

About Garrison

Growing up in a pastor’s home often led people to assume that I knew Jesus, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth. I spent the early years of my life far from God and searching for satisfaction in anything and everything but Him. When I was 19 years old, I spent the summer hanging drywall with a close friend who knew Jesus. We had many conversations about the Bible, about Jesus, about what it meant to follow Jesus. To the surprise of many people, at some point during that summer, I began to trust in Jesus and His work for my salvation. I was a very unlikely convert to Christianity, but my sin and unbelief was no match for God’s power and grace.

The road since then has not been perfect, but God set my direction toward Jesus and hasn’t let me get off track and I’m confident that he won’t. During these last 8 years, it’s been evident to me that God has given me certain gifts and called me to use them. He’s given me a desire and gift to declare His Word. He’s given me a desire and gift to lead. He’s given me a gift and desire to care for people. Ultimately, he’s given me a vision to see the people of God discipled—to grow in loving, knowing, and obeying Jesus.

I was a Worship Director at a previous church which led me to oversee communications and directing church gatherings. While I was in that position, I led an overhaul of the way communications were done and the church branding there and I helped lead a prayer movement which led to many students and young adults praying for 24 hours a day, for long periods of time. When my wife and I got married and moved to Columbus, I entered into a Church Planting Residency at Veritas Community Church (our mother church) and served on staff as the Lead Pastor’s Assistant. While at Veritas I learned much about what it looks like to plant a church, how to prepare for sermons and declare God’s word, the art of pastoring and caring for God’s people, and the importance of discipleship. As a member of Veritas, I led and multiplied our Community Group and continued to lead worship. I believe serving and being discipled in a local church is the most effective training a church planter can receive.

All of this leadership experience has led me to, affirmed by others, pursue planting a church in the city of Dayton. I feel the Lord has led and gifted me specifically for this task of not just planting a church, but the Gospel in the city and then trusting him for growth and fruit. Much of what motivates me to pursue this is my own conversion. If God is gracious enough to save someone like me, I want more people to know about this amazing grace! And if He is powerful enough to save someone like me, I know He is powerful enough to use me to increase the fame of Jesus in the city of Dayton.