Teaching Pastor
Rod Phillips is our Pastor-Teacher. Since his father worked for British Airways Rod spent much of his life in other countries: He was born in Tel-Aviv, Israel; at age 5 his family moved to Frankfurt, Germany; at age 8 they moved again to Camberley, England; and at age 16 they immigrated to the USA finally landing in Clarkston, MI where he graduated from High School.
Rod has over 35 years of pastoral ministry experience, serving as Sr. Pastor in both Michigan and California for the past 20 years. During his ministry he has emphasized the need for effective Missions, especially the support and training of national pastors around the world. He is also committed to teaching, training and practicing Biblical Counseling in the local church.
Rod completed his Ph.D. from Trinity Theological Seminary and served as an adjunct professor at The Master’s University. He was recently welcomed to serve on the faculty at The Cornerstone Bible College and Seminary in Vallejo, CA. Rod is married to Elia, a Bay Area native, and they have four adult children: Vanessa, Gavin, Deanna and Adam, and two grandchildren: Raiden and Archer.
Rod enjoys reading a good book, riding his mountain bike, playing golf, following the entertaining progress of West Ham United (an English soccer team), and a good cup of joe from Starbucks, Peet's, and especially Philz.
Associate Pastor
Denis Gerasimov is our Associate Pastor. He joined Gateway in 2022 and has been serving in this role since then. Denis is married to his wife Anna and has five amazing and life-giving kids–Ezra, Kataleya, Aria, Micah, & Ava. As a Bay Area native who felt called to ministry at the age of 17, Denis finished his M.Div and has been pastoring for the last 8 years as lead pastor and currently associate, where he preaches and counsels part-time.
He has also been teaching Greek for the past 5 years at the Cornerstone Bible College & Seminary which he graduated from. The rest of the time he coaches Christian men to live out their God-given potential by renewing the mind and establishing healthy rhythms. As a business owner, family man, and pastor – growing, maturing and developing is a challenge he enjoys. He loves traveling on credit card points, biking, reading, and spending time at the beach and mountains.
Leadership Teams
The Elder Team is presently made up of three elders as well as our Teaching Pastor and Associate Pastor. Their role is to serve as shepherds and overseers, in particular over the spiritual health and well being of Gateway Bible Church.
The SYNC Team is made up of ministry leaders who meet to assess the ongoing ministry development of Gateway and to provide healthy communication for upcoming ministry endeavors.
The Missions team oversees the direction and maintenance of our missions vision and strategy, locally as well as around the world.
Gateway's Biblical Counseling team has formed to address biblical counseling as part of our ongoing ministry to our church family and surrounding community.