Carl V. van der Merwe was born in Klerksdorp, South Africa and grew up in Western Transvaal, South Africa. He received his BA from the Potchefstroomse University for Christian Higher Education in 1985 and his BD from the University of Pretoria, Faculty A in 1990. He was ordained in the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa in 1990 and served as Chaplain in the South African Defense Force. He has ministered in churches in Clocolan and Vryburg, South Africa before he was called as a Church Planter to Greeneville, Tennessee in 1995. Since January 1996 he served first as Church Planter and was later called as pastor of Grace Reformed Church, a congregation of the Bible Presbyterian Church. Carl and his wife, Elsie, are blessed with two children, Mariska and Stephan, and five grandchildren.

Joseph K. Neumann was born in Washington, DC, and grew up in rural New Jersey and northern Virginia. After attending University of Virginia-Charlottesville, he completed his BS in Psychology at the University of Maryland-College Park. He received his MS in Experimental Psychology after completing Basic and AIT training for the Army National Guard. He completed Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology in 1975 from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Joe professed faith in Christ in 1979 and grew in the reformed understanding of Scripture in the early 1980s. He completed a Biblical Counseling Certificate from Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, PA) in 1984. He moved to Tennessee in 1985. Prior to retiring from the VA Medical Center in 2002, he completed certification requirements in Biblical Counseling from NANC (now Association for Certified Biblical Counselors). He became an elder in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) church in the 1990s and retired from the State of Tennessee in 2009. Currently, he has a small private practice at Grace Pointe Counseling Center, primarily engaging in Biblical counseling. He is also an employee of Roth Neuropsychology and Behavioral Associates engaging in a variety of duties. Joe and his wife, Jan, were married in 1971. They have four grown children and five grandchildren. Both Joe and Jan were very active in home schooling.

Neil Smith grew up in Hampton, Virginia, in the Tidewater area. He graduated from Virginia Tech in 1975 with a BA in Political Science. Neil came to faith in Jesus Christ in the Spring of 1979. He became a member at Grace Covenant Presbyterian (PCA) in Blacksburg, Virginia in 1981. In 1987, Neil was ordained as a ruling elder at Grace Covenant and served there until 1990. Re-located by his employer, Erie Insurance, to Johnson City, Tennessee, he then joined Midway Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Jonesborough, Tennessee. He was elected ruling elder and served there from 1992-2003. Neil joined Grace Reformed Presbyterian Church in Greeneville, Tennessee in 2003 and was elected ruling elder in 2007. He is a certified biblical counselor with the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC formerly NANC). Neil is married to Terri, who is, also, a certified biblical counselor with ACBC. They have one son and three grandchildren.

Jon was born in Massachusetts into a Christ centered home. In 1986, his family moved to East TN and he attended Hancock County High school. He studied construction management for two years and followed his father’s footsteps into the roofing industry. In 2004, Jon and his brother took over the day to day management of the family business and have continued to run it to this day. In 1992, Jon married the love of his life Kim. They have been happily married for 27 years and the Lord has blessed them with ten children. Jon was converted in 1991 by the grace of God. He first was introduced to the Reformed faith in New Hampshire under the preaching of Gregory Reynolds and attended the OPC church plant in Jaffrey, NH for one year. After relocating back to East TN, Jon and his family attended Westminster Presbyterian Church in Kingsport, TN and became members in 2002. After a decade of sitting under the sound preaching of Brent Bradley, Jon and his family moved to the Greene County, TN and soon after moved their membership to Grace Reformed Presbyterian Church. In 2015, Jon was ordained as a deacon. Jon was elected and ordained as an Elder at Grace in 2019.

Aaron was saved by Christ in 2006 by the constant witness of faithful Christian friends and the faithful preaching of Christ as the only way to save sinners. After his salvation, Aaron had and still has a desire to share the gospel of Jesus Christ faithfully. Coupled with the desire to reach out to the lost; Aaron also fell right in line and love with the Reformation and Church History.
A few years after his conversion Aaron felt a leading into ministry. Providentially he met a Pastor who owned a rare book and Bible Museum in Sevierville Tennessee. Upon much prayer and consideration Aaron agreed to move to Tennessee and help in whatever capacity was needed at the Bible Museum. After several years at the museum, he left on good terms to his current vocation. Aaron has been an exterminator "bug man" for the past seven years. He and his wife Susan, and their son RJ live in Newport Tennessee.

David Berg grew up in Birch Run, Michigan. He graduated from Central Michigan University in 1986 with a BS in Chemistry. David began his Christian walk at Grace Church of the Islands (PCA), Savannah GA in 1999, and professed his faith in Christ while under the care of Dr. Joe Morecraft at Chalcedon Presbyterian Church (PCA), outside Atlanta, in 2006. He is currently employed as a sales representative for Vanderbilt Minerals. He joined Grace Reformed Presbyterian Church in Greenville, Tennessee in 2018, and was elected deacon in 2019. David is blessed to be married to Tracy and blessed to have one son, Colton.

Ben Bowen grew up in Warminster, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Gwynedd-Mercy College in 2009 with a B.S. in Biology. He began his professional career working in I.T. for IMS Health, then accepted the position of Agriculture Specialist with U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the port of Philadelphia, PA. He was given the opportunity to relocate to Greeneville, TN and is currently employed as an Investigator with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Ben is married to Maureen and together have been blessed with 7 children.

Justin grew up in Canyon Country, CA. After high school, he enlisted in the Marine Corps and served for 5 years. At age 23 a co-worker invited him to a home Bible study group and church and he was saved in 2008. He moved to East Tennessee in 2019 and married his wife Amanda and is blessed with 5 children. He became a member of Grace in 2019 and was elected deacon in 2025. He currently works as a forklift operator at Petoskey Plastics.

David grew up on a grain and livestock farm in Farmer City, IL. He attended the nearby University of Illinois, graduating with a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering in 1971. He had met Alice on campus from a computer dating service ( in 1969 - what computer? ) . He graduated, started a job, and got married in two weeks. He and Alice started married life in IN; David working for General Motors in semiconductor design. One daughter was born while in IN. After 10 years, they moved to Florida where a son was born soon after the move. David worked for Texas Instruments in semiconductor sales covering the state of FL, and Puerto Rico. David and Alice had grown up Methodist, but attended a Lutheran church while in FL. In 1980, the family moved to the NC mountains to help build a Christian retreat. David worked there as a volunteer for four years, living on savings, and income Alice generated working after two years with no income. While at the retreat, they cut and gathered trees from the property to build a log chapel building, which was dedicated in 1993. David stepped away from the retreat to start earning money again by purchasing and operating a portable band-saw mill, naming the enterprise ‘The Carpenter’s Sawmill’ where he endeavored to emulate the Carpenter who lived 2000 years ago in his work. This enterprise provided full time income for the next 25 years. In NC they attended a United Methodist church until it became clear the denomination was not following its own Book of Discipline on spiritual matters. David had served in several administrative positions there. They left, and joined a small, rural Presbyterian church where they were warmly welcomed. David retired from the saw mill business and sold the mill in 2019. David and Alice had both been active for many years in the spiritual growth weekend, Walk to Emmaus, offered by the United Methodist community. Alice also had become active in the United Methodist Women, and David was active as construction supervisor for Habitat for Humanity – each doing their own separate thing. They stepped away from both of those activities, and spent the next 17 years together in prison ministry in a local state prison with the Yokefellow listening ministry. In 2020, they sold their home of 30 years in NC and moved to TN to be closer to their son and family. Covid restrictions to gathering prevented engagement with the new community, but they listened to worship services on the radio where they found Grace Reformed Presbyterian Church, and joined later that year.

Jason (Jack) Kraeger was born and raised in CNY. He is the middle child of 7. He was homeschooled for 12 years and spent 5 years in the Army Reserves before starting a career in transportation. He and his wife Kimberly married in 2010 and have been blessed with 6 children.