Our Pastors
Rusty Williams
senior Pastor
Rusty Williams accepted the call to serve as Senior Pastor of the Chattanooga First Seventh-day Adventist Church in early 2020. He is an ordained minister with 25 years of pastoral experience in the Georgia-Cumberland Conference and served most recently as the full-time Pastor of the Alpharetta Adventist Church, growing it from a church-plant, while also ministering at the All Nations Church in Lilburn, Georgia.
Rusty brings a wealth of knowledge, skills and energy to our congregation and community, and is helping us move forward as we work with God to minister to the spiritual needs of the greater Chattanooga area and every guest who passes through our doors. We feel very blessed to have him!
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Following his conversion, Rusty returned to school at Southern College of Seventh-day Adventists graduating Cum Laude in 1993 with a B.A. in Religion Ministerial and a minor in Biblical Languages. While at Southern he received the ‘Excellence in Biblical Greek award’. He continued his education at Andrews University Theological Seminary where he received his Master of Divinity in 1995.
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Rusty and his wife, Vanessa, have two children, Stephen, who is attending Southern Adventist University, and Courtney who is attending Collegedale Academy. One of his passions is participating in short-term mission projects, which have taken him to date to Russia, India, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Costa Rica. In addition to spending time with Vanessa and their family, Rusty enjoys model rocketry, muscle cars, home repairs, climbing lighthouses, and hiking to waterfalls.
Chris lopez
Associate Pastor
Chris Lopez joined the Chattanooga First Seventh-day Adventist church January 7, 2023. In December, 2022 he graduated Magna Cum Laude, with his BA in Theology from Southern Adventist University. Along with honors, Chris was also awarded recognition as an “Outstanding Ministerial Candidate” and "Excellence in Biblical Greek" in his graduating class.
Chris' passion in ministry is sharing God through preaching, personal Bible study and helping people connect to the transforming power and grace of Christ in a practical way.
In his free time he enjoys a variety of outdoor activities.