Uptown's Staff

Tom Hawkes

Senior Pastor

Email: tomhawkes@uptownchurch.org
Phone: 704.564.8180

Tom has served as Uptown's senior pastor for 14 years and was a graduate of Gordon College (1978) and Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary (1985). Pastor Hawkes has provided leadership as the Founding Director of The Arrow Leadership Program at Leighton Ford Ministries (1991-1995), Founding President of the Church Planting Center in Orlando, Florida (1990-1991), as U.S. Director of Church Growth for the Presbyterian Church in America, Atlanta, Georgia (1986-1990), and as the Director of Church Growth Services for the Evangelistic Association of New England, Boston, MA (1980-1985). From 1985-86 Pastor Hawkes served as Associate Program Director for Billy Graham's Amsterdam '86. Tom and his wife, Ann, have four sons, Collin, Taylor, Brandon and Preston. In his spare time Tom's favorite pastimes include mountain biking, road biking, and windsurfing.

Mike Kruger, Ph.D.

Associate Pastor
Adult Education & Discipleship Training

Email: mkruger@rts.edu
Phone: 704.564.8182

Mike has served as a part-time pastor at Uptown Church since 2002 and he is responsible for Discipleship Training and Adult Education. He oversees the variety of ways that church members receive theological and biblical training, including Sunday School, one-on-one discipleship, Intern training, the Uptown Resource Center, and the bi-monthly P.U.B. Night event.

In addition to his Uptown responsibilities, Mike is also a full-time Academic Dean at Reformed Theological Seminary here in Charlotte. He received his B.S. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, his M.Div. from Westminster Theological Seminary in California, and his Ph.D. from New College, The University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He is the author of The Gospel of the Savior (E.J. Brill, 2004) and has had articles appear in such journals as The Journal of Theological Studies, The Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, The Expository Times, Themelios, and The Master's Seminary Journal. Prior to his service at Uptown Church and RTS, Mike served in the pastorate for several years at Church of the Redeemer in Phoenix, AZ. Mike and his wife Melissa have three children: Emma, John and Kate.

Dave Kulp

Associate Pastor

Pastoral Care & Life Groups

Email: davekulp@uptownchurch.org
Phone: 704.564.8184

Dave grew up in a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He spent many of his summers with his grandparents in Mississippi. He first worked in ministry as a high school student in his church's middle school youth ministry program. While studying Art Education at Kutztown University (Go Golden Bears??), Dave felt called into full-time youth ministry. Directly after graduation, he moved to South Carolina to work at a summer camp on Seabrook Island. Dave and Mary met working on camp staff together. Mary grew up in Charleston, South Carolina, and studied Recreation Therapy at Clemson University (Go Tigers!). After getting married in January 2002, the Kulps lived in Georgetown, South Carolina where Dave served as a youth director for 4 years. In the spring of 2005 Dave sensed God was calling him to work in full-time ministry for a lifetime, thus he began taking classes at Reformed Theological Seminary here in Charlotte in Fall of 2005.

The Kulps have three beautiful girls. Celia who loves art and dancing. Bennett who loves singing and making others laugh. And Camilla is who enjoys sleeping, eating and laughing with her sisters. Dave enjoys football, fishing and spending time with friends, and Mary enjoys cooking, running and Starbucks. The Kulps have truly loved their time at Uptown and are very thankful that the Lord saw it fit to place them in a church in which they can minister to and share their lives with people they already care for so deeply.

Jeremy Goodwyne

Worship Director

Email: jeremygoodwyne@uptownchurch.org

Phone: 704.564.8181

Jeremy and his lovely wife Julie came to Uptown from Greenville, SC. Jeremy was finishing a Masters of Church Music at Erskine Theological Seminary (Due West, SC) and Julie was working as an interior designer for MCA Architecture. They have been married since March 2007, and have a dog named Chloe who looks like a fox. Jeremy holds a degree in classical guitar, but he also plays acoustic and electric guitar and several other instruments.

Jeremy's interests include, but are not limited to: reading, writing, studying, traveling, learning, playing games, listening to good music, enjoying good food and drink, building things, taking things apart, watching movies, watching good television, watching soccer, chopping wood, hiking, camping, setting fires, shooting the breeze, taking pictures, visiting, art, the south, house shows, the show House, playing any instrument regardless of proficiency, Cheerwine, theology, language, sociology, culture, and Flight 815.

Shannon Arendt

Director of Children's Ministry

Email: shannonarendt@uptownchurch.org
Phone: 704.564.8185

Shannon serves as the Director of Children's Ministry and is mainly responsible for shepherding and serving the children and families of Uptown Church. Shannon comes to us from Covington, Louisiana near New Orleans. Upon graduating from the University of Southern Mississippi she joined the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ working with college students at Mississippi State University. After spending a year in Southeast Asia with Campus Crusade, Shannon moved to Charlotte where she taught at several urban elementary schools for seven years. In June 2007 Shannon left teaching to become the Director of Children's Ministries at Uptown Church. In her free time, Shannon loves cooking, reading, going to the dog park with her dog Libby Sue and renovating her newly purchased first home.

Ashley Abbott

Office Manager

Email: uptownchurch@uptownchurch.org
Phone: 704.375.7355

Ashley comes to us from the Banking world after almost 7 years as an Administrative Assistant for Wachovia Bank. Ashley is a Roanoke VA native and attended Gardner-Webb University (Go Runnin’ Bulldogs!). She has called Charlotte, NC home since August 2000 and hopes to be here for many years to come. In addition to managing the day-to-day tasks of Uptown Church, Ashley loves being a part of the Worship team and working on The Gathering leadership team. In her free time, Ashley enjoys singing, laughing, reading, spending time with friends, traveling (specifically cruises), watching movies, & cooking.

Lisa Ellis

Co-Nursery Coordinator

Email: nurserycoordinator@uptownchurch.org

Amy Cole

Co-Nursery Coordinator/Bookkeeper

Email: bookkeeper@uptownchurch.org

Melissa Kruger

Women's Ministry Coordinator

Email: melissakruger@uptownchurch.org
Phone: 704.996.6271

Melissa has recently joined Uptown's staff for a second time. After serving for a year as our Children's Ministry Director, she spent a few busy years raising her growing family full time. Melissa is a North Carolina native and attended UNC-Chapel Hill, where she studied math and education, as well as met her husband, Mike. She currently works part-time as our Women's Ministry Coordinator, acting as a liaison between the women's prayer team, program team and staff team. She enjoys meeting with women, studying the Bible, running with friends, reading, and spending her days raising her three children, Emma, John, and Kate.