We are privileged to have Rev. Michael Lashley serving with us as our Pastor.
Rev.
Michael Lashley wrote the following after becoming Interim Supply Pastor for
Arsenal Hill Presbyterian Church beginning April 1, 2009. Rev. Lashley had
previously come as a Supply Pastor on Sundays in which the church had the need.
Rev. Lashley was voted by the congregation as the church's Bi-vocational Pastor on Sunday, October
4, 2009. We are both honored and blessed to have Rev. Michael Lashley and his
family with us here at Arsenal Hill. Pictured at left are Rev. Michael and Mrs.
April Lashley.
Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ!
My name is Michael Lashley and I am very eager to serve the Lord and each
of you as your interim pastor at Arsenal Hill Presbyterian Church. Very soon I
look forward to getting to know each of you better on a personal basis, but for
now I would like to tell you a little bit about myself and how the Lord has led
me to this position.
I am a native of Columbia, having lived and grown up here since age 2. I
graduated from Hammond Academy in 1987, and then went to Wofford College in
Spartanburg, SC, where I received a Bachelor of Science in Psychology in 1991.
Upon graduating, I returned to Columbia and lived here again for 7 more years,
receiving Christ in 1993 and entering Columbia International University for a
Bible Certificate, which I received in 1995. Convinced that the Lord was leading
me into the ministry, I enrolled full-time in the Master of Divinity program at
Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, NC in the fall of 1998. It was
during my time at RTS that I met my wife April, a native of Charlotte, while
interning at Back Creek ARP Church. We married in June of 1999 and lived in
Charlotte until after I graduated from RTS in 2001.
Shortly after graduation I received a call to pastor Carolina Covenant ARP
Church in Fort Mill, SC. We moved to Fort Mill where I served as solo pastor
until 2004. We continued to live in Fort Mill where I began work as a route
salesman for Diamond Springs Water & Coffee Co., Inc. I did this for roughly
three-and-a-half years in Charlotte until the opportunity arose to move into
management and move back to Columbia. This remains my current job, though with a
different company, Valley Springs. During my years of work with these companies,
I was able to continue to serve in ministry as worship leader in a church in
Fort Mill, and have been able to fill various pulpits as well. Since moving back
to Columbia, I have continued to seek opportunities to minister, and I am
thankful that the Lord has opened a door at Arsenal Hill.
April and I have been blessed by God with 4 beautiful children: Alexa, 7;
John-Gabriel, 5; Rebekah, 3; and Luke, who turns 1 year old on April 2. We look
forward to meeting all of you and serving the Lord Jesus Christ with you. We
would ask your prayers on our behalf, just as we will be praying for each of
you. May we all look to Jesus by faith, believing that He will do great things
among us!