ABOUT COMMUNITY BIBLE CHURCH

Angie Hewins

Angie and Pastor Gary followed the Lord’s leading to CBC after having served on staff at an Atlanta church for 15 years. Her love of the Arts fuels her passion for using them to minister to the Church and as outreach to the local community.  She is responsible for the creative arts at CBC and is thankful for those who use their artistic talents as an act of worship. Angie and Gary have served and worshipped at CBC since 2009. They have four adult children and three precious grandchildren.

David Parrish

Originally from Highlands, David is fascinated with traveling, different cultures, and God’s engagement in our lives.

David graduated from college prepared to teach High School English and to coach Soccer.  Immediately following college, he traveled domestically and internationally before securing a teaching and coaching position at Asheboro High School for the next four years.

In 2015 God returned David unexpectedly to Highlands to teach and coach at Highlands High School. It was here that he met Kelsey Stevens, HHS’s Spanish teacher, who led David to Christ, who then led them to marry.  Since then, Christ has apprehended David with passion and conviction. In 2019 David committed his life to God’s work and the teaching of His Truth. David and Kelsey have partnered in life and ministry to develop mission- minded youth who engage in God’s word daily and demonstrate God’s unconditional love, locally and globally.

Micah Atkins

Micah Atkins has been around ministry her whole life. She spent the majority of her adult life in Jackson Hole, Wyoming working with nonprofits as a health care advocate for the Elderly. Growing up in a Pastors family, ministry was second nature to her but when her faith went from knowledge of God to being radically changed by Christ’s grace her whole outlook and passion began to change towards the Kingdom. She now uses her experience and testimony to help advance the Kingdom of God. Micah came to CBC after spending 4 years as the Operations Director for Gateway Church, Jackson Hole Campus. The Lord brought her to North Carolina to be closer to family and she fell in love with the Cashiers, Highlands community. She is passionate about how the local church interacts with the community and loves to create new and innovative ways to show the power and passion of Christ to all. She and her 5-year-old son, Luca can usually be found outside taking full advantage of the change of climate from Wyoming!

Julie Hughes

Julie has been a member of CBC with her husband, Jeremy, and their two boys, Conner and Jayden, for many years now. She has been frequently serving as a volunteer in our Children’s Department. Julie was called into children’s ministry in the fall of 2014 while serving in India with her family at a children’s home for a few months. Since then Julie has grown to be a homeschool mom, tutor of Classical Conversations, a ballet teacher and the Children’s Ministry Leader here at CBC. She considers it all pure joy to teach the Word, play, worship, pray and just to be a part of drawing the kids closer to their Father. As a local family, Julie has been blessed with the opportunity to witness the kid’s God-given gifts and desires to help them learn to use their gifts to share the Father’s love with others.

Kelsey Parrish

Kelsey is originally from Franklin and, after travels in Spain, moved back to the area three years ago. She attended UNCW and graduated from WCU, deciding to pursue Spanish Education following her time in Spain. Her love for Christ and the Spanish language has taken her to Guatemala, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic on various missions projects. In 2017 she moved back to the US and began a teaching position at Highlands School.  There she met her husband-to-be, Buddy Parrish. Last year they welcomed their baby boy, Lyric Judah. Kelsey subsequently left teaching Spanish to better focus on her passion for teaching God’s Word with CBC Youth. Kelsey is excited to grow in relationship with young disciples of the Plateau, where she believes she can encourage fruitful relationships with Christ alongside her husband and son.

Hannah Adams

Director of Music Education

Hannah Adams has played piano for twenty years, is currently the pianist at her church, and has taught piano students for nine years. Hannah’s passion for music is to uplift and glorify the name of her Savior Jesus Christ. She wishes to pass on a love of music to each of her students and to encourage them to use their abilities to praise God and bless others.

Dylan Lytle

Tyler Morrow

Tyler is originally from Rutherfordton, NC.  He graduated from Western Carolina University in December of 2020 with a degree in Commercial Music and Audio Production with a concentration in Jazz Guitar.  He has attended CBC as musician since September of 2019, but started as a Media Technician / Sound Engineer in August of 2020. 

Thomas Bates

Thomas grew up in Atlanta and graduated from The Westminster Schools.  Following graduation from Davidson College, Thomas and Lisa (also a Davidson graduate) taught in Kenya for almost two years in neighboring villages, returning to the US in 1984 to be married.  After supporting each other through their respective graduate programs (Thomas at Duke University [Natural Resources Management] and Lisa at Clark University [Rural Community Development]), they returned to Africa to work with Save the Children Foundation for 18 months in northern Sudan.  After their experience in Sudan, Thomas and Lisa moved to Cashiers where Thomas helped develop Fountainhead Water Company, followed by real estate development for the next 22 years.  Thomas and Lisa have three children: Sara (married to Galen and have Ezra), Tucker and Hayden.

The Bates Family has enjoyed membership here at CBC since 1998.  Thomas has served as an elder at CBC since 2000 and joined the staff in 2018. He is responsible for CBC’s overall community development.

Kim Johnson

Kim Johnson was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia and graduated from Georgia State University with a degree in English Literature. After college, she moved to Los Angeles and worked as a production supervisor in the film industry for over 20 years, managing TV commercials and music videos.  

She moved back to the south in 2015 to be closer to her parents. For five years she lived in the town of Marshall, North Carolina, and one day curiosity led her into the historic church next door where she found Christ. 

Wanting to live even closer to her family, she relocated to Cashiers in 2021 and became a member of CBC Highlands. She feels blessed and is eternally grateful to be able to serve this amazing church and the Lord. 

Rodney Beasley

Rodney is originally from Orlando and the surrounding Central Florida area. He went to all the local schools there and graduated from the University of Central Florida in 1972 with a degree in accounting. After graduating he went to work for various companies doing accounting work as their chief financial officer. He worked in different business segments such as retail, wholesale and manufacturing for both domestic and international companies.  He has two wonderful daughters one in Orlando and one in Virginia Beach, VA. Having always loved Western Carolina he moved to Franklin to be in the midst of the mountains. Within a year of moving to Franklin he became a master gardener in Macon County. His dream job after moving to Franklin was to find a great church and to be able to work alongside of people of faith.

Lisa Bates

As a “Navy brat”, Lisa lived in California, Hawaii, Japan and England before settling with her family in Alexandria, VA. Following graduation from Davidson College, she taught for nearly two years in Kenya in a rural village school, “coincidentally” located one mile from Thomas’ village.  Their marriage and graduate degrees soon followed, along with their subsequent return to Africa, working with Save The Children in northeastern Sudan.  It was a miraculous series of events that placed them in their current home in Cashiers in 1991, where they have raised their three children, Sara, Tucker and Hayden.  Lisa has been involved here at CBC for the past twenty years, serving for the last five in the accounting department. The role of grandmother is her newest joy.