Marc Lucenius, Lead Pastor
marcl@938.church

Marc grew up in South Jersey, near the Pine Barrens. His dad sold beer and his mom ran the Miss Burlington County Scholarship Pageant. He was confirmed in the church of his family’s heritage but never went back. God became real to him when he was in college at the University of Delaware. He knew he wanted to talk to people about Jesus, but didn’t know how. He received a Masters of Divinity from Westminster Theological Seminary, then later completed a Doctor of Ministry from Biblical Theological Seminary. All while serving for sixteen years for two special churches, Church of the Saviour in Wayne, and Willowdale Chapel in Kennett Square. Each of them is a partner in planting 938 church. 

Marc and Kathleen met in college, were married and off to seminary for a life of adventure in ministry together. Along the way, they became parents to Kelsey, Hannah, and Samuel who are the coolest kids in the world.  Kathleen is from DC and though she is still quite sentimental about the Redskins, has joined Marc in devotion to Philly sports. “We love our teams and love to talk about our teams just like we love our kids and love to talk about our kids.” 

Planting a church has been in their hearts for twenty years. Marc describes his particular calling in life to give himself to a vision to “repopulate our region with new, Biblical, healthy loving churches. We love the local church and we believe it is the best hope in this world to demonstrate the love of Christ.”

Rachel Short, Pastor of Community Life
rachels@938.church

Rachel grew up in Rockwall, Texas, a community thirty miles northeast of Dallas. Raised in a loving Christian home, she prayed with her mom to receive Christ and was baptized as a little girl. In eighth grade, she made the switch from a private Christian school to public school, a decision that greatly deepened her faith. Rachel went to college at the University of Texas at Austin where she studied corporate communications and business. She was heavily involved in serving and leading on campus ministries through her local church and had always prayed about going into vocational ministry. But, God had different plans initially.
 
When Rachel graduated college, she worked at the global public relations agency, Burson-Marsteller. She was then awarded the opportunity to attend an academic fellowship program at the John Jay Institute in Philadelphia. Following the John Jay Fellowship, Rachel took a job in West Chester, Pennsylvania, at American Philanthropic, a consulting firm that provides fundraising services to nonprofits.

At the beginning of 2017, God began reminding her of the calling that she wasn’t ignoring, but simply postponing, “to connect people to the person and mission of Jesus through the people of Jesus.” Not only does Rachel love deepening her biblical framework through study of the Scriptures, but she also loves deepening her clinical expertise as a graduate counseling student at Messiah University. She has a big passion for helping others discover hope and healing through God, the Church and therapy.

Zach Bennett, Director of Operations & Creative Arts
zachb@938.church

Zach grew up in southern Michigan in the suburbs of Detroit and lived there until he left for college.  Being from around Ann Arbor, he is a die hard Michigan Wolverines fan, and is unashamed to show it.  He grew up in the church, surrounded by a large, loving family, but during his teenage years decided that faith was not for him. Sports were his passion throughout his childhood up through college, where most of his time was spent playing either hockey, soccer or baseball.  He went off to college in Tennessee on a baseball scholarship, and it was there that he was reinvigorated in his faith.  He studied theology at a liberal arts Christian university, and then got a Master’s of Divinity with a focus on theology after that.   

Upon graduating from seminary, he moved to Pennsylvania and married his best friend.  He worked in a church in southern Pennsylvania for a couple of years, and has found his way to 938 church.  He also teaches online at the seminary where he received his degree. 

Zach loves sports and is fairly competitive (or very competitive, depending on who you ask), and lives for Saturdays in the fall and college football.  Music is a large part of Zach’s life, and he enjoys playing multiple instruments.