WHAT WE BELIEVE

Pastors Ken and Paula have a passion to see God touch every life here in Marion County by instilling community, discipleship and seeking the Father's heart, to everyone they come in contact with. They have been in Full time Ministry in Ocala since 1999. Ken serves as the founding and lead pastor carrying the vision and message for this hour. Paula’s heart is to see the body of Christ embrace prayer as a lifestyle and the catalyst for a healing relationship with Christ. Ken and Paula love to lead people into a healing relationship with Christ. Ken loves to engage people outside of the local church and has been an active chaplain with the iServ management group and Marion County Sheriff Office since 2012. Ken previously served as a Noncommissioned Officer in the United States Air Force, as a cardiac and trauma CCRN and as an R.N. Paralegal before ministry. Paula has served the community as the founder of the Ocala House of Prayer and the Healing Place of Ocala. She has made tremendous impacts in the arena of prayer and healing corporately and individually over the past years. She’s also spent many years in diverse areas of administration including serving as a school principle and administrator for several years. Ken and Paula are middle school sweethearts, with one son, daughter-in-love and two wonderful, perfect, amazing, unlike any other, grandchildren! Ken loves to be outdoors, hiking, biking, kayaking, hunting or just sipping lemonade. Paula is super crafty, loves time with friends and shopping for or playing with the Grandchildren! Together they desire to see every life in Marion County impacted with the transforming love of Jesus Christ!

Chris serves as Executive Pastor and Global Missions Director at City Light Church in Ocala, FL, where he has served since 2013. He is passionate about seeing lives and generations transformed through authentic encounters with the love of Jesus. Chris holds a master’s degree in theology and a doctorate in leadership. Additionally, he serves as a Ministry Consultant with Ministry to Israel, a care and benevolence ministry serving Jewish families in Israel, and an Adjunct Professor at Northwest University (Kirkland, WA). Chris and his wife, Rachel, have been married since 2004, and have two children, Emma and Nicklaus. Chris’s favorite things include traveling, hiking, history and soccer.

Chuck and his wife, Lilly, began attending City Light Church in early 2020. In March of 2022, Chuck accepted the call as City Light Church’s Community Life Pastor. In his 20’s, Chuck had an overwhelming sense that there was something more to life than what he was experiencing in the world. After meeting Jesus, his life was forever changed. He felt called to give up a promising IT career to pursue full time ministry in the local church in Marion County. He attended Johnson Bible college for a BA Degree in Christian Leadership. The first 15 years of his ministry was dedicated to serving the youth, seeing hundreds of students give their life to Christ and, many of those, dedicate their lives to full-time Ministry. Chuck has always had a heart for those outside the community of Christ, which has fueled his passion for missions and local outreach. In recent years, his role as a Community Life Pastor has given him the privilege of shepherding people into healing relationships with other believers. Chuck has been married to his high school sweetheart, Lilly, for over 34 years. They have two adult daughters: Meagan and Katie. Chuck loves the outdoors, hiking, kayaking and is an avid cyclist in both road and mountain biking.

Jessica Wilemon has been serving as a volunteer at City Light Church since its original launch. She became the Worship Director in November of 2020 and the Prayer Director in 2023. Her love for music and prayer, however, began long before. Jessica grew up in a musical family who not only taught her a love for music, but a love for worship. Her parents instilled values of prayer and leading worship through a Biblical foundation, servanthood, and a heart postured for His glory. She learned to live out those values through volunteering her time in choirs, student worship ministries, a traveling worship band, and serving as a youth leader. She also led numerous Bible studies, discipleship groups and became an ordained minister in February of 2021. Jessica carries a deep passion for the purity and holiness of Worship- where Jesus is glorified, welcomed, and has ultimate authority. Her desire is for every life to experience the tangible touch of His presence through worship and prayer; to touch the hem of His garment as found in Mark chapter 5! Jessica married her husband, Travis, in February of 2002. They have two children; a daughter, Logan and a son, Brody, and two fur-babies; Lady and Bandit. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with friends and family. Her hobbies include boating, interior design, fitness, and scrapbooking.

Jacob has been in ministry since 2012 and serves as the CLY Interim Youth Pastor Production Director; he desires to connect people’s minds and hearts with the knowledge and love of Jesus. His goal in production is to get out of the Holy Spirit’s way so people can have life-changing encounters with God. Creatively, Jacob loves to spread engaging and inspiring testimonies of Jesus’ faithfulness. He strives for excellence, not perfection, aiming for “the best we can do with what we have until we can do better.” Jacob is an Eagle Scout and graduate of Southeastern University with a degree in Ministerial Leadership. Growing up in a Christian military family, he has experienced a variety of churches and has been serving in production, worship, and youth since receiving God’s call in high school. Jacob has been blessed to train under and work with several well-known churches and recording artists; he also serves as the Music Director for Roomsliving, an Ocala-based worship group that desires to unite the Church regardless of denomination, ethnicity, or age. Jacob and his wife, Brianna, married in April 2017 and have a miracle son, Caleb. Jacob loves the outdoors and will take almost any opportunity to go camping, canoeing, kayaking, shooting, you name it! He loves music; from classical and worship to metal and dubstep, Jacob often has music playing and is regularly pursuing recording projects. Together, Jacob and Brianna long to see lives radically changed and disciples made for Jesus!

Tami Dixon stepped into the role as Children’s Pastor for City Light Church in August of 2016. She believes that every child has a unique, God given purpose and can impact their surroundings in a great way. She cares deeply about reaching children with the good news of Jesus and teaching them about the love that God has for them. She believes each child has a distinctive personality, and she prays that the Lord would use each one for His glory! Before and during her time at City Light, Tami has also undergone intensive training serving as a Children’s Supervisor, a Children’s Leader for Bible Study Fellowship, the Vacation Bible School Director for many years, the Micanopy Charter School Board of Directors, and PTO President for numerous schools. She has always volunteered her time working with children and studying their behaviors and personalities and very much loves serving in children’s ministry. She also enjoys serving with her teams: connecting, building relationships, and praying. She credits her team for being the ones that make CLK awesome! Tami is married to her husband, Chip, and together have three children: Reagan, Trey, and Kyle. She adores her nine grandchildren, Nicole, Aliyah, Cadie, Easton, Makeo, Emmett, Soairsia, Alessia and Maebry. On her free time, Tami enjoys fishing, lobstering, scalloping, boating, and traveling with her husband, family, and friends. She volunteers as the President for the Micanopy Fall Festival in the spring, summer and fall seasons. Tami always states that, “she is truly blessed”.

Haleigh grew up in Ocala, Florida and began attending City Light Church in 2018 before she stepped into the position of Music Director in August of 2023. Haleigh works in tandem with the Worship Director to create an atmosphere of worship that honors the Lord. She is the bridge between the worship leaders and the musicians. She began playing the guitar at the age of 11 and has been playing on stage with worship teams since she was 12. It was inevitable that music became an integral part of Haleigh’s life, having come from a family with an extensive musical background. Her great-grandfather was a musician, proficient in many instruments, which he passed down to Haleigh’s grandfather John, who bestowed his love and knowledge of music on his daughter – Haleigh’s mom. Haleigh has a bachelor’s degree in Sports Management and a double minor in Business and Health. She enjoys playing sports, piano, cajon, writing songs, and spending time with friends and family. Her interests are as diverse as her degrees, which gives Haleigh an equitable and unique approach to ministry.

Kevin is a young man with a heart after God and a longing to see students' lives built on a firm foundation of God's Word and His love. He was called to be a pastor at age 14 and has been pursuing God's plan for his life ever since. Kevin grew up in Ocala, FL, attending local churches until he joined the City Light Family in 2018. In 2020, he became an iServe volunteer, serving on the production team and as a youth leader in CLY. He is a team lead for the production team and has a passion for lighting design and color theory. He is often in the booth during Sunday services and directs production at CLY youth nights. He enjoys working behind the scenes, where his work speaks for itself. In addition to serving on the production team, Kevin serves alongside the staff as a CLY youth intern. Here, he works closely with the youth pastor to make Wednesday nights an engaging and impactful experience for the students. His favorite verse is 1 Corinthians 15:58: "So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless." (NLT) He enjoys playing video games with friends and messing around on the guitar in his free time. Some of his favorite games to play are Rocket League and Valorant. He also loves sharing a meal with friends and family after church.

Lee Brown was born and raised serving in the local church. He has a long history of pastors and ministry leaders in his family. Lee’s sole motive for his work in ministry is to “Be with Jesus and Become Like Jesus.” Discipleship to Christ is what Lee lives for. Equally, Lee thrives on chasing to fulfill the great commission. Teaching God’s Word and leading others on the journey of becoming like Jesus is what get’s Lee out of bed in the morning. Lee holds a B.A. in Ministerial Leadership from Southeastern University and a M.A. in Biblical Exposition from Liberty University. Lee loves to teach, and in addition to serving at City Light as an online teaching pastor, he is presently teaching Bible for 7-12th grade at an online Christian academy as well as serving as an adjunct professor for Northwest University. Because of his love for teaching Lee hopes to one day have the practical resources to complete further education and eventually hold a terminal degree that would allow him to teach in a wider capacity in colleges or universities. Some of Lee’s biggest mentors in life are his parents Ken and Paula Brown and bible teachers such as Dallas Willard, Michael Heiser, David Pawson, Chuck Missler, Mike Bickle and Mike Winger among many others. Lee and his wife, Kara live in Greenville SC. Together they have a son and daughter. Lee’s family are his greatest treasure and highest priority in life. His family is his first and most important ministry and Lee loves to spend time with them out in the beautiful nature that the upstate offers.