Hear directly from Caz as he reflects on how God led him to Ward Church.
"I grew up in a pastor's home, and both of my grandfathers were pastors, so ministry has always been woven into the fabric of my family. My heritage gave me an insider's view of what it means to shepherd God's people, but my relationship with God and my calling into ministry have been journeys very much my own.
As a middle schooler, my youth pastor, Dwayne, asked me a question I have never forgotten:
“Do you really believe this stuff, or is this just your father's faith?” That question cut straight to the heart, and I mark it as the moment I began to own my faith and submit my life to Jesus as Lord and Savior.
It wasn't until college that I seriously considered a call to ministry. A family friend who pastored a local church asked me to serve as his youth director. It was there that I fell in love with ministry itself: the strategy of building something that actually makes disciples, the challenge of reaching students who were far from God, and the privilege of being invited into the holy moments of young people's lives. It was also there that I learned to depend on mentors. Two professors and two older pastors patiently guided me through my early stumbles. Much of how I understand pastoral leadership today was shaped during that season.
Seminary sharpened my thinking, but it was a yearlong internship at the International Community Church in Surrey, just outside London, that shaped my life most. There I met Scott McKee, my supervisor, who became a lifelong mentor and friend. I also met a fellow intern named Camie, who became my closest friend, my ministry partner, and eventually my wife. Camie has walked every mile of marriage, ministry, and parenting alongside me, and I count it among the great privileges of my life to do this work with her.
The years since have equipped me for both pastoral and organizational leadership. In Houston, I learned to navigate a large Presbyterian congregation, earning the trust of multiple generations while leading meaningful change to reach young families. In Michigan, working again alongside Scott McKee at Mt. Pleasant Community Church, I learned the nimble, entrepreneurial leadership required in a rapidly growing church focused on reaching the lost. For eleven years, my family and I gave ourselves to planting a new church in the suburbs of Austin, Texas, where the challenges, failures, and faithfulness of God refined me from an idealistic visionary into a leader with seasoned, tested confidence.
For the past five years, as Lead Pastor of Advent Church in suburban Memphis, I have partnered with elders and staff to clarify vision, strengthen systems, and lead a complex multisite congregation toward renewed missional focus: revitalizing a declining campus, relaunching and growing a second, and launching an innovative hybrid campus designed to reach a younger and more diverse population.
Alongside this ministry journey, we've had the joy of raising four children, which has been my greatest work and my greatest delight. I am learning, day by day, what it means to steward each of them toward his or her own calling, and that daily task has shaped me more than any ministry position ever has.
Camie and I are five and a half years into a ministry we love, one in which God has been at work in fruitful and unexpected ways. We were not looking for a change. However, over the past several months, we have found ourselves listening for the whisper of the Holy Spirit—and that whisper has led us to Ward.
The transition ahead will not be easy on many fronts. It is personal for me: Scott McKee, the mentor who shaped my understanding of ministry and alongside whom I once served, is the very pastor whose passing now calls Ward into this season of change. I don't take that lightly, for Ward or for myself.
Yet I believe Ward stands poised for extraordinary gospel impact. For generations, this congregation has led the way in church planting, leadership development, community engagement, and discipleship across metro Detroit and around the globe. Your Beyond the Horizon vision calls Ward to embrace its pioneering spirit and empower every generation to become trailblazers, multiplying impact through new leaders, new campuses, and new churches.
At this point in my life and ministry, few things ignite my passion more than that vision. Ward doesn't need a caretaker for what has been; Ward needs a shepherd who will help discern and pursue what God is doing next.
My aim in the congregations I have served has been to help move churches from legacy-driven maintenance toward Spirit-led, missionally engaged discipleship without ever losing what makes them who they are. At Ward, I see a multigenerational family with deep roots and a genuinely pioneering DNA, already leaning into a renewed emphasis on reaching young families. I want to build on that momentum with patience, clarity, and collaboration.
This starts by partnering closely with the elders and staff to sharpen a shared vision. It means strengthening the systems and leadership pipeline that will allow Ward to multiply rather than merely maintain. And it means equipping people of every age—from longtime members to the youngest families walking through the doors for the first time—to see themselves as trailblazers for the gospel.
I don't come to Ward with a finished blueprint. I come with a track record of listening well, leading through change with care, and helping churches discover God's vision for their next chapter. I also come with a deep, personal love for what Ward has already been and a conviction about what it can yet become. I would count it an honor to walk that road together."
