JOHN ZHANG
TOM TOFILON
CALEB CHAN
Reverend JOHN ZHANG
Born in Hubei, China, Pastor John Zhang grew up in poverty and had advocated atheism and self-striving. He graduated from Nankai University in 1988, and came to Mobile, Alabama, USA on Christmas Eve 2000. Three months later (March 2001), John accepted Jesus as the Lord in Mobile. In September 2001, he was baptized and got the holy calling as full time minister. Due to lack of faith, he did not accept the call, but went to work at the School of Medicine, University Of Alabama for 6 years instead. After experiencing physical weakness, spiritual struggle and brokenness, he finally surrendered to the Lord and entered New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary for equipment in 2007.
After graduating from the seminary (MDiv) in 2010, he was led by God to pastor the Chinese Christian Church in Little Rock, Arkansas and Clear Lake Chinese Church in Houston, Texas for 12 years. During the time, he deeply experienced the power of the gospel and God’s grace of church revival. In January 2023, with the vision of spreading the gospel to more people and establishing Christ’s glorious church of kingdom, John responded God’s call and started to serve as the senior pastor of Chinese Christian Church of Baltimore in Maryland. In addition, since 2020 he has been further equipping himself in the Doctor of Ministry program at Logos Evangelical Seminary while pastoring church.
Pastor Zhang has strong burdens on deep biblical expository preaching, discipleship of inner life transformation, pastoral caring and marriage counseling, evangelism and mission, etc.
Reverend Tom Tofilon
Having graduated from Columbia Biblical Seminary/CIU, Pastor Tom and Julie (DMin.), served 15 years in overseas missions among unreached people groups in Indonesia, Turkey, and China, evangelizing, teaching, making disciples, planting churches, and training leaders. Before that, they served for many years in the U.S. as a pastor (Tom) planting a church, ministering to the homeless (Tom) and International-Students– reaching the lost and training up believers who the Lord has brought here to our country. Together, they have co-authored four books: Communicating Like Christ: An In Depth Look at the Conversational Skills of Jesus; Who is a Godly Leader? (translated into Turkish); Speaking Beautiful English: Building Successful Lives; and Praying to God Our Father Using 52 of His Attributes– helping us to learn how to trust, pray, and obey as He protects, provides, and guides.
“Our desire is to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and to make Jesus’ last command on earth our first—preaching the Gospel and making disciples. As true with all of us made in His image, we love to help others to build a healthy relationship with their God, family, and community, finding comfort and encouragement in their time of need. We love to see many use their acquired skills, natural talents, and spiritual gifts for building the kingdom of God.”
They have two wonderful sons (David and Joseph), a sweet daughter-in-law (Brooke), and two adorable grandchildren (Quinlan and Ellis). They love to worship together (and with others) in music and walking in God’s awesome creation. Hope you can visit us. Let’s walk and talk!