I began attending Fellowship when my dad joined the pastoral staff back in the early 90's. I was a summer ministry intern for 4 years during my college years and eventually joined the staff as part of the web team in 2010. I currently oversee the video and lighting technology and teams on Sunday mornings and help maintain the general technology infrastructure of the church during the week. I'm also communications director, helping to organize the information around all the events and ministries going on at church. My role is to help people learn about what is happening and connect through these events as easily as possible. My wife and I run the Generous Finances ministry (Financial Peace and Generosity Principles) and host a quarterly gathering of Creation Journaling.
I was saved at a young age and attended a christian school, surrounded mostly by christian friends and family my whole life. I remember a pivotal moment in high school where some of my long-time friends were beginning to live more like they only had a borrowed faith from their parents. One of the saddest but clearest things I remember was hearing a friend say something along the lines of "I believe in God, but I want to make the mistakes first". For me, being shown that choice so clearly was a moment that I could really decide that this was not just my family's faith, it was my own, and that despite being pulled to go my own way, I wanted to honor God in all my life choices.
My wife, Melissa, and I met in high school, dated through college, and were married just after in 2008. We have two boys ages 9 and 13 as of 2025 that we homeschool. In our spare time we like playing board games (no monopoly or sorry in our house please), fishing and hiking on summer vacations and making art. Melissa has a special gift and passion for languages and I spend free time making board games as well as practicing and teaching photography.
You can check out my art website at www.benpanter.com