“Thank you for bringing the church into these rooms. We have a reason for being together. It is to worship God for Who He is and what He has done.” – Pastor Vernon Vernon leads us in worship when we gather together for church “in these rooms.” A native of Wilmore, KY, Vernon has been a part of the worship leadership at Northland for 20 years.  While distributed ministry and worship are the two primary areas of his focus, his desire is to motivate each generation to live a life of worship everywhere, every day. Vernon has been a musician since he was 17, but he has worked in social work, law enforcement and served in the military as well. With an undergraduate degree from the University of Kentucky (social work), he has graduate degrees from University of Kentucky in social work and from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in biblical studies. Connie and Vernon have been at Northland since 1985, with Vernon serving as a pastor since 1990, and Connie writing our weekly Bible study since its inception. They both led the youth ministry at Northland for 15 years, with a focus on servant-leadership through the Doulos program and intergenerational ministry through LUGRox. Vernon’s pastoral responsibilities include the area of student ministry and he meets regularly with and mentors the student ministry staff. He also heads up Northland’s Foundation for the Arts, which is designed to support and encourage the work of Christian artists, as well as increase the role of the church as a patron of the arts. Vernon and Connie have two daughters, Claire and Mandy. Mandy and her husband, Chad Turnbull, live in Casselberry, Florida and have blessed the Rainwaters with three grandchildren. Claire lives in New York City where she attends Columbia University. Email: stephen.thomas@northlandchurch.net Phone: 407-949-4023