William Erps, the new lead pastor at BridgePoint Church, Harcum, said he is excited about working to connect people far from God to new life in Jesus Christ.

Erps, who comes to Gloucester from Huntington, West Virginia, said he started to sense last summer that God was stirring in his heart to move him on. “I didn’t know when or where,” he said, “but I spent a lot of time praying last June through December.” In December, he began looking online for churches searching for a pastor. 

He ended up sending his resume to BridgePoint, filled out a survey and first visited the church last March. At that point, he was among 10 pastors who were interested in the pastorate. By April, he said that list was narrowed down more and he had a FaceTime interview with church leadership in May.

Over the course of June and July, Erps made several more trips to the church and ended up moving to Gloucester in August with his wife and four children.

He said in th...