Sunday Services: 11.30am & 6.30pm 12 Toome Road,Ballymena,Co. Antrim.BT42 2BP.Northern Ireland.

About Us

Ministers And Missionaries

The Ballymena church has been blessed over the years to see a good number from our local congregation to go out, at the call of God, to Bible College and into the ministry or mission field. The following section highlights some of the more recent 'alumni'.

Rev. David Brown

Rev. David Brown jpg

David was born in 1983 in Ballymena and from an early age was taught the truths of the Scripture by his parents who were both saved and attended Ballymena FPC. At the age of five David was saved, and during his early twenties the Lord really began to trouble his heart about gospel ministry. In April 2007 at the evening service, the Lord spoke with such power that David could not leave the church without surrendering his life to the Lord. That evening the text was 1 Kings 18:21 "How long halt ye.. if the Lord be God then follow him". A few months later in September 2007, David commenced the theological course in the Whitefield College of the Bible, and completed the course in March 2010. In August of that year, David married Lydia Irwin and they settled down in Ballymena. In 2011 David was called to the congregation in Larne Free Presbyterian Church, and he has been serving there with his wife and family until the present day.

Miss Joanne Greer

Joanne and kids

The second oldest daughter of our minister Rev. Greer, Joanne spent her early life in North America where her father was the minister in Malvern Free Presbyterian Church. After moving with her family to Ballymena in 2000, Joanne studied nursing and graduated in 2003. The Lord began dealing with Joanne about full time service while she was studying nursing at university. After qualifying in 2003, she worked for a couple of years in a local hospital. It was during this time that Joanne had the opportunity to visit several mission fields. Joanne then attended the Whitefield College of the Bible for two years and shortly afterwards was invited to visit Liberia in October 2008. God deepened the burden on her heart in subsequent visits, and also spoke through His Word, and in March 2012, she moved out to Liberia to work full-time.

Joanne works with the Free Presbyterian Mission Church of Liberia, which is managed by the Mission Board of the Free Presbyterian Church of North America. At this present time, the Liberian missionary work is comprised of 3 small congregations, and Joanne is involved in women's and children's work with the two churches near Monrovia (Paynesville and Balla Creek).

Rev. Thomas Laverty

Rev. Thomas Laverty

Tom was born and raised in Ballymena and was converted in 1998 at the age of 29. In response to God's call, Tom entered the Whitefield College in 2008 and graduated from the college in 2012, becoming the assistant in Ballymena FPC for 3 years. At the end of 2015, Tom received a call to the church in Liverpool.  During 2021, Rev. Laverty received and accepted a call to be the pastor of the Gardenstown Free Presbyterian Church in Aberdeenshire in North East Scotland

Rev. Brian Lorimer

Rev. Brian Lorimer
Brian Lorimer was born into an unconverted household on 5th November 1984 in the Co. Antrim town of Ballymena, Northern Ireland.

He heard the Glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ for the first time in Randalstown Free Presbyterian Church at the age of fourteen having attended an evening service along with a born-again believer. However, it wasn’t until 1st of May 2006 that he was converted to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He was convicted of his sin and convinced of his need by the working of God the Holy Spirit, through the faithful preaching of the Rev. John Greer, Minister of Ballymena Free Presbyterian Church. Brian was brought to Christ and found in Him the forgiveness of sins and peace with God through the Blood of His Cross.

In growing in grace and the knowledge of His Saviour Brian experienced the deepening of the work of God in his life and he came into membership at Ballymena Free Presbyterian Church. He became involved more and more in God’s work in various ways in his local church, and benefited from the teaching and preaching of the Rev. John Greer and the Rev. Thomas Laverty, the latter who was Brian’s neighbour.

Having responded to the call of God in his life and the need for training, Brian entered into the Whitefield College of the Bible to commence studying for the Gospel ministry in 2013.

On completion of the theological course in 2017 he graduated and was licensed on the 18th of September of the same year, along with his wife, Jenna, who had completed the two-year course as a college student. They married on the 7th of September 2017. Certainly, September was a memorable month for Brian as on the 19th, the night following his graduation, he received a call from Cloughmills Free Presbyterian Church.

Mr. Lorimer’s Ordination and Installation Service was held in the building of his home church in Ballymena, with the Cloughmills congregation being in attendance. It took place on the 31st of October 2017 which was also the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Rev. Lorimer began his ministry in Cloughmills on the 5th of November at the age of 33. At this first service he preached a message from John 1:41-42 entitled, “Bringing Souls to Christ.”

Dr. Stephen Pollock

Dr. Stephen PollockStephen and his wife Cherith began to attend our church in the early 2000s, when Stephen, through the preaching of Dr. A'lan Cairns at the 2005 Bible Conference, decided to follow the call of God into the ministry, leaving his job as GP. Stephen was our assistant minister in 2009/10 during his final year of study and, upon graduation, was called and installed in the Kilskeery church in November 2010. Stephen ministered in Kilskeery until January 2014 when he was installed as the minister in Ballymagerny FPC.  More recently, Stephen accepted a call to Malvern Free Presbyterian Church in North America.  Moving to the United States of America with his wife and family, Stephen began his ministry there in April 2017.

Rev. Paul Thompson

Rev. Paul Thompson

Paul Thompson grew up in our congregation, before being called to full time ministry in 2005 when he started his studies in the Whitefield College. After his graduation in February 2009, Paul was called to the Mount Merrion congregation in Belfast, where he ministered until July 2015. Paul then felt the clear call of God to take up the work in Antrim town, and subsequently obeyed that call, moving with his family to take up the work in Antrim Free Presbyterian Church from late 2015 onwards.

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