Westside Bible Fellowship is led by a team of elders who serve as pastors or spiritual shepherds.  The elders are responsible to oversee, shepherd and lead the flock by both example and instruction (Acts 20:17-35). They are raised up by the Holy Spirit and recognized by the body for the work they are doing and for their qualifications as described in the New Testament (1 Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-9).

"Plural"and "equal" are two important words that describe our chosen elder-led form of church leadership.  We believe the New Testament clearly teaches that the local church should be led by a plurality of elders.  This provides important accountability and special protection against false teaching and allows us to take advantage of the varied spiritual gifts, ideas and counsel that different elders provide.  Our elders serve as equals on a team where no one of them has more authority than the others.

Our elders are listed below.  For more details about elders and a list of supporting Scriptures, we encourage you to read the Church Leadership section of our Philosophy of Ministry.  The elders submit occasional blog articles on this website.

Terry Hickman	Herb Kirchem	Dick Papworth	Mike Raichart	Arden Trautman

A team of deacons also has a unique and important role in the Westside leadership.  The deacons are appointed by the elders and serve in many significant physical and spiritual ministries in the assembly.  They must also be biblically-qualified (I Timothy 2:8-13).

A number of other teams provide leadership for various ministries. The team concept has the advantage of bringing together the gifts and vision of a group of committed people.