Meet Third’s Church Planting Pastor

The search for this position began at the start of 2026. Over the months that followed, the team facilitated many rounds of interviews with top candidates, worked closely with the ECO Director for Church Planting, and culminated the process with an extensive, full day interview experience with our final candidate, Nicole, alongside the search team, staff and lay leaders. Through it all, the search team moved slowly–  thoughtfully and prayerfully considering all of the applicants and their gifts, listening to and challenging one another, and practicing discernment together until they found unity in their decision. 

In the end, the team came to Session with a unanimous and enthusiastic recommendation to call Nicole to this important role. In particular, the team felt a strong sense of Nicole’s calling to Pastor this new congregation, that it was genuine and long-tested, rooted in nearly thirty years in Richmond and a call she has continued to discern faithfully over time. In our time with her, she demonstrated a collaborative, curious, pastor-coach posture and her references spoke of her strong integrity, discretion, and good judgment, all qualities we witnessed as well. Nicole brings real evangelistic gifting and a track record of reaching people outside of existing church community, which aligns with our hope that this plant would extend our witness rather than simply be a relocation of our people to a new church. 

Nicole will start on October 5, and will join our staff for two years while she learns the culture of Third and prepares to plant the new congregation. In the third year, she will be sent by Third along with a core community to launch the new plant. Over the next two years, she will occasionally preach, teach Sunday classes, and work alongside our ministry team and lay leaders 

Please be praying for Nicole and her family as she makes this transition, and for our whole community as we prepare to start this new congregation. This next season will require something of all of us as we discern together where God is leading us, and who will go!  

Gratefully, 

Corey Widmer, on behalf of the Search Team: 
Peyton Jenkins (Governing Elder), Rich Crawford (Governing Elder), John-Mark Walker, Anna Henderson, Jerry Boak, Melissa Lincoln

This church plant directly advances our 2025 Strategic Plan, which you can explore in more depth here.

A graduate of William & Mary and Gordon Conwell Seminary, Nicole brings over 25 years of ministry experience to this new role, with particular gifting in forming and discipling leaders, gathering teams, evangelism, and preaching and teaching. She spent over a decade on staff at Hope Church, where she was ordained as a teaching elder in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC). Starting in 2012, she began writing and publishing, and has now written seven books and curriculum through Tyndale, NavPress, and David C. Cook. After leaving Hope in 2019, Nicole has continued to write and preach throughout the country, as well as building a coaching and consultancy business, working with both churches and for-profit organizations alike to foster health, develop leaders, and guide them through complex challenges. 

Beyond her myriad accomplishments, Nicole holds a deep belief that the local church is the primary vessel for human flourishing and community renewal. Nicole lives in the Museum District with her husband Dave, and is mom to Charlie (living in NYC), Cameron (Senior at Davidson College), and Des (Freshman at W&M). In her free time, you can find her literally running around town, reading a book for book club, or gathering her people to her house for great food and even better conversation.