Rick Whitlock Email and Phone Number

As the Pastor of Mission and Formation, I lead Midtown to serve God, love our neighbors, and be a blessing in our community. In practice, I equip, disciple, and grow our congregation in the gospel and our leaders for ministry. I also serve on the preaching team, preach regularly, and coordinate ministry teams and serve on Sunday mornings to create meaningful engagement with the church and with the Christ Jesus our Lord. I develop outward-facing, neighborhood-minded vision for our church so we can be loving participants in our local community.

A collaborative pastoral effort to transform the lives of college students to transform the world. Preaching as part of the regular Sunday rotation, teaching large groups, discipling and counseling students (grad and undergrad), facilitating small groups and training students leaders, participating in team planning for long-term teaching in the church and retreats, helping students transition into life after college (Senior EXIT), and developing a Faith & Work ministry on Purdue's campus with the goal of providing students, staff, and faculty with an engaging discourse about the integration of the Christian world and life view with the our daily work.

A collaborative pastoral effort that entails discipling and counseling students (grad and undergrad), co-leading small group, occasional preaching and teaching, participating in team planning for long-term teaching in the church and retreats, and developing a Faith & Work ministry on Purdue's campus with the goal of providing students, staff, and faculty with an engaging discourse about the integration of the Christian world and life view with the work we spend most of our days doing.

Pioneered and planted a new campus ministry chapter of the CCO at Purdue University. Engaged with students and campus life at Purdue University in order to care for students during the influential and transformative years of their college careers. Counseled students experiencing depression and anxiety, helped them discern their calling and direction in life, formed small group communities and Bible studies, started new ministries such as Faith & Work and Senior EXIT, and collaborated with other campus ministers for the spiritual health and hope of graduate and undergraduate students.

Providing vision, direction, and organizational leadership to the community of religious leaders and campus ministries at Purdue University. I act as the liaison between the Office of the Dean of Students and the 30+ groups and 130+ members of URL.

Creating avenues of hospitality for undergraduate and graduate students at Purdue University in order to provide them with community, encouragement, and equipping in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Also, overseeing the Small Group Ministry by equipping leaders, providing curriculum, encouraging growth and team work, working through conflict, and loving God and our neighbors. Preaching periodically and leading other elements during worship services.

Under the supervision of Pastor Dan Song at Crossroads PCA in St. Louis, I spent two years practicing preaching, teaching adults and children, evangelism, visiting church members, attending planning meetings, and learning about the daily practical needs of a church.

At Crossroads, I helped the pastors lead an evangelistic Bible study, created discipleship curriculum and led a discipleship group, co-led community groups, and sought to develop relationships within our community.

At Hope Presbyterian, I led the congregation in worship, preached a sermon series on understanding Jesus through Isaiah's prophecy, met with and encouraged congregants, and developed a pastoral rhythm with Pastor Jeff De Boer.

At Covenant I saw individual clients and walked with them through various struggles including perfectionism, depression, anxiety, defiant behaviors, issues of sexuality, and grief and loss. I met weekly with a supervision group and had individual supervision with Dr. Richard Winter in order to gain clarity on good counseling process and practices.

At Summit, I worked under Linda Huffman (Minister of Recovery) to counsel children, adolescents, married couples, and families concerning grief and loss, relational discord, disabilities, fear and shame, and the gospel of grace applied in all circumstances. I also led a men's sponsorship group in the recovery ministry, training them to apply the gospel to themselves and others recovering from addictions, divorce, marital discord and other life circumstances.

Led worship music, participated in team leadership with other interns and leaders, preached, and led a semester long study on the Bible and cynicism for college students attending Lindenwood University. My time included some travels with these students and one-on-one meetings to encourage and equip them for a life of faith in their schooling and future occupations.