Leadership Team

Jason Reyes, Our Senior Pastor
Jason Reyes is the senior pastor of Covenant of Grace Church. Jesus transformed Jason’s life. Although raised in a Christian home to love the Lord from an early age, God by His grace opened up Jason’s eyes to his need for a Savior to atone for his many sins. Although new to Covenant of Grace Church Jason’s life can be summed up as one amazing story of God’s faithfulness and patience to Him through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

As a teenager Jason moved with his family to Joppa, Maryland where they were overwhelmed by the lives of ordinary people who displayed a genuine love and strong affection for one another because of the Gospel. Intrigued by their example Jason and his parents checked out this church and soon thereafter became members of Chesapeake Community Church (a part of Sovereign Grace Ministries) where Jason was led, cared for, and trained in matters of first importance…the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Up until late 2007 Jason and his wife Laurie had the privilege of being members of CCC for over twenty years. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education from Towson University in 1996. Soon after graduation Jason was asked to join the pastoral staff of Chesapeake Community Church where he served in a variety of different roles for eleven years.

Late in 2006, not seeking to leave CCC, an opportunity to relocate and serve in a new capacity and help support another pastor became available. After much prayer, evaluation, and counsel, Jason, along with the leadership team of Sovereign Grace Ministries and the pastoral team of CCC sensed that God was calling him out. In faith Jason accepted this invitation and is now, along with his wife, the newest members of Covenant of Grace Church. Now Jason, his wife Laurie, and their four children (Caleb, Joshua, Israel, and Margaret) are residing in Wadsworth, Ohio.

Jim Walter, Pastor
Jim Walter has been the pastor of Covenant of Grace Church since January of 1997. He came to Akron from Cleveland, where he served as the Executive Pastor of North Coast Church. Jim was ordained in 1984, after having left a 20 year career in business to begin pastoral studies.

Jim and his wife, Marcia have 4 married children and 4 grandchildren.

Sovereign Grace Leadership Team
The spread of the gospel detailed for us in the New Testament focuses on churches being planted and then continually cared for by both a local leadership team and extra-local apostolic care. The Apostles planted churches and then raised up local men to lead that church. The Apostles then moved on to plant more churches, while at the same time they continued to care for the churches they had already planted.

At Covenant of Grace Church, we know the joy, protection, and ongoing accountability this biblical model of local and extra-local leadership provides. Along with the local leadership we have, Covenant of Grace Church also receives "apostolic" oversight from the leadership team of Sovereign Grace Ministries. In particular, Dave Harvey serves our pastors and local church. We thank God for these men. They are a gift from God to us (Eph. 4:11). For more information on these men, please click here.