To say the word God is to remind ourselves of the depth of existence and that we are responsible not just to each other but also to the One by whose loving grace we are here at all – that anything is here at all. The first and most enduring sign of God’s love for us is that we and everything around us exist.
Speakers
Pastor Rev. Dr. Gene McAfee
Pastor
Team Members
Pastor Rev. Dr. Gene McAfee
PastorThe pretty pooch in the pic is Chloe, my beagle mix, with whom I share the Bachelor Parson’s Pad in 
South Euclid, along with feline littermates, Phoebe and Boaz. They are among the chief loves of my life.
So is church, and I feel crazy blessed to be, with my friend and colleague, Francis Miller, co-pastor of the newly formed Lyndhurst Community of Faith Church. Our consolidated PC(USA) and UCC congregation is breaking new ground in the eastern suburbs of Cleveland, and the chance to be church in a new way gets me out of bed every morning and keeps my attention all day long. For a pastor eager to help the church be the Body of Christ on earth, what’s not to love about such a calling? As Psalm 16:6 says, “The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places.”
I’m a lifelong learner, so places like libraries and bookstores are favorite haunts when I’m not working. I’m also a lifelong tree hugger, having learned as a Boy Scout to feel completely at home in God’s unbuilt creation. I love exploring my surroundings, and I’m endlessly curious (Why is that street named that? What is that style of architecture called? What’s down that aisle?). I love to express love by feeding people, and I default to comfort food. I hope my last meal is a crowded Sunday dinner of baked chicken and dressing (Italian Sunday gravy would be groovy, too). If I miss a day riding my bike, I feel it. Over a span of nine years, I visited all of Ohio’s eighty-eight county courthouses. I’ve organized three educational trips for the Faith UCC congregation and friends, and I’m eager to organize another, tentatively planned for 2024 to Italy, Greece, and Turkey. When I’m in the mood, I write with a fountain pen.
Born in Springfield, Ohio, I grew up as part of my older brother’s family in southern Indiana, my parents having died before my ninth birthday. I served Faith UCC in Richmond Heights for eighteen+ years before our union with Lyndhurst Community Presbyterian Church to become LCFC. Prior to becoming Faith’s pastor, I served churches in Edinburgh, Scotland, Cambridge, MA, and Block Island, RI.