Orchard Staff

"Leading the Orchard to Grow New and Stronger Followers of Jesus"

Among other duties, each staff person at The Orchard has two main jobs:

1. Every staff person, in every role, has the primary objective of "growing new and stronger followers of Jesus" through specific tasks and ministry areas.
2. Every staff person, in every role, works to empower the non-staff people at The Orchard to be ministers themselves. It is not the job of staff people to do ministry, but to organize and support the ministry efforts of others.

Read on, and meet these dynamic people who support, empower, and challenge the people of The Orchard to be all that God intends them to be.

Ben Cathey - Lead Pastor and Ministry Coach  email
Ben has a big passion for growing an amazing church.  He believes that if followers of Jesus will gather together and align their talents and resources with God's plans and purposes they will literally change the world.  Ben oversees all aspects of ministry and church life at The Orchard by approaching his position through a unique perspective.  Called by God to plant The Orchard in 2000, Ben realized that the church could not be all that God intended if he did all the ministry himself.  Ben's desire is to grow new followers of Jesus, then see as many believers as possible strengthened in the faith because they are using their gifts and talents in ways that honor and glorify God.  He loves to see lives changed as ministry happens. 

Ben has been married to his high school sweetheart, June, for 16 years.  They have three children: Bentley ('93), Ashlyn ('94), and Amber ('96).

Ben has been in full-time ministry since 1993.  He was ordained as an Elder in the United Methodist Church (UMC) in 1999 and previously led ministry at Temple UMC and Mountain Park UMC before coming to Loganville to plant The Orchard in 2001.

Ben attended McEachern High School in Powder Springs, GA, before obtaining a B.S. degree in Construction Science from Auburn University.  Called to ministry while at Auburn, Ben obtained a Master of Divinity degree from Asbury Theological Seminary in 1997.  In 2006, Dr. Cathey completed a Doctor of Ministry degree in Preaching and Leadership.

Ben's Personal Stuff:
On my ipod: Coldplay, U2, The O Band, JOhn Mayer P.O.D., LifeChurch.tv Podcasts, Pillar, Boston, Caedman's Call, Chris Daughtry, and Waylon Jennings.
On my Bookshelf: Simple Church  by Thom Rainer, The Bible by God's People, A Walk In The Woods by Bill Bryson, Sudoku, Crosswords.
My Pets: A  white, mostly German Shepherd, named Butter Cup; a cat named Mittens and another named Sapphire because he is solid white with blue eyes. We don't name the fish or frogs!
When I'm Not Working At The O: I hang out with June and the kids, work in the yard, read, workout, and jog. I enjoy golf, watching football, movies, and adult league soccer.  War Eagle!!!
You Might be Surprised if You Knew: I'm pretty good at EA Sports Madden Football.  I failed 1st grade. I have a BS degree in Construction Science from Auburn University.  I've been on Reality TV.

Rich Griffith - Youth Pastor email            
After a search that included over 170 applicants, Rich Griffith has accepted the position of youth pastor at The Orchard. Rich brings “rich” experience to the position and sees himself as a pastor to youth and their families. Among other talents, Rich is a published author, a contributor to the Teen Devotional Bible, a youth ministry consultant with Youth Ministry Architects, a certified fitness trainer, and a specialist in martial arts. Rich graduated from North Georgia College and recently finished a Master of Theology degree from Fuller Seminary.                                                   

Eric Rubio, Lead Worshipper  email
Eric became The Orchard Lead Worshipper in April of 2005.  He brings a fresh approach to leading worship, starting with his title.  "The Worshipping is done by the Congregation . . . the Praise Team and I just lead them."  Eric believes that the church needs to be a place where people can come and experience worship that is exciting, authentic, moving, and relevant, and where denominational backgrounds or previous church experience (or lack thereof) do not hinder people from experiencing true worship.  "We use various musical styles, including rock, country, blues, gospel, bluegrass, etc.  We also use hymns, choruses, modern worship songs, and I especially like to take a secular song and give it new meaning."  Above style and genre, Eric believes very strongly that the praise band should strive to play skillfully and to continue to lead people to respond to God in authentic worship.   

Eric and his wife, Jennifer, have been marired since 1996.  They have four sons: Hudson ('00), Cooper ('02), Maddox ('05), and Miller ('06).  

Eric has experience leading contemporary worship and youth worship at Corinth Christian Church in Loganville as well as worship concerts around Atlanta.  Eric is Student Services Coordinator with Walton County Schools and holds a BA in Psychology and Religion and a MSW degree, both from UGA.    

Eric's personal stuff:  
In My CD Player: John Mayer, David Ryan Harris, Jason Mraz, Steve Fee, Hillsong, Third Day, Robbie Seay Band, Mat Kearns, Bethany Dillon, Chris Tomlin, David Crowder, Todd Fields, Circleslide, Watermark, 722, Follow For Now, U2, DJ Andy Hunter, Aaron Shust, Rob Bell, Louie Giglio, Donald Miller, Andy Stanley
On My Bookshelf: Jewish New Testament Commentary, Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus, Velvet Elvis, Revolution, Simple Church
My Pets: Did I mention I have four sons? Who has time for pets? Besides, I'm allergic to cats . . . real manly, huh?
When I'm not working at The O: I'm answering questions about what I do in my spare time . . . also, I'm raising boys to be men (did I mention four of 'em), working in the yard, playing guitar, spending time with my wife. I love basketball, football, soccer, tennis . . . most any active sport. Golf bored me . . . too much standing around. I would love find more time to do those things again. I love to watch college football, especially SEC . . . my Geogia Bulldogs.  Go Dawgs.  Woof!  Woof!  Woof!  Woof!  Woof!                                

Lisa Smyrl - Communications Assistant  email
Lisa began working part time at The Orchard as our Communications Assistant in July of 2006.  Wanting to spend more time with her son, she left her fulltime position after 7 years at the Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation working as their Programs Director. She loves working with all the wonderful Orchard people and the NEVER BORING staff team.  Lisa oversees the Orchard office, bulletin production, web updates, Orchard data systems, and various other mailing projects, publication projects, and software systems.  Lisa attends St. Oliver Catholic Church.  

Lisa received a BS degree in Recreation (with emphasis in Theraputic Recreation) from the University of South Alabama in Mobile.  She minored in Business Administration.

Lisa has been married to Kevin for eight years, and is the proud new mother of Philip who was born in Feb. 2005 and Katherine who was born in Jan. 2008.  

Lisa's personal stuff:
In My CD Player: Michael Buble', Rod Stewart, Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood.    
On My Bookshelf: Books by James Patterson and Stewart Woods, Suduko.       
My Pets: I have a Golden Lab mutt named Vinny. He keeps us very busy.  
When I'm Not Working at The O: Spending time with my family, reading, sewing and building our side company, Beautiful Blinds and More.  
You Might Be Suprised If You Knew: I love to sew and ride motorcycles. Since the birth of our son, the motorcycle riding has been put on hold. I also enjoy working in the yard and building things for the home.

Angela Shelton - Operations Manager e-mail
Angela became the Operations Manager at The Orchard in June of 2008. Her involvement with The Orchard, however, began in 2001, about six months before The Orchard officially launched! Prior to accepting her staff position as Operations Manager, Angela had applied her organizational gifts and her passion for excellence as The Orchard's volunteer treasurer since 2003.

Angela brings over 25 years of operations and management experience to The Orchard. "Now that I work for The Orchard, I no longer have to deal with the competition between my paying job and my passion for The Orchard's ministries."  "Even so", Angela says, "I am very aware that most of the people who "get it done" at The Orchard are volunteers who  have to juggle the competing priorities of time at work, time with family and volunteer commitments at The Orchard. One of the most rewarding parts of my job is being in a position to make it easier for our volunteers to support their ministry areas".

Angela and her husband Mike have been married for 8 years. They have a son, Jonathan Shelton ('82) and a daughter, Amanda Harris ('88). Jonathan is a pilot for ASA and Amanda is a full-time student at Georgia Perimeter College. 

Angela's personal stuff:  
On my iPod: David Crowder, Hillsong United, Jeremy Camp, Circleslide, Leeland, Steve Fee, Chris Tomlin, Amanda Harris.
On My Bookshelf: Looking for God  by Nancy Ortberg, unchristian by David Kinnaman & Gabe Lyons, books by: Andy Stanley, Bill Hybels, Vince Flynn and Jodi Picoult.
My Pets: We have a cat named Madison who spends most of his life upside down and is very much a "people-person". He helps me get ready in the morning, he helps me do laundry, he sits in his office chair when I sit in my office chair. If I move, he follows me. One of his favorite nights of the week is Wednesday when he gets to visit with our Grow Group before being banished to the basement.
When I'm not working at The O: I'm reading, bird watching, spending time with Mike, visiting family. 
You Might Be Surprised If You Knew: I grew up in the Loganville area, graduating from Loganville High School in 1982 after skipping my Junior year so I could graduate early. Yes, I'm a Red Devil!  And I love the Auburn Tigers.