Our church planting journey began in the Spring of 2001 when we joined Pastors Rob & Venus Dothard in starting a church in Over the Rhine which at that time was very different from the trendy, restaurant-filled area it is today. The church opened on Palm Sunday; the weekend of the racial unrest sparked by the death of Timothy Thomas, an unarmed black youth, by a Cincinnati police officer. The shooting happened in the middle of the night, in a dark alley--an absolute tragedy from every perspective. As a result, our church, led by a black Lead Pastor with a white Associate Pastor (Tom), was thrust into the front lines of the effort to bring healing and racial reconciliation to our neighborhood.

Since that time, we have served on the leadership teams of three church plants. We also served at a 1200-1500 member church, where Tom served on staff as Director of Groups/Discipleship and Tamera served as the women’s ministry leader. This has been an incredibly exciting journey and calling for our family. All three of our daughters, who were ages 5, 3, and 1 when we began in 2001, are fully involved in ministry. Cassie, our oldest daughter who is a licensed minister, and Alex, her husband, are in the process of planting Midtown Church KC (https://www.midtownkc.church/). Andrea, our middle daughter who is also a licensed minister, is serving as Associate Pastor of New Hope Community Church in Santa Cruz, CA, a new campus of a large church in the Bay area. Olivia, our youngest daughter, recently graduated with a degree in music education from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. She and her husband, Thomas, work at Crossroads Church (Cincinnati)—Thomas serving as Mason Community Director at the Mason Campus and Olivia serving as the Studio and Leader Academy Project Manager at the main campus.

Both of us are professional musicians. Tamera is a classically trained pianist and Tom spent 32 years as a professional musician with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and is a Professor of French Horn at Miami University (Ohio). We are passionate about bringing Jesus’ Kingdom--His reign, His rule, His justice--to diverse urban areas of Cincinnati. —Tom & Tamera Sherwood, Lead Coaches/Trainers.