Meet Southbridge's Interim Pastor
With Pastor Scott stepping down as Lead Pastor, the elders want to provide continuity in the pulpit throughout this season, with a consistent primary preaching voice alongside alongside the other Southbridge pastors who will continue to preach.
During this season of transition, Dr. David Horner will serve as Interim Pastor and Southbridge's primary preaching voice. Pastor Jon Cullen (Executive Pastor) will continue leading the staff and day-to-day operations.
Learn more about David:
Horner currently serves as Executive Director of Equipped for Life, a ministry established to equip men and women to grow in Christ and excel in their ministry callings. Until the beginning of 2016, he pastored Providence Baptist Church in Raleigh, NC, since its beginning in 1978. During that time, well over a hundred international missionaries were sent out, and several churches were birthed in the Raleigh area.
A native of Graham, NC, he received a Bachelor of Arts from Wake Forest University (1974), holds a Master of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (1977), and a Doctor of Philosophy from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (2018), where he has also lectured in classes on pastoral ministry and biblical leadership.
Horner has taught Christian leadership at colleges and seminaries across the United States and around the world. Over the past thirty years, he has also preached, taught, consulted, and served in ministry in more than forty nations.
From February 2019 to August 2020, he served as interim and consulting pastor for Calvary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, NC, preaching and overseeing the pastoral ministries of this multi-staff congregation. He then served as interim and consulting pastor for Mt. Vernon Baptist Church in Boone, NC, from March 2025 to January 2026.
David has authored four books, including Firmly Rooted, Faithfully Growing (2003), which is devoted to equipping churches for principle-based ministry; Dad's Words of Wisdom (2004), a weekly devotional for fathers and sons; and A Practical Guide for Life and Ministry (2008), which offers help for people in ministry who are trying to maintain a biblical balance in their lives. That book was re-released as 7 Challenges Pastors Face (2019). His latest book, When Missions Shapes the Mission (2011), helps churches refocus on making missions a priority and gives them practical tools to make the needed transitions.
He and his wife, Cathy, have been married since 1973 and have three grown sons, Jeff (married to Elizabeth), Scott (married to Meredith), and Jon (married to Meghan). They have four grandsons and three granddaughters.