OUR LEADERSHIP
Ken Wood
Senior Pastor
In 2010, Ken was appointed as the Sr. Pastor, and has been pursuing a vision to see our church be the visible demonstration of God’s Love and Grace ever since. Ken and his wife Amy met in the Youth Group at this church back in 1991. Ken graduated from Southwestern College (now Arizona Christian University) and served as youth pastor at churches in Phoenix, AZ and Leander, TX. He moved back to Pueblo in 2005 to be the Youth Pastor at Temple Baptist. Ken enjoys spending time on his mountain bike, being in the mountains, and literally anything with his family, even trips to the grocery store.
Chance Rodriquez
Family/Discipleship Pastor
In 2024, Chance joined our team as the Discipleship/Family Pastor after he served with Fellowship of Christian Athletes in the Greater Pueblo area as the director from 2020-24. He is married to Kelsey Rodriquez who loves working with FCA at CSU-Pueblo and discipling girls through FCA. He has two boys and hopes to continue to grow his family. He grew up in the church but really came to understand the gospel in college by being discipled by a local church planter and a couple other men. They helped him understand that none are good and God is holy and the only way to be right with God is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 2:8-9) He is passionate about biblical counseling, seeing believers grow in their walk with Christ, be discipled, disciple, and to see parents/families equipped to do discipleship in their homes. Chance likes to compete in sports, watch sports, exercising, and having people over to their house. Kelsey works as a nurse part-time, and loves to be active, connect with people, and raise their kids.
Deanna Nezvensky
Children's Ministry
Deanna became our Children's Director in January 2024, though she has served in Children's Ministry in different ways for the better part of 20 years. She loves kids! She and her husband, Butch (who you will likely find hanging out in the preschool room) have four sons ranging in age from teenagers to young adult. Deanna works for Bridges Child Placement Agency, a local foster care agency supporting foster families as they care for children in need. In her spare time, Deanna enjoys hanging out with her family. They like to bowl, fish, kayak and cheer their kids in their activities. Her favorite part of working in Children's Ministry is developing relationships with amazing volunteers and seeing kids develop a relationship with God.
Administrative Assistant
In August 2016, Barbara joined our Church Staff. Barbara and her husband, John, moved to Pueblo “officially” in April 2014 from Broomfield, CO to be near their oldest son and his family. Prior to moving to Pueblo, they lived in Panama where John worked for 5 years. John and Barbara have three adult children – Christopher, Jeremy, Valerie, two beautiful daughter-in-laws, and eleven grandchildren. Barbara has served on staff as an administrative assistant at a large Baptist church in Denver as well as in various other ministries. Barbara and John enjoy spending time together hiking, biking, fishing, camping, skiing.
Ministry Coordinator
Erinbeth, a Pueblo native and alumna of County High School, raised her two daughters with Pueblo traditions. Now, she takes pleasure in passing on these traditions to her grandchildren. Erinbeth has been a member of The Avenue since 2013; as the Ministry Coordinator she is responsible for ensuring everyone who wants to find a place is well-informed about what is happening here. Her aim is for everyone to deepen their connection with Jesus through engagement and community involvement. When she's not busy with her role, Erinbeth adores spending time with her family, savoring a cup of coffee, getting crafty with sewing and cozying up to Christmas movies.
DEACONS
The Deacon Ministry of The Avenue Church functions to assist the Elders in leading the church primarily in personal care and discipleship of it's members.
Brian & Melody Thomas
Chance & Kelsey Rodriquez
Graham & Kali Hoch
TRUSTEES
The Trustee Board at the Avenue oversees the physical property of the church. These individuals maintain and improve our material space so that it can be a place where people encounter the love of Jesus. Our current board consists of:
Michael Galli
Bob Wood
Jeff Lytle
Bennie Addington
Nate Smith
ELDER BOARD
The Elder Board at the Avenue provides oversight and leadership to all aspects of our ministry. Their role is outlined in the Bible in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9. Our Elder Board is:
Ken Wood
Chester Hodges
Jim Roberts
Jeremy Thomas
Chris Gonzales
OUR STORY
Our church has a rich history since it’s beginning in 1950. It was started as “Temple Baptist” from ParkHill Baptist Church (then on Pueblo’s East side). In those days before the bridges were built, many members on the southside of town would be late or would miss church altogether because of the trains.
In order to remove barriers to people following Jesus, a group of people launched Temple Baptist Church. God has used this church over the years to reach many people with the life changing message of the Gospel. As our culture has changed, new barriers were identified and so another season of ministry has begun.
On September 1, 2019, our church re-launched as “The Avenue Church” in efforts to remove as many barriers as possible to people knowing and following Jesus. While we haven’t changed any of our core beliefs or associations, we are intentionally reaching outward to invite those far from God to come near to hear the Good News of Jesus! Our desire is to hold up Jesus and boldly and clearly call others to follow Him with all of their lives.