Today we’d like to introduce you to Zach Epps.
Hi Zach, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
my story is really a story of God’s faithfulness.
I was raised around ministry all my life, and early on I sensed that the local church was where God intended to shape me. I spent a decade serving, preaching, building teams, and learning to love people in real time — not in theory, but in the mess, beauty, and slow work of discipleship.
My journey took a heartbreaking turn in July of 2023 when my father, Reggie, passed away after a long fight with cancer. He had shepherded Legacy Christian Church for twenty-two years. Losing him was like losing a compass — the man who modeled ministry to me was suddenly gone. That season forced me to wrestle with calling, identity, and what faithfulness looks like when the ground moves beneath you. It broke me, but in a way that let Jesus rebuild me.
During that same window, my wife and I were walking through the struggle of infertility. We prayed, we waited, we wondered, Lord, are You hearing us? And in His perfect timing, He gave us our son — a miracle we still marvel at. His birth felt like God breathing resurrection into a weary home. He later became a big brother, which only multiplied the joy. In one season I tasted loss and life all at once, and it forever changed how I see God’s heart.
As grief settled and healing began, I sensed God stirring something deeper — a growing conviction that I was being called to plant a church. Not because it sounded exciting or strategic, but because it felt obedient. I began praying, studying, listening, paying attention to how God had shaped me long before I realized it. And over time I knew — Jesus was asking me to build something new. Something rooted in His presence, His way, His mission.
That calling eventually crystallized into Way Church, a new church plant in Spring Hill, KS — built around one heartbeat:
to empower and redeploy people to live the way of Jesus for the restoration of the world.
So my story isn’t perfect, polished, or painless. It’s a story of loss, miracle, calling, and surrender. And if it has any beauty at all, it’s because Jesus wrote it. I’m just trying to walk it out faithfully — one step at a time.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Smooth road? Not at all. But I wouldn’t trade it.
If you look at my story on paper — planting a church, growing a family, stepping into a calling — it might look like momentum and progress. But behind the scenes, the journey has been marked by grief, uncertainty, slow obedience, and countless moments where faith had to carry what my strength couldn’t.
One of the hardest chapters was losing my father. He wasn’t just my dad — he was a spiritual anchor, a mentor, a picture of pastoral endurance. Grief is not linear. It ambushed me in surprising ways — in sermons, in counseling sessions, in quiet mornings where I wished I could call him. His absence forced me to walk with Jesus not as an inherited faith, but as my own.
At the same time, my wife and I were navigating infertility — a journey that tests patience, identity, marriage, and trust. We celebrated others while waiting on our own miracle. We prayed prayers that felt unanswered for months. When God gave us our son, it was joy hard-earned and deeply treasured — proof that hope is never foolish when it’s rooted in Christ.
Then came calling — the conviction to plant a church. Calling sounds romantic until you start walking it. There’s risk in stepping away from comfort, doubt in the quiet moments, spiritual warfare in waves. There were seasons I wondered if I heard God right. There were nights I told Him, “If You’re not in this, I can’t carry it.”
But He was. Again and again.
No — it hasn’t been smooth. But every struggle has become part of the foundation Way Church is built on:
Pain taught me compassion.
Loss taught me dependence.
Waiting taught me trust.
Calling taught me obedience.
And through it all, Jesus has been enough — more than enough. My road hasn’t been easy, but it has been sacred. And I think that’s better.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Today, I have the privilege of serving as a church planter and the lead pastor of Way Church — but planting a church isn’t what most people imagine.
When people hear church plant, they picture lights, trailers, Sunday services, worship sets, and sermons. But Sunday isn’t where a church begins — Sunday is what grows from something deeper. A church doesn’t start with a service. A church starts with people, presence, relationships, and the gospel taking root in real soil.
My work right now looks like pastoring long before we ever have a building.
I specialize in entering a community, learning its heartbeat, loving its people, listening to its stories, and forming relationships that eventually shape a church. For me, that meant moving into Spring Hill, knocking on doors, meeting our neighbors, and just being present. It meant coaching — quite literally.
I was First Team EKL at Blue Valley West and earned a Division I football scholarship to Tulsa, and in God’s providence, that opened an unexpected door: I was invited to join the coaching staff at Spring Hill High School. From day one there was immediate rapport — common language, shared passion, mutual respect. Football became a bridge. Locker rooms became discipleship environments. Conversations after practice turned into discussions about faith, character, identity, and purpose.
Before we ever held a worship service, I was pastoring young men with a whistle around my neck.
That’s what I love about church planting — you don’t wait for people to walk into your building. You walk into theirs.
And slowly, beautifully, something organic began to take shape. Friendships formed. Spiritual conversations emerged. People who had never thought about church started to open up. The gospel has a way of working like yeast — quietly, consistently, transforming everything it touches. And that’s what I believe is happening in Spring Hill.
We believe God is going to do something powerful as Way Church publicly launches on February 1st, 2026 at Spring Hill Middle School.
Not because we’re strong or clever — but because Jesus is already moving here.
What sets our work apart isn’t strategy or style. It’s presence.
We’re not just starting services — we’re planting our lives.
And that is what I’m most proud of. Not numbers. Not marketing.
But relationships. Transformation. Young men hearing about Jesus on a football field. Neighbors becoming friends. A community discovering hope.
Way Church isn’t something we’re building — it’s something God is growing. We’re just getting to witness it.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
People often assume the most important qualities in my success are technical — and yes, God has developed those in me.
I hold a Doctor of Ministry in Preaching and have spent years studying communication, theology, and leadership. I care deeply about the craft of preaching — not as performance, but as a faithful handling of God’s Word in a way real people can grasp, feel, and respond to. In 2025 I released my newest book, Why Your Christianity Isn’t Working: Recovering the Transforming Power of the Way of Jesus (10/31/25), which reflects much of what the Lord has formed in me through Scripture and ministry experience.
Technical skill matters. Clear preaching matters. Biblical precision matters.
But if I’m honest — none of those things are the primary reason I’ve grown as a pastor.
The most important characteristic in my ministry is friendship.
Not casual friendship — but the kind that carries honesty, vulnerability, and truth. Pastoring well means walking into someone’s story, listening before speaking, and having the courage to name reality — both personal and cultural — with compassion and clarity.
At its core, ministry is not built on platforms but on people.
It’s sharing meals, showing up at football practice, praying in hospital rooms, coaching young men in character, and bringing truth into conversations that matter. It’s being the kind of friend who stays present when life breaks, doubts surface, or faith feels thin.
So yes — I am grateful for degrees, preaching tools, and the joy of releasing a book.
But what sets this work apart — and what I believe is most essential — is the willingness to be a friend. A truthful friend. A steady friend. A Jesus-shaped friend.
Pastoring is honest friendship set in motion.
And that, more than anything, is what God has used.
Pricing:
- Suggested Donation to way church at www.waychurchsh.com/give every donation helps build environment of welcome and wonder where people can encounter the resurrected Jesus
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.waychurchsh.com
- Instagram: @doczepps @waychurchsh
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61574219789442
- Youtube: @waychurchsh
