Pastor Dewayne "J.R." Coleman, Sr. was born in 1964 in Gardena, California to parents Emmitt and Alberta Coleman. He is one of 4 children, with 3 sisters, 2 older and 1 younger. He attended elementary, junior high and high school in the Gardena area (southern California) graduating from Gardena High School in 1982. In his senior year of high school, J.R. came to accept Christ on January 21st, 1982 at the Calvary Chapel Church. He then went on to attend Southern University in Baton Rouge, LA on a baseball scholarship before being drafted in his junior year of college to the Minnesota Twins. After playing with the Twins for 2 years he then was traded to the Chicago Cubs, where he continued to play for 2 more years.During this time, J.R. met his future bride, Deidre Douglass in Sept., 1986 and the two were married in 1987. The couple moved to the Fresno area in 1988 and began their life together as a family with the addition of their son, Dewayne Jr. followed by the birth of their daughter, Dree in 1990. In 1993, J.R. began work as the Youth Director at the Cathedral of Love Church in Visalia, CA. A few years later, in 1996, J.R. became officially licensed and ordained in the church and continued his calling in the Visalia area. In 1998 he went on to be the Pastor in Residence at the Visalia First Assembly Church where he taught Sunday school classes, along with leading the College and Career group. During this time Pastor J.R. also began speaking at various retreats and rally's around the Central Valley and became a guest speaker at local churches. In 2001 the Coleman family moved to Clovis and J.R. began a new position as a T.E.A.M. Pastor at Peoples Church in Fresno. Pastor J.R. became the leader of the College Ministry program along with being in charge of the Total Evangelistic Athletic Ministry program. While working at Peoples Church, J.R. and Deidre helped develop the Newly Married Ministry program for all young married couples in the church. They became very close with many of the younger members and enjoyed doing missionary work locally and abroad. During this time Pastor J.R. was asked to join the Central Valley Fresno Christian Athletes leadership team. For the past year he has been active in their organization and helped oversee the program in 2005.During these years serving local churches and organizations, Pastor J.R. always had a vision of one day serving a new church that would bring together people of all ages, races, and backgrounds. That vision became a reality on March 5th, 2006 with the beginning of The Word Community Church in Fresno. We are so excited to begin this new journey spreading the Word of God and sharing our faith with the Valley and we welcome you to join us!!!