Joel Parker
Joel was born in Gainesville, FL in 1980. Other than three years as a young child in Tampa, a year in Manhattan (2003-2004), and three years in Tallahassee (2005-2008), he has lived all of his days in Gainesville. Son to parents Richard and Priscilla and younger brother to Jonathan, Joel was richly blessed to grow up in a home that was centered on Christ and committed to a healthy local church where his dad was the senior pastor. While regularly seeing a joyful life of faith and repentance modeled, hearing the Gospel, and receiving expositional Bible preaching, God graciously called Joel to Himself at a young age.
Joel received his B.S degree in criminology from the University of Florida in 2003. He then spent a year as a paralegal in Manhattan, before returning to Gainesville to work another year as a legal assistant. Joel entered law school at Florida State University in 2005, completing his degree in May of 2008. The most momentous aspect of Joel’s time in Tallahassee was meeting and dating his amazing bride, Caroline Newberry, whom he was thrilled to marry on March 9, 2008.
Joel and Caroline permanently moved to Gainesville in the summer of 2008, when he accepted a position at an estate law practice in Marion County. Together Joel and Caroline have a daughter Sadie (born 2009) and a son Oliver (born 2012). After 15 fruitful years commuting to Marion County, he made the significant decision to establish a solo law practice in Gainesville in July of 2023, thereby centralizing his personal life and career in his beloved hometown. This decision was partially spurred on by Joel’s increasing desire for his time and energies toward The Chapel to stretch beyond what could be squeezed into the margins of his life.
Joel is passionate about the paramount role of the local church in the lives of all Christian disciples. He and Caroline were charter members of The Chapel when it was established in August of 2010. Since that time, he has had the joy and privilege to serve in various capacities, including planning songs and playing bass with the Sunday morning music team, leading Chapel Life Groups, and chairing the Deacon committee. In 2020 Joel was humbled to join the Elder board, which he now chairs. Joel’s opportunities in ministry have expanded to include leading prayer meetings, gathering young men for Bible studies and discipleship, and occasionally teaching the adult Bible class and filling the pulpit on Sunday mornings. To bolster his theological framework and become better equipped as an elder, Joel entered Reformed Theological Seminary and is pursuing a Master of Arts in Biblical Studies (MABS) degree.
In God’s good providence, 6 months after starting his local law practice, Joel became bi-vocational after the elders invited him to join the church staff part-time as a Pastoral Assistant, beginning January of 2024. Most broadly, Joel’s role is to come under the mission and direction of the senior pastor, Brad Williams, to assist in training, equipping, and involving the congregation in various ministries of the church. Currently, Joel’s primary responsibilities include overseeing the Sunday morning music teams and “The Chaps” ministry to middle school and high school students.