Staff

Mike and Jenifer Matheny have been married for 21 years. For the past 17 years they have been in full time ministry. In 1999, they attended Discipleship Training School with Youth With A Mission. They spent 7 months in training and outreach in The Gambia, West Africa. After completing their school, they came back to the states and Mike joined the staff of Southpointe Baptist Fellowship in Leesburg, FL.

Mike was ordained and served as the Youth & Children’s Pastor at Southpointe for 5 years. In 2005, Mike joined the staff of The Father’s House, also in Leesburg, FL, as the Youth & Children’s Pastor. From 2014 through 2017, Mike served at The Father’s House as the Executive Pastor, a Board member and one of the teaching Pastors.

Jenifer was a high school english teacher for 9 years including head of the English Department at Leesburg High School. She now homeschools their three girls and is the Children's Ministry Director.

The Matheny’s have 5 children and have been blessed with 3 other foster children. They love serving the people of Central Florida and look forward to the opportunity to grow a church where people are valued and encouraged to grow in their faith.

While attending a youth summer camp at 16 years old, Chelsey felt led to be a worship leader. She pursued that calling by studying Worship Music at Trinity Baptist College in Jacksonville, FL. At Trinity she traveled and performed with LifeSong, the college's worship team. Chelsey is passionate about connecting people to God's presence and is excited to be a part of what God is doing at Church of the Lakes.

Lizzy is a native Floridian who grew up attending church. At a very young age, she fell in love with photography, videography, and creativity. You only see the end results of her work, but she is always hiding behind the scenes producing new videos or capturing that picture-perfect moment for the world to see. She has held many leadership job positions over the years including owning her own photography company.