Staff (Page 2)

Julie Burson joined our staff in January 2025 as CGS’s first Women’s Ministry Director — a significant milestone in the life of our church. Julie has a teaching degree and has served as the librarian at Trinity School for the past several years. She has been a member of CGS for 15 years, participating on the women’s ministry steering committee, teaching children’s Sunday School, and serving as VBS director, among other things. She and her husband, Kris, currently lead a…

Caroline Garrett couldn’t be more grateful to work alongside our middle and high school students, and to serve with our staff on the communications team. She grew up here in Durham, and has now been a member of CGS for over twelve years. After graduating from Grove City College, she moved back to NC and deeply loves getting to spend time with students in God’s word and with one another. When not at Cookout with students, she loves hiking the…

Spencer was born and raised in the foothills of Morganton, North Carolina. He attended Western Carolina University where he met his lovely wife, Courtney, and was saved by the Lord Jesus through the ministry of Reformed University Fellowship (RUF). Upon graduation, they moved to Blacksburg, VA where Spencer served as the RUF intern at Virginia Tech, while Courtney worked as the Director of Client Services at the local Pregnancy Resource Center. After their time in RUF, they moved back to…

Matt McClure’s first foray into church musicianship was in his 4th grade year on the stage of a little Presbyterian church in Knoxville, TN. Even then, he knew he was made to play music, and he focused his studies on that pursuit. In 2003, the McClures moved to the Triangle for Matt to work at UNC-Chapel Hill as one of the band directors and the saxophone teacher. In 2013, he started working part-time in the music ministry of Church of…

Julie McKeel moved with her husband Dale to Durham in 1989 and started working at Duke University, expecting to stay for two years while Dale completed his graduate degree. Thirty-five years later, she retired from Duke and almost immediately joined the staff at CGS! Julie and Dale become CGS members in 1989 and have served in a variety of roles, ministries, and programs over the years. While at Duke, Julie held multiple leadership positions focused on providing strategic, creative, and…

Bethany Porter is full of joy to be serving in the role of Children’s Ministry Director. She grew up as a missionary kid in Guinea, West Africa, spent late high school and college years in Ohio, then moved to Durham with her husband, Zach, and two children, Julia and Isaac. She has been a member of CGS for over twelve years, and has since added two more children to her family: Vincent and Caius.  When she’s not hunting down strange…