Leadership

Omri Miles

Lead Pastor

Omri was born and raised in New Orleans East. After graduating from Marion Abramson High School (2004) and Paine College in Augusta, GA (2008), he moved to Arizona in June 2008 after God saved him in February of the same year. It was there that God began equipping him for pastoral ministry. The next fifteen and a half years of preparation for ministry would include discipleship and various serving opportunities in the local church as well as two post-graduate degrees — Master of Arts in Biblical Counseling from The Master’s University (2016) and Master of Divinity from The Expositors Seminary (2020). Omri has been a certified biblical counselor with the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors since 2018, has served as the director of one of their certified training centers (2021-2024), and regularly writes and records content in the area of biblical counseling for ACBC. He and his excellent wife, Emily (married since 2012), live in the East with their five children.

The Advisory Board

Since the New Testament teaches that local churches ought to be led by a plurality of qualified elders (1Tim. 3:1-7; Ti. 1:5-9; 1Pet. 5:1-4), an advisory board has agreed to provide counsel and help until God raises up additional elders.

The Advisory Board includes three seasoned shepherds who function as counselors for Omri during the formative church planting years. These men share a common desire that GBC NOLA becomes a faithful, self-sustaining church. To this end, they have committed to making themselves regularly available for counsel until a plurality of elders is in place. The Advisory Board will not function as elders who oversee GBC NOLA, but will instead provide the wealth of wisdom that so often ensures safety and success (Pro. 11:14; 24:6).

The board includes:

1. Paul Lamey, a staff pastor/elder of Grace Community Church (Huntsville, AL)

2. Richard Caldwell, pastor-teacher of Founders Baptist Church (Spring, TX)

3. Carl Hargrove, staff pastor/elder at Grace Community Church (Sun Valley, CA)