Church Staff
Pastoral Staff
Andrew Sutherland
Rev. Andrew Sutherland serves as the Lead Pastor of Birch Cove Baptist Church with a deep love for Christ, His Church, and the transforming power of God’s Word. Andrew came to faith in Jesus as a child and continues to grow in his walk with Him, shaped by both the challenge and comfort of Scripture. He is passionate about communicating the Bible in ways that are faithful, engaging, and accessible, helping others encounter Christ through His Word. Andrew has served in pastoral ministry for several years, previously as Associate Pastor of Youth and Discipling Connections before stepping into the role of Lead Pastor. He holds a Master of Divinity from Acadia Divinity College, where he was honoured with the President’s Award. Prior to answering a call to ministry, Andrew graduated from law school at Dalhousie University — a journey that sharpened his love for truth and ultimately clarified his calling to pastoral leadership. Andrew has been married to his wife, Karyn, for ten years, and together they are raising two young sons. As a family, they are grateful to serve and grow alongside this church community. Outside of ministry, Andrew enjoys board games, movies, and rediscovering his love of baseball — especially cheering on the Toronto Blue Jays after their exciting playoff run last year. He has also recently taken up curling and is enjoying learning the sport. Andrew counts it a privilege to shepherd this congregation and to serve alongside a growing and diverse church family committed to seeing strangers becoming family, Jesus becoming Saviour and Lord, and earth becoming more like heaven.
Tara Embrett
Pastor Tara has served with Birch Cove Baptist since 2010. She finds joy in helping others grow in their understanding of Jesus Christ and the Scriptures each week through Life Park (Sunday School) and children’s ministries. She oversees the other educational ministries such as our church library and Bible studies and loves to train and equip volunteers to serve Christ throughout the ministries in our church.
Jamie MacArthur
Jamie is a man of many interests, including music (saxophone andvocals), sports (cycling and snowboarding), learning, and spirituality(especially in schools, universities and camps). Jamie loves to work with students and youth, whether teenagers,university students, or others, encouraging them to find and followJesus. As part of the pastoral team, he is grateful for the opportunityto work with others to see Birch Cove welcome and make room for youthand young adults to be meaningfully engaged in the work of the church.
Support Staff
Susan Levy
Susan, with help from her husband Charlie, has been serving as custodian since 1996. She has enjoyed learning a great deal of “behind the scenes” work that has to be done, and considers it a privilege to be able to have “God’s House” ready for worship. She enjoys the work very much, and Charlie has stepped in since his retirement from work to help and take on more duties. Susan’s role at the church is to clean all areas of the church and the office and keep these areas clean throughout the week, as well as to do summer and winter maintenance of the grounds outside. She works closely with our Administrative Assistant, keeping informed of activities and church usage. This may involve set up and tear down of areas for meetings if necessary as well. Susan’s role at the church is very important, and she is so much appreciated!
