October 2, 2026
GAINESVILLE, Ga. — As the Chattahoochee Baptist Association launches into its third century, it will be led by a new Associational Mission Strategist. Rod Zwemke will begin his new role in this northeast Georgia Association centered out of Gainesville on Jan. 1. He brings with him 20-plus years of ministry experience and fresh enthusiasm for the work ahead.
Zwemke was born in Kansas, and the family moved a lot until they settled in Gwinnett County just before he began high school. He has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech, working six years in that field before entering fulltime ministry. He also has an MDiv from New Orleans Seminary. Since 2006, he has been a church planter and pastor of the Crossroads Church in Jefferson, Georgia. During that period, he also served part-time on the staff of the Chattahoochee Association from 2012 to 2019 as a Church Planting Strategist.
Rod is married to Gabrian Lee McCoy, an Ohio native. They have three adult children and reside in Hoschton, Georgia.
Zwemke stated three primary goals as he begins the work. “We want to continue the strong track record of church planting and leadership development that retiring AMS JoJo Thomas built. That's not going to change, I think the trick is going to be building partnerships, getting churches to plant churches together, sharing resources. Vision casting, trying to get churches to do ministry in the local context, in a way that we're not promoting churches, we're promoting the kingdom.”
Secondly, “I would love to see, basically, what we're going to call ‘pastor cohorts’ develop for discipleship and accountability among pastors. Networked relationally, we would love to see every church led by pastors who are a part of a group that's meeting their needs. Helping them grow with accountability. It’s kind of the framework from a book called Resilient Ministry. It identifies five factors to keep churches or pastors healthy and fruitful. We're going to try to lean into helping pastors be attentive to those things.”
Finally, “in addition to that, the idea of sharing resources, I'd love to have a pastor's portal online where we can log in and get each other's phone numbers or emails, we can share documents or graphics we've used. If somebody's built an internship or a residency, we don't have to build those from scratch, we can learn from each other. That's part of what I want to see happen.”
Further expanding on the role of the cohorts, he explained, “The cohorts will be led by a facilitator, who'll have to be trained. After training, those guys will be essentially mentors to the pastors. It could be a one-on-one, or it could take the form of a small group.”
“Retiring AMS JoJo Thomas created a task force where pastors were asked, ‘What does the future of the association look like together?’ They indicated they want a connection with other pastors and a conversation about, ‘How do we guard the message of the gospel and the trustworthiness of the gospel messenger?’”
Zwemke continued, “In reality, they (pastors) almost have to mess up, and then the church and association withdraw fellowship from them. How much better would it be if it's a relational dynamic where guys are able to keep each other accountable and on track on a grassroots level before it gets to the place where you just part ways? I mean, it just takes a little wisdom and humility to say, I don't want to do this alone. Our intention is to make that available to every single guy who's a part of our association.”
He explained, “We can do a lot of that online. We discovered 37 of our pastors are bi-vocational. The training opportunities we offer will have to be off hours, like nights, weekends, or video training. We'll be able to provide training through the portal so they can log on and get the training or the resources they need.”
It will be a challenge for Zwemke and the 82 churches and missions of the Chattahoochee Baptist Association as they begin their third century of ministry. They are building on a solid foundation, and the opportunities and possibilities to continue reaching northeast Georgia are bright. Retiring AMS Jojo Thomas expressed it well, “I couldn't be more excited about what's ahead - both for him and for the Chattahoochee Baptist Association’s churches and leaders.”
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