A Church Built Around the Presence of God

On a quiet block on Efird Street in Gastonia, North Carolina, New Covenant Church has spent four decades doing what its founders came south to do. Dr. John Pelonero and his wife Janice left West Islip, New York in 1985 to plant a church where, in their words, "the life-changing presence of God changes and transforms a city." The church's motto is "Building people to build the kingdom."

New Covenant describes itself as a spirit-filled body, and the language of the Spirit runs through everything it does. Worship is passionate, teaching is gospel-centered, and the conviction that the Holy Spirit still moves today shapes its services, its small groups, and the way it serves its neighbors.

Forty Years on Efird Street

The story starts with a move from Long Island to the foothills of western North Carolina. Dr. John Pelonero graduated from Lee College in 1979 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and earned a Master of Divinity in Biblical and Pastoral Studies in 1983 from the School of Theology in Cleveland, Tennessee. In 2010, he completed a Doctor of Philosophy in Leadership, Communication, and Administration through Louisiana Baptist University. Together, John and Janice Pelonero serve as Senior Pastors of New Covenant Church.

The vision that brought the Peloneros to Gastonia grew into a body of believers that the church describes as existing "to love God, grow together, and to serve our city." Beyond the local congregation, the founding vision includes a Bible college and the planting of churches both near and far from Gastonia.

What a Sunday Morning Looks Like

Services gather at 10 AM on Sundays at 631 Efird Street. Worship is led by a collective group of worshipers with a passion to magnify the worth of Jesus, and the preaching is rooted in scripture and aimed at real life. The church describes its gatherings as a place where "the life-changing presence of God transforms us as we apply His Word in our lives and to the real world, seven days a week."

First-time visitors are welcomed at the Next Steps area by the First Impressions team. A volunteer gives a quick tour of the building, pours a hot coffee, and answers questions about the service. Parents are pointed to the children's check-in, where nursery and Kidz Church run during every service. Services are also broadcast on the church's YouTube channel for those joining from home.

Wednesday Nights Around the Word

On Wednesdays at 7 PM, the church campus opens for Life Groups. Sessions run for a set number of weeks on a chosen topic, then the group moves on to a new study. Topics are broken down by focus so that adults can dig into the Bible together in a setting that is both structured and conversational.

The Youth Life Group meets in the Youth Room the same night, working through real-world situations from a biblical perspective. Children have their own programming through the Christian Education Director, who prepares lessons that are easy for young minds to grasp.

A Family of Ministries

Pastoral care for the next generation is led by Christy Moss, the Christian Education Director, who oversees K through 12 and college and career programming. Christy is a graduate of Gaston College with an Associate's Degree in Paralegal studies and has children's ministry training under Willie George Ministries. She and her husband Mike lead the children's ministry together.

Youth ministry is in the hands of James Prince, a Belmont Abbey College graduate with a bachelor's in Educational Studies and a master's in Biblical Studies from Crowns College. His teaching experience runs from elementary through high school, and his goal is to help young people see that the Lord has made a way for each of them.

Worship and Associate Pastors Mark and Nichole Ryder lead the music ministry. Mark graduated from a ministry school in South Carolina in 2008 with a Ministry Degree, and his passion is to lead people into the presence of God through worship.

Behind the scenes, Logan DePalma directs Creative Media and Production, shaping what worshipers experience both on campus and online. The production team runs the livestream, cameras, sound, lyrics, and media, creating what the church calls "a distraction-free, Christ-driven, welcoming atmosphere."

Pastor Joan Grigg oversees Follow-up and Outreach. Her heart is to see everyone saved and growing in a personal relationship with Christ and His word, and she walks alongside newcomers as they take their next steps.

For adults, two monthly fellowships anchor community life. The Women's Ministry gathers on the fourth Friday of each month for fellowship around the Word, helping each woman reach the fullest potential of the calling God has placed on her life. The Forged Men's Ministry meets once a month and focuses on relationships, healthy fatherhood, strong marriages, and community events throughout the year.

Feeding Gastonia, One Tuesday at a Time

Beyond the church walls, New Covenant runs a Food Ministry that distributes food to hundreds of families in Gastonia each year. The drive-through distribution takes place on Tuesdays from 11:30 AM to 12 PM while supplies last, and the ministry feeds over 125 families every month.

The food comes through a partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank and the generosity of the church family. Volunteers meet on campus at 10:30 AM on Tuesdays to bag and distribute the food, showing the love of Jesus to neighbors across the city. Online donations support the ministry for those who want to give but cannot serve in person.

What New Covenant Believes

The church's Statement of Faith runs through the doctrines that shape its teaching and practice. New Covenant holds that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, and complete Word of God, and that God exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Salvation comes through faith in Christ's death and resurrection, and the new birth is the literal work of being born again of the Spirit.

Two ordinances are practiced. Water baptism by immersion is the outward sign of inward salvation, and the Lord's Supper uses bread and the juice of the vine as symbols of Christ's forgiveness and healing. The church also teaches that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a present-tense empowering for every believer, and that the gifts and fruit of the Spirit are meant to be active in everyday Christian life.

Other convictions include divine healing as a current work of Christ, a literal rapture and final judgment, the literal realities of heaven and hell, the practice of tithing and free-will offerings, and the sacred nature of marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

Joining In

Anyone exploring the church is invited to stop by the Next Steps area on a Sunday morning. The church office is open Monday from 9 AM to 3 PM, Tuesday from 9 AM to 5 PM, Wednesday from 9 AM to 1 PM, and Thursday from 9 AM to 5 PM, with Friday closed. Giving is available online.

Life Groups, the Youth Group, Kidz Church, Worship, Production, the Prayer Team, First Impressions, and the Food Ministry are all ways to plug in. The church's prayer team meets daily, corporately and separately, for the will of God to be done in the lives of its members and in the city of Gastonia.