Pastors

Wes Olds, Pastor, Cape Coral and North Fort Myers Campuses

Wes is an Ordained Elder in the Florida Conference of United Methodist Church. He received his BA from the University of Kentucky in English Education and went on to receive his Masters Degree in Divinity at Asbury Theological Seminary. Wes served as the youth minister at Christ Church in Fort Lauderdale and as a Pastor with Youth and Evangelism at Centenary UMC in Lexington. At the same time, he also served on the adjunct faculty at Asbury College as an instructor in youth ministry and congregational leadership and Asbury Seminary as an adjunct faculty for mentored ministry. Eventually, God prepared a way for Wes to start a multi-cultural, urban church called The Rock-La Roca UMC in Lexington, KY. While there, Wes co-founded Lexington’s “Room in the Inn,” a ministry of hospitality and shelter to homeless men. In addition to his ministry with Grace, Wes serves as a leadership coach for Spiritual Leadership, Inc.  Wes is married to Becky and they have one awesome son named Caleb. Wes loves music and plays guitar, enjoys fishing, sports, and hanging out with his friends and family.

Jorge Acevedo loves Jesus Christ and his Church.  Touched by the grace of God at seventeen, he was never the same.  Rescued from a life of addictions, his greatest delight is connecting people to Jesus and the Church. 

Jorge is the Lead Pastor at Grace Church, a multi-site, United Methodist congregation in Southwest Florida (Cape Coral, Fort Myers Shores and North Fort Myers).  This church has grown in its weekend attendance from 400 to over 2600 in the past thirteen years.  Grace Church is recognized as having one of the largest and most effective recovery ministries in America with over 800 people involved in weekly recovery ministries.  In 2003, Grace Church planted a second campus in East Lee County by adopting a declining United Methodist Church.  Today this campus has more than 375 people in attendance.  In 2007, Grace Church purchased a former grocery store and opened the Grace Community Center, a holistic ministry center and home to the third worshipping community of Grace Church in November 2008.  From 1992 to 1996, he served as one of the pastors at Christ Church United Methodist in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; from 1988 to 1992, as the Associate Pastor at First United Methodist Church in Kissimmee, Florida; from 1984 to 1988 as Minister of Youth and Children at Trinity Hill United Methodist Church in Lexington, Kentucky. 

Jorge is a 1984 graduate of Asbury College where he received a Bachelor of Arts Degree majoring in Bible.  He is also a graduate of Asbury Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity Degree.  Jorge was ordained as a Deacon in the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church in May, 1986, and an Elder in May 1990.  He was the 2001 recipient of the Denman Evangelism Award from the Florida Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church given to a pastor for excellence in evangelism.  In 2007 Jorge was named the Distinguished Alumni of the Year at Asbury Theological Seminary.  In 2009, the Foundation for Evangelism named Jorge the 2009 Distinguished Evangelist of the United Methodist Church. He was a 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008 delegate to the Jurisdictional Conference and a 2000, 2004 and 2008 delegate to the General Conference.  Jorge serves on the Southeastern Jurisdiction and Florida Conference Episcopal Committees. He is also on the Board of Directors of the Mission Society.  Jorge has been very involved in the Walk to Emmaus in Kentucky, Florida and the Bahamas.

Jorge co-authored The Heart of Youth Ministry with Hule Goddard, which was published by Bristol Books in January of 1989.  He has also written for the United Methodist Publishing House, Circuit Rider magazine, Good News magazine and Our Faith Today. He was also one of three featured pastors on the “Keeping the Passion for Ministry Alive” edition of the Willow Creek Association “Defining Moments” CD with Bill Hybels.

Born in Puerto Rico, Jorge at the age of four months, moved with his family to the United States where he was raised.  Jorge was married in November, 1981, to Cheryl Montgomery.  Their oldest son, Daniel is married to Courtney who gave them two beautiful grandchildren, Mia and Levi. They also have a younger son, Nathan.

Joe Wingard has been the Worship Pastor at the Cape Coral Campus since 1999. He was born and raised in Birmingham, Al, and received a BA in broadcast journalism with minors in music and drama from Troy State University, Troy, Alabama. Led by God’s prompting to full time ministry he moved to Ft. Worth, Texas. It was there that he received a Master’s degree in Religious Education from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and was ordained. While in Ft. Worth he met his wife, Gayle. They are blessed with 3 sons: Sterling, Chase, and Vaughn. Joe has a very wide range of musical tastes and “big band” is one of his favorites. He really likes teaching Grace Church about true worship and seeing them engage in passionate worship to the Creator of the universe, God Almighty.

Joe likes bass fishing, long walks on the beach (preferably with a fishing pole in his hand), and spending time with his family.