Leadership
God is adamantly opposed to anything that obstructs people from getting to know Him. Stonecrest leadership strives to follow the examples and processes Jesus designed for His church. God is the head of our Church and our leaders are servants to his people.
Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church...
Acts 20:28
Dr. Richard L Barclay
Senior Minister
Richard L. Barclay planted the Stonecrest Church of Christ where he serves as senior minister. Richard has also served as minister of congregations in Georgia, Texas, Massachusetts, and California, led a radio ministry and TV program, and preached in South Africa and Ethiopia in his 30+ years of service to God. Barclay is a highly sought after keynote speaker at church lectureships across the country, and has led gospel meetings in more than 40 states.
A long-time supporter of Christian education, Barclay was named director of the Southwestern Christian College Lectureship in 2017. Also he has established an endowment to help support young men and women to pursue higher Christian education. When he’s not in pulpit or ministering to people to the people of God, he enjoys reading books and playing golf.
Richard is married to Shirley Brooks Barclay, a former educator and counselor. The couple have two adult sons, Christopher and Reginald Barclay (Monique).
Kristopher
Ballou
Kris Ballou takes ministering to youth very seriously and believes God’s purpose for his life is to help young souls develop in their Christianity. Minister Barclay believes, “Kris Ballou is an outstanding, conscientious, and dedicated young adult who loves and sacrifices greatly for the youth of the Stonecrest Church. His enthusiasm is contagious and encouraging.”
Kris was baptized at Hillcrest Church of Christ, Decatur, Georgia on August 14, 2005, two days before his 13th birthday. A native of Georgia and a graduate of Savannah State, Kris has a master’s degree in biomedical research from Morehouse School of Medicine. In his spare time, Kris enjoys running and working with STEM programs to teach science to students.
Youth Minister
Elders
Anthony Brooks
Anthony Brooks, a native of Brooklyn, New York, currently resides in Lithia Springs, Georgia. He has been a member of the Body of Christ since 1979, having been baptized and placed membership with the Nostrand Avenue congregation in Brooklyn where he began to be mentored to become a preacher of the gospel. He has diligently worked in the order of worship and evangelism ministry and he taught Sunday school and Wednesday night classes for youth and young adults. He developed and led the singles ministry for over 7 years at the Hillcrest Church of Christ.
He has successfully completed his studies at the Sunset International Bible Institute in Lubbock, Texas, acquiring a bachelor’s degree in Biblical studies in May 2012. He is continuing to pursue education in the areas of counseling and apologetics. While he was at Sunset, he assisted congregations in the area to grow,
implemented a VBS program and a health fair for the community. He conducted gospel meetings and preached twice on Sunday, taught a class on Wednesday, and rotated preaching at the Grand Court Assisted Living Home where he led them in worship service and preached. He also received certification as a satellite school instructor with the Sunset International Bible Institute’s extended studies division.
Brooks currently holds a teaching position at Bright Futures Academy, a private school in Atlanta. It
is not a surprise that the subject he teaches to fifth through eighth-grade students is Bible. He has been a
member of the Stonecrest Church of Christ since its inception, leading the marriage ministry, the
seasoned saints ministry, and teaching the marriage Sunday school class. He has been married to Kellee Brooks of Newark, NJ, and has two children, Kaleb and Shanice.
Carey Barnes
Carey B. Barnes is a man of God who strives to do God’s will. He worked as church administrator for two years, handling all its financial and banking concerns. He served as minister of education for six years, and he
taught adult Bible classes for some four years. In addition to teaching, he has been preaching the gospel for over seventeen years, and he served as a counselor for the church for over five years. Too, he was an advisor to the senior minister. He and his family have been members of the Stonecrest Church of Christ family for about three years. He has filled in for the senior minister to preach and taught Wednesday night Bible study. Currently,
Carey serves as the adult Bible school teacher, life group leader, worship coordinator, and he works on the
finance committee.
Carey has been married to Elizabeth Barnes for 15 years and he has one daughter. He has a nephew
(adopted son) whom he raised from toddler up to adulthood. His hobbies are football, basketball, reading,
playing chess, jogging, and mentoring young children to develop into reasonable adults.
Carey’s secular education earned him an MS in sociology with a minor in criminal justice. He served in the U.S. Army before he returned home to care for his mother. He used his education and experience to secure
employment with the state of Georgia, completing a total of 30 years of faithful service. The positions he held
in descending order were: HR specialist supervisor, HR program coordinator, manager of payroll and finance,
deputy warden of care and treatment, commissioner designee, sex offender examiner (only 4 examiners
statewide), chief counselor, and senior counselor.
Carey attributes his extensive training in public and business speaking to Valdosta State University, his
experience in speaking to large and small groups, conferences, or meetings to the U.S. Army, all accomplished through his walk with Christ.
Isacque Nixon
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IIsacque Christopher Nixon attended DeVry Institute of Technology, DeVry University, in pursuit of a
degree in computer information systems. After college, he switched careers and began employment with Jamison Enterprises managing a chain of restaurants. Approached by Host Marriot Corporation to head a new restaurant venture at the world’s busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, he took the job, but his love for computers led him back to corporate America in which he secured employment with Osprey Corporation in May 1998. During his twenty-three-year career at Osprey, he has advanced to
his current position, manager of parts and sales, managing a multi-million-dollar department.
Baptized into the body of Christ at the West End Church of Christ, he was a very active member and
quickly became a familiar face working with the men’s ministry, worship service coordinator, and anything else he was asked to do. He temporarily moved his membership from West End to Lithonia Church of Christ to assist his father-in-law, Brother Isadore Cooper, with the work in that vineyard for two years. Later, his family placed their membership at the Hillcrest Church of Christ where he worked in many ministries, for example, worship service coordination and the HITT team, to name a few. Since Stonecrest Church of Christ’s inception, Isacque has worked tirelessly to ensure its spiritual and physical growth as a servant leader. In his capacity, he serves as building manager and benevolence committee coordinator and plays a
support role in the finance, information technology, and usher coordinator committees.
Isacque has been married to the love of his life, the former Shona Cooper, for twenty-six years; they have been blessed with two beautiful children, Sean, 17, and Isley, 15. Nixon’s goals as an elder at the Stonecrest Church of Christ are to grow the congregation spiritually so that a foundation of Biblical soundness will follow the congregation well into its future and maintain spiritual guidance from the pulpit, the classroom, and the internet so that Stonecrest can be a guiding light for their seeking God’s truth and plan for their lives.
Harrell Thomas Sr.
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Harrell Thomas grew up in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Before spending nine years traveling the world in the U.S.
Navy and leaving the military, he earned a BS degree in engineering technology from Howard University.
His professional career includes more than 30 years of innovative, worldwide leadership and management
ranging from engineering and project management on city and state transportation systems to designing and
building on two of the most high-tech international airports in the world - Kuala Lumpur International Airport
(KLIA) in Malaysia and Incheon International Airport (IIA) in South Korea. Harrell currently works as a
communications systems engineering consultant to numerous transportation firms.
Harrell was baptized in 2001 at the Hillcrest Church of Christ. At Hillcrest, he was an usher and participated
primarily in the marriage ministry. Harrell has been a servant leader at the Stonecrest Church of Christ since
the church was planted in 2017. He has been the church administrator, establishing the Stonecrest church’s
administrative policies and procedures since 2018 and founding chair of the church’s coronavirus task force
since 2020.
He has been married to Belinda for 34 years,; he has two sons, Harrell Jr. and Tre’. Harrell and Belinda
currently reside in Lilburn, Georgia.
Thomas fully accepts the role as an elder with the full understanding of James 3:1 “Not many of you should
become teachers, my fellow believers because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly”. He has
and will continue to expound biblical truth and refute doctrinal error. His goal is to continue to lead confidently,
but gently in accordance with 1 Peter 5:2-3 “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching
over them - not because you must but because are willing, as God wants you to be”. He will also continue to
interact, solve problems, strive for unity, and face challenges together with the other leaders as a living example for the whole church to emulate.
Deacons
Dale Holmes​
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Dale A. Holmes has served faithfully in building God’s Kingdom as a member of the Church for over 15
years. He is the chief deputy at Rockdale County sheriff’s office, and his law enforcement career has been
highlighted with many outstanding accomplishments and achievements. He began his career in law enforce-
ment 34 years ago and for this he is known as a dedicated man who rose through the ranks and always
showed professionalism. Holmes has not only been recognized internally for his service, but with due
diligence and perseverance as he transitioned from the street patrol to directing and leading law enforce-
ment personnel, and eventually executive management. With his extensive experience in all aspects of
policing, he is an asset to the RCSO and in the church has consistently served as the security director
always implementing processes to keep the stakeholders of the church safe. Community service remains at
the forefront of Holmes’ vision and the description of servant leader really fits well as it relates to his vision.
Truly presenting himself as a watchman in the Kingdom, Dale humbly accepts all aspect s of the term.
He has a BS degree from Tuskegee University and an MS in education from Central Michigan University. He is married to Sabrina Holmes and he has two children Devon (29) and Arrielle (18).
Marcus Reams
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Baptized into the faith in May, 1980, Marcus has served the church in a variety of ministries, from
singing with different groups in his home congregations to traveling around the country performing with the
group Just Us. He has served on the IT teams, taking his secular skills and using them for the building of the kingdom. He has been active in theatre arts, social media, and church security.
He has been married to Maria Dade-Reams for 35 years. They have two sons, Malcolm and Matthew, and one “adopted” daughter, Tori. His hobbies include singing, Wing Chun kung fu and cooking.
Marcus began his professional career providing computer and server support. He worked his way through
the ranks to become a network architect for companies such as AT&T and BellSouth. In this role, he has
designed and supported networks for the states of Mississippi and Georgia. Marcus has attained every level of certification from Cisco Systems which reflects his level of skill and expertise. Since 2001, he has been sharing his education and experience with students helping them to develop the skills needed to flourish in their own careers as network engineers. He completed his undergrad work (class of 87) at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
Craig Twaites
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Craig Twaites, a transplant to the Atlanta area, has been a faithful member of the Church of Christ for
over 55 years. Married to the former Lawanna Owens. he has two adult sons, Kyle who occasionally
preaches and teaches adult Bible classes as well as leads the congregational acapella singing in the Seattle/Kent area Churches of Christ and Kory, who actively supports the Renton Church of Christ.
He also has two bonus daughters, Kelsey who works in education and Skyelar, who is a law student.
A member of the Stonecrest Church of Christ for four years, Craig has worked on the benevolence
committee, men’s ministry, and mission’s ministry. Craig and Lawanna have been foster parents in the Agape program.
Craig has studied electronic/electrical engineering, telecommunications law, and computer science at
Des Moines Community College, Seattle University, and Cogswell Technical College North in Seattle,
Washington. He attended numerous technical and leadership training courses at Microsoft University, in
the US Navy and with IBM.
His goal as a deacon is to serve and support the elders, evangelist, fellow deacons, and members of the
Stonecrest family. Craig’s goal is to ensure that God is glorified and amplified and that the members
strengthened by the service rendered and by the example of Christ living in him.