Elders
The leadership of the local church is ideally comprised of a plurality of elders. Based on the Lord’s provision, we set some of these men aside as “staffed” elders devoted to the proclamation and ministry of the Word. Non-staff elders are equally a part of the leadership to oversee and support the ministration of the Word and the care of the congregation.
Paul Alexander, Senior Pastor
Paul serves as the main preaching pastor for Grace Covenant Baptist Church. He grew up in a Bible-believing, church-going home, and experienced conviction of sin and conversion to Christ at age 12 through the teaching of his parents and the ministry of his local church. After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1995, he served for two years on staff with Cru at Michigan State University and then completed an MDiv at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in 2003. He was further trained for pastoral ministry in the pastoral internship program at Capitol Hill Baptist Church, where met his wife Laurie, and co-authored The Deliberate Church with Mark Dever (Crossway, 2005) . After further experience in pastoral ministry, the congregation that would become Grace Covenant called him to plant the church with them and serve as their pastor in 2009. Paul and Laurie live in the historic district of Elgin with their six children – Olivia, Braden, Jackson, Clayton, Garrett, and William.
Paul Tamras, Associate Pastor
Paul serves as our associate pastor sharing the duties of preaching and teaching in order to equip the congegation for godly living through service to one another. Paul is married to Megan and they reside in the downtown Elgin area.
Julian Hellmann
Julian resides in Elgin with his wife Mary and their 4 children. They have been attending Grace Covenant Baptist Church since 2018.
Chris Kretschmer
Chris was born and raised in the Chicago area, meeting Sue, who became his wife in 1997. The Lord used multiple people in their lives before their marriage to ultimately bring them to salvation in Christ. They raised three boys, enjoying the activity that came with a growing household, and as their children have grown into adulthood, Chris and Sue have enjoyed growing deeper in Christian relationships with their church body. They have attended Grace Covenant Baptist Church since 2022 and Chris began serving as a non-staff Elder late 2025.