The Gathering Place sits at 420 South Main Street in the village of North Syracuse, just outside Syracuse in Onondaga County. Known locally as TGP and formerly North Syracuse Baptist Church, the congregation has roots that reach back through at least five generations of the same families, and its reach now stretches from a sensory-friendly kids wing to missionary partners on six continents. Two things in particular shape its identity: a commitment to expository preaching of Scripture, and a large, fully integrated Deaf ministry that meets in American Sign Language alongside the English-speaking congregation every Sunday.
Sunday Gatherings at 420 South Main Street
Worship happens on Sundays at 10:00 a.m. The Gathering is built around consistent exegetical and expository preaching, with music led by Music Director Josh Perez and a technical team headed by Music Technical Director Alex Burtis. The service is livestreamed on YouTube for those who cannot be in the building, and a sermon archive sits on the church's YouTube channel under Thru the Bible.
Families with children are invited to arrive early. Kids' check-in opens at 9:45 a.m. using Planning Center, which prints matching security labels for both child and parent. Only adults and children wearing matching labels can enter the kids' area, and the same system is used at pickup. The check-in team is paired with a security team at the single secure entrance.
Pastors are at the door before and after the Gathering, ready to say hello personally. A Connect Card can be filled out from the seat-back or online, and a prayer request can be submitted in the same place. The congregation describes itself as scripturally rooted, relationally committed, sacrificially minded, and missionally driven - the four values that frame everything from the Sunday Gathering to the missions budget.
The TGP Deaf Ministry
One of the most distinctive features of The Gathering Place is the size and depth of its Deaf ministry. Every Sunday Gathering is interpreted live in ASL for a large body of deaf and hard-of-hearing attendees. After the service ends at about 11:15 a.m., the deaf community shares lunch and discussion together in the same building. On Wednesdays at 6:00 p.m., a separate Deaf Bible study gathers for deeper teaching and connection. There is also an active online Facebook group, TGP Deaf online, where members continue the conversation between meetings. John Nimmo coordinates as a volunteer leader for the ministry.
The church frames this not as a sidebar program but as a fully parallel expression of discipleship. Members are encouraged to be disciples and to equip disciples in their first language, and the deaf community is woven into the broader life of the church rather than separated from it.
TGP Kids and TGP Students
TGP Kids serves children from nursery through sixth grade during the Sunday Gathering. Gospel-focused curriculum uses crafts, songs, and activities matched to each age. Every volunteer who works with children is screened, background-checked, and known personally by the leadership. A Sensory Room is available for kids who need a quieter environment to thrive. Becky Piazza directs the ministry, with Bethany Curtiss serving as assistant.
TGP Students gathers middle and high schoolers - grades 6 through 12 - on Sunday evenings at 6:30 p.m. Student Pastor AJ Rank and his team lead an evening that mixes conversation, food, games, music, teaching, and small groups. The vision is to help students move from being young learners of Jesus into disciples who themselves turn the world upside down, and the students' Instagram account (tgpyouth) keeps the conversation going through the week.
Students looking to serve beyond the building are pointed to short-term mission trips, and there is an annual HyFi curriculum connection through myhyfi.com.
Men, Women, and Young Adults
TGP organizes discipleship by stage of life as much as by interest. On Wednesday evenings at 6:30 p.m., TGP Men gathers for conversational Bible study and shared content. All ages are welcome, and the group uses RightNow Media as a resource.
TGP Women runs year round and centers on conversational groups that study Scripture together. Within it, MomCo at TGP connects mothers from the newborn stage through the early elementary years, recognizing how isolating those years can be. Soul Sisters extends the same idea of walking together to women in every stage - single, married, grieving, or just looking for Christian friendship. Miriam LaMontagne directs women's discipleship.
First Fridays is the young adult ministry. On the first Friday of every month at 6:30 p.m., adults ages 18 to 25 meet in the TGP Cafe for coffee, conversation, Scripture, and friendship. Older adults continue that same small-group rhythm: married couples and single adults are folded into Legacy Shapers, which meets Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. for adults 50 and up.
Legacy Shapers and SeniorCare
Legacy Shapers is built on the conviction that discipleship does not slow down in the second half of life. Members in their fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties, and beyond meet weekly for Bible study, mutual encouragement, and the kind of conversation that only peers who have walked a long road can really share. The ministry is led in part by Pastor Emeritus Larry Taylor.
SeniorCare complements it with a practical, hands-on approach. Run by a team of TGP volunteers and anchored by 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, the ministry provides home visitations, meal preparation, transportation to medical appointments, home and property repairs, financial guidance, help with housing transitions, caregiving recommendations, and a medical equipment loan closet. Care Coordinators assess needs, Care Navigators connect families to TGP and community resources, and Ministry Servants carry out the day-to-day help. Anyone in the broader North Syracuse community is welcome to reach out.
Little Lamb Christian Preschool and Kindergarten
On the same campus, Little Lamb is a Christian preschool and kindergarten serving children ages three through five. Director Nicole O'Donnell leads a staff that teaches basic academics and social skills in a way that, in their words, shows children that God loves them. The school runs two-day, three-day, and full-week options.
For the 2026-27 school year, registration opens February 9, 2026, with a nonrefundable $75 registration fee. Annual tuition ranges from $1,662 for the two-day three-year-old class to $3,576 for five-day kindergarten, with a separate one-time curriculum fee billed on September 1. Three-year-olds must be three by December 1; four-year-olds must be four by December 1; kindergartners must be five by December 1.
A Globally Missional Church
The word mission is not decorative here. The church maintains active missionary partnerships in Africa (Kenya, Senegal), Asia (India, the Philippines, Taiwan, Pakistan, undisclosed locations), Europe (England, Hungary, Germany), Latin America (Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala), and across North America (Canada, the United States). Partners serve with organizations such as CEF, WorldVenture, ABWE, Avant, Mission India, CRU, Mesa Global, Wycliffe, IFE, InterVarsity, Athletes in Action, TWR, and Word of Messiah. Locally, the church partners with Casa de Paz, a Syracuse ministry that serves those experiencing homelessness and poverty.
Each year a Missions Weekend focuses the church on these partnerships, and a downloadable Prayer Calendar lists every missionary by region. Members can also support specific missionaries through a dedicated Pushpay link. Mission trips are open to anyone who fills out an interest form.
What The Gathering Place Believes
The Statement of Faith holds that the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments are the inspired, inerrant Word of God and the supreme authority for faith and conduct. TGP teaches one God eternally existing as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and confesses that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, sinless in life, crucified and resurrected, ascended, and personally returning. The Holy Spirit indwells every believer, sanctifies, and empowers for service and godly living.
Salvation is by grace through faith in the finished work of Christ, received by repentance and trust, and eternally secure. The ordinances of baptism by immersion and the Lord's Supper are reserved for regenerated believers. Each local church is autonomous and self-governing, free from external hierarchy. On family and sexuality, the church teaches that marriage is the covenant union of one man and one woman, that men and women are spiritually equal but have distinct scriptural roles in the home and church, and that human life begins at conception. The full Statement of Faith is published on the church's website, along with the TGP Constitution and Bylaws.
Pastoral Leadership and Elders
The pastoral team is led by Senior Executive Pastor Dave Shepard and Executive Pastor Mike Peschka. Pastor Emeritus Larry Taylor continues in ministry after his long tenure. AJ Rank leads the student ministry. The elder board includes Gary Butterfield (Chairman), Peter Frantzis (Vice Chairman), Tim Davis (Secretary), and Douglas Hill (Treasurer), with Dave Shepard also serving as an elder.
The bios of the elders reflect the depth of the congregation. Gary Butterfield's family spans five generations at the church, from his grandmother and parents to his children and grandchildren; he has served forty-plus years as a Sunday School teacher and forty-plus years in the choir, and chaired the Official Board multiple times. Peter Frantzis immigrated from Thessaloniki in 1967 and has attended for over thirty years, leading mission trips and serving as Chairman of the Deacons. Douglas Hill has attended for forty-seven years. Tim Davis and his family joined in 2018, three years after his son Jack went to be with the Lord at age nine, an experience that shaped his involvement in children's ministry.
Giving, the App, and Getting Connected
TGP practices intentional accountability in how contributions are handled. Online giving runs through Pushpay, where recurring gifts and a donor profile can be set up; envelopes are also available in the seats for in-person giving. Every contribution moves through a multi-step process of receiving, counting, depositing, and verification with staff and elder oversight.
The TGP App, also through Pushpay, keeps everything in one place: sermons, events, registration forms, prayer updates, and the Connect Card. Members can join the prayer update list, request benevolence support, apply to be a deacon, or sign up for RightNow Media, all from the app or the church's Planning Center forms. The church also sends a single weekly email to anyone who signs up through the website.
A Place for Every Stage
From the nine-forty-five kids' check-in to the Wednesday night Legacy Shapers gathering, from the Deaf Bible study to the MomCo meeting to a week of Vacation Bible School in the summer, The Gathering Place is organized around one conviction: every disciple, at every age and stage, has a next step. Five generations of one family still walk the same halls. A child who is three today can grow up through Little Lamb, TGP Kids, TGP Students, First Fridays, TGP Men or TGP Women, Legacy Shapers, and SeniorCare - and along the way help send the gospel from North Syracuse to places most of them will never visit in person.