Westside Stories

Today on Westside Stories, Atlanta Westside pastor Steven Gilchrist talks about growing up in Oklahoma, his family, and how he became a Christian. Steven discusses grappling with a significant number of deaths in his family over the past few years. So, just a word of warning that this episode discusses death.

Steven has been an associate pastor at Atlanta Westside since early 2021. He’s in charge of community outreach with the hope of planting a new church in the coming years. 

Today on Westside Stories, Atlanta Westside member Angela Oliver discusses her position at the Center for Disease Control, also known as CDC.

Angela began working for CDC in 2010, and she played a pivotal role in helping form and influence the policies that helped the United States prepare for and grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic. While we can’t go into specific details about the goings-on at CDC, this is an interesting conversation into the processes involved in CDC decision making—as well as a blueprint for the scope and scale of CDC’s work.

It should be noted that the views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of Atlanta Westside Presbyterian Church and Angela Oliver—not the CDC nor the United States Government.

Today on Westside Stories, Westside member Katy Alter discusses growing up adopted and learning how to grapple with and express feelings that are incredibly complex. Katy is one of the most clear, articulate, and self-introspective communicators we've ever met, and this episode was a true joy to work on.

Let’s hear from Katy ….

Today on Westside Stories, Westside member Conner Norton recounts his amazing post-Braves-winning-the-world-series story. If you haven’t heard Conner tell it, it’s a fairly amazing tale that’s been highlighted all over the internet.

So, without further ado, let’s extend Conner’s fifteen minutes of fame and dive in …

Today on Westside Stories, Westside members Jim and Lis Irwin to discuss the anxious yet sweet time in their lives when work was hard to come by following the market crash of 2008.

Jim is the President of Atlanta-based NewCity Properties. NewCity is responsible for a ton of Atlanta real estate development, including Ponce City Market and 725 Ponce. Jim also lead Atlanta Westside’s development of our church building—including upcoming construction on the front half of the old Salas O’Brien space.

Jim and Lis are founding members of Atlanta Westside where Jim is also an elder.

Today on Westside Stories, Westside member Sarah Hopson to chat about the US National Parks system.

Trust us when we say that this is an incredible conversation. Sarah has a wonderful way of communicating the importance of our National Parks and monuments—as well as a few recommended hidden gems. If the rest of the National Parks team is anything like Sarah, it makes us want to quit what we're doing just to be part of that staff.

Today on Westside Stories, Atlanta Westside’s Senior Pastor, Walter Henegar, and Director of Spiritual Formation, Anne Henegar, are joined by Chuck and JoElyn Johnston to tell us a few stories from their time living in Atlanta’s Grove Park neighborhood.

Chuck and JoElyn have been members at Atlanta Westside since the early days—all the way back in 2008. They’re also, practically, institutions in the Atlanta education scene. Chuck was president of the Children’s Education Foundation, the founding headmaster at Whitefield Academy, and the Executive Director of the Atlanta Youth Academy.

Chuck and JoElyn recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

Today on Westside Stories, Atlanta Westside’s Senior Pastor, Walter Henegar, and Director of Spiritual Formation, Anne Henegar, are joined by Kelly Henderson to discuss his uber-interesting full-time role as a content creator on the social media and live-streaming network called Twitch.

Kelly and his wife Leah, who we interview in an earlier episode of the podcast, have been members at Atlanta Westside since 2012.

Today, Atlanta Westside’s Senior Pastor, Walter Henegar, and Director of Spiritual Formation, Anne Henegar, sit down with Glen Jackson to discuss his father. It’s a very powerful story, but a quick word of warning: we are specifically discussing the death of a parent.

Glen and his wife Claire have been members at Atlanta Westside since 2015. Glen is a founding principal at Jackson Spalding—a marketing and communications agency based out of Atlanta, GA.

Today on Westside Stories, Atlanta Westside’s Senior Pastor, Walter Henegar, and Director of Spiritual Formation, Anne Henegar, sit down with Westside member  Kenneth Everett to talk about his passion for Salsa dancing.

And let me say that Kenny, at just over 70 years old, has a special way of communicating that makes you want to find a salsa playlist on Spotify, crank up the speakers, and start dancing your fool head off.