Pastor Rich McCaskill felt called by God to plant Emmaus Road Church after fasting and praying with his wife Erin. The verse the Lord gave them was Matthew 4:22 "Jesus called them and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him."

At this point in their life they had been working with an evangelical church on Mercer Island for 8 years with Rich as the full time Pastor of Student Ministries. After hearing the call they went through the rigorous process of getting assessed by the Acts 29 Network (www.acts29network.org)  Acts 29 is a missional network of church-planting-churches. Rich and Erin were thrilled when Acts 29 welcomed them into the network and confirmed their calling to start a new church in the Newcastle South Bellevue area. After several months of core building and fundraising Rich quit his job and launched Emmaus Road. The first Sunday gathering was September 2006. 

Pastor Rich has lived in the Seattle area since 1998. He graduated from Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma with a Bachelor's Degree in New Testament Studies. He is currently working on his Masters of Divinity from Regent College in Vancouver B.C. Rich and Erin and have been married over ten years and have four (4) amazing children who keep them on their toes at all times, and teach them constantly about God's grace and goodness.

Aside from church planting, Rich enjoys hiking, travelling, dating his wife, playing with his kids, reading his Bible and having dinner with his neighbors. He believes strongly in church planting as the most effective way to reach people with the good news of God's grace. You can hear Pastor Rich preach on Sunday mornings at 10am or by downloading the audio sermons from our website.

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