journey church tampa

Journey Christian Church - Mission History

A Journey speaks of movement, a quest, a pilgrimage, and life.

All of life is a journey that is filled with ups, downs, obstacles and triumphs.

We feel that each of those steps along the way is best interpreted through the filter of a loving creative God who sent His Son and gave His Word so that we would know how to deal with the bumps in the road.

This journey was never intended for us to travel alone – it’s all about relationships (as opposed to organized religion) and spiritual growth happens as our lives come together.

The JOURNEY CHRISTIAN CHURCH Experience History

Journey is a place where you can feel safe to discover what God desires for you on the journey of life– a real place for real people!

We want it to be an encouraging place where people are accepted in an atmosphere of love and grace, where people share their hearts and resources and support each other through the ups, downs, obstacles, joys, triumphs, pleasures, and sometimes, pain of life.

We want to be an exciting place where people can invite their friends even those who’ve never been to church before!

Above all we hope you can grow here at your own pace and discover the boundless grace of God and His offer of a great life now and forever.

Journey is an independent, non-denominational Christian Church.

The people here come from a variety of backgrounds but we have found harmony in Christ. Whether you are just starting your journey or are coming back, we hope you will find others like you with an open heart and a warm welcome. Come join us.

Wherever you are on your journey of faith, we exist to help you…

Surrender through Worship,

Connect through fellowship,

Grow through discipleship,

Serve, through ministry, and Reach out to your world for Jesus Christ.

•It’s NOT about me

•It’s about reaching out, touching lives, and growing together to become more like Jesus.

EVERY SUNDAY: 9am & 10:30am    GIVE

Every sunday:   9:30am and 11:00am services           .

UPCOMING AT JOURNEY!

Click or Tap the image above to learn more about what's happening at Journey Church.  Find your place and get connected.  Don't just go to church -- Be a part of our church family!

Check us out online:

Follow us on social media to see what's new, get words of encouragement & to stay connected to your church "family", @wearejourneychurch.

where we are

Journey church is located in the farnell middle school auditorium  13912 nine eagles dr.  tampa, florida 33626, every sunday:   9am & 10:30am services.

MEETING ON SUNDAYS AT FISHHAWK FELLOWSHIP

The beginning of a new journey.

We  announced on July 12, 2023 that Journey church would be partnering with  FishHawk Fellowship church in Lithia to plant a new church in  Riverview. FishHawk will be moving this plan forward under the  leadership of Pastor Daniel Butson, and Pastor Steve Miller with a goal  of launching the new church in Riverview in the fall of 2024. 

At  the same time, FishHawk is evaluating their plan to build a new church  building on the three-acre property that Journey is donating to the  church plant. 

Sunday Mornings

As of September 3, 2023, the Journey church family began gathering on Sundays with FishHawk Fellowship at their main campus.  

FishHawk Fellowship | 15326 Fishhawk Blvd, Lithia, FL 33547

MOVING FORWARD

Mid-week groups.

Our mid-week Bible studies will continue.

Genesis Study — Wednesdays, 7:00 p.m. in Bloomingdale, led by Pastor Boe

Philippians Study — Wednesdays, 7:00 p.m., led by Pastor David

Ladies Study — Wednesdays, 7:00 p.m., led by Melissa Robinson 

What We Believe & Why — Thursdays, 7:30 p.m., led by Rob Robinson.

Church Offices

You can call, send mail, or reach out to us for anything you need relating to Journey:

Infiniti Resource Management

Attn: Mike Jones

3014 US-301 | Suite 1000 | Tampa, FL 33619

Thank  you for supporting our mission during this transition phase. 

You can still give to directly to Journey through November, 2023. 

Copyright © 2023 Journey Church - All Rights Reserved.

• The Gospel Story

This website uses cookies.

We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.

The Successors of St. Stephen of Perm

In memory of three holy hierarchs of perm.

Maria Marchenko

Here I am, O Lord, send me. Here I am, O God, in good time. And I shall glorify Thy Name, Here I am, O Lord, here I am.

Though the rays of Christ’s light did struggle through into the depths of the pagan forest, there were still many villages that, as before, had not yet heard the Gospel. Now, after the death of St. Stephen whom they hated, the pagan priests who were scattered across the Urals and had seemingly lost ground, hoped to get even with the newly-established Church of Perm. Among their plans were to bring their former flock back to the old beliefs, destroy the altars erected by St. Stephen, and resume their economic exploitation of the peace-loving Zyryans [“Zyryane”: the old-fashioned Russian name for the Komi—the people of what is now the Komi Autonomous Republic, belonging to the Finno-Ugric family.—Trans.]. Most of the shaman priests came from the Vogul people [“Voguly”: the obsolete name of the Mansi—the indigenous people living mainly in the Ob River basin in Western Siberia and related to the Finno-Ugric family; now most of them live in the Khanty-Mansi autonomous area within Russia’s Tyumen region.—Trans.] who converted to Orthodoxy very reluctantly.

The new diocese’s link to the Moscow Metropolis seemed (and was in many respects) nominal and illusory; in the late fourteenth century it was still extremely far from there to the Grand Prince (and the Metropolitan) of Moscow. The defenselessness of local clerics in the face of a hostile and often aggressive population frightened the newly-arrived priests and jeopardized the clergy who were Zyryan converts. Moreover, the new diocese needed not just priests but missionaries who were ready to put their lives at risk in open conflicts with the rebellious Ostyaks (the Khanty and the Mansi). It needed monks who were not bound to their families and children. This caused a shortage of clergy.

Another threat came from local government officials ( zemsky dyaks ) who as secular masters were gradually taking over the authority of bishops who governed the huge territory. This territory fell under the patronage of the Grand Prince of Moscow primarily under the auspices of the religious solidarity of Moscow and the newly-converted people of Perm, but the laws of the development of Muscovy demanded rendering to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and sometimes these demands took cruel and even bloodthirsty forms.

The Archbishopric of Novgorod was indignant with Moscow, believing that the self-seeking Muscovites had lawlessly appropriated the territories that had belonged to the See of Novgorod from time immemorial 1 . Thus, some dishonest Church figures from among the ambitious lobbyists for Novgorod imperialism were ready to help the pagans who resisted the Muscovite expansion.

Thus St. Stephen’s work was threatened with serious danger. However, leaving the people of Perm physically, the holy hierarch had promised to remain with the Zyryans spiritually after his repose, provided they remain faithful Orthodoxy and keep their love for it. That is why after his repose, missionary work in his diocese was continued by three worthy successors: Sts. Gerasim, Pitirim and Jonah.

But Isaac, St. Stephen’s immediate successor in the diocese of Ust-Vym 2 , spent most his archpastoral ministry in Moscow, because being close to senior representatives of the Church hierarchy was his top priority as a hierarch. It is unknown whether his intercessions with the Metropolitan for the newly-converted Zyryans were successful; but what is known is that the name of Isaac was all but forgotten in the annals of Perm history, and his memory was almost erased and replaced by his immediate successors’ missionary exploits; because they preferred to share in the sorrows and joys of their flock in situ rather than send them exhortations from faraway Moscow.

St. Gerasim, the betrayed and murdered bishop

St. Gerasim’s self-sacrificing missionary endeavors, along with his consistent and energetic policy in the administrative sphere not only set the region’s development on the most progressive path but also provoked the envy of the less talented or charismatic functionaries of the state machine. The latter, wishing to get even with St. Gerasim who, in their view, exceeded his authority, decided to make use of the Vogul people’s deadly hatred for him. Officially, the local government officials who acted in collusion were right—St. Gerasim organized “groundwork at the bishop’s residence for the construction of a church” and entered into “conflict with the prince’s administration over disputed land ownership.” 5 In all probability, the bishop wanted to expand his estate (the bishop’s settlement [ vladychny gorodok .—Auth.] on the territory of which a bishop was equal to a feudal lord) without the secular authorities’ permission and get a part of the population involved in the work (compulsory but made to appear voluntary) on renovating a dilapidated church in Ust-Vym.

What made St. Gerasim firmly demand obedience to himself of the Prince of Moscow’s subjects in matters that were subject to Church jurisdiction? The fact is that the holy bishop presumed “in all fairness” Moscow government officials’ progress, along with cultural development and improvement in living conditions of inhabitants of humble Zyryan villages were the direct and immediate result of the success of Orthodox mission; and, therefore, there was nothing more important both for Moscow functionaries and local pastors than expanding the territory around the bishop’s residence and repairing the crumbling church.

But St. Gerasim’s opponents thought otherwise. Through slander they made a member of his household, a baptized Vogul, begin to hate him, and persuaded the man to murder the bishop for patriotic reasons, standing up for his people whom St. Gerasim supposedly persecuted. The most cynical thing about this treacherous murder was that it was committed by someone whom the saint had once taken into his home for care and for spiritual guidance. According to St. Gerasim’s plan, this Vogul would have eventually become a pastor and a missionary among his fellow-tribesmen.

On that fateful day, during a prayer service, the madman waited until St. German turned his back, grabbed his omophorion and strangled him with it. This is how the Vychegda-Vym Chronicle, written by the clergy of the Ust-Vym Monastery of the Archangel Michael in the late sixteenth century, recounts his tragic murder: “Bishop Gerasim of Perm has been murdered several stadia [an ancient measure of length, about 185 meters.—Trans.] from the bishop’s settlement, in the place called Mys 6 .”

St. Pitirim the Martyr

Chudov Monastery was known as the royal monastery, and its abbot would become a close advisor to the Grand Prince of Moscow. As abbot of Chudov Monastery St. Pitirim may have baptized the future Grand Prince Ivan III of Russia (1462—1505) in infancy, and after the news of the martyrdom of St. Gerasim of Ust-Vym had reached Moscow, the Metropolitan chose him as candidate, not without the influence of, or rather, on the initiative of the Grand Prince. St. Pitirim must have been shocked by St. Gerasim’s martyrdom; there was invisible warfare on the metropolia’s eastern frontiers, and representatives of the senior Moscow clergy were becoming its victims. By that time the fratricidal war between Princes Vasily II the Blind and appanage Prince Dmitry Shemyaka was already raging in Rus’. Its battlefront was precisely in Perm, and the bishopric couldn’t avoid “hostilities”. The future holy hierarch willy-nilly had to engage in bigtime politics. Well aware of this, he consciously and readily took the bishop’s duties on himself with humility and made his way to St. Gerasim’s bereaved flock.

In those first months, scrupulous analytical work to determine the strategy for future missionary work was carried out in the bishop’s office, St. Pitirim’s desk was covered with maps that he and his companions had drawn and marked. Long-time residents of the bishop’s quarters from among the clergy who had concelebrated with St. Gerasim reported to St. Pitirim what, when and how the people of Perm had been evangelized, in which districts of the region the inhabitants were the least enlightened by the missions of Sts. Stephen, Gerasim and their disciples, and where the pagan high priests whom St. Gerasim exposed had fled. It was finally decided to start a missionary campaign in the area of the Vashka basin, settled by the Udoren people. It was there, in the area called Udora, that the bastion of paganism (contemporary to St. Pitirim) was concentrated; it was there that the spiritual leaders of idol-worship and their followers had settled after being banished by St. Stephen several decades before.

By his personal example St. Pitirim instructed his priests how to find words that would reach the hearts of ordinary people. Those were the words of consolation and support, words that really staggered a populace who lived by the laws of vendetta and in the wildest pagan ways: “And he baptized and converted many, since those people were ignorant and notorious for their cruel customs; the blessed man enlightened and taught them in faith with great humility.” According to the Vychegda-Vym Chronicle, the success of the mission was full and unconditional: “Bishop Pitirim converted the Udoren people at the Vashka River to the holy faith, gave them abbots and priests, and erected holy churches there.”

Wandering across his diocese’s outlying districts, the holy bishop didn’t forget the people of Perm who made up the heart of his flock. St. Pitirim would often give targeted support to residents of Zyryan settlements, generously distribute alms from his private sources, and, most importantly, intercede with the Grand Prince to reduce the amount of tribute the people of Perm were obliged to pay.

Over his tenure the holy bishop visited Moscow several times to take part in the events that would be epoch-making for his contemporaries. The first of them was associated with the Synod of the Russian Bishop’s anathema of Prince Dmitry Shemyaka, who had blinded Grand Prince Vasily II of Moscow (1425–1462) in order to seize power and remove his most dangerous and legitimate rival from the political scene. It is remarkable with what unanimity Church figures (monks, like St. Gregory of Pelshem, as well as bishops) took Prince Vasily’s side in this political struggle.

Later, the modern historian Alexander Zimin (1920–1980) would say that Shemyaka fell victim to his own defeat. If the outcome of that conflict had been different, history with its historiographers would have taken his side 7 . However, the rigor of the hagiography’s heroes casts serious doubts on this hypothesis. The White Lake Monastery elders allowed Vasily to break his vow of not laying claim to Moscow, giving him full freedom to act. The Church hierarchs came to the capital occupied by Vasily to demonstrate their loyalty to him. One of the senior Church representatives of great authority who showed unconditional support for Vasily was Bishop Pitirim. He knew like no one else how much suffering Shemyaka’s ruinous campaigns had caused ordinary Russian people. Engaging the Perm Diocese’s most hardened enemies (the Vogul people and the inhabitants of Vyatka) for his purposes, Shemyaka scored repeated successes in his acts of banditry—blood was shed, and people in St. Pitirim’s flock were dying. Later Shemyaka took vengeance on the people of Perm by executing the Perm captains Emelka Luzkov and Euphemius Ezhvin for their willingness to fight on the side of the people of Veliky Ustyug, whose lands were being ravaged by his regiments 8 .

A few years later, Bishop Pitirim preached to the people of Vyatka who had cooperated with the rebellious prince’s excessive ambitions, and his words had a direct effect: Having laid siege to Ust-Vym in 1450, the Vyatchane’s army suddenly withdrew, leaving the town intact. The population of Perm remained indifferent to Dmitry’s calls. Everything seemed to indicate that the prince’s cherished ambitions were crumbling to dust, and the uncompromising and energetic Bishop Pitirim had largely contributed to that.

Shemyaka was determined to capture the bishop during one of his trips and by means of persuasion or promises force him to repeal the anathema against him. It remains unknown whether Dmitry hoped that psychological contact and mutual understanding might come during their talk tete-a-tete, or whether he believed in his own powers of persuasion, or had prepared some arguments which would justify his aggressive policy in the lands of Russia’s north, or perhaps meant to influence the bishop by threats and promises. 9 In any case, his main aim was to win St. Pitirim over.

This is how the Vychegda-Vym Chronicle describes this event: “In 6960 (1452) the cursed Shemyaka caught Bishop Pitirim on his way to Moscow, brought him to Ustyug, put him in jail and tortured him there; but the hierarch stood firm and did not repeal his anathema.” While in Ustyug in 1452, Dmitry followed all the movements of the Russian Church’s authoritative hierarch closely; and as soon as one of the prince’s spies reported St. Pitirim’s scheduled trip to Moscow, with the departure date and accompaniment (the bishop preferred to travel light, caring more about speed of travel than safety), Shemyaka didn’t fail to make use of such favorable circumstances.

St. Pitirim spent several months in confinement. Since the bishop yielded to no persuasion and flattering promises had no effect (Shemyaka saw in St. Pitirim a severe exposer of his heinous crimes, personal cruelty and dissoluteness), the prince’s arguments took another turn: he considered a prison cell, short rations, and threats of reprisal to be faster and safer means than heart-to-heart talks and attempts at self-justification. But that was in vain: St. Pitirim’s thoughts, words and deeds were only: “I am ready to die.” And St. Pitirim would have done his archpastoral duty and shown the cunning prince that he would not find the bishop to be a reed shaken with the wind (Lk. 7:24). However, this time God saved His servant’s life: The Muscovite army that was moving towards Uglich forced Dmitry to hastily retreat to Veliky Novgorod—the last bastion of anti-Moscow sentiment. St. Pitirim was released and resumed his archpastoral ministry with new enthusiasm.

The most important event St. Pitirim took part in was the Church Council of 1448 at which the Metropolitan of Moscow was elected and his appointment was confirmed without the Patriarch of Constantinople’s approval, for the first time in several centuries. In effect, the approval of the Synod of Russian Bishops of Bishop Jonah of Ryazan as the Metropolitan of Moscow meant the beginning of Russian autocephaly. This event seemed uncanonical to many hierarchs of the age, and the legitimacy of Jonah was questioned. Under the current circumstances (the falling away from Orthodoxy of Constantinople’s protégé Isidore, disorder in the Byzantine Empire) St. Pitirim couldn’t remain indifferent and expressed his stance with his characteristic straightforwardness and firmness: There shall be Russian autocephaly! With all the disadvantages that “breaking the cord” (connecting the Russian Church with Constantinople) entailed, now there was no alternative.

St. Pitirim’s life ended at the height of his archpastoral activity. Many years before, when he was being consecrated, standing by the gravestone of his predecessor in the Perm diocese St. Gerasim, St. Pitirim had been well aware that he could hardly expect a peaceful repose on his bed, surrounded by grateful disciples. The archpastoral ministry in a Perm that had not yet submitted to the Prince and the Metropolitan of Moscow was fraught with risks. On August 19, 1455, soon after a successful missionary journey to Great Perm and Cherdyn, after the end of the Sunday Liturgy at the Church of the Annunciation in Ust-Vym, St. Pitirim together with other clergymen and parishioners headed for a field between the Vym and the Vychegda to hold a prayer service 10 . But several miles away the Vogul Prince Asyka and his son Yushman were lying in ambush. Perhaps they decided to get even with St. Pitirim for baptizing the Vogul people living along the Pechora River, or they just seized the opportunity to make short work of their long-time antagonist in the person of the Bishop of Perm during another raid: “They were angry with the holy father because, contrary to their wishes, he tried his best to convert pagans to Orthodox faith and baptize them 11 .”

According to one version, some of the Vogul people found out about St. Pitirim’s plans by making inquiries with someone from a group of “heathen” who “had sailed up the Vychegda for a certain undertaking… in five days’ walk distance, in the place called Yur 12 .” When the whole procession appeared in the field of vision of Asyka’s detachment, the heathen rushed towards the defenseless worshippers from their hiding. Seeing the enemy, the holy bishop instantly ordered his companions to escape, hoping at the cost of his life to cover their retreat to the fortifications of Ust-Vym. St. Pitirim realized that he was the main target of the heathen attack and it was unlikely that his flock would be pursued. The holy hierarch met his death without murmuring, without making any attempts to defend himself: “And, seizing the saint with fury, they took turns beating him, tormenting him and putting the innocent man to death.” 13 The bishop’s body, which lay unburied for forty days, remained incorrupt, and his relics were enshrined at the Church of the Annunciation in Ust-Vym to the left of St. Gerasim’s shrine.

St. Jonah, baptizer of Great Perm

Over the course of St. Jonah’s tenure in the bishopric of Perm the political situation in the region considerably improved: Moscow, in the person of Vasily the Blind and his heirs, completely crushed the opposition of local pagan princelings who would gather savage hordes to lay waste to peace-loving Zyryan towns and villages, along with the envious raiding bands of Novgorodians 15 (in fact no less pagan) who threatened the region’s development. The prayers of the holy men were answered, and St. Jonah died in advanced old age with a sense of accomplishment: The clouds that had been gathering over St. Stephen’s legacy were scattered by the labors and prayers of the holy men. “What lies in store for Perm?” the venerable elder Jonah asked himself on his deathbed in 1472. But the answer didn’t come immediately: New Christians would be born; they too would pray to Christ in this land and in the churches consecrated by him and his predecessors, after his death, after the death of his successor, and so on till the end of time. St. Jonah’s remains were laid to rest in the shrine containing the relics of Sts. Gerasim and Pitirim.

The the ministry of these three holy hierarchs of Perm who contributed to the enlightenment of the pagan tribes in northeastern Russia’s border regions in the fifteenth century is a story of how at the right time and place, there were men found in the Russian Church who fearlessly answered the Lord’s call, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?: Here am I; send me (Is. 6:8).

Maria Marchenko Translated by Dmitry Lapa

Pravoslavie.ru

1  In 1385, “the Bishop of Novgorod was very angry with Pimen: how dared he establish a diocese in Perm, the age-old dominion of Novgorod? And he sent soldiers to take the Perm Diocese by force of arms.”

2  The so-called “bishop’s settlement” at the confluence of the Vym and the Vychegda Rivers.

3  The Vychegda-Vym Chronicle, p. 25.

4  M.B. Rogachev. The Perm Diocese in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries. P. 45.

5  The Vychegda-Vym Chronicle, p. 25.

6  Ibid.

7  A.A. Zimin. A Knight at the Crossroads: the Feudal War in Russia in the Fifteenth Century. Moscow, 1991.

8  It was the danger of war from Dmitry Shemyaka, threatening Great Perm, that caused Vasily the Blind to introduce the institution of “chief officer of the local administration” (namestnik) on that territory In 1452, Princes Ermolai and Vasily of Vereya became the first chief officers of the local administration.

9  You can always offer a metropolitan diocese to an unduly ambitious bishop.

10  According to another version, the assault took place on his way back from one of his missionary journeys: “The saint was seized during a journey like a defenseless lamb.”

11  The Tale of the Bishops of Perm. P. 72.

12  Ibid, p. 71.

13  Ibid, p. 73.

14  The Vychegda-Vym Chronicle. P. 26.

15  The Vychegda-Vym Chronicle in a solemn manner announces the military campaigns of Grand Prince Ivan III and the success of the military commander (voevoda) Prince Daniel of Kholm as an event that was directly related to the lives of the people of Perm // The Vychegda-Vym Chronicle, p. 26.

Characters remaining: 4000

Subscribe to our mailing list

• Orthodoxy Today
• Homilies and Spiritual Instruction
• Saints. Asceties of Piety. Church Holy Days
• Churches and Monasteries
• Church History
• Coming to Orthodoxy
• Sretensky Monastery
• Orthodoxy Around the World
• Suffering Church
• Church and State
• Marriage and Family
• Photogalleries

Get the best experience and stay connected to your community with our Spectrum News app. Learn More

Continue in Browser

Get hyperlocal forecasts, radar and weather alerts.

Please enter a valid zipcode.

The 4 officers killed in N.C. were tough but kind and loved their jobs, friends say

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The  four officers killed in Charlotte, North Carolina , on Monday in the deadliest attack on U.S. law enforcement since 2016 include three members of a fugitive task force and a local police officer, who rushed to try to help when the others came under fire. 

Friends and co-workers on Tuesday described them as tough but kind — men who loved their jobs and were good at them.

“They’re heroes,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings said at a Tuesday news conference. “They’re heroes because they face dangers that most humans should not have to face. And they accept that danger. And not a single one of them backed away from that challenge yesterday.”

Joshua Eyer

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Joshua Eyer had just been named one of the department's employees of the month for April.

“Just a few weeks ago I’m shaking his hand congratulating him for being officer of the month in our command center. And that’s because of his work in the community, because of his work getting guns off the street and because of how he responds to his cases and how he treats people," Police Chief Johnny Jennings said at a news conference on Tuesday.

“As he demonstrated yesterday, he’s the kind of officer you want to respond when you need help. He was rushing in to help a task force officer when he was taken on by gunfire," Jennings said.

Eyer had served with the department for six years in the North Tryon Division and was a member of the 178th Recruit Class, according to police. He is survived by his wife and 3-year-old son.

In addition to his job with the police, Eyer served in the North Carolina Army National Guard from 2011 to 2023, when he was honorably discharged. He obtained the rank of sergeant first class and deployed overseas twice, according to the Guard. He was a military police soldier for most of his career apart from a period in 2019 when he served as a combat engineer, according to the Guard.

Operation Spartan Shield. Our thoughts and prayers are with our public safety partners during this tragic time, as well as the family and friends of those who lost a loved one. Additional officers are in recovery, and we wish them well on their healing journey... — NC National Guard (@NCNationalGuard) May 1, 2024

Brandon Mancilla said he served with Eyer in Kuwait in 2020, where Eyer was in charge of some of his missions.

Eyer was tough and strict, but also kind, he said.

“I was a 19-year-old, an immature kid, but I just needed somebody who was going to be patient,” Mancilla said. “The cool thing is he realized that and would show you the right way to do things. ... He talked to me almost like a father would talk to a son.”

Thomas Weeks Jr.

Thomas Weeks Jr. was a 13-year veteran of the U.S. Marshals Service who had served in the Western District of North Carolina for the last 10 years. On Tuesday, employees of the United States District Court there gathered to remember him.

“I'll bet there were over 100 people talking about Tommy," District Judge Bob Conrad said. “The thing that comes to mind with him is not only his competence at what he did, but his demeanor. Everybody remembers him and his smile.”

"He enjoyed his job, and he was good at it,” Conrad added.

Inside the courtroom, Weeks was responsible for security, and would often bring in defendants for a sentencing hearing.

“He would sit behind in a way that didn’t draw attention to himself, but you knew that he was ready should anything go wrong,” Conrad said.

Weeks also worked on the fugitive task force and was helping apprehend a suspect when he was killed on Monday. Conrad said Weeks knew the dangers of his job.

“In many ways, he was a tough guy," he said. “And he, like the other deputies he worked with, knew that there was no guarantee anytime they went out that they were going to come back.”

Weeks started his Marshals Service career in 2011 in the District of Columbia’s Superior Court, Washington, D.C., according to a news release from the Service. He transferred to Charlotte in 2014. Prior to joining the Marshals, he spent eight years with Customs and Border Protection.

He leaves behind a wife and four children. 

Alden Elliott and Sam Poloche

William Alden Elliott and Sam Poloche both worked for the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction for 14 years, starting out as probation and parole officers and later working as part of the Special Operations and Intelligence Unit assigned to the U.S. Marshals Carolinas Regional Fugitive Task Force.

“They loved their work, and were passionate about their roles in protecting our communities,” Department Secretary Todd Ishee said in a news release. “These officers died as heroes and made the ultimate sacrifice in their service to our state. We remember them, we honor their service, we send our deepest condolences to their families and friends, and we pray for healing for all affected by this tragic incident.”

Poloche was a charter member of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Rockingham, said head elder Milton Aguilar.

“He had a heart for community," said Aguilar, adding he had known Poloche since the early 2000s. "It's really unfortunate to see how abruptly his life ended here."

Poloche tried to help all members of the community, regardless of their background, he said.

“He said that's because he sees these people are recently out of jail," Aguilar said. "How can we as a church be more helpful to these people that are coming out and just don't have anywhere to go?"

Emely Poloche, who is married to Sam Poloche's cousin, called the fallen officer “a loving person, a great dad and a wonderful husband.”

She said he was a Christian man who always tried to do his best. “He was a very special person, dedicated to his family and his job.”

Poloche leaves behind a wife and two children. Elliott and his wife were parents to one child.

Spectrum News 1 multimedia journalist Sydney McCoy contributed to this report.