Meet The Team

Head Pastor
Austin DeLoach Jr.
Austin has served as pastor of TruthPoint, in Lakeland since 1996. He is a 1995 graduate of Liberty University and in 1998 he received the Eagle Award from Liberty, a distinguished award given to chosen alumni.
Austin is also the author of "From Cheese Carrier to Champion", based on the story of David and Goliath, and "Come; The One Word from God That Can Change Your Life."
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Austin is a walking testimony of what can happen when a person fully surrenders to Jesus Christ. In high school, he graduated at the bottom of his class; in college he failed four times. At the end of his freshman year in college, he had a 0.7 GPA and considered himself hopeless. Then, one night, his life changed. His story of transformation from feeling hopeless to being passionate about serving Christ is captured in his book, From Cheese Carrier to Champion. His prayer is that his story offers hope to those who have none.
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Austin currently pastor Cornerstone Baptist Church in Homerville, GA as a dual campus ministry in partnership with TruthPoint in Lakeland.
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He has been married to his beautiful wife Jennifer for over 20 years and they have three daughters, Alora Gail, KenLee and Dempsey Anna.
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They love serving and worshiping with their families in Lakeland and Homerville!

Media Pastor
Scott Sirmans
Scott serves as the Media Pastor of TruthPoint and Cornerstone Baptist Church. He is a life long member of TruthPoint.
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He was licensed to the ministry in July of 2007 and began full time ministry at Southside later that year continuing the existing radio program and developing a television program on WALB NBC 10 as well as an extensive internet video ministry. In August of 2014, he was ordained as a Pastor by Southside Baptist Church.
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Scott has been married to his beautiful wife Angela since October 2007. In 2019, they adopted their 15 year old son, Hunter, and now enjoy living on their farm with lots of animals.

Youth Pastor
Rick Pearson
Rick has served multiple times as Interim Pastor, Associate Pastor, Youth Pastor, Deacon, and several other offices in the local church for over the past 25 years.
Licensed and then ordained into the ministry in 2002, Rick know his true calling is Youth Ministry. He has a great passion and concern for teens and ministering to them. He is very grateful to have his wonderful wife, Angie, serve so faithfully along side him throughout the years. Rick feels honored to have served at TruthPoint over the past four years.
Rick and Angie have four children and seven grandchildren, who they love dearly. His life verse is Philippians 1:6, "Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will be faithful to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."

Children's Ministry Assistant
Meredith Mullis
Meredith is our Children’s Ministry Assistant. She will be helping our Children’s Ministry Director with nursery and children’s ministry duties. She also helps plan our Camp Warrior Kidz!

Impact Discipleship Leader
Mark Eller
Mark Eller is a passionate leader with a heart for discipleship and worship. As the Impact Discipleship Leader and a member of the worship team, he is deeply committed to helping others grow in their faith and experience God’s transformative power in their lives. He is currently pursuing a BA in Religion. His goal is to become a Counseling Pastor, combining his love for ministry and a desire to support individuals in their spiritual and emotional journeys.
Mark has been married to his incredible wife, Katie, for 16 years, and together, they are raising four amazing children. His family is his greatest blessing, and they continue to inspire and encourage him in all that he does. Whether through ministry, study, or family life, Mark is constantly seeking ways to live out his faith and make a lasting impact on those around him.

T2G Missions Coordinator
Derrick Pearson
Derrick graduated from Valdosta State University in 2022 where he met his wonderful fiancé, Anna Kate. He studied Business Management at VSU, but God has called him to something different and has used that to bring him to Southside. He is now working on getting his Master’s of Theological Studies at Liberty University Online while serving as the T2G Missions Coordinator. Derrick facilitates planning and overseeing all of the mission trips here at Southside and at Cornerstone as well. This ministry’s main purpose is to fulfill the Great Commission that Jesus left us with in Matthew 28:18-20- to go and make disciples in all nations. Derrick also teaches a college/young adult class on Wednesdays and serves on the worship team.

Worship Leader
Jonah Chadwick
Jonah is Southside’s Worship Leader. Jonah has been apart of the team at TruthPoint since 2020. Jonah organizes and coordinates practice for the worship team and choir, leads the worship service on Sundays and any special worship services.