West Charlotte Church at Freedom — Church Directory

Quick Facts

Pastor — the shepherd God holds accountable David Yoran (Pastor); Corron Boston (Pastoral Assistant); Charles McKnight III (co-planter, Warhurst signer; transitioned to Coordinator of African American Ministries for PCA MNA, not currently on local staff page); Drew Martin (co-planter, Warhurst signer; transitioned to Covenant Theological Seminary faculty 2022)

Founded Church plant — first/only African American-led PCA church planted by another African American-led PCA church.

Denomination PCA

Service Times See website for current Sunday service times

Men's Ministry No

Kids Ministry Yes

Website westcharlottechurch.com

Pastor Credentials McKnight: MDiv Reformed Theological Seminary Charlotte; US Naval Academy attendee; UNC-Greensboro English/African American Diaspora Studies. Drew Martin: PhD; PCA TE; Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at Covenant Theological Seminary (2022-).

10-Point Theological Scorecard

Christology

Is Jesus the only way? (John 14:6)

PCA subscribes to Westminster Confession — Trinitarian Nicene orthodoxy.

Strong

Scripture

Inerrancy affirmed? Final authority?

Westminster Confession Chapter 1 — inerrancy and sole authority of Scripture.

Strong

Men's Discipleship

Intentional formation for men?

Not highlighted on the public leadership page — verify directly.

Caution

Soteriology

Faith alone? How is salvation presented?

Westminster sola fide; Reformed soteriology.

Strong

Gender / Biblical Design

Biblical manhood and womanhood by God's design — patriarchal, complementarian, egalitarian, or affirming gender ideology?

PCA requires male-only ordination per Westminster Standards and BCO; complementarian.

PCA complementarian — male teaching/ruling elders per Westminster Standards + Book of Church Order.

Strong

Leadership Structure

Male elders/pastors? Accountability?

Male teaching/ruling elders per PCA polity.

Strong

Preaching Style

Expository or topical/therapeutic?

Reformed expository preaching is PCA norm.

Strong

Mission Clarity

Great Commission central?

Intercultural urban-Charlotte witness; the church identifies as 'a gospel-centered, cross-cultural church' planted in west Charlotte.

Strong

Cultural Alignment

DEI/CRT language? Social justice crowding out gospel?

RED — founding/co-planting pastors signed the 2020 Warhurst Protest (Charles McKnight III and Drew Martin per warhornmedia.com PCA hall of infamy list). Signing the Warhurst Protest signals soft posture toward the Revoice-camp on sexuality and identity. Both signers have since transitioned out of local staff (McKnight to PCA MNA AAM coordinator; Martin to Covenant Seminary faculty), so the current pastoral lineup may have shifted; cultural posture of the congregation should be re-verified under David Yoran's leadership. Watch-item.

Caution

Accountability Structure

Denominational home, elder plurality, or external network — is the pastor answerable to anyone?

PCA polity provides session/presbytery/GA accountability.

Strong

Assessment

West Charlotte Church at Freedom is a PCA congregation in Central Carolina Presbytery, identified by the church itself as the first African American-led PCA church planted by another African American-led PCA church. Two of its co-planting/founding pastors (Charles McKnight III and Drew Martin) signed the 2020 Warhurst Protest. Both have since transitioned to denominational/academic roles, so the present-day cultural posture is partially decoupled from their tenure but warrants ongoing review under current pastor David Yoran.

#pca#warhurst-signer#needs-discernment#soft-progressive-flag#nc#north-carolina#charlotte#central-carolina-presbytery#intercultural#urban#reformed#founder-departed#reviewed-2026-05-07

MOOP Engagement Tracker

How this church was personally verified by the MOOP directory team:

✓ Researched church website

Pastor Signatures & Affiliations [Soft-progressive signatures]

Public statement signatures and organizational affiliations of this church's named pastors. "People is policy" — these are evidence-weighted signals about doctrinal trajectory, not the sole determinant of any rating.

Warhurst Protest (2020)

Charles McKnight III, Drew Martin

Source: warhornmedia.com — hover for details

PCA Letter of Lament (2025)

Charles McKnight III

Source: pcaprayerandlament.com — hover for details

Sources & Evidence

Enrichment Notes

Both Warhurst signers (McKnight III and Drew Martin) have transitioned out of local staff positions: McKnight to PCA MNA AAM Coordinator role; Drew Martin to Covenant Theological Seminary faculty (2022). Current pastor per westcharlottechurch.com/leadership: David Yoran. Aggregator should verify whether Yoran is also a Warhurst signer.

These are the URLs consulted to arrive at this church's scoring. Score-note claims are synthesized from homepage content, denominational directories, and public statements of faith at the time of review. Church websites change frequently; we're progressively adding Internet Archive snapshots to prevent link rot.

[1] Live source westcharlottechurch.com/leadership/
[2] Live source westcharlottechurch.com/sermon-speaker/drew-martin/
[3] Live source aampca.org/person/rev-charles-mcknight/
[4] Live source covenantseminary.edu/news/dr-andrew-j-martin-joins-facult…
[5] Live source warhornmedia.com/2020/12/23/pca-hall-of-infamy-pastors-el…

Transparency note: MOOP ratings are researcher judgments about publicly available theological and ecclesial evidence. They are not infallible. If a church's public posture has changed since our review, or if we've mis-read evidence, tell us — we publish corrections.