Hi Grace family!
My name is Josh Kauffman, and I am starting as a ministry intern here at Grace! Here’s a bit about me. My wife, Ely, and I have been members of the Grace family since June ’25. We moved to this area from Alaska a few years back and have been happy to call the CSRA home ever since. Ely works with the State of South Carolina and our son, Ben, is a student at Aiken Tech. I am a Masters of Divinity student at Candler Theological School, Emory University in Atlanta.
I retired from the U.S. Air Force in ‘24 after serving 20 years. Ely and I were fortunate to serve all over the globe in that capacity. Ely’s favorite assignment was England, but I think mine might have been South Korea (although England is a super close second!). In our free time we enjoy going to the movies, travelling, reading, trying new foods, and about 75 other hobbies as the mood strikes. We’ve also got a full house of critters, three dogs and three cats, so I am pretty sure we are keeping our local Petsmart in business. Obligatory sports disclaimers: I don’t have a pro football team that I follow closely, and I own some Gamecock merchandise by virtue of living in the CSRA. Our favorite hockey team is the Washington Capitals, but we also root for the Carolina Hurricanes. We enjoy the GreenJackets games and intend to make it to a Braves game or two someday.
Here at Grace, I’ve served as a liturgist as well as a Sunday school teacher (shout out to the fantastic Bible Year group!). I am a certified lay servant, and I am a huge fan of the lay servant program (let me know if you have questions about that!). I cannot express how excited I am to be serving this wonderful congregation and growing in knowing, loving, and serving Christ alongside all of you!