“I can’t follow a church that is going to take scripture and adapt it to the way of the world,” said 71-year-old church member Carolyn Swayze.

Fort Pierce Pastor Dana Allin is looking forward to next month’s challenge: in addition to leading a 631-member congregation, the 36-year-old pastor will take on the leadership of a new denomination of more than 40 churches nationwide.

On June 15, the senior pastor at Indian River Presbyterian Church will start his role as president of the board of the Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians. The denomination was formed this year in response to a request from dozens of churches to split from their governing body, the Presbyterian Church USA, because of changes it made last year to its constitution.

Among the area churches joining the new denomination are Palm City Presbyterian Church, St. Lucie West’s All Villages Presbyterian Church and Allin’s church, Indian River Presbyterian.

Allin will continue as senior pastor of the Fort Pierce church that he joined seven years ago, but also will oversee the new denomination and work toward its growth. He will help Indian River Presbyterian transition into the new church body.

The decision to split from PCUSA was a difficult one for the pastor, a California native who has been married for almost 12 years and has three young children.

“I was baptized, confirmed and ordained in the same spot in my Santa Barbara hometown church, which is a PCUSA congregation,” Allin said. “My wife also was ordained with PCUSA. This is a denomination that I deeply love because I’ve given a lot to it and it to me.