Bethlehem Pastors
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I was born & raised in south Mississippi where the tea is sweet & the catfish are fried. I grew up enjoying the great outdoors: hunting, fishing, camping, working hard & loving life. Even now I thoroughly enjoy sharing these things with my family, even though my wife usually catches the bigger fish.
At the age of 14, I trusted Christ for salvation. In the summer of 1997, at 18 years old, I married my High School sweetheart, April. We now have 3 kids together: Dakota, Sydneigh, & Cannon. My work experience includes service station worker, roustabout in the Gulf of Mexico, small time wrench turner, machinist & now a minister of the gospel. I have served in three Southern Baptist Churches and have been very active in the mission and ministry of each local Baptist Association. At New Sight Baptist Church in Brookhaven, MS I served as a youth minister for just over 2 years before becoming the senior pastor of Bethel Baptist in Bogue Chitto, MS. My family then moved to NC in 2014 where I completed my Master’s of Divinity from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest and served as senior pastor of Leesville Road Baptist Church in Durham for over 6 years. My passions include preaching the Word, serving the church, loving on people & hands on missions. Some of my greatest joys come from seeing the lost come to Christ, believers grow in their walk with Jesus, the light bulb moment when God’s truth takes root & simply worshipping the risen King with the people of God. |
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I have been the Youth Pastor at Bethlehem for 7 years. As a native North Carolinian, I am blessed to be serving the Lord here in Jacksonville, NC after having been in north-east Mississippi for about 6 years. I am married to my beautiful wife, Stacy, and we have two (Rambunctious? Fantastic? Great?) PRETTY AMAZING children, Micah and Joy.
In areas of personal interest, I am a parent of two small children, so I have no personal interests. Just kidding! I enjoy just about every sport, game or competition, particularly involving strategy. I also enjoy reading, krav maga, and movies (Sci-fi, Comedies, and Mysteries). I firmly believe that the Good News of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the only real and lasting hope for our sin-ravaged world. The Lord saved me through this same Good News when I was a young boy and I am privileged to be called to help equip believers to share the Good News with a lost and dying world. I enjoy youth ministry because of the potential to partner with parents in evangelizing and discipling their children and help those teenagers to follow Jesus Christ with their lives. I am excited to see what God is going to do with and through the parents and youth of Bethlehem Baptist Church. |
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I am a native of Wendell, NC and a graduate of Campbell University and a two-time graduate of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC. My wife, Ann, retired with 36 years of experience in preschool education. My daughter, Dana, is an attorney for Hunton, Richmond, VA.
I had an Air Force career and was blessed to have served off-base as a volunteer Minister of Education in four churches in NC, AK, NJ and in S. Vietnam. Later, as a pastor, I served five churches and also six churches as interim pastor (one church twice) after I retired. I have been active in the associations where I served and also served on the Board of Directors of the NC Baptist Convention from 2009-2012 and as Chair of the Investment and Audit Committees for two years. As Minister of Pastoral Care, I will try to help those who are experiencing physical, spiritual, mental, or emotional challenges that life can bring. It includes hospitalization, nursing facilities, and the home-bound. It also means, I will have great opportunities to lead people to make professions of faith in Jesus Christ and to encourage people, without a local church home, to come and join Bethlehem and work with us to make a difference in our community. All believers are missionaries for God and we ought to be busy finding out what He wants us to do, while we are still on this earth. I challenge each person to be faithful to God, to be faithful to your family, and to be faithful to your church. |