God gifts pastors to His church to equip the Body for the work of the ministry. Our pastoral team has sensed the need for more full-time equippers for several years now, pursuing additional help formally and informally. Jeremy McMorris has been part of that discussion for close to a year, but most intensively in the last month or two. At our most recent Member Meal, we announced that we were in the final stages of deciding whether or not to bring Jeremy as a pastoral assistant. This position means that Jeremy would be staffed full-time, but not recognized as an elder for a 6-month minimum or 1-year maximum. The key components of his role will be development in body life ministries and family and student ministry. Additionally, he will help us take another step forward in music development. As a team, we elders are convinced Jeremy is God’s provision and best fit for us. However, we’re also convinced we should take care in adding pastoral staff to our young church so we have created this unique pastoral assistant position. In today’s Pastoral Word, we want to give you some of Jeremy’s personal history.

Jeremy McMorris hails from Mio, Michigan, and was brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord by God-fearing parents. Around the sixth grade, he realized his insufficiency and neglect of Christ and, through God’s working, was born again.

After his home-school graduation, because he sensed a desire for the ministry, Jeremy enrolled in Bob Jones University as a Pastoral Studies major in 1995, and continued his education with a Masters of Science degree in Biblical Counseling. His years in college provided scores of opportunities for Jeremy to work with people in significantly spiritual ways, including a key discipleship role and significant friendship with Pastor Adam, which began in the summer of 1999. During and following his graduate studies at BJU, Jeremy served as a residence hall counselor and supervisor, followed by three years as assistant to the president.

In 2006, Jeremy accepted a call to be the youth pastor for Hampton Park Baptist Church in Greenville, SC, where he has excelled in discipleship, developed a Word-centered student ministry and provided shepherding for grace-saturated growth in Christ for both youth and parents. Jeremy and his wife, Angie, have been married for nearly eight years and have been blessed with three children, Jay (5), Christiana (3) and Evangeline (2).

In this week’s eLetter, you can look for more information, including links to sermons by Jeremy. Will you continue to pray with us for God’s best for our church?