A new day at Bethesda
DURHAM (BSCNC Communications) - The pastor search committee of Bethesda Baptist Church wanted the new pastor to meet a few qualifications: master's degree, eight years ministry experience, married and around age 40. When their new pastor preached Easter Sunday, the man in the pulpit fit not one of their qualifications. Jacob Green is 24, single, has never been a full time pastor and is only three semesters into seminary. But this makes no difference, because the committee and the church know Jacob Green is the man God called to pastor Bethesda Baptist Church. He loves the Lord, cherishes Holy Scripture and trusts the Lord to guide his every step.
Just a year and a half ago no one, including Green, could have predicted this would happen. Green still carries the post-it note in his wallet to remind him where he was back then. A year and a half ago Green arrived in Wake Forest from Warner Robins, Ga., with $13 in his pocket and no money for tuition. A friend called to say he would pay Green's first semester tuition at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, yet a few months later, Green found himself in the same situation. It was Christmas time, he owed spring tuition and he had nothing. He wrote on the post-it $2,250 and prayed God would provide. During Christmas he went home to visit family and visited a woman from Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church, where he served about two years during college. The woman gave Green a Christmas card and asked him to open it right then. "I just wept," Green said. "Every time I had a need, God provided." For in that card was a check for $2,200. With tears in his eyes, Green opened his wallet and showed her the post-it, overwhelmed at her generosity and the Lord's provision. The woman left the room and came back with $50, bringing her gift to exactly what Green needed for tuition.
Over and over God provided for Green while at Southeastern. A man from his church in Warner Robins - Second Baptist - gave Green a car because his old one had no chance of surviving the drive from Georgia to North Carolina. Green moved in with a friend when he got to Wake Forest and that helped save money. He needed furniture and God provided. He had no television or microwave and people donated them. He did not even have a suit and God provided that, too. The Lord provided Green opportunity to gain valuable ministry experience during his first year in seminary while serving as an unpaid intern at Bethesda and then as interim youth pastor when he finished his first year.
God also provided Green opportunity to prepare for ministry at Bethesda long before he arrived in North Carolina. At Mt. Pisgah in Butler, Ga., Green began as youth pastor with only one youth. By the time he left, the church helped start a Fellowship of Christian Athletes at the high school and some Sundays it seemed more youth came to worship at Mt. Pisgah than did adults. At Mt. Pisgah Green preached and learned to love people.
Mt. Pisgah was not the first time Green had opportunity to preach - that began in middle school. Green prayed to receive Jesus Christ as his personal Savior the summer after seventh grade during a youth camp. The first night of camp Green heard the Gospel and for the first time his heart was opened to its truth. Before camp Green attended church, but "I did not know who Jesus was," he said. "I had a Bible I opened to the wrong verse every time the preacher preached because I didn't know where it was." Green prayed with a counselor that summer and at 2 a.m. called his mom to tell her what happened. The news surprised his mom. She thought her son was a Christian. He already walked the church aisle and was baptized, just like his brother. Green told her God saved her that night, and this story he told again and again to his family.
This story of salvation is not one his family considered familiar. "I didn't grow up in church at all," Green said. "We went every now and then. The only time I went to church was so I could go with my grandma because she cooked afterward." Even when Green did go he was "that kid playing under the pews." His parents divorced when he was in fifth grade and that "really rocked me," Green said. "I was angry; I was ticked. I didn't know what divorce meant, I just knew my dad wasn't there." Dad being gone is not easy for a "daddy's boy." "I played baseball since the first time I could step outside and walk. It was me and my daddy out in the yard playing," Green said.
Green's mom remarried and he grew up in a home with a brother, sister and three stepbrothers. Not long after the divorce Green's family moved to Warner Robins and not long after the move a friend invited Green to Second Baptist Church. People also asked his mom to visit this church and a friend of his brother's asked them to come. So they finally did. "We were nervous as can be," Green said. "My mom put a tie on me - I didn't know what a tie was." Green learned how to act like a Christian and how to look like a Christian. Yet, not until that night during summer camp did he truly experience the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ. When he did, he couldn't stop talking about it. He shared with his family and every one of them has since been saved by God. "We are a Christian home now," Green said. "When God saved me He didn't just save me - the Gospel came home."
Green shared his faith with friends and guys on the baseball team. Green's level of play, even in 8th grade, attracted the scouts. He loved the sport - perhaps a little too much. God had to reposition Green's priorities. "I slowly started to lose my zeal and love for baseball because I was falling more in love with the Lord." Green continued to play some in college, but the Lord made it clear that preaching and sharing his testimony was most important. That summer in eighth grade, sharing his testimony for the first time made a lasting impression on Green's heart. "From that time on, I've been preaching," he said.
And from that time on, Green has served faithfully. At the end of his first year at Southeastern, when his time was up as an intern, Green wanted to leave. Though the church was experiencing some difficulties, resulting in the departure of others, the Lord told Green to stay. As interim youth pastor he started with a group of eight that turned into a group of 80. "We've got a lot of students who wake themselves up on Sunday morning, they get a ride to church. God really resurrected our students. What God did in our church was because of the faithfulness of our young people," Green said.
Green is a pastor devoted to youth and children's discipleship. He is also a pastor devoted to teaching Scripture. "I'm going to preach the Word of God, period," he said. "The Bible is going to be first and foremost. We believe it really is the Word of God." The search committee knew they were taking a risk by calling a pastor so young and with so little full time pastoral experience. Yet, this fervent zeal for the Word, this unashamed boldness to preach the Gospel, extinguished all doubts.
Bethesda is now a church growing not only numerically, but more importantly, spiritually. "Bethesda is focused on God," Green said. This is due in part because of the vision God gave Green for the Great Commission. "I'm a Great Commission guy," he said. Evangelism is not something Bethesda only thinks about Sunday mornings and Green leads by example. If he wants the congregation to witness, he knows he must make it a priority in his life. "I beg God that we would be a Great Commission church. We're going to share the Gospel. It starts one-on-one, individually, sharing the Gospel," Green said. Green is preaching through Colossians and teaching about the church that is rooted and built up in Jesus Christ. "I want to be that church," he said. "If we'll put our roots down on the rock, He'll build us up."
Green's plan for doing this hinges on "relying heavily on the power of the Holy Spirit and staying in God's Word." "We're just really staying close to God and saying Lord, here we are. We're available."
