After serving as the lead pastor at Riverwood for over thirty years, Jerry stepped down from that position in January of 2015 and now serves as the church’s Counseling Pastor. Jerry and his wife, Sharon, devote a significant portion of their time and energy to Biblical Counseling in their north Madison County home.
Bio
Jerry is a native of Pelahatchie, MS, and a graduate of Mississippi College. During college he worked as Youth Director at Hillcrest Baptist Church and as a staff member for Jackson Youth For Christ. He also worked as a counsellor at Lake Forest Ranch where he met his future wife, Sharon, and the Lord set them on the shared ministry path that He had for them.
Jerry graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary in 1975 and returned to Mississippi and served as Assistant Pastor at Hillcrest Baptist Church in south Jackson for five years. Afterward, he helped found a marital counseling ministry called Family Foundations and served for five years. While serving in this capacity, he was called by the leadership of Riverwood Bible Church in 1984 to become the church’s new Teaching Pastor. Jerry and his wife Sharon accepted this call, and he faithfully preached the Word for 31 years until his retirement from preaching in 2015.
During these years as Teaching Pastor at Riverwood, Jerry also engaged in two other ministry focuses which the Lord had equipped him to be able to do skillfully and for the glory of God. These were the continuation of his counseling ministry at the church and traveling to train pastors at seminars in Germany, Ukraine, Russia, Malawi (Africa), and the Philippines over a period of 20 years. Jerry presently continues his counseling ministry in his office at Riverwood and is eager to help those who seek God’s help in their marriage and family.
He is grateful for the provision of God’s grace in his ministry to be able to see the realization of Psalm 90:17 during his time at Riverwood, which says, “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; And confirm for us the work of our hands; Yes, confirm the work of our hands.”