This past weekend we had the opportunity to celebrate Jerry and his thirty years of ministry at The Ridge. To put this in perspective, the median tenure of a pastor is 6 years! I always knew Jerry was great, but he's 5X the average pastor! That's impressive!

I am personally very thankful for Jerry. As we continue in the transition as he nears retirement, be on the lookout because we’re going to be providing more opportunities to celebrate with him. There are a lot of things I appreciate about Jerry, so narrowing it down is difficult. Nonetheless, here are 5 Things I Appreciate About Jerry:

1. Jerry has integrity, no matter what. I’ve known Jerry for six years. I know many of you have known him much longer. When you talk to someone about Jerry, it doesn’t take too long for his integrity to come up. I recently had a meeting with a community leader, and we weren’t five minutes into the conversation when he said, “I’ve always respected Jerry. He has amazing integrity.” I agree. Even in difficult situations, even when people might not agree, Jerry leads in a way that attempts to honor God and do the right thing, no matter what.

2. He takes every opportunity to laugh. I have a weekly meeting with Jerry, and I look forward to it. While we often have lots of things to cover in a short time frame, I inevitably find myself belly laughing because I enjoy his company so much. I think Jerry is a joy to work with and for because I know he genuinely cares about me and wants to enjoy life in the midst of work.

3. He works hard. Like, really hard. At everything. His fitness journey is inspiring. He is the type of person that, if he sets his mind to something, will make it happen and it will be better because of him. He works toward excellence, wants to get better, and is often the first person here and the last person to leave.

4. Jerry loves his family. As I've gotten to know Jerry, I've seen how deeply he loves his wife, Janet, and his three kids. As he and I have talked about what it means to be a lead pastor, he consistently talks about how important it is to love his family well. He leads by example in that way.

5. Jerry wants people to be reached for Christ. It shouldn't surprise me that the best personification of "doing whatever it takes to reach our community for Christ" is Jerry. He lives it out every day, and I have seen time after time how passionately he attempts to do "whatever it takes" in his work, in his personal walk with Jesus, in his friendships, and in the way he treats others the way they'd want to be treated.

All in all, I think Jerry is pretty great, and I am thankful he has been on staff for thirty years. Will you join me in celebrating this amazing milestone?

Whatever it takes,
Adam