Our Pastor

"I was just a poor country boy who felt right at home with red Mississippi clay squished up between my toes."

That's our pastor.  We've heard many anecdotes about his childhood over these twenty-eight years we've been under his preaching.  Some were humorous, some were frightening, some were heartwarming; but all were acutely relevant to his topic.

Pastor Jerry first saw the light of day on March the 26th, 1946, in Newton County Mississippi.  He rambled around those red hills until about the age of ten, at which time his family moved to Umatilla, Florida.  It was at the age of sixteen when he accepted Christ as his Saviour in Donna Vista Baptist Church.  He says 1964 was a good year also, because that's when he met his lovely wife, Sister Linda.

Altoona Baptist Church in Altoona, Florida was blessed to have this vibrant, dedicated young man serving the Lord as part of their church.  But March 18, 1973 would mark a new beginning for Pastor Jerry.  It was on that day that he surrendered his life to God as a preacher.

On March 2, 1975, Pastor Jerry was called to his first church.   He was going back home to Mississippi to Little Rock Baptist Church.  After three prosperous years there, he was called to The First Baptist Church of Linden, in Linden, Florida.  He was pastor there about six years.  During his tenure there as pastor, many souls were saved and his leadership brought tremendous growth.

We here at Croom-A-Coochee Baptist Church called Pastor Jerry to be our pastor in January 1985. We were so downtrodden that we were actually contemplating closing the doors of the church.  But God answered the prayers of our small congregation of only thirteen members.  He sent us this hard-nosed, hell fire and brimstone preacher, who was tempered with godly love and compassion for his flock as well as for the lost.

God has truly blessed our church. Pastor Jerry is very quick to give God all the credit for any success we have experienced, as do we all. God is so good!