There's a new face at Crossroads Baptist Church.
The Rev. Jason Jackson — just “Brother Jason” to his friends, his family and his flock — joined the ministerial staff as associate pastor officially June 8. But he'll be a familiar face to some of the members of the rural Crawford County church.
Jackson worked at Crossroads Baptist for a time as youth pastor. He stepped down about a year ago, he said, because he believed his time in that position was at an end.
“I knew my time was up,” Jackson said.
“I needed to take a break, pray over some things, think over some things, wait on where the next ministry would be. It worked out that it was here at the same church.”
Jackson was ordained in August 2006, fresh out of Pensacola Christian College in Pensacola, Fla. He majored in pastoral ministries at the Independent Baptist college with a minor in mission work. He earned a Master's degree in Bible studies from the Pensacola Theological Seminary, an affiliated ministry of Pensacola Christian College.
As the youth pastor here, Jackson worked with the youth programs at Crossroads Baptist as well as assisting senior pastor Mike Buckamner with the church's mission work. He'd visit with members when they were sick, share the Gospel and invite people to visit the small church.
He'd occasionally preach a sermon when Buckamner was away and he performed custodial and similar duties at the church. He ran the church's summer Vacation Bible School program and served as director of a summer youth camp in Missouri during his first tenure at Crossroads Baptist.
Several of his duties as associate pastor are the same, he said. The major difference will be a new, larger focus on taking the church's message out into the surrounding communities.
“I go in to surrounding communities, door-to-door, knocking on doors to share with people the Gospel,” Jackson said. “I ask them what we can do to be a help and a blessing to them.
“Basically, I'm sharing the Gospel and making our church available to them, informing them what we can do to be a help to them. That takes a lot of work, going door-to-door.”
Jason Jackson was born in South Korea, but moved early in his life to the southeastern United States. He grew up in Alabama, Tennessee and Virginia before moving to Florida to attend college and seminary. He moved to Girard about three years ago.
He met his wife, Sarah, here. They married Jan. 25, 2007. She's the niece of senior pastor Buckamner.
Sarah Jackson worked as a church secretary in St. Charles, Mo., near St. Louis, for about five years before moving to Girard. Originally from Oklahoma, she attended Atlantic Baptist Bible College in Virginia. She currently works at the Girard Public Library.
Crossroads Baptist Church is the first church he's been posted to as a member of the ministerial staff. Crossroads Church is an independent Baptist church, not affiliated with any of the larger Baptist organizations in the country, Jackson said. And that presents both some distinct advantages — and some specific challenges — as the church carries its message of redemption to the people of Southeast Kansas.
“We're a self-governing, autonomous church,” Jackson said. “There's no committee, no one that oversees what we do. Our pastor, as far as the human leadership goes, is the top.
“It's important for people to understand the importance of following their pastor. That's one of the things we try to teach our folks. He's a man, called of God, to do a job and he has the responsibility to lead.”
The church has about 50 to 60 members, mostly from the Girard area, Jackson said. It's difficult, sometimes, to find the manpower to accomplish the church's mission goals because of the size of the flock, he said.
“When you're in the ministry, you have great dreams and great goals,” Jackson said. “It can be difficult in a smaller church finding the people you need to accommodate all those things.”
It's a problem smaller churches anywhere face at times. But Jackson thinks Crossroads Baptist is luckier than most churches its size.
“As a church, we've been very blessed with a lot of servants,” he said. “We have people here who are willing to do anything, to go above and beyond, to help and to serve.”
Jackson would like to have his own church, someday, he said. But that's far in the future. For now, he's happy where he is, where he believes God put him.
“Right now, I really see myself as a second man, as an assistant,” he said. “I've got a lot to learn, obviously. I'm still pretty young.
“We believe that in the ministry, to see anything accomplished, we have to have a commitment to the long run. We believe this is where God has called us.”