Biography of our Pastor

Pastor Jason was born in northern Indiana, but was raised in north Alabama. He grew up the son of a deacon in a Southern Baptist Church in Bear Creek, AL. At the age of eight, he surrendered to Christ as his Savior and Lord. He continued to be involved in church as he grew. At the age of fourteen, as the Holy Spirit called him to preach, he understood that if Christ was Lord, and Christ was calling him to preach, he could not tell Christ no. He began preaching and teaching as he had opportunity in the church and community he lived in.

He went to college at the University of Mobile, in Mobile, AL, on an academic scholarship. While in College, he served as a youth minister and Children's minister and took mission trips to North and South Dakota, and Atlanta, GA. He graduated in 1996. After graduation, he went to Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia for a summer mission trip. While there he shared his faith with Muslim and Russian college students and worked with a local church in the city of Almaty, Kazakhstan. He then proceeded to Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, in Memphis, TN. While at the seminary he worked with other seminary students in planting an inner-city racially mixed church in downtown Memphis. He also took a summer mission trip to Poland.

After returning from Poland, he felt the Lord was leading him to trust him and move to Poland to do mission work. He took a leap of faith and in March of 1998, he flew to Poland as an independent missionary to work with a local Baptist church. He shared his faith with unbelievers, learned the language and culture and help teach local believers growth in Christ.

Most importantly, he met and proposed to Marta (Kierzkowska). She graciously agreed, and they were married on May 1, 1999. They later worked with a Southern Baptist missionary in planting a church in Czestochowa, Poland.

In November of 2000, they returned to the US and their daughter, Olivia Vinson was born on September 23, 2001. He served in churches in Athens, AL focusing on evangelism and mentoring new believers. In 2005, feeling the Lord leading him to finish seminary, Jason, Marta, and Olivia moved back to the Memphis area to complete seminary at Mid-America Baptist Seminary.

Brother Jason has come to us with a love for believers, a heart for the lost, and a passion for God's glory. In his own words, “I don't have any question that God is at work among the believers of Garden Heights. This is a special place. I see God at work creating deep relationships among believers and in their walk with the Lord. I am inviting people to 'deepen their relationship with God and others'. People desperately need a relationship with the Lord, and they feel disconnected from other people. I believe God is using Garden Heights to change those situations for the people who are here. I pray you will come be a part of that change as well.”

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