By: Pastor Jeremy Hall, Senior Pastor
Happy New Year!
I took my first ministry job at the age of nineteen, straight out of high school as a freshman at Samford University…At the age of nineteen, I was the youth pastor to a group of mostly seventeen-to-eighteen-year-olds. I had grown up in the church and was filled with the fire of my evangelical upbringing and the zeal and energy of being given the first opportunity to live into my calling. When I received the phone call that I had gotten the job, I went to a coffee shop on campus and prayed, studied, and thought about what values would govern this season of ministry.
The top of that list was something like “Kids need to know the Bible.” So I went to Walmart and bought the cheapest faux-leather-bound KJV Bible I could find. I took this Bible back to my dorm room and carefully began reading. Anytime I encountered something about which I had not heard a sermon, devotion, or Bible study, I would rip the whole page out. By the time I was finished the book was about a quarter-inch thick. I saved all of the pages in a bag. That next Sunday, my first time teaching in the youth space, I brought in my dismantled Bible and explained what I had done to it. Then, very dramatically, I pulled out the massive bag of the removed pages and dumped them on the youth room floor. I promised them that I would spend my time as their youth pastor putting those pages metaphorically back into the Bible, that we would do the hard work and the deep study required to really know the Bible and the God of the Bible.
While my faith and I have changed dramatically since that time, I have kept this disassembled Bible as a relic of my faith journey. It also reminds me to lean on the full counsel of God, not just the parts of the Bible that are easy or familiar. Biblical literacy remains one of my core values as a minister and teacher.
I have mapped out the preaching schedule for Pastor Felicia and I to work from for now
until the end of October 2025. With a few exceptions for special occasions and holidays, we will spend each Sunday with one of the Teachings of Jesus. I will be using the book The
Moral Teachings of Jesus: Radical Instruction in the Will of God as our roadmap, a new
book by David P. Gushee that is based on a seminary class of the same name that him and
I designed and taught. The class and the book are a culmination of several years of study
and prep. Spending so much time carefully and meticulously studying the words of Jesus,
we have rediscovered a radical and untamed Messiah, a wild itinerant rabbi with deep
convictions and difficult teachings. He asks a lot from us, but he doesn’t ask us to do it
alone.
So, what can we expect from this year-long journey with Jesus?
A Renewed Focus on Jesus
Spending intentional time at the feet of Jesus will naturally reorient our focus, worship, and energy toward Him. As individuals and as a church, we will be challenged, encouraged, and called to a new kind of life. Whether you’ve followed Jesus for decades or are just beginning, time spent with Him will transform us.
Cultural Impact
Jesus’ teachings make hard asks of His followers. By immersing ourselves in them, we’ll reshape how we think about “doing church.” His radical message will challenge us to center compassion, equity, and justice in our lives. As a congregation, this focus will lead to greater love for one another, our neighborhood, our city, and the world. For me, working on the book and teaching the class were deeply challenging experiences. Areas of my life that I thought were already “Christianized” were reshaped “cruciform,” making less of myself and more of others in pursuit of faithful obedience to Jesus. I believe this year long focus will lead to a more Christlike culture in our church, with the added blessing of both spiritual and numerical growth.
Natural Discipleship
I’ve been talking with our leaders about shifting our focus in faith-formation towards intentional discipleship—actively becoming more like Jesus and doing what He asks of us. Don’t misunderstand me: I deeply value Bible literacy. But I believe a greater passion for and understanding of scripture will flow naturally from pursuing Christian discipleship. Intentional study of Jesus’ teachings will bring us closer to Him, deepen our love for the gospel, strengthen our faith, and continue the work that God as already been at for years at NHCBC of building a greater heart for others.
I am excited to begin this journey with you in 2025. I believe great things are ahead for our
church, and I count myself blessed to be part of it.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Jeremy