Church in the Park off to quick start

PERRY -- The Church in the Park is a year old this month.

Jordan Kersey, 29, pastors the nondenominational fellowship. He said it has grown from three original members -- Kersey, his wife, Lindsey, and their 2-year-old -- to more than 100 members.

The church meets during two Sunday morning services in the small, historic Clinchfield Chapel building in Forest Hill Park off Main Street. Though it has grown well for a new church, Kersey said little of it was according to plan.

At least not according to his plan.

"This time last year, Lindsey and I were stressing over buying a $1,000 laptop for the church," Kersey said. "We were saving and fretting and losing sleep over spending the money. A year later, and the Lord in his goodness has provided for us to write a down-payment check for a building across the street from the park. I guess that's the theme for the year. So many things have happened that I could never have planned or made happen -- it's the Lord doing it for sure."

Kersey said he sees a divine hand in the church's first year and in his family's role in it.

"I'm a native of Perry and graduated from Perry High School in 2005," he said. "I proposed to Lindsey right here in Franklin Hill Park in 2010 and before I put the ring on her finger, I told her one day we'd be pastoring a church. How could I have known then what we'd be doing right here now? Who can plan that?"

Kersey said he and Lindsey were high school sweethearts. He said it was in high school they became committed Christians and attended First Love Ministry Bible studies led by Charlie Walker.

Kersey credits Walker with discipling him as a young believer and his time at First Love with helping him recognize a call on his life.

After high school, Kersey said he joined the Air Force Reserve and headed to Texas to attend Christ for the Nations Institute to prepare for some form of ministry. He wasn't sure what it would be. He said a deployment to Afghanistan settled his sense of call to be a pastor and lead a church.

"I was in Afghanistan," he said. "I thought about how I was serving my country at such a magnitude and wondered what I could do to serve the body of Christ in a similar or greater way. I knew that it was to be a pastor."

After spending time serving as a youth minister in Texas and Fort Valley, Kersey said the day came he and Lindsey knew they should start a church themselves. They were willing to go anywhere but God kept pointing to Perry.

"I contacted Marty Myers at the Cherokee Pines Golf and Fitness Club about starting meetings there," Kersey said. "He said that wouldn't work but I might be interested in the chapel at the park, which he owns. That was perfect. I hadn't even known the chapel had been moved to the park, but my wheels started turning and I realized it would be a way better place. We meet in the chapel and have children's ministry in the caboose at the park. It's great."

Kersey said after their new facility is renovated, the church will keep its 9:30 a.m. service in the park for those who like the cozy feel. The 11 a.m. service will be in the new building and better suit future growth and those who want a more modern, more spacious setting.

"But I don't know exactly what the new year will bring," Kersey said. "We have plans, but what we're really looking for is what God does that we could never plan. That's how it's gone so far and I trust God will keep doing what he wants."

Kersey said one plan for the new building is to start an addiction recovery program there, probably even before services get underway. He said the program will be led by the church's associate pastor, Ricky Johnson.

Kersey said such programs reflect what Church in the Park is really about.

"It's exciting to see how we're expanding, but that's nothing compared to seeing what God's doing in people's lives," he said. "That's why I became a pastor."

Kersey said he looks at a non-churched family who became Christians in 2015 and have become mainstays at the church. He said he looks at a number or people who once attended church, but haven't been in 20 or 30 years. He said he thinks about the couple whose newborn was rushed to a Savannah neonatal unit and how God and their Church-in-the-Park-family were able to provide them an RV to stay in at no charge while they were there.

"Those are our greatest accomplishments in 2015," Kersey said. "To me, that surpasses buildings and numbers. It sums up why the Lord told us to start a church. To me, that family and those things are the greatest miracles."

Contact writer Michael W. Pannell at mwpannell@gmail.com.

The Church in the Park

Address: 1303 Forest Hill Drive, Perry

Leadership: Jordan Kersey

Worship: Sunday worship 9:30 and 11 a.m.

Phone: 478-244-4942

Website: www.foresthillparkofperry.com/church-in-the-park

This story was originally published January 12, 2016 at 9:37 PM with the headline "Church in the Park off to quick start ."