MS pastor honored during Pastor Appreciation Month invests in Next Gen

By Michaela Classen
Midwester Baptist Theological Seminary

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (BP) — More than 10,000 ministry leaders and church members celebrated their pastors by nominating them to receive a $10,000 giveaway from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (MBTS) during Pastor Appreciation Month in October.

From the total entries, Jay White was randomly selected to win the $10,000 giveaway. White serves as senior pastor of East Heights Baptist Church in Tupelo, Mississippi. The giveaway included $5,000 to meet a need at White’s church and $5,000 for a vacation for him and his family.

“Pastors can be some of the most underappreciated people in all of life,” said MBTS President Jason Allen. “That is why I am so thankful for our Pastor Appreciation Month giveaway where we seek to honor pastors and also give an incredible gift to one pastor in particular. Congratulations to pastor Jay White on winning this giveaway. May the Lord continue to raise up faithful pastors, such as Jay, to serve and equip His Church.”

White expressed surprise at his winning and said it was “certainly a blessing.” He noted that pastors often struggle to take time for vacation because of their dedication to their ministry and church needs. “Sometimes we want to just keep working and not take a week off,” he said. “It’s a blessing that we’ll be able to take this vacation.”

The White family is planning a trip to the Tennessee mountains, their first vacation together since Jay’s daughter got married. With one married daughter and two sons in college, the White family cherishes the opportunity to gather all together for rest and fun.

With the $5,000 for the church, White noted several projects the church is considering, including potential building needs in their basketball gym, which they use for youth ministry.

Reaching children and young people for Christ is one of White’s ministry passions. Since coming to East Heights in December 2022, he has started a children’s ministry and an Awana program, which was a flourishing ministry in his previous church. Now in its second year, the Awana ministry at East Heights has doubled, bringing many unchurched children to East Heights, where they hear the Gospel.

“When you start basically from scratch, it takes a little time,” White said. “It’s encouraging that it’s growing already.”

Some children from the community come to Awana on their own, learning about it through the church’s proximity to a public school and positive rapport in the Tupelo community. Other children come with friends whose parents are East Heights members. As church members have met families in the community through Awana, White shared, they have taken additional steps to serve those in need.

“It’s a good place and a good church,” White said of his church and community. “It’s been a great ministry, and I look forward to many more years here.”

White’s call to ministry came at age 28 while he was working for Bell South (now AT&T).

Though he had grown up in church and had a brother in pastoral ministry, White had never given much thought to ministry himself. With a degree in electronics, he began his career with Bell South and settled in Oxford, Mississippi, with his young family. In 2003, when their church found itself in need of a youth pastor, White’s thoughts about ministry began to change.

“The Lord just laid it on my heart,” he said. “Not necessarily youth ministry, but ministry.” From there, the Lord began to confirm White’s call in various ways, including affirmation by his friends in ministry.

Married and the father of young children, however, White’s decision to change vocational course would not come without sacrifice.

“Bell South was a good career,” he said, remembering his coworkers’ well-intentioned advice: “‘Everybody retires from Bell South. Nobody quits.’”

But White and his family took a step of faith, following God’s call to train for ministry at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

“When I went to seminary, I cut my income in half and doubled my expenses, and I came out debt-free,” he said. “I don’t know how the Lord worked that out, because that’s not normally good math, but that’s how it worked. The Lord provided for us.”

After seminary, White entered full-time ministry as a youth pastor in Jackson, Tennessee. Three years later, God moved the White family to a church in northern Mississippi, which Jay pastored for 13 years. “It was a great ministry,” he said. “I raised all my children there, and it was a great time in the Lord.” God then called him to pastor East Heights Baptist Church in Tupelo, where he began serving on Christmas Day 2022.

Besides reaching young people in the community, White describes preaching as his primary ministry passion. In his two years at East Heights, White has preached through eight books of the Bible and is currently finishing a year-and-a-half-long study of Romans.

“My passion is preaching verse by verse through the Bible, which I would encourage every preacher to do,” he shared. “It’s the truest way to preach the meaning of the text to the people, and not your own opinions or views.”

He added, “As you preach verse by verse, you get everything — you get all the context, it helps keep you from avoiding subjects, and you get all of God’s Word instead of some of God’s Word. The greatest thing we can do is to preach God’s Word to God’s people.”

Reflecting on his years in ministry, White expressed the joy of seeing lives changed by faith in Christ. “The greatest part of pastoral ministry is building relationships with people and getting to lead people to Christ, disciple them, and help them grow. … You get to be used by God to reach people and to equip the saints.

“God is good and we can never go wrong by serving Him,” White concluded. “It’s worth it.”