Pastor’s Corner: Ross Jaeger

 Rivertree Church

 

1. Tell us a little about yourself.

I grew up in Huntsville.  I heard the Gospel through an outreach event at a local church when I was a teenager.   I attended the event and ended up on a “visitation” list.   Remember those?  A gracious pastor from that church came to my house and asked to speak with me and that led to more opportunities to meet others who loved Jesus and cared for me.  I met my wife, Jennifer, through serving together in that church and have been married for almost 21 years.  We moved back to Huntsville to help with a church start in the Hampton Cove community.   I now serve as the lead pastor at Rivertree Church.   Being back in Huntsville almost 15 years, I have seen ministry change and grow as well as my family.   I have four children and feel like I have crossed into a new and strange arena of looming big decisions with my oldest a freshman in high school.  My wife and I love Huntsville.  I feel incredible fortunate serve within this city.

 

2. What motivates you to do what you do?

What captured me when I was younger was being part of a community of Christians that genuinely loved and cared for one another.  It was like being part of a big family.  Over time I realized that what I saw being expressed among these friends was an overflow of God’s love offered to them through the life and ministry of Jesus.  As I came to a greater awareness of God’s desire to take distant and undone sinners and make a renewed family out of them, a people for His name,  I wanted others to experience that same life change.  This new relationship with Jesus based on His grace moves people from isolation into life giving communities, which then have the ability to affect cities and cultures.   Vibrant churches become the lights in the world revealing God’s love and hope for the lost and missing and that motivates me.

 

3. What is God speaking to you right now?

God is teaching me right now about the importance of being a healthy pastor.  There are times when the Gospel message feels outside of me.  It is when you know you are speaking the truth about Christ but not experiencing it in your own heart.   With over twenty years of being involved in ministry, I want to make sure the hope I offer others is resonating in me.  I am asking God to reveal to me the patterns that I live in that are undermining me hearing His voice and staying intimate with Christ.  There are blind spots and neglected areas in me that could be a detriment to how I hope to serve Jesus.  So I am trying to be quiet more.  Listen.  I would love for my life to simply become – hearing from God and being obedient to what He says.

 

4. What does unity in our city mean to you?

I have had some wonderful men and women set examples of unity over the years.  When I first moved back to Huntsville, I came alongside a group of youth ministers that created events for students across our city.    The verses that drew them together was Psalm 133:1-2 as it describes how wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity.  Like oil poured over the head and running down Aaron’s beard.  I have witnessed pastor’s and church leaders gather regularly to pray for one another and for the city.  These experiences have taught me just how beautiful it is when body of Christ co-labors rather than competes.  That any church moving forward to see the Gospel bear fruit is a win for the Kingdom.  I am praying for more churches, more ministries, more ambassadors of reconciliation for the glory of God and until every person is reached.

 

Prayer for our city:

Father, bless our city.  Your Scriptures affirm that as our city prospers so do we as your people.  Huntsville is filled with people experiencing all kinds of difficulties alongside others that are indifferent.  The work we need in our city is a work that begins in each one of us, a work that begins in me.  A reorientation of my life towards others where compassion and unity have a chance is created by my understanding of Christ’s compassion towards me and the unity I can have with God through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.  Father, draw us to yourself.  Change me.  Let the city prosper by hearts returning to you.  I pray this in the name of Christ.

 

 

Tags: faith, Huntsville, Our City On A Hill, pastors, Rivertree Church, Ross Jaeger