We are thrilled to welcome Zack Jackson as a summer ministry intern. Zack is a currently pursuing a Master of Divinity degree at the Wake Forest University School of Divinity. In addition to leading in worship, teaching, working with our youth and children, and assisting in pastoral care, Zack will work with representatives from our History servant team on a project started by our own Doug Thompson to learn more about our church’s founding with regard to slavery. He will begin his time with us the last week of May.
Zack grew up near Sandersville in rural Washington County, Georgia, where his family has roots reaching back more than two centuries. A 2016 graduate of Georgia College, he first began exploring a call to ministry as he simultaneously researched issues of contemporary Baptist life while completing a senior capstone experience. This research sparked an initial interest in the latent ability of local congregations to be both reconciled and reconciling communities, and the idea that congregations possess untapped potential for social uplift has motivated his ministry interests ever since. Nourishing a dual sense of call to Christian ministry and higher education leadership, Zack moved to Waco, Texas, in the summer of 2016 to work toward a graduate degree at Baylor University. While at Baylor, he served for two years as the Graduate Apprentice for Spirituality and Public Life, which provided him broad exposure to collegiate ministry, higher education chaplaincy, and civic interfaith leadership.
After graduating, Zack took a position in August of 2018 at a small college in western North Carolina, where he served in a variety of staff and faculty roles over the course of three academic years such as Director of Student Engagement, Residence Director, and Adjunct Instructor of Interdisciplinary Studies. Last summer, Zack moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to begin studying at Wake Forest , where he is being equipped for a renewed sense of call to congregational ministry in the Baptist tradition. He is thrilled to be among the beloved community gathered at FBCX this summer!
Rebecca Pursiful has been part of the FBCX family since she was two years old when
her parents, Darrell and Connie, joined the church. She has been nurtured in her faith by the church’s children’s and youth ministries. She has fond memories of Passport camp, mission trips, and especially Jubilate! weekends. She often volunteers in the church office and with the children’s ministry.
Rebecca is a notorious choir kid and has been since she was eight years old. Since middle school, she has joined every choir she could find, including, but not limited to various school choirs, the ACE a cappella group, the ACE show choir, and Mercer Children’s/ Youth Choir. She is currently a member of the Wesleyannes and the Middle Georgia Choral Society.
Rebecca graduated from the Academy for Classical Education and is a rising senior at Wesleyan College, where she is majoring in Early Childhood Education with minors in Reading, Music, and English Literature.
She loves to read, hang out with friends, knit, discuss outlandish film theories, play with LEGOs, and most of all to sing!
Rebecca will be working with the children and youth this summer. She is ready to put her skills as an education major to the test and gain some new skills along the way. She is very excited to act as an “adult” for all the traditions she remembers as a child, and can’t wait to make new memories!