A Call from God Helped Pinelake’s College Minister Want to Save Students

By Grace Sudderth
Hottytoddy.com intern
gesudder@go.olemiss.edu

From finance major to college pastor of Pinelake Oxford, Jeremy Kerstell has begun a movement opening a path of life change as the walls of Oxford are torn down.

Growing up in the Bluff City of Memphis, Kerstell was immersed in a “black, white” lifestyle of a Christian household. His faith-infused upbringing was shaken at the age of 13 after his father was diagnosed with ALS. For years following this news, Kerstell found himself forsaking his view of God and going in a downward spiral grasping on to any type of gratification to mask the inner turmoil and pain that had been inflicted on his heart. These “quick-fixes” would only lead him to a broken, lonely, and sinful place. This same turmoil would set the stage for him hearing the Lord’s call to ministry.

Jeremy Kerstell speaks to the congregation. Photo provided.

“My dad’s diagnosis was a significant wound in my life that had caused me to ask a lot of questions about God,” Kerstell said. “The reason all of this is important is that it plays into why I wanted to go into ministry. It comes out of a place of God meeting me in my wounded-ness.”

After completing his degree in finance at Mississippi College, Kerstell began to plan his future through a broken lense of expectations.

“I wanted to open a business, make a lot of money, and be extremely successful,” Kerstell said.

After continuous job rejections, Kerstell found himself extremely discouraged but was encouraged by his college pastor to apply for a ministry position with Pinelake Church in Jackson. Without any other options at hand, he frustratingly submitted to this two-year residency role in ministry.

He claims this is where the ground floor of his ministry was obtained. The seed of ministry was planted, but it did not produce fruit until January of 2019. Kerstell attended the largest Christian conference called “Passion” as a leader with Pinelake. As the pastor spoke, a breakthrough came to him and he felt the Lord placing the call to ministry on his heart.

“The pastor started to preach on how God isn’t just God, but He is your father,” he said. “I had lost my dad to the disease a few years prior and was seeking a word that could heal my wound.”

Worshippers at Pinelake Church Oxford. Photo provided.

Upon returning back home to his reality, he claims that the environment didn’t really change, but something in him did.

“Getting into ministry for me was about Jesus healing me and then setting me free to do ministry,” Kerstell said.

Upon completion of his two-year residency position, he was offered a position through Pinelake Church at the Oxford campus for college ministry. Pinelake Oxford didn’t have a college ministry in place.

“I was learning that trusting God and his direction for my life is what it means to be in ministry, even if it means taking a newly married couple out of their comfort zone into something new,” Kerstell said.

He had a vision of how he wanted the ministry to be laid out for the new institution with three goals: develop a college-run “lead team,” create an effective small-group environment, and put together a Wednesday night college service.

The Wednesday night services consist of a time of worship with the band and teachings straight from the Bible on applicable topics for college students.

“We want to be a place where they encounter God’s presence through worship, teaching, and have the opportunity to take a spiritual next step,” Kerstell said.

According to Kerstell, the most important part of this ministry is “discipling” the lead team. The lead team consists of 15 college students that essentially volunteer to hold a position in this ministry.

“It’s so important to teach and equip our team to do things such as how to pursue people and make disciples,” Kerstell said. “If I can do that, they can reach their circle of influence and that will spread like a wildfire.”

In a world that is so defined by digital relationships, he believes that the most effective way to do relationships is one at a time and one-on-one. The vision for Pinelake is to see Mississippi changed — one life-changing story at a time.

“There are a lot of college students in this pivotal season of college wrestling with their brokenness. When you can meet them and encourage them to connect and share their burden with you is way more important than accomplishing an objective,” he said.

He recently had the opportunity to participate in a baptism event called “Identify.” Identify is a once a year baptism for anyone in the community who wants to take that spiritual next step in a body of water.

“We baptized 11 college students and I was able to baptize a few of them,” he said. “Sharing that moment with them was the most incredible moment.”

One member of Pinelake College, Katie Kreusell, says that through Kerstell’s efforts she came to know the Lord.

“Jeremy helped to set me free from the idea of living for the weekend and for the Grove,” she said.

Through Kerstell’s drive, a gospel-driven movement is making its way across the Ole Miss campus.

“I feel as if this is exactly what I was made to do. It would have never happened if I had not gone through this journey trusting God and giving him my hurt,” he said.