Jerry was born in Salt Lake City, Utah and raised in the Mormon church until he was 18. He met Jesus through his wrestling coach and Young Life leader when he was in high school in 1963 and later spent about 10 years serving in various roles in Young Life including as Young Life's regional director in the Northwest - helping introduce other youth to the Lord.
Jerry graduated from the University of Washington with a double major in bio-chemisty and has spent over 30 years as a Pastor - shepherding folks and modeling how to fall more in love with Jesus. Some of the great privileges of his journey have been continuing to serve Him with loved ones who have been walking together for decades, mission work in Africa for 11 years, Israel for 15 years and the former Soviet Union for almost 30 years. Jerry has a real passion to see Christ's prayer for unity (John 17) realized in the church and spends much of his time these days ministering to leaders of various countries and reminding them of the witness that comes through their unity and love for one another.
He also regularly teaches on God's love and how it is so different from the world's love - both within the context of teaching and pre-martial and marriage counseling. Jerry married Miss Des Moines, Sue Shafer, in 1970, and together he and his beautiful wife have four wonderful kids Erica, Sarah, Micah and Noah along with nine grandchildren!
