Jacobs family begins service at First Baptist LaFayette

BY KADIE TAYLOR

THE LAFAYETTE SUN

LAFAYETTE — In October, First Baptist LaFayette hired a new pastor with a young family and a goal to reach the youth in LaFayette.

New LaFayette Pastor Dan Jacobs said this is the first church he is pastoring, but his calling to pastoral ministry was clear.

“I ran a commercial landscaping business down in South Florida for years, and then we relocated here, because the cost of living down there was just so expensive,” he said. “So we moved up here — I was doing remodeling for a living here — and we really felt like the Lord had a call on our family to be in full-time ministry. As we went through that process, He just led us step by step over here to LaFayette.”

Dan said one day he was working in a bathroom he had just remodeled, and he said he asked God, “Lord, did you really call me to ministry? Or was I just kind of having a really spiritual moment where I wanted to tell people about Your faithfulness.”

God responded to his question clearly. “About three days later, it was Christmas Eve, and we were walking through Walmart, and some random guy that I've never met in my life before walks up to me and goes, ‘Hey, brother, where do you preach at?’ And I stopped, and I responded, ‘I don't preach anywhere.’ And he was like, ‘Well, I don't know if you haven't walked in your calling yet or what.’ Then I didn't hear anything else after that, because I was kind of in shock — that was just the Lord confirming that call to me. So we just began to pray about what that looked like — and when we felt like we got an answer, we took steps in that direction.”

Melanie Jacobs said she and Dan looked at many other towns to work in, but none of them fit what they were looking for — until they saw LaFayette.

“I had looked it up online, and I was seeing how close it was to Lanett, Valley, LaGrange, Auburn and Opelika — but it still has that sweet, almost Hallmark-like town feel to it,” she said. “The church is big and beautiful — the people are absolutely the sweetest. I brought my mom to visit one time when we were just walking through, checking out the town, and she told me, ‘I don't know that I've ever been in a town where the people are as sweet as they are here,’ and I could not agree more. We've just fallen in love with the town, people and church, and are just so excited to see what God does.”

Dan said he is working to grow the youth program and has already seen growth and support — with students already getting involved.

“We just started our youth group again — which was very, very exciting,” he said. “We had more teenagers there than we have in our church — so that was very encouraging to see. The room was so loud up there that I could hardly hear anybody, which was a great thing with a student ministry. So we've been getting all those things in order. We've also been trying to figure out what we're going to do for the Hispanic community here, because there's no outreach right now for them. We've been working on what that will look like, because I speak Spanish — so it would give us an opportunity to witness to them, to minister to them, where they don't have that outlet at the moment.”

Melanie said she is working to grow the children's ministry, and she is excited to cater to families through fun Bible studies for children to enjoy.

“As a stay-at-home mom of three, I love all things children — and all the fun things that we can do together, crafts, games and all that,” she said. “I was saved through Awana at the age of five, and it was through that, I brought my family to church and then my whole family got saved. And so I understand the eternal impact that a good kids' ministry can have. And when I found the curriculum that we chose, it is so fun. Every month, there's like a different fun theme with games and activities and lessons and videos.”

Melanie said she and Dan have three young children, who join them regularly at First Baptist LaFayette. The Jacobs children are Levi, who is nine; Abby, who is seven; and Judah, who is two. Through homeschooling, Melanie said she is able to teach her kids while working at the church — and she is thankful for the flexibility homeschooling provides.

“One of the things I hope that they take with them is how unbelievably fulfilling it is to serve in your church and to serve the body of Christ, the Kingdom of God and even just your community,” she said. “Some people can maybe look at that with a begrudging attitude, but that, when you do it with a heart of — everything in life we do for the glory of God — that it is truly a life-giving experience.”

As the Jacobs grow First Baptist LaFayette, Dan said the impact of a healthy church on a community can make multi-generational impacts, and he wants the church to be a place where locals can come for community.

“There are a lot of families in town, and I think somebody was giving me the percentage of the amount that are not involved in church — and I think it's around 80%,” he said. “There are so many levels of connection there, and it starts with people realizing the needs of the community and being faithful to provide for those needs with the resources that God has given them. We have a wonderful building here that has plenty of room and space to do everything that we want to do here for children, youth and any community outreach you could imagine. I really want to see this place packed out with families of all ages — from young to old, because I think that's a sign of a healthy church.”

For more information, visit First Baptist Church of LaFayette, Alabama on Facebook — or go to 201 S. Lafayette St., Lafayette. Sunday school is at 9 a.m. on Sundays, and the Sunday service is at 10 a.m. — there is also a kids’ ministry at both 9 and 10 a.m. on Sunday. At 6 p.m. on Wednesday nights, there is a prayer meeting for adults and an Ignite youth ministry meeting. The Awana kids ministry will meet at the same time, starting in January. Dan said volunteers are always appreciated.