Kimberling City Pastor Retires After 31 Years:

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Jerry Jenkins led FCC for 31 years

The pastor who led First Christian Church in Kimberling City for the past 31 years retired recently.

Jerry Jenkins preached his first sermon for the church, which was then in its infancy, on Mother's Day in 1982.  A month later the forming church asked him to become their pastor.

Over the years Jenkins and his wife Roberta have helped the church grow from a handful of members to several hundred.

"You folks our special in our lives," Jenkins told the congregation on the day he retired.  "But before I look forward, I have to look to the past."

The Jenkins', who are high school sweethearts, were farmers and thought the ministry would lead them to a rural church but "new church ministry" led them to Kimberling City in '82.

"What's helpful to me to look toward the future is remembering God's blessings from the past," Jekins told those gathered to celebrate his tenure.

An interim pastor will lead the church until a permanent pastor is selected by a search committee.

"God called Roberta and I here in the beginning....the ministry at First Christian Church isn't going to stop just because we are retiring.  God's work doesn't stop until He returns."