Revolution Church Announces New Pastor

Earlier today, Jason Gerdes was introduced as the new senior pastor of Revolution Church in Canton, Georgia. I’m particularly excited about this announcement because William and our team at FaithSearch Partners worked with the crew at Revolution to select Jason for this role.

Jason is one of the top young leaders in the Church today, and I’m looking forward to seeing how God uses him to reach people in the Canton region and beyond. Since you may not be familiar with his story, I caught up with him a few days ago for an interview:

TONY: Congratulations on your new role with Revolution Church. Tell us what most excites you about this opportunity.

JASON: Thanks Tony.  The thing that most excites me about this opportunity with Revolution is the great foundation that has already been set for reaching people far from God.  I always thought that I would start a church, but when this came along God really showed me how this is for me. It is literally taking over a church plant that is already stable.  I am walking into a great situation with great people so we can build faster then if I started a church in the area.

TONY: For those that don’t know you, will you share a little bit of your background?

JASON: I did not grow up going to church or knowing anything about Jesus.  When I was a teenager my friends invited me to church and I gave my life to Him.  After I accepted Christ, it was really tough getting my other friends to come to church so it became my passion to create a church that my friends would come to.  I went on staff at Green Acres Baptist Church in college as an intern and worked my way up to Associate student pastor.  In seminary, I met Bil Cornelius at a church planting conference and then 6 months later went on staff at Bay Area Fellowship as the student pastor with the intention of starting a church one day with Bay Area.

TONY: I’ve been a big fan of your previous boss, Bil Cornelius, at Bay Area Fellowship. How has he influenced your leadership?

JASON: Bil Cornelius has influenced my leadership in profound ways.  The first being Bil has taught me is what it means to be a man of prayer and how your leadership publicly with never grow above your prayer life privately.  Bil is a man of prayer that really loves Jesus and that has influenced me tremendously.  The second thing Bil has taught me is how to think like a church planter.  In my first year as the student pastor I was unlearning everything that I had learned in an established church and Bil re-taught me how to lead the students like I was planting a church.  With that insight, it has enabled us to structure the ministry as a church plant and grow rapidly through multiple services and multiple locations.

TONY: How did you know you were called to pastor a church like Revolution?

JASON: As I have thought through the type of church I would start it matches up a lot with who Revolution is and what it does.  However, the main way I knew I was called to Revolution was what God showed me through our adoption journey.  My wife and have just recently adopted a baby girl and as I was praying though this God clearly said, “Jason, just like how your daughter is not from you but you are adopting her I want you to adopt Revolution even though she is not from you.”  I immediately went into our nursery, got on my knees and starting praying/crying out to God.  He spoke so clearly to me that, just like with the adoption, there will be issues since I didn’t birth Revolution, but that she is worth leading and adopting into my life.  Now if I ever struggle with the call God has placed on my life, all I have to do is look at my daughter and know that it was worth it.

TONY: What’s something folks may not know about you that says a lot about your personality?

JASON: I would have to say that since I am the youngest of three kids my natural personality is to entertain and be goofy.  I spent my life growing up in a family that did not have a lot of joy so I would do whatever it took to make my family laugh and have a good time.  But as I have gotten older, I have become much more of a learner and reader that loves to study theology and leadership.  So, I am a weird mix of a people-person that draws energy from crowds but then also loves to be alone and read.  I am not sure if that makes me well-rounded or a psychological case study, and I guess only time will tell.

Please join me in continuing to pray for Jason and Revolution Church that God will continue to multiply their impact in their community.