Southland Community Church

Greg Jones considers ministering to youth at Southland to be a family affair, with wife Erin at his side for virtually every youth-related event. Their ministry was destined to happen—they actually met at a youth camp when they were both working as volunteers accompanying students from their home churches.

Greg received his bachelor of science degree in youth ministry from Indiana Wesleyan and his master of arts in youth and family ministry from John Brown University. His first ministry position was as a part-time youth pastor for Harvest Point Church of the Nazarene. While in college and graduate school, he also spent several summers working at Kanakuk Kamps, a Christian sports camp, in Branson, Missouri.

While his first passions are Christ, Erin and seeing students grow in their walk with Christ, he also fits in a passion for baseball and remains fervently optimistic that the Chicago Cubs WILL win the World Series in his lifetime.

Greg's vision for Southland Youth Ministry:
In our culture, many people think that Christians are arrogant for saying Jesus is the only way to God. The vision and passion God has given me is for students to be able understand their Christian worldview. I would love for students to be able to know how to intelligently defend their faith to a Muslim or a teacher who is an atheist. My vision is also for students to be able to understand how to study Scripture and learn how to get the “meat” out of Scripture. Once they have the knowledge, then to see students put their knowledge into action. Finally, I would love for students to grasp true Christian community. At church, they would learn that people from other generations have experiences that they can learn from.