Renaissance Man

By Rhonda Herman & Carol Corey

To say that Jerry Cooper is a renaissance man, a man for all seasons, only begins to describe what he has been to Central over his 12 years with us. Jerry has embodied our mission statement of moving others toward Christ in numerous remarkable ways. Jerry was hired as our Associate Pastor for Missions and Discipleship in August 1990. We soon learned, however, that he was able to be effective in many other areas of Central's ministry. Anything that needed attention within the church became Jerry's responsibility. He worked in complete unity and submission to the senior pastor. Jerry worked with minutia and made sense of it, helping us to establish trends and compile statistics. He could take generalities and state positions clearly. Jerry was one of the few pastors who encouraged fiscal responsibility. In addition to this, he quickly became a good listener and friend to many of us.

He gave new birth to many areas of Central life. The Adult Education ministry was recovering from a decline, but under his guidance and teaching our congregation came to know more about Jesus Christ and His church. Jerry taught us about the role of Women in the Bible, The Creeds, Advent, How to Study the Bible, great theologians, missions, and more. What an excellent teacher he is!

Beyond his love for the Lord (and Ingrid and Joy), Jerry's real passion is missions. He helped us to redefine missions. He developed strong relationships with each of our missionaries. Through our relationship with Larry and Stephanie K., and subsequently through our visits to Sao Paolo, Brazil, we established a sister church relationship with the Independent Presbyterian Church of Ipiranga. Jerry led the Session to increase the missions portion of our budget significantly. We became well educated about missions by our missions celebrations, moments for missions, and studying the 10-40 window. Our congregation adopted the (deleted-group-name) people as our un-reached people group. We have certainly learned how to pray more effectively for our missionaries. Jerry made missions come alive to all of us.

The assimilation and mobilization ministry (AiM) was given birth by Jerry. He helped to shape its vision of helping people find their role in ministry at Central. The ministry includes a Spiritual Design Class which is taught on an ongoing basis.

Jerry impacted more than just Central. He was involved with the Baltimore Presbytery for the PCUSA, Partners for Transformation, the YMCA as a board member, Harambee: a bi-racial coalition of PCUSA churches, and as a math tutor for Baltimore Christian School. He encouraged partnership with Seventh Baptist by sending families to their congregation for a one year commitment.

With all of this in mind, what will we miss most about Jerry? Jerry encouraged us to think about our faith like no one before. Jerry brought order to our chaos. He helped us solve problems by being innovative. He has been a great friend and mentor, a support in times of crisis. Not only has he taught us, but Jerry has been a role model for us. He has been an example for us in loving his parents, his wife, and his child. Jerry, thank you for moving us toward Christ by loving us, encouraging and equipping us, and sending us out to serve.

See also It has been a great 12 years!, Why Now? The Timing of God's Call and Sending Them Out to Serve.

Webmaster's note: In addition to Jerry's other interests, gifts and accomplishments, he is responsible for initiating the web team and helping guide the development of this website since '96.