Month: August 2013

Family and Christianity are the two things that mark the childhood of Jeff Broadnax, pastor of GCI congregations in Columbus and Chillicothe, Ohio and member of the GCI Generations Ministries leadership team. “I spent my formative years within 15 miles of virtually all my extended family. We saw each other at least twice a month. Family togetherness thus shaped my view of relationships. My father’s parents were devout Christians and expected their six children and all their grandchildren to be at First Church of God on Sunday mornings. Thus at an early age I found myself convinced of my need for time with God.”

Jeff grew up in Cincinnati in the house his parents still live in. “My father began listening to the Radio Church of God in the 1960s. In the mid-70s he sought out the church for a visit. We began attending the Festival of Tabernacles when I was 12 years old in 1977.” Jeff then left for Ambassador College in 1983. “After graduating on a Friday and getting married the following Monday, May 25, 1987, my wife, Karen and I spent the next three years working for WCG/GCI in Pasadena, California. Karen worked in the Spanish department and I first worked in the travel department and then as a ministerial trainee (intern) in the headquarters church.”

Jeff and Karen, who celebrated their 26th anniversary on May 25, have four children. “Our eldest, Jasmine (22), recently graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh with a double major in psychology and sociology and a minor in criminal justice. Our second, Kristen, went home to the Lord in 1994. She would have been 19 this year. Our son, Kyle (15), is going into his sophomore year in high school and is an honor student and passionate basketball player. Our youngest, Kassidy (5), is heading into kindergarten and ready to take the world by storm.”

Jeff was ordained an elder on March 4, 1989 and served another year in Pasadena before transferring to Big Sandy, Texas. “We spent three years serving as an associate pastor in the local church and the college campus and then we transferred to the Manhattan and Westchester (county) New York congregations in 1993. We were blessed over the next 17 years to serve five GCI congregations in the greater New York City area (Manhattan, Armonk, White Plains and Middletown, New York; and Hillsdale, New Jersey). In 2010 we moved back to the Buckeye State (Ohio) and currently serve the CenterPointe (Columbus) and Voice of Hope (Chillicothe) congregations of GCI.”

Jeff attributes a lot of his spiritual growth to his parents and mentors. “My parents (Earl and Bettie Broadnax) and my wife’s parents (John and the late Judy Hunter) have been amazing examples of faithful Christians. Their love for God and willingness to grow and learn has always served as an anchor for us in our faith. I have a number of folks who have actively mentored me in transformational ways but John Halford, Joseph Tkach and the late Dr. Kermit Nelson and Harold Jackson are four men who have intentionally taught me to be more like Jesus.”

Speaking of being a pastor, Jeff said, “I absolutely love being used by God to help others learn and tell the story he is writing in their lives through Jesus. So many of us have no clue of the divine appointments he is setting up for us each day and how he wants us to use our story to help others see that he loves them, really likes them, and has God-sized plans he wants to fulfill through their lives and stories (warts and all).”

Jeff’s most memorable moment as a pastor is personal, but one he wants to share because it is something we all can learn from. “One day in August 2004, God changed forever the way I understood him and Scripture. He had convicted me and challenged me to let go of some bitterness that I was carrying. I told him that I had tried but was unable to do so on my own. I asked him to take that anger and bitterness from me, and when I verbally offered the forgiveness I was withholding and verbally let go of the bitterness I was carrying, it was like scales fell off my eyes. I was able to love in deed and not just in word because he showed me the difference in real life and in Scripture. I will never forget the moment because it was proof that God so loved ME therefore I must love him and others with his kind of love.”

Transformation is important to Jeff, not only in his own life, but also in GCI. “I enjoy being a part of an organization that knows it needed and now has been transformed by God himself. The journey I/we have taken is proof of the kind of God we serve. Our story helps me read the stories of the patriarchs, apostles and people of the parables through God’s eyes not just my own. My training, experience and lessons within GCI make the word of God come to life in real time and I love it.”

When asked what he would like others to know about him that they may or may not know, Jeff said, “That even after 26 years in the ministry, I am still coming to grips with God’s destiny for my life. I am so excited about what’s ahead because I feel God has placed gifts inside me that I haven’t even begun to unwrap in his grace yet. I am soooooo ready!”

Jeff shares that he gets his passion from Luke 4/Isaiah 61. “God has placed in my heart a burden to let him use me to help others discover their destiny in Christ and know that he wants to use every part of their lives. It doesn’t matter if one is incarcerated or incorporated, harassed, helpless or helpful, wise or washed up, Jesus has plans for us all. He wants us to not just find freedom but to experience jubilee in him!”

When does Jeff feel closest to God? “When I read Scripture because I know God is telling every story to me for a purpose. Everything is there to show me something about how he thinks, loves and operates in the lives of people. There are also times when I know his presence through music.”