Pastor J. T. Young will give his first sermon as pastor of the Elgin First Baptist Church on Jan. 5. He comes to the area from Fisherville, Ken. (Jack Swanson Photo)
Pastor leaves corporate life behind for new congregation, Elgin First Baptist
By Jack Swanson
jswanson@fayettecountynewspapers.com
What’s a corporate lawyer who worked for a global financial services company and directly managed 60 associates in Seattle, New York, Chicago, Boston, and San Francisco; lived in Seattle, Portland, Nashville and London, England, doing as the pastor of a church in small town Iowa? God only knows?
Not only does God know, but according to Pastor J. T. Young, God put him where he is today.
Pastor Young will give his first sermon at his new church, Elgin First Baptist Church, on Jan. 5.
According to the pastor’s story of how he ended up in Elgin, it sounds like something akin to a miracle.
Pastor Young grew up in Castle Rock, a small logging town of about 1500 people at the base of Mt. St. Helens in Southwest Washington. Raised by devoted Christian parents, He was a member of a local Baptist church and said that is where he first felt he had a calling to pastoral ministry. He attended the University of Washington. After his sophomore year he and Laura, who he had known growing in Castle Rock, were married. He would go on to graduate with a business and finance degree from the University of Washington before earning his law degree at Vanderbilt Law School in Nashville. Over the next 20 years, J.T. and Laura were involved in a number of churches where he taught and they led or served in a variety of church ministries in Tennessee, Washington, and England.
After nearly 20 years as a corporate lawyer and business executive, 17 of which were spent with Russell Investments, a global financial services company, J.T. left his career to pursue his pastoral calling by attending the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ken.
It was during his time with Russell that he actually lived in London from 2004 to 2007 and traveled throughout the globe.
“I always wrestled with the idea of joining the ministry. I’d actually been thinking about it since I graduated from high school. The idea kept challenging me, leading me back. The Bible carried me all through my ups and downs,” Pastor J. T. explained.
