President John K. Jenkins Sr.

ion Health, to name a few. In: 2022

Pastor John K. Jenkins Sr. : I am so honored to be on your podcast on this podcast. Thank you for having me and I'm so proud of you and your work. Thank you for inviting me.

Twanna Henderson: Well, thank you for taking the time as I share; it's a pleasure to have you here today and with your busy schedule. I mean, I feel honored that you gave me some time to be able to talk with you. I'm looking forward to our listeners learning about John Jenkins, the man. So I want to jump in because there's so much that I want to cover and I'm excited about hearing about you. After reading your bio, I think it's pretty safe to say that you're living your best life.

Pastor John K. Jenkins Sr. : I am living beyond what I ever dreamed or imagined. It just actually blows me away to look at the doors that God has opened. The opportunities and the places I've been able to go. So I'm honored and humbled by that. So I'm excited. Yes, I like living my kind of life. That's what I tell my church all the time. I like living my life.

Twanna Henderson: Well, of course, as I said, you know, I've known you for many years, and I know that the favor of God has been all over your life. So talk to us about your leadership journey as a pastor and now as a denomination leader.

be their pastor, and then in: 1989

Twanna Henderson: And you know, I think it's amazing when you can see the hand of God, you know, over your life, and even starting, you know, as a child, in seeing God's hand all over your life. So talk to us about that process. You being the president of Converge, this historic appointment. Talk to us about the process that brought you to the appointment as president of Converge.

nverge is a denomination with: 1700

Twanna Henderson: Wow. Wow. Yeah, it's absolutely amazing. I know that you have a history with Converge. What has been your journey with Converge? I know you've served Converge. You've been involved with Converge. What has been the journey with Converge?

Pastor John K. Jenkins Sr. : So, I got introduced to Converge by my closest dearest friend. A guy named Michael Henderson. I think you know him.

Twanna Henderson: I think I know that guy.

John K Jenkins Sr. : Michael Henderson moved to Maryland from Ohio to plant a church. They were planting him and he started coming to our church and he introduced himself to me and we became friends. So it started with him. I am here today because of your husband. He's the one. He is the man who introduced me to Converge and I joined Converge for three reasons. Let me talk about this for a moment, because I want them to know why I joined it. I joined Converge for three primary reasons. First of all, because it was a movement that focused on helping local churches instead of the local church, empowering the movement. So most of the denominations I had been a part of were empowering the denomination. But Converge was an organization that empowered the local church and I was attracted to that. Second, I was attracted to the fact that it plants churches, it was involved with planting churches, and I have a passion for planting churches. And thirdly, I joined it because I pastor a primarily African American church, and a lot of the people in my church had lived through the Civil Rights era, lived through Jim Crow laws and lived through the dogs and the water hoses and being jailed. They've lived through that, so they don't have a positive image of Anglos. And so I wanted them to know that there are some Anglos that have a heart for people of color and who loved Jesus enough to treat everyone appropriately. And so I wanted them to see that. I wanted them to experience that. So those were the three reasons why I joined convergence, and I've learned it to be and experienced it to be the case and to be true, that the people are everything that we believe them to be and I'm honored to be a part of Converge.

Twanna Henderson: Yeah, I think that's awesome. And I think just for the last reason that you said speaks to your heart, as a pastor, you wanted them to be able to say, look, you know, in terms of the people of God, that they look different, you know, and that we need to be open and, you know, just seeing how expansive you know, God's people are. You mentioned that the previous president resigned suddenly. You know, you are a strong leader for sure. And leaders are often tasked with dealing with great challenges. So what are some of Converge's challenges as the movement during this time?

John K. Jenkins Sr. : Well, I'm making two of the top two things I want to improve the relationships between the regions and the national office. For those that don't know, Converge has 11 districts across the country and historically, there has been tension between the regions in the national office and the prior president had been working on that. So I want to enhance that and keep that moving in a way to improve the relationship between the national office and the regions and the regional presidents and the districts. Secondly, we have the challenge of funding the national office. So we got to figure out how we're going to fund a national office so it can continue to empower and help local churches. So, those are not the only goals we have but the top two challenges we want to continue to move forward with and are my top two agenda items.

Twanna Henderson: Yeah, and those are some lofty goals. I mean, it takes a great leader to tackle those things. Often, we've got these great challenges and we have to have this kind of plan of attack to be able to deal with those things. I know you said that you joined Converge for, you know, a few reasons. Just talk about the strengths of the movement.

Pastor John K. Jenkins Sr. : One of the strengths is there are several strengths in this movement. One of them is they are very relational. So they help church planters, build relationships among them, and are very strong in training, teaching, and planting churches. So that's one of the top strengths of this movement. So if you're interested in planting churches, this movement can empower you and help you do that. And it is a relational organization they are, and even though they have structure, it's very strong in relationships and building relationships. So I will put those things as strengths of the Converge movement.

Twanna Henderson: Yeah, I think that you know, in the day and age that we live in, if there was ever a need for more churches, it is now. You see, we're living at a time now where we need churches and more and more places to be able to have the gospel to be spread. And planting churches is one of the ways that that happens. I know you said that there are various regions across the United States of Converge. So why is it important to you? And why should it be important to the thousands of churches in the movement in terms of what it offers and stands for?

Pastor John K. Jenkins Sr. : Well, I think, you know, God did not create us to operate in isolation. He did not create us to work alone, single-handedly or independently. So it's important to be connected with others who have the same heart and the same vision that you have. We can accomplish so much work better together. I think that was one of the things of Converge for a while - we're better together. And I agree with that. I agree that if we work collaboratively and together, we can accomplish so much more for the kingdom of God. It's not about building our little kingdom. It's not about building just our church. It's about building the kingdom of God. And I think it's important that churches are connected with collaboration and work collaboratively with other churches. It is much better.

Twanna Henderson: Yeah. And, you know, I've seen just for myself how Converge does a wonderful job with equipping churches, staff, and teams. And, you know, that doesn't happen a lot. As you said, organizations and denominations often aren't as focused on building the local church as they try to figure out what they can get from the local church. That is something, I think, that's unique for Converge. I want to turn the corner for a minute because, you know, I shared earlier that you have six children and seven grandchildren. Whew, that's a lot of people. But seriously, what part has family played in your leadership development?

Pastor John K. Jenkins Sr. : Well, you know, having six kids and juggling those responsibilities is a management deal. You know, I have three boys and three girls actively involved in growing up and doing sports, school, and church. Just the ability to manage all of that, along with my wife, I'm not going to try to take all the credit—my wife, sister Trina. Trina has done an incredible job managing our kids; they're all grown now. They've gone to college and graduated, and they're all gainfully employed. I'm proud of that. But I have to say that a lot of that goes to my wife. But just being a part of a family's whole management is significant. And those skills and things we've done have worked in our church. Our church celebrated a huge thing this weekend, Twanna. We paid off our mortgage at the church. It's a big deal!

Twanna Henderson: Oh, wow!

Pastor John K. Jenkins Sr. : We were able to do that. So we're a debt-free church now and I'm ecstatic about that. So we had to manage the resources to make that happen. And we're looking forward and hopeful that we can train other churches to do the same thing. We are so looking forward to being able to do that.

Twanna Henderson: That's phenomenal. I mean, yeah, if you can train other churches to do that, I think that speaks to why you're the right person for this role as president because you talked about funding the national office. You're someone who understands how that needs to come about. Not that that's easy, but I think it speaks to the fact that you understand what it takes.

Pastor John K. Jenkins Sr. : I hope so. It will take a lot of work, support, and help from the rest of the church, the other churches and the districts to work with us to help make that happen. So, that's our top agenda.

Twanna Henderson: Yeah, yeah. And I know that you know, when you have many roles and responsibilities, none of us can do it without the guidance of the Word and the thing that fuels us. Is there a life scripture that you know has helped shape your personal and leadership life?

Pastor John K. Jenkins Sr. : Yeah, my life scripture, James 4:6. "God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble." God loves humility. Now I can talk about this passage for the rest of the day but let me take a moment and talk about the fact that God empowers, anoints and gifts people who walk in humility. And that's been my verse for my life. This is how I try to live my life and walk and carry myself in a humble way. "He resists the proud," "he opposes the plans of the proud," I think the NIV says, but he gives grace to the humble. When he gives grace, he gives you the ability to do what he's called you to do. The desire to do it, the gifting to do it, the people to do it, when you walk in humility, and that's been the reality of my life. God has brought people into my life. God has given me the people to provide me with the wisdom of the decisions I've had to make. God gives you grace. And if you walk in humility, he'll give you His grace.

Twanna Henderson: I think that is so true and I think you do embody that. As someone who's been on the sidelines of things and just seeing, you know, it's unfortunate to say that, you know, we don't see many humble people, but if I can say that, we don't see it. We can be humble, but not when you think about people when you describe people. And I think when people describe you, that's one of the words that come up, that you are a humble man. And I think you, you live out and walk out that scripture well because I've seen that I've seen your humility and it is a blessing to be able to know that you walk in that.

Pastor John K. Jenkins Sr. : Thank you.

Twanna Henderson: How can the movement pray for you?

Pastor John K Jenkins Sr. : They can hold my name up before the Lord. Call John K. Jenkins Sr. out! They can pray for these things. These two matters that I mentioned. The relationship with the districts. Pray for the finances. Something that a lot of churches are struggling with today. So pray for our finances. Pray for, you know, your husband is, let me say this, pray for our staff. Your husband is one of our vice presidents. He's our executive vice president and he's been such an incredible help and support. Over the years, he's been my best friend. And pray for the staff of Converge. Our national office, regional directors, regional presidents, and even those who volunteer to help make Converge what it is. We want to hold these individuals up in prayer so they can hold those names up. That would be so helpful.

Twanna Henderson: Yeah, and we want to do that because it's so important, just the work that is done, particularly in what you're talking about, starting churches, strengthening churches, and the enemy, ultimately not wanting to see that take place. Is there anything that you need anything else that you need from the Converge family or anything else you want to say to the Converge family?

Pastor John K Jenkins Sr. : Well, you know, ultimately, the First Lady of our church, the prior pastor of our church, his wife used to say, "if you call yourself a leader, and nobody's following you, you're just taking a walk." And we want the support of the Converge family. We can't do anything without their support. So I'm open, I'm going to be spending these next several weeks and months ahead, getting to learn the leadership and the people, and I'm open to suggestions, and I'm open to ideas and concerns. We want to hear from them. We want to hear what their thoughts are, what they might want to suggest to us, and things they'd like to see. I'm open to that. I did not come with an open agenda, an already established agenda. I'm open. That's what I meant to say. We don't have something already defined that this is what we're going to do, no. My kind of leadership is collaborative and I'm open to suggestions and ideas and concerns from the members of the church from the movement family I hope they will be willing to share those things and give us their support. Those are the main deals, the main things.

Twanna Henderson: Yeah, yeah. Well, I think that is so important. And yeah, for those of you who are listening, who are part of the Converge family, that's it, you know, we want to come alongside to support to, you know, pray and to lend whatever help we can.

Pastor John K Jenkins Sr. : Let me add one more thing to that, Twanna, that there might be some of your listeners who are not. They might have churches that are not a part of a movement or a family of churches. So I want to invite them to converge.org and check us out. Just see if you're not a part of a movement. We're not trying to recruit people from other movements. But if you're not a part of a movement, or that movement that you're in is not helping you become everything God wants you to be, take a look at Converge because this is one of our focuses is on strengthening churches and helping them be everything God wants them to be converge.org.

Twanna Henderson: Yeah, yeah. Thank you for that. And again, yeah, go to converge.org if you aren't connected, or if you're listening, and you need to, you want to share this podcast with your leadership and say, hey, you know, I don't know if we're part of any type of denomination or if we're not, I really feel good about this. Well, Mr. President, I, like many others, look forward to the next season for Converge. But, again, as president, you're going to align vision, you're going to inspire everyone and you're going to multiply resources. So, as we close, can you take a moment and pray for our listeners, especially those connected to a Converge church, who serve with converge in any capacity or might be interested in learning about Converge?

Pastor John K. Jenkins Sr. : I will gladly pray. Let me pray for that. Father, in Jesus' name, I'm so thankful and grateful for this opportunity to share with the listeners of T time. Thank you for my precious sister, Twanna. Pray for the pastors and first ladies and wives and women and others who are listening to this podcast. I pray, Father, for you to order their steps and guide their paths and build a fence around them to protect them from the attacks of the enemy, and Father, allow us to be able to accomplish together that which you have ordained for us to do. That your name would be exalted, that your name would be glorified, that souls would be saved and people will be changed. Marriages will be brought back together, families will be strengthened and when it's all said and done, the glory will be given to the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you and pray for this father in his name, amen.

Twanna Henderson: Amen. Again, pastor Jenkins, and President Jenkins, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule. It has truly been an honor talking with you and sharing the opportunity to partner with you and serve under you. To all of our listeners, I'm Twanna Henderson and I look forward to connecting with you the next time, be blessed of the Lord.