Alan Adler: 0:06

Welcome to the Leading Conversations podcast sponsored by the Excel Leadership Network. On each episode, jd Paring will have conversations with church planting pastors and leaders from around the country. You can learn more about how to connect with Excel at the end of this podcast. Let's join JD now and listen in on this leading conversation.

J.D. Pearring: 0:29

Well, welcome to another edition of the Leading Conversations podcast with Excel Leadership Network. And today we have the great, the fantastic, the brilliant Jim Jessup from Jessup University.

J.D. Pearring: 0:43

It was named after Jim and he's the man today.

J.D. Pearring: 0:47

Jim, thanks for being here.

Jim Jessup: 0:48

You're welcome, brother. That was a lot of adjectives, though, I don't know.

Jim Jessup: 0:53

Some of them are even true. Yeah, maybe Not if you ask my wife, but okay, good to be with you.

J.D. Pearring: 1:01

So the university's name. Did your grandfather start it?

Jim Jessup: 1:06

Yeah, 1939. He started San Jose Bible College, knew that the best way to in fact, this really fits well with our interview. I think, jd, he knew the best way. He felt, anyways the best way to change culture was to plant a church. And then he realized, as he had planted a couple churches, you know, the best way to plant or to change culture was to plant a church. And then he realized, as he had planted a couple churches, you know, the best way for me to plant churches is to start a bible college where I could train up some young men and women who would go and plant those churches. So in the decade of the 40s the decade of the 40s he started in 1939 he planted 40 different churches. Uh, many of those are still alive today oh my goodness, greater Bay Area yeah, isn't that cool.

Jim Jessup: 1:45

Wow, yeah, pretty neat well, tell me about your story.

J.D. Pearring: 1:48

You grew up in the Bay Area yeah, yeah, born in Lancaster.

Jim Jessup: 1:52

My dad was a pastor down there in the Southern Cal area Lancaster desert, high desert and then moved to San Jose when I was about five years old as my father would move into ministry at San Jose Bible College, came back to work at the school that he graduated from that my grandfather started and yeah, I guess I just saw a man and a woman, my mom and dad, who they lived out, what they believed.

Jim Jessup: 2:21

You know, you hear about a lot of preacher's kids who kind of they take a turn in life, they go a different direction. I never really chose a different direction, I just kind of I would say I had my experiences, great experiences with the Lord, but more merged into that relationship, you know, from an early childhood years and when I was 16, I was at a summer camp and the speaker was preaching and I felt a call in my life to say, you know, at least to say to the Lord God, if you'd open up doors for ministry for me, I think I'd like to walk through those doors. You know, if those would open, if you'd show me the doors, I'll go the right way. And that's when the opportunity came to go ahead and go to San Jose Bible College. I loved playing basketball. We had a basketball team. I was still not knowing really what I wanted to do in life, but went and played ball and got into youth ministry while I was there.

J.D. Pearring: 3:15

What was your position in basketball?

Jim Jessup: 3:18

Well, we were not real tall, not real big team so often I had to play center. I'm only 6'4" so I put a little padding in my shoes, you know, to try to bring me up a little bit. Those were the days when Simpson was still over in San Francisco and Bethany Bible College was in Scotts Valley and those were two of our rivals that we played all the time. We'd played Dominican Catholic College and Holy Names over in the Bay Area Catholic colleges and we just had a great time with it.

Jim Jessup: 3:44

But a buddy in school that was ahead of me, he was a youth pastor at a church in Pleasant Hill and he got near graduation. He said you ought to come and maybe be their student pastor, like I've been for the last couple years. And I went and talked to the pastor and I did that for the last two years of college and realized, man, this is fun, I enjoy this. I was raising up some young people, teaching them about who the Lord was. A couple of them ended up going to Bible college themselves and I thought, man, they're going to pay me for this. I think I could do this. So I went into full-time youth ministry when I graduated and really enjoyed it, really enjoyed it. So that's kind of my journey. I guess I don't know how many details you want, but my wife I found her my junior year of college as well, and she said she thought she could be married to a pastor.

J.D. Pearring: 4:34

Okay and so we said after doing the youth thing, what did you do next?

Jim Jessup: 4:40

After youth ministry, which was in Klamath Falls, Oregon, we moved up to Oregon for it and loved it. We really started thinking I want to do more education, I'd like to get my master's degree. But that was back in 1989. And there weren't a whole lot of online courses yet.

J.D. Pearring: 5:00

There was no online, there was nothing.

Jim Jessup: 5:03

And so we decided, hey, let's go ahead and move back to Illinois. That'll put us fairly close to my wife's family in Kansas and we could commute over there occasionally for some family get-togethers. And so Lincoln Christian Seminary in Illinois was where I ended up. Going to seminary, I had some friends that went there. It was an independent Christian church college and back in those days I was a little bit more well the word wouldn't be sectarian, but I was a little bit more in my denominational relationships you know of the independent Christian church.

J.D. Pearring: 5:38

Weren't we all.

Jim Jessup: 5:40

Yeah, and that's really changed nowadays. Man, I just my first question is not what your background was, but do you love Christ? You know? And so, yeah, I finished my master's there. I was a pastor of a small church in Mount Auburn, illinois, and finished my master's in pastoral care and counseling, Looked at my wife and said you don't want to stay in Illinois, do you? And she said no, and so we moved back to California.

Jim Jessup: 6:06

I pastored a church in San Jose for a while and then I jumped around a lot when I was young. Then I worked at the college, helped my dad for a little while. Then I went back into ministry in Napa at a large church in Napa. It was First Christian Church, about a thousand people, and I was on staff, even thinking about taking over from the senior guy. He hired me to take over from him and as we got close to those years where I thought it was time, he said, oh, no, I'm gonna be around another five years or more, jim, oh.

Jim Jessup: 6:41

And I started thinking I don't think I want to hang out that much longer before I take my own church. And it was right then that my dad was getting itchy at the land in San Jose. It just wasn't big enough land. We were stuck at 350 students on about four and a half acres of usable land in San Jose as San Jose Bible College. And that's when he started looking and found the land right up here in Rockland and I was talking with him some. I said, well, could you use a guy helping with the churches? I really thought if I came over and helped with the churches to connect with the college, maybe God would just lead me into the right church that I ought to go be a pastor at you know, and now I've been doing this for 20, 20, what two years now.

J.D. Pearring: 7:29

Has it been?

Jim Jessup: 7:30

22 years since the move. Well, in the early 20, or early 03, I moved in. I was the first guy here on campus.

Jim Jessup: 7:40

Oh wow, yeah, February of 03. And so this January, I guess we would call it 22. It's just amazing. Yeah, we opened our doors in 04. So it took us a while. We built the infrastructure, got relationships, built some donors up to get behind us, sold the land in San Jose and the summer of 04,. I'll never forget land in San Jose and the summer of 04. I'll never forget what a whirlwind man to get everybody in and all the faculty moved up and all the students who would join us from San Jose and opened our doors with about 450 students in the fall of 04. Isn't that something. Now we're well close to 2000 now.

J.D. Pearring: 8:25

Wow, Well, your dad was the one who orchestrated that move and I know that you had a really close relationship with your dad. Can you talk about that? Oh, sure.

Jim Jessup: 8:37

Yeah, you know, like I said earlier, he just really did live out what he preached and so it was hard not to want to be around him. He's just a great guy and really was my best friend. He passed away in 20. And it was well, real quick. In 92 is when my grandfather died, and many of your listeners won't know this story, although I think I told you before.

Jim Jessup: 9:05

In 92, my grandfather, william Jessup, and my dad and I were able to preach at a church together in Morgan Hill. We were guest speakers and grandpa was 86 years old and as he finished his message on passing on your faith to the next generation that was our title, our theme Passing on your Faith he finished his message, sat down and I got up and halfway through my sermon grandpa had a heart attack and died. And I often joke now as I tell that story. Yeah, at churches sometimes I'll tell a story. I say no, no one has died since while I've been preaching, so keep breathing. But it was that story that would prompt my father, because my father was there that night. He watched me do the mouth-to-mouth resuscitation as a Boy Scout leader, came forward and did compressions on my grandfather, but it was time to go home. How?

J.D. Pearring: 9:56

traumatic, was that for you.

Jim Jessup: 9:58

Oh, it was Wow, you know. I mean it can still kind of choke me up at times. I think about my grandpa, because I knew him well I was 26 at the time and yeah, it was rough, and yet it was such a bittersweet thing, you know, to be able to hear his last message, and it was about passing on your faith to the next generations, not just family, but those of the next generation. And that was his heart to start a Bible college. He wanted to pass the word on to the next generation and you had to be there to hear him and then for him to hear me. You know, and I often reflect on that and I don't know. You know, god's timing is impeccable, isn't it sometimes that God would say, bill, I think it's time to come home, and Gramps would tilt his head back and start to choke on his tongue a little bit, as that would be his last breaths and he would go on to be with the.

J.D. Pearring: 10:49

Lord Can you imagine a better experience listening to your grandson preach. That's when you think you know I can go.

Jim Jessup: 11:02

Oh man, yeah, and it was a little traumatic for the 150 or so people that were there that Sunday, but in many ways, though, really very powerful, I think, for their own lives too. Now then what happens, jd, was that in 20, my father and I my father being almost 85, he would turn 85 in June of 20. And around March, right when COVID was breaking out and they were shutting churches down, a church in Sunnyvale asked us to come and preach because they wanted to videotape it, but they would still have a few in the audience. Well, we're driving there together and my dad turns to me and says, as he started to do a lot when he was almost 85, was to talk about his home going. And he says to me you know, son, it'd be kind of neat to go home like grandpa did, and I'm driving the car for us to go preach somewhere. I said no, I said that wouldn't be good, man, don't go on that, don't go that way and don't do it today, okay, and he kind of laughed and I laughed, and I tell people now, when I'm preaching, that you really can be at peace with death when you really do trust in God, and it's not until you are at peace with death, I say that you'll really find peace in life, because if you're not at peace in death, then you'll be spending all of life simply trying not to die. And that's what a lot of people are doing they're spending their life simply trying not to die. So my dad and I, we were able to joke about his home going. He said, no, you're right, dying in a church service is probably hard for other people too. He said, maybe, maybe, and he just said it like a little kid. It was really cool.

Jim Jessup: 12:51

He said, maybe God would take me home in Yosemite, because every summer we backpacked in Yosemite and literally for the last oh gosh, 20, 30 years, we had gone into the back country of Yosemite, hardly missing a summer. And he loved this lake called Vogelsang Lake, that we would go past it and on to what were called Florence Lakes. And well, uh, that summer, uh, july 28th of 2020, we, uh, we drove up there and had four buddies with us from the school here and, and when dad got to Vogelsang Lake, he took a nap and he went to start and fish around the left-hand side and he had a heart attack and he died. Amazing, you know. I think back on it and uh, he just, he just dropped. And uh, david tim's one of our, he's a dean of our theology and leadership. He was with us and he was the first one to get over to him, said, jim, come quick. And, yeah, his heart had stopped and it was too late to do anything.

Jim Jessup: 13:55

So we, uh, we uh wrapped his body up and laid him by my tent, and the next morning the helicopter would come in to pick him up. It still hits me, man, I tell you that story.

Jim Jessup: 14:11

But, boy, what a, what a. Well, you know, I sat all night pretty much. I didn't sleep hardly at all, of course. Sure, I sat there night pretty much, I didn't sleep hardly at all, of course. I sat there thinking about him and I just realized how gracious God was to answer that kind of prayer and how neat it was to be able to be with him in a place that he loved so very much. Pretty cool, and luckily I was with four guys that were just, you know, in deep in faith with the Lord and we were celebrating his life together and it was a great time.

J.D. Pearring: 14:47

Well, jim, you, you are a father figure to a lot, of, a lot of people these days, and I think part of that's because you've had such good examples and you don't. You don't strike me as somebody who's got a big father wound, you, you strike me as somebody who's just real thrilled to have just wonderful parents and grandparents.

Jim Jessup: 15:10

Yeah, thank you. I do count myself as being blessed for that I, I, I do. I do hurt for some folks who didn't have that kind of growing up, but I do challenge them to make the opportunity for those whom they're going to pass that legacy on to themselves you know, yeah, yeah.

J.D. Pearring: 15:28

So what is it that you do at at Jessup? You know, I said are you going to be the president? And you were like no, I don't want that. You know, I said are you going to be the president?

Jim Jessup: 15:37

And you were like, no, I don't want that. Yeah, boy, there is a lot to it nowadays. Boy, if you were to be the president of a Christian liberal arts university, especially in California, man, can you imagine trying to hold a high ethical, high moral standard with your students? Keep your dorms separated as men and women and bathrooms separated for men and women, and, oh my goodness. And yet God's been really gracious in that We've had some wonderful donors who just continue to believe in what we're doing. They believe in strong gospel principles, and so my role as director of church relations, my role, is to try to keep the first sentence of our, or the first phrase of our mission statement really in the forefront. And our mission statement is in partnership with the church.

Jim Jessup: 16:29

The purpose of Jessup University is to prepare transformational leaders for the glory of God, and so that's in partnership with the church. We really do want to join with the church in raising up these leaders. We know if the church doesn't raise up young people who love the Lord, we're probably not going to get the students here who are going to go and transform the world for Christ. They might come because of business program, they might come because of a music program or our nursing program now, or aviation. We even have aviation. You can get your pilot's license with us. But and those are great and I love the fact that Christians are coming in those degrees to go and try to make a difference in the world.

Jim Jessup: 17:13

But I just really want to have the pastors know, who might be listening to these words now, that their opportunity to raise a young person to hear the call of God in their life, to plant a church, to hear the call of God in their life, to pastor a group of people, to lead them in the ways of the Lord, you know, to teach the scriptures well, that's who I hope will come to our school so that we can continue to fulfill that mission that my grandfather started of planting churches and helping the church.

Jim Jessup: 17:52

So that's really, at the essence, my role. I do try to have churches support us if they believe in that mission and really they're supporting our scholarship fund, so they're supporting the discounts that we would give to students who can't afford to come. These partner churches, which we have almost 150 now really neat 150 churches that give over $300,000 each year now to the scholarship fund really makes a difference and I oversee that and with my young man sitting behind me here, roland. He's my associate now doing a fantastic job with youth ministries and trying to challenge them, challenge our youth pastors out there, to do what we were just talking about raising up these young people to hear God's call and to consider, maybe, a degree in ministry of some sort.

J.D. Pearring: 18:45

And I do know that churches contact you about placement openings. You got a stack of churches there that need pastors.

Jim Jessup: 18:54

Yep, I sure do. You know, after 20-some years, 22 years, it's been really neat. The relationships I've built, I mean even with yourself, jd, as you reached out and welcomed me to come to one of your gatherings. So appreciate that. And now I got to be honest. I just I probably respond to fires more than I do plan and try to strategize.

Jim Jessup: 19:20

I get calls all the time from churches hey, we don't have a pastor, We've heard you'll help. Hey, we need a new youth guy. That's why I had to hire Rowan's too, just to help me with some of that. Hey, we're thinking about shutting our church down or we want to merge with somebody. Hey, we're thinking about shutting our church down or we want to merge with somebody. Do you know anybody? Oh well, yeah, and I get together with them and I'm kind of liking it to be in the e-harmony for churches. You know, okay, I got this church over here doesn't have a pastor and they're going really well. I got this church over here does have a pastor, but they need a building. Let's get them over here together, you know, and I love it. It's just been really, really. It's been very satisfying to see how I've been able to connect people and be able to connect the church, so it's been good.

J.D. Pearring: 20:10

And talk about your preaching Ben. You have a preaching club and you do teach preaching classes. Yeah, yeah, we have a preaching class and you do teach preaching classes.

Jim Jessup: 20:19

Yeah, yeah, we have a preaching class about every other year, but because it's just again, not enough students coming to consider pastoral ministries. But there are a lot of students who do want to be able to preach. They want to be able to get up and speak God's word well, and so our theme verse for my club. I have a club that meets every Monday and we had 22 in it this last semester, so I was very encouraged by that. They are of all different majors. Some of them are leadership and ministry majors, but some of them are math majors and social science and public policy. It's really fun to see the different majors that want to come because the theme verse Some of them are math majors and social science and public policy. It's really fun to see the different majors that want to come because the theme verse is 1 Peter 3.15,. You know, set apart Christ as Lord and always be ready to give a reason for the hope that you have. So I just challenge them how they can get up in front of a group, begin to get comfortable sharing God's word, and it's really a fun time.

Jim Jessup: 21:20

I teach a little bit in the club, not a lot, I try not to make it a class. I want them up speaking, but I do teach them a little bit about how do you put together a sermon. And then I just challenge those who are ready to get up and do it. In club they give a 20-minute sermon. We critique it. Everyone in the class tells us here's what we think we heard, here's what we think you were trying to get across, here's suggestions we have for you. And if they do a really good job, I send them to one of those churches you know that is a little church up in Wheatland doesn't have a pastor. Or a little church up in Orland that's empty or somewhere right nearby. And I just say hey, I got a, got a student who'll come preach for you and they love it. You know, it's just great, yeah, and they get to cut their teeth and practice and it's, it's a win-win.

J.D. Pearring: 22:07

Hey, give us your quick and best pitch for either coming to Jessup or supporting oh man, you know, I just really still believe in what my grandfather said.

Jim Jessup: 22:20

I really do think one of the best ways to uh and I guess I would use the word help guys like yourself plant churches, one of the best ways to uh help other churches plant more churches is to prepare young people who would feel a call to go into it, because I think that's probably what you're looking for all the time is guys who are ready, guys and gals who are ready to go plant right.

Jim Jessup: 22:45

There's not enough, and so my pitch is that, boy, if you're interested in maybe helping the church from a leadership capacity, an actual occupational pastor, uh, then I'd love to have you consider jessup university. At both the bachelor's degree level or at our master's level, we've got an mal master of arts and leadership. We also, now, because of our relationship out of portland with multnomah, we now have the d-men or the m, and the DMIN is available here at Jessup now, and I do believe that there's a strong arm of practical. You know what I've been watching with our faculty? They do a good job of the practical side. It's not all head knowledge, getting them into churches that are doing well, serving through the internships, residencies and then learning and growing, even in some church plants that are started with some of our you know, interns that are helping out.

J.D. Pearring: 23:41

Good, good, good, and I'm assuming that John Jackson's going to listen to this. So tell us something about John Jackson.

Jim Jessup: 23:51

Fantastic leader he has taken us from. I think there was maybe only six or 700 students when he took over in 2011. And so I don't know how many years that is now. I think he's on 13 or 14, whatever that would be 14 years and has done a phenomenal job. Now he is a hard guy to catch up to. He is a leader that runs out in front yeah, runs out in front so his team is exhausted at times, and so, john, if you're listening, just remember your team is running fast to try to keep up with you, but you know, in many ways, that's what a good leader does. Instead of waiting too long, he's saying come on, catch up, right, catch up, we can do this. Long. He's saying come on, catch up, right, catch up, we can do this. Um, and so, yeah, I think the future is very bright.

Jim Jessup: 24:43

We've got, uh, so many great new programs. Uh, like I mentioned just briefly the aviation program. It's a pun, but it's really taken off. I mean, it's uh, I think there's 60 students or so now in aviation. Our nursing has run through all the probation status now and it's up and just running really strong. I think it's got 50 or 60 in it as well, and so, with with Multnomah and the San Jose extension, I think we're up just under 2000 students or so. It's really been amazing. Wow, that's great. That's great, really good, really good. Hey, give us a leadership tip or two.

J.D. Pearring: 25:19

You've really been amazing. Wow, that's great. That's great, really good, really good. Hey, give us a leadership tip or two. You've been doing this a while. You're the father figure. As I said, give us a couple leadership tips.

Jim Jessup: 25:29

You know I've got these. I've got post-its all around my screen here of when I hear a really sharp leadership quote.

Jim Jessup: 25:42

You know or just a principle and I put them there because I want them to become a part of who I am. To be honest, I don't see myself as the real strong leader. I see myself as the support of those who are leading and I'm more the Barnabas, more the encourager side than I am the real strong driving leader. That's why I joked with you that if the presidency ever came up, I don't know, it'd probably kill me. I don't know if I could do it. You know, yeah, others might kill a college. It would kill me is what would happen.

Jim Jessup: 26:19

But I've got one over here from old Dallas Willard that I really love. It was a simple one. He said you know the main thing that you will bring to your church he was speaking to pastors the main thing you'll bring to your church is the person you're becoming, not who you are right now, but the person you're becoming. I really like that because I think it says to your people, it says to anybody who's following you here's where I'm headed, here's what I'm working on, here's what the results are looking like, here's who I am becoming in Christ.

Jim Jessup: 26:55

Just as Paul said, right, I press on. I've not obtained it, but I'm pressing on. So the best thing, the main thing, the greatest thing I think you bring to your church, for the pastors who are listening, and really for your own family too, as a father or a mother. The greatest thing you bring is the person you're becoming. We all make mistakes, we all have sin in our lives, we all have shortcomings, but the greatest thing you'll bring to your relationships, the person you're becoming and I really like that one, really and I ask uh, what's one area that you're working on right now?

J.D. Pearring: 27:31

I mean, you've pretty much arrived, jim, but what's one one area?

Jim Jessup: 27:36

wow, uh, you know I I'm I'm afraid. I would admit that I'm still a worrier. I'm a worrier, yeah, I can allow things to uh cause me worry. In fact, with our team this morning, our advancement team, I led, I lead our, our advancement team meetings. Just from um, the the morale side of things. We have a great strategy guy here and he does the strategy for advancement and fundraising and everything. But I'm more the pastoral side and I bring the team together in unity.

Jim Jessup: 28:11

And I showed him this little clip this morning of the Charlie Brown Christmas and I bet you've heard this one. But when Linus, at the end of the Charlie Brown Christmas show, linus tells what Christmas is all about, and he's holding his blankie and he quotes Luke, chapter 2, you know when the angels appeared and then they said don't fear. Don't fear, I bring you great or good news, of great joy. And it was at that moment he dropped his blankie. When he said great fear, he dropped his blankie. And I talked with the team about the fact that maybe some of us still have blankies because we just need that comfort, because we haven't given it all yet to the Lord. It was in that moment Linus realizes he's talking about the angel saying you don't have to fear, and he drops his blankie. If you don't know that little clip man, you ought to watch that. You can go to YouTube and see that little clip Linus drops his blanket and it is. It's really, really cute how Charles Schultz you know he had enough faith in the Lord to put that into his to his Christmas story.

Jim Jessup: 29:22

And yeah, I think I think I struggle. Still in the area of worrying, you know I worry a little bit, not only about family stuff, but I worry for the school too at times. Just as I mentioned, to be a Christian college with high moral values in California is not an easy thing. Man. Will we be able to hold on to what we believe? And I just try to keep giving it over to the Lord. Drop that blankie and rely on Him.

Jim Jessup: 29:51

Yeah.

J.D. Pearring: 29:53

Well, thank you for that, Jim. That's I need to check out. Charlie Brown, I don't remember that part, but that makes a lot of sense. Let's do our blankie. Hey, thanks for your vulnerability. Thanks for what you're doing. You're a glue that holds so many of the churches here in Northern California together, but also you're making a big impact on the students. I don't think I've ever heard anybody say a bad word about you, so I don't know if that's good or bad, but Well, I could have you interview my wife. That'll be nice.

Jim Jessup: 30:31

But thank you, brother, I appreciate that.

J.D. Pearring: 30:51

Thanks so much for being on the podcast today.

Jim Jessup: 30:52

Thank you, jd. God bless you, brother.

Alan Adler: 31:26

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