British student follows God’s call to Texas church, attend Southwestern

For many, the calling to vocational ministry is realized through the ministry of their home church. However, for Jared Simpson, a Master of Arts in Christian Education with a concentration in family ministry student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, this calling was realized through the ministry and work of a church thousands of miles away.

Growing up in northeast England, Simpson was not involved in church as a young child. With his parents not being Christians, the most exposure to the Bible came through singing Christian songs at school or attending an Easter or Christmas church service with his school.

Though his family did not attend church, Simpson was curious when it came to the Bible and Christianity.

“I had some degree of curiosity about Christianity, even though we weren’t going to church as a family,” said Simpson. “Over time, that kind of built as I noticed that people were getting out of bed on a Sunday morning and going somewhere and gathering.” He added that there had “to be a ready why” he did not know about people going to church.

Simpson said that he was waiting for someone to invite him to visit the church as he “didn’t feel comfortable just picking a random church and walking up.” One day, that person came, and Simpson accepted the invitation.

“I had a friend who was involved in church and I was probably the easiest evangelism she had,” recalled Simpson. “She invited me to church, and I started going to youth group with her after that.”

In his teenage years, Simpson began to become more serious about his faith and came to know Christ as his Lord and Savior while at a large youth event.

“There was a gathering of about 600 students there, which for England is huge,” said Simpson. “I just realized that God was much bigger than all of this. He is real, and I knew right then that I would follow Him for the rest of my life.”

When Simpson was around 16 years old, a group of students on a mission trip from Fort Worth, Texas, introduced him to an experience he had never had before: a man who loved Jesus and followed Him.

“Normandale Baptist Church in Fort Worth sent over some teenagers on a mission trip, and we ended up starting almost an exchange system,” said Simpson. “I started coming to Texas as a late teenager and went to youth camp, helped with VBS, and served in local missions things. I began to realize that the God in England was the same God in Texas.”

After finishing high school, Simpson trained to be a teacher and even taught in an elementary school before realizing his calling to move across the world to Texas. In 2017, Simpson moved from Whitely Bay, England, to Fort Worth and joined the staff at Normandale Baptist Church as the full-time children and families pastor. He also married his wife, Kaicee, in September of that year.

After serving in full-time children’s ministry for just under three years, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and provided Simpson with the time to consider higher education at a seminary. After being encouraged by some of the staff members and elders at his church, Simpson decided to begin studying at Southwestern Seminary utilizing the eight-week accelerated courses in the summer term of 2020.

“I met with an admissions counselor, and they told me that they were launching some of those eight-week courses,” said Simpson. “The classes started two days later, but I spoke to my wife, and I began taking classes right there. I was grateful to have been learning in the church, but I thought it was time to supplement that with learning in the classroom too.”

Since being at Southwestern, Simpson has been influenced by several of the professors on campus, including Karen Kennemur, professor of children’s ministry.

“I have appreciated and really enjoyed my classes that have been centered around discipleship, education, or children’s ministry,” said Simpson. “Dr. Kennemur’s classes, by a long way, have been the ones that have just interested me the most and engage me the most.”

Simpson added that another instrumental professor for him has been Chris Shirley, dean of the Jack D. Terry School of Educational Ministries and professor of educational ministries.

“I would say that Dr. Shirley has been influential, too, as he gave me my personal tour,” said Simpson. “Out of that, I was able to keep a relationship with him and do some mentoring with him. And it has been helpful that I took a class with him as well.”

Simpson said that he enjoys that the professors at Southwestern are not simply interested in the academic side of the lives of students, but that they are equally concerned with their callings.

“I have been able to share my calling with various professors and seek wisdom, prayer, and opportunities from them,” said Simpson. “They are genuinely interested in helping me live out my calling and are giving themselves to guiding me in that.”

Outside of the classroom, Simpson said that he has been influenced by his classmates.

“The relational side of being in classes has been huge for me,” said Simpson. “Being in kid’s ministry, you rarely get to be in the worship service with adults or in an adult life group, but that’s what I appreciate about getting to be here and being around others in the same ministry.”

Simpson is expected to graduate in the summer term of 2025 because he took some time off as he and his wife welcomed their first child in 2023. After recognizing that his family needed to be the top priority, Simpson decreased his semester load to focus on his family and ministry.

Simpson has followed God’s calling on his life by moving across the world from England. He is using his experience at Southwestern Seminary to supplement his practical knowledge from working in a church and he is gaining wisdom from the professors who have many more years of vocational ministry service.