Hi, I am Jared Warner,the pastor Friends at Willow Creek. I have served as a bi-vocational minister among the Friends community in the Kansas City area since 2010. I have been a pastor within Evangelical Friends Church Mid America Yearly Meeting for twenty years, and am a member of the Yearly Meeting Elders Board.
I am a pastor or recorded minister in the Evangelical Friends Church Mid America Yearly Meeting. To give a short introduction to the EFC-MA, it is a group of evangelical minded Friends in the Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, and we also have a church in North Dakota and Minnesota. EFC-MAYM is also part of the larger group called Evangelical Friends International, which as the name implies is an international group of Evangelical Friends.
For many outside of the Friends or Quaker traditions you may ask what a recorded minister is: the short answer is that I have demonstrated gifts of ministry, and our Yearly Meeting has recorded this in their annual minutes. To describe this another way, recording is similar to ordaining a pastor, but as Friends we believe that God ordains and mankind can only record what God has already done.
More about myself: I have a degree in crop science from Fort Hays State University, and a masters degree in Christian ministry from Friends University. Both of these universities are in Kansas. I lived most of my life in Kansas on a farm in the north central area, just south of the Nebraska boarder. I currently live and minister in the Kansas City, MO area and am a pastor in a semi-programed Friends Meeting called Willow Creek Friends Church. (You can find out more about our Meeting on Facebook or on our website).
I am a husband, a father of two boys, and a grandfather (I’m the old…well older guy above). When I am not at work or at the church my family loves hockey. My youngest son is currently a hockey goalie for a team in the metro area, you might be able to find one of his games somewhere on YouTube.
Bi-vocational Ministry comes with the difficulties of finding time and finances to encourage people within their community, as well as finding a balance with family. In this current age of the church, most ministers are bi-vocational and most of these ministers feel overwhelmed because they struggle the balance of ministry, secular jobs, and family. I have been a bi-vocational pastor since I began ministry in 2003, and have found that most of the ministry work I do is outside the Meetinghouse. I understand that some people do not want to contribute to a religious organization they are not connected to personally. But if you have enjoyed my sermons online and want to assist me in encouraging others you can donate directly to my ministry.
If you want to learn more about the Friends you may want to check out this video:
Ready to Harvest “What is the Evangelical Friends Church”
Or you can watch an Interview with Pastor Warner: Who are the Quakers?
or visit this page on our website: Faith and Practice
I hope you have a great day, and look forward to hearing from you.
Jared Warner
Contact me:
pastor@jwquaker.com
“programmed Friends Meeting” that must mean church?
Posted by curtisbob | May 13, 2012, 3:40 PMYes Curtis, a programmed Friends Meeting is a church. Although historically Friends considered the local church as Monthly Meetings, because they would have monthly Meetings for Business. The weekly gatherings were considered Meetings for Worship. They would not use the term church because the church included all people that followed Christ, where a Friends Meeting only includes those who worship or identify with the various Friends groups.
Posted by jwquaker | May 13, 2012, 4:19 PM