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From staff sergeant to church pastor

After a career in the military, the Rev. Jim Yearsley has taken to a gentler kind of leadership.

By SHERYL KAY
Published May 19, 2006

CARROLLWOOD - Drawing on an unlikely background as a military policeman, Jim Yearsley is settling in as pastor at Village Presbyterian Church.

Yearsley this spring replaced the Rev. Ginny Ellis, who held the position on an interim basis during a two-year search for a permanent leader.

Church elders said they took their time to ensure a good fit, and they believe they have found one in 55-year-old Yearsley.

A native of Pittsburgh, Yearsley was active in the Presbyterian Church in his early youth, then enlisted in the military after high school. He built up an impressive record as a noncommissioned officer serving in hostage negotiations, and in counter-terrorist operations.

He believes his experiences as a staff sergeant best prepared him for his future as a pastor.

"It's a job of service, of caring for people on a very street level," Yearsley said. "The most important thing I did as an NCO was to take care of the young men and women under me."

After 20 years, Yearsley retired in 1990 from the Air Force fully expecting to return to civilian life with his wife and two daughters, and land a high-profile job in corporate security or law enforcement. He became an active member in church.

While looking for work, he heard about a local missionary project in need of organizational help, and decided it would be a good and meaningful way to pass the time while seeking "real" employment.

But the interim position turned into passion for Yearsley, as he helped inner city project residents organize to improve their living conditions.

Two seemingly ideal job offers came almost simultaneously, and Yearsley turned them down.

"It wasn't like I was having some epiphany," he said. "It was more like a gentle nudging-I call it sacred nagging - God was bringing me fully back to the church."

Yearsley enrolled in the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and graduated in 1997. He spent his first three years with a small congregation called Good Shepherd, and then five years with Mount Hope Community Church in Pittsburgh, leaving his last pulpit simply because he felt, "I was at the end of my effectiveness there.''

A self-proclaimed Calvinist, Yearsley considers himself a conservative. "I believe the word of God is inerrant, and that the only means to salvation is through Jesus Christ," he said, "so I was looking for churches that hold that to be important."

Bible-based Christianity is just what Village Presbyterian was looking for in its new pastor, so a good match became evident.

"In this part of the country we tend to be going toward a more conservative approach in teaching the word of God, and Jim fit into that mold real well," said Robert Kerns, a founding member of the 30-year-old church.

Today there is a renewed spirit at the church, Kerns said, with membership growing steadily. That's a good thing, said Yearsley, as he has many new plans for the church, particularly in outreach and missionary work. He envisions future projects right here in Tampa, as well as on the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast, in Honduras, and in Africa.

"My passion is transformation ministry, local and global," he said. "We need to find a way to be the hands and feet of Jesus."

Village Presbyterian is at 13115 West Village Drive in Carrollwood. A contemporary service is held Sundays at 8:45 a.m., and a traditional service is held at 11 a.m. For more information, call the church at 961-4115. Contact reporter Sheryl Kay at skreporter@hotmail.com or call 813-230-8788.

[Last modified May 18, 2006, 13:26:05]