Jacob Gibbs, the newest assistant chaplain and assistant Pioneer Memorial church pastor, joined the Andrews University community at the start of this semester.
“Everyone comes with their own backgrounds. Everyone comes with their own baggage when it comes to spiritual things with God,” he said. “I am ready to work with anyone, wherever they are at. I have the opportunity to make a change for God in their [students’] lives, and that’s exciting. That's what I like about being a chaplain.”
Gibbs was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with his parents and older brother. He graduated from Andrews with a major in theology and a minor in art. He and his wife, Emily, whom he met here at Andrews, have two daughters, Eva (4) and Avianne (1), two cats and a dog. After leaving Andrews, Gibbs was a pastor for 12 years with the Michigan Conference.
One of his favorite places to go to is Yosemite National Park, California. “It's a popular populated area in the valley and you go backpacking in the middle of nowhere, near the mountains and rivers, and trees, wildlife. You should try it!” Gibbs said. “Another place I like to be is in Maine, called Pierce Pond. There are three islands you can canoe to and camp at.”
Gibbs’ main role at the Center for Faith Engagement is to serve as an associate chaplain. He never thought that he would ever see himself back here at Andrews, working as a chaplain, but he always wanted to help Andrews in some way. He has a strong passion for the youth and young adults because he wasn’t raised in an Adventist home.
His parents were divorced, but his father took custody of him and his brother when Gibbs and his mother got into a car accident, which landed his mother in the hospital for 3 years. From 13-19, he didn’t really have a mentor in his life to help guide him to make positive and good choices about lifestyle. His father was a drug addict, which soon influenced Gibbs and his brother to make poor decisions.
Growing up as a quasi-Roman Catholic with a broken family, Gibbs said, “It's an amazing story as to how God changed my life. God never gave up on us because of his grace, love, and mercy. He never stopped pursuing us.”
Gibbs wants to provide guidance to students that he did not have during his youth.
“I want to be a mentor for the youth,” he said. “I love the youth and want to be there for them.”
Last November, lead chaplain José Bourget had asked Gibbs what he thought about being a chaplain here at Andrews.
“It never crossed my mind, but I started to really think about it,” Gibbs said. “ I was thinking about all of my options. My family lives here, it’s an opportunity to focus on my passion zone, and as the year passed, I decided that it was time for a change.”
Gibbs has already realized that there is a big difference going from an academy church to working for the Center for Faith Engagement (CFE) at Andrews. He shared that after being here for only three months, he’s realized that there is excitement, a lot to learn and that he loves it here.
When asked if there are some things he wants to add or change to CFE, Gibbs said he wants to see more intentionality from the staff working with the students.
“I think of our chapel times, and I want to change how we view chapel. To make it more meaningful,” he said. “There are a lot of students here that love Jesus, and I want to figure out how we can capitalize their love for Him in ways that they can love Him more.”
Gibbs plans on starting a creative church experience where you can create art during service. He wants to take art students to academies and host art clinics for schools that cannot afford art materials.
“I want to mingle art with devotion and share about how we serve a creative God,” he said.
Gibbs wants to find out how to make spirituality more meaningful to us when we attend the spiritual events held on campus. He has many ideas and will be bringing them to the people in charge of making these decisions. He is very excited to hear your opinion on what you would like to see happen here on campus.
“I want to hear from the students who are strong in Jesus, who don’t really understand Jesus,” he said, “or have been hurt by the church or people [who] want to heal their desire to be with God.”
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.