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Jacqueline Lynch

Poised and articulate appropriately describe Jacqueline Lynch, pastor for community services and outreach. But these words only begin to describe a complex person like Pastor Lynch.

One of University Church's newer pastors, she has traveled a varied path that enriches what she brings to the church service and to the special ministry she oversees at ACTS (Adventist Community Team Services).

Let's start with Pastor Lynch at church. When she talks to God, she conveys a pervasive awareness that God is the audience. She doesn't presume to inform Him what He already knows or seize the moment to preach to the congregation. She conveys a similar consonance with God when she presents the carefully prepared Scripture reading, resonating with its message to the benefit of the worshipers.

At ACTS Pastor Lynch meets the challenges of serving people in need. She harnesses insights from her varied education and work experience for this task. She is a Midwesterner who spent nine years in the financial industry before resigning from a profitable position to pursue social services. In this area of service she found personal and professional fulfillment, working principally with homeless women and their children.

The zenith of her fulfilling career path came from a nationally known, non-profit agency, which invited Pastor Lynch to become a member of a Christian ministries city-wide team addressing issues of homelessness in St. Paul, Minnesota. She was on the ground floor of what developed into a comprehensive rehabilitation program, opening a new transitional housing shelter facility, Naomi Family Center. Pastor Lynch served as executive director of services for the center's residents, who received life skills training, career education, and Christian counseling. Her years in the social services industry totaled fourteen. Propelled by the need she found there, Pastor Lynch determined to pursue further education at Andrews University, where she completed theological training, completing a master of divinity degree while for the first time taking on a pastor's role at a church in Niles, Michigan, where she served as an intern.

Pastor Lynch also began participating as a Bible instructor in evangelism under appointment by the North American division of Seventh-day Adventists in New York, Michigan, and Minnesota. Invited to speak at women's ministry events, campmeetings, community service conferences and youth retreats, she honed her pastoral skills.

Most recently (2003) Pastor Lynch became the first female chaplain in the history of Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama. In that setting, she loved her involvement with the students on campus, supporting their academic and spiritual endeavors enthusiastically. Believing she was placed on his earth to bring encouragement and hope to those traveling the "rough side of life's journey," Pastor Lynch is filling her University Church position as pastor for outreach ministries with vigor.

Title: Pastor for Outreach Ministries

Responsibilities at LLUC: Executive Director of ACTS and community services

At LLUC since: 2006

Name of Spouse: N/A

Previous Pastoral Experience: Chaplain at Oakwood College, Huntsville, Alabama. Executive Director of Naomi Family Center. Pastoral intern a the Niles Philadelphia Seventh-day Adventist Church in Niles, Michigan. Evangelist for the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists "Hope for the Homeland" evangelistic series. Bible instructor for evangelism series in New York, Michigan and Minnesota.

Education: BS in Organizational Administration from Northwestern Christian College in Minnesota. MDiv from Theological Seminary, Andrews University in 2002