Jerry Mitchell

Jerry Mitchell is one of our students this year. We are pleased to have him share his story with you of how and why he came to Emmaus. He was the first to apply and be accepted in the Emmaus class of 2017! We are so thankful for his heart to follow where God leads, his humility to listen as God speaks, and his desire to love and serve his fellow students while he's here.

"I ended up coming to the Emmaus School of Biblical Studies (ESBS) through no less than an act of God. I guess you could say that everyone who ends up at a school where all you do is study the Bible for ten months straight is always an act of God, however I completely recognize the work of God in getting me to this school.

I separated from the military during July 2016, where I served for five years. During these five years I was lucky enough to experience traveling the world to many exotic places. During the last of these journeys I ended up being stationed in Okinawa, Japan. Besides the adventure of living in Japan for two years I also had the pleasure of meeting Jon Black, who happened to be the Chaplin of the base chapel. Over the course of many months Jon and I's relationship grew into an amazing friendship and we developed a mentor/mentee connection.  One day, during one of our many get-togethers, Jon began to tell me of this really amazing school that he was on the board of and believed I would be a good fit for. That school happened to be ESBS. I took the next couple of months to pray about this school and eventually discerned that was where God was calling me to in the next chapter of my life. That was a year and a half ago and I can happily say that God is faithful and has brought me to this new place called Oviedo, Florida were ESBS is. It has been a month now since classes started and I can honestly say that I have been blown away by the experience thus far.

The thing that has impacted me the most so far about being here is learning how much I didn't know about my Bible. I grew up in the church. I heard all the stories and probably every sermon that you could imagine. But as the days go on here at ESBS the surprises never cease. God is using the instructors to peel back layer after layer of depth that I never knew the Bible contained. Whether it be looking at the historical context that each passage was written under or "color coding" until every page looks like a rainbow exploded onto it, I have been exposed to the beauty that truly is the Bible.

In a way that I believe only a School of Biblical Studies can do, ESBS has taken this thing I thought I knew so much about, the Bible, and has revealed to me the secrets and underlying truths buried beneath its covers. I can't wait to see what the rest of the school year entails."