John Cox

John Cox is the lead pastor for Jericho Road Parksville, the Senior Pastor for Jericho Road Port Alberni, and team leader for all three Jericho Road campuses.

A brief autobiography. A long and winding road….

I was born (1952) and raised in Cape Town, South Africa – educated at an Anglican-based private school. Initially I thought I was destined for school teaching and studied for a BA degree at Cape Town University majoring in Psychology, English and History. However in-between the beginning and the end of that degree I took a detour and spent two years working as a veterinary assistant in Cape Town and Swaziland. After finally graduating the call to ministry began to grow louder and I spent the next year working and living as part of a community supporting the then Archbishop of Cape Town Bill Burnett. Bill really spearheaded the ‘renewal movement’ in Southern Africa and his ministry had a major impact upon me, and my subsequent decision to be ordained into the Anglican Church.

In 1978 I enrolled at Wycliffe hall in Oxford where I spent the next three years training and earning a Certificate in Theology.

After graduating from Oxford I returned to South Africa where I was ordained and served as an assistant priest in two churches in the Cape Town suburbs over a period of 4 ½ years. These were the turbulent years of apartheid where ‘being a Christian’ and bearing witness to injustice led to challenging encounters with police, authority, and violence.

Between 1985 – 96 I served as Senior Pastor of St.Alban’s Church in Port Alberni.

St. Alban’s left the Anglican communion in 1996 and started an independent fellowship in a Catholic school the next week with about 80% of the congregation at least moving together.

A year went by and ACF was establishing its new presence and identity while I personally began to experience a slow then swift emotional collapse. The end result was my resignation from ministry, a broken marriage, and a dark and deep period of depression, anger, and a spiritual black hole. It was undoubtedly the most difficult and traumatic period of my life and I certainly never thought I would ever consider returning to any form of public ministry. I went through a long period where I turned my back on God and felt abandoned, betrayed and disillusioned. However even with my back turned I could not deny God and deep within me I prayed that somehow, sometime, in some way he would get me through this hell.

For the next 8 years I worked in small business consulting in the mid-island region with varying degrees of success and satisfaction. I saw time and again the reality of money and ego’s destroying organizational growth and gradually my attempt at independence and success on my terms dissolved into sawdust. Once you have tasted God you never forget the real meaning of values and priorities. Slowly I turned back and reached out to Him and over the past few years He has been graciously working His healing within me. Part of that process was writing a basic pre-Christian book that is scheduled to be published by Harvest House in late 2007. When I heard of the new Anglican initiative (the one I had hoped for 8 years earlier) I contacted someone involved and began a series of conversation over a period of almost two years.

During that time my own inner faith and spiritual strength has been nourished and fortified together with an increasing conviction that God is calling/pushing/prodding me to return to ministry again. ‘Jericho Road’ began to crystallize as a possibility about six months ago and here we are… ready to test the waters and step out in faith on an adventure with God that has taken a long time, and much pain and refining before the time has been right for germination.

I came to this place with a sense of awe and humility, very aware of being a wounded servant and as Paul said about himself, “I am the greatest of sinners.”… but also confident that in fact there is no other way for a human being to be authentically human. I long for a church community that loves to worship as a means of enrichment and nourishment to equip each person to love and support others around them. I long for a place where people are accepted in their incompleteness and when sin (areas of struggler and/or rebellion with God) is revealed they are loved even more rather than shunned or rejected. I long for a place where God’s Word is alive and God’s Holy Spirit is given room to make that Word real and life changing in our midst. I long for a place where we break bread together and celebrate the wonder and mystery of the risen Lord Jesus. I long for a place in our community where the Christians are known by their love, their hope, their compassion, and their joy. It is journey of a lifetime from Jericho to Jerusalem and into eternity – and I suspect that those who are perpetual pilgrims in the Christian faith only discover such places.

I am married to Sheryl (who works with special needs children) and between us we have four adult children.

Dave De Jong

Dave De Jong is associate Pastor of Jericho Road Port Alberni

Dave and Megan De Jong both grew up in Port Alberni, were married there in 1994 (by long-time friend John Cox), and continue to live there with their two boys. Although Dave had the benefits of being raised in a Christian home and regularly attending church with his family, he didn’t come to a personal, trusting relationship with Jesus until his early adult years.

Soon after this life-changing encounter he sensed a call to work with teens and began working out that call over a 17 year period in a variety of ways:

·Volunteer youth leader and staff positions in local churches

·Participant in a D.T.S. (Discipleship Training School) with Youth With A Mission — Amsterdam

·Member of the Port Alberni Youth Network (or P.A.Y.N. – an association of local Christian youth workers)

·A 15 year relationship with Young Life of Canada; 11 years as an Area Director in Port Alberni and Ucluelet/Tofino, and 4 more years as a volunteer leader.

During and after his tenure with Young Life Dave attended Regent College (Vancouver B.C.) to further prepare for service in the church, graduating with Honors with a Master’s Degree in Applied Theology in 2010.

In addition to his care and concern for youth, Dave also brings a heart for worship to Jericho Road, having served as a worship leader in several local churches, at many interchurch services and community events, and at various leadership conferences with Young Life. He also has a passion for equipping and encouraging others in their faith through small group coaching and specific training initiatives.

“I am excited to be a part of the leadership team at Jericho Road Port Alberni. It is my hope that we at Jericho Road will endeavor to love God with our whole being (heart, soul, mind, and strength), that we will care for one another and our neighbors in the same ways God has cared for us, and that we will participate wholeheartedly with Jesus in His Kingdom work here, in the surrounding region, and throughout the world.”

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