Jay Ham, lead church planter at The Church In The Dirt, recently joined the Church Planting Team of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention (ABSC).
Ham follows Roger Gaunt, who is retiring to spend time with his family.
“Jay is a native Arkansan, and he has a vast amount of ministry experience. He has been a missions pastor for 18 years and a church planter with Church In The Dirt. He will be our Cowboy Church Planting strategist, taking over from Roger Gaunt who has done a masterful job for the ABSC for the past 22 years,” said Vince Blubaugh, who serves as the team leader for the ABSC Church Planting Team.
Ham is a graduate from Ouachita Baptist University, where he received bachelor’s degree in 1994. He has served as the missions pastor at First Baptist Church in Russellville, planting churches since 2008. He will continue his work here as well as serve Arkansas Baptists in this new role.
“Not only will he be working with our cowboy churches, but he is also a cowboy church planter himself. With his ministry and church planting experience he will be an asset to the ABSC and our partnering churches,” Blubaugh said. “He faithfully serves the Lord and loves his wife, children, grandchildren and serves his flock well.”
Ham’s ministry also includes serving as a qualified behavioral health professional/chaplain for Recovery Health Systems in Russellville.
Ham, along with the other members of the ABSC Church Planting Team, are actively partnering with the North American Mission Board’s Send Network to reach Arkansans with the Gospel.
“Arkansas Baptists have such a rich foundation and heritage with cowboy churches. I’m very excited to be a part of the next generation of churches that seek to make disciple-makers of good ol’ boys like me,” Ham said.