Three Questions is a semi-regular series introducing individuals across the NAB by asking them about their story, their ministry, and what they are learning. These features on members of our NAB family also provide great opportunities to pray for them as we get to know more of their story. This week, we hear from Jason Coplen, associate pastor at Crosspointe Christian Church in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan.
What’s your story?
I grew up in a Christian home. My mother was a schoolteacher in Detroit, Michigan, working primarily with hearing-impaired children. My father was an air traffic controller at Detroit Metro Airport. I had a wonderful childhood growing up in a suburb of Detroit with my parents and my younger brother. Our church was an important part of our life growing up. My mom ran a program for senior citizens in need, and my dad ran the Wednesday night program for boys in the community. In many ways, I grew up in the “ideal” Christian home. But as I got older, certain events and circumstances caused me to question the faith I had grown up with.
The summer I turned 15, my older cousin Matt was killed in a car accident while traveling home from an amusement park about two hours from where we lived. It remains the worst moment of my life. Matt and I had grown up together. We took swimming lessons together and played basketball in our backyards together. For several summers, we spent weeks in Kentucky with our grandparents. His loss was tragic and entirely unexpected. But it also represented a point that was foundational to how I understood my faith in Jesus Christ.
I remember thinking I had two options. I could run away from the faith I was raised in, angry at God over this loss and other things going on in my life, or I could run toward my faith, finding the help I needed to get through what was a very difficult time. I made the decision to trust in the faith I had been raised with. It was then that I took ownership of the faith I had heard about my entire life. I began a journey of discovering the joys of following Jesus and the hope of Christ. . . .
There are a number of events happening this fall being hosted by the Missional Initiatives Team. There is bound to be something that interests you!
- Reframe – Training to provide an evaluative framework to help you and your church assess your evangelistic equipping efforts.
- Over Zoom – October 1, 8, 15, & 22
- Taster Table – Weekly gatherings intended to create space for those in church leadership to look at a different way of being God’s people amid seismic cultural shifts.
- Over Zoom – October 2, 9, 16, & 23
- Blue Ocean – A one-year introduction to what it means to join God on mission, be formed into a follower with the character of Christ, and learn to reach friends and neighbors with a robust Gospel in our culture.
- In person – October 21–24; February 1–4; & May 5–8
- Book Study – A discussion group for the book Forming Communities of Hope in the Great Unraveling by Alan J. Roxburgh and Roy Searle.
- Over Zoom – October 30, November 6, 13 & 20
You can find more details about each of these events by clicking on any of the events or by following the link below.
see all the upcoming missional events
The next issue of Onward – the free(!) NAB magazine full of news, stories, and updates from the North American Baptist family – is nearing completion. We are so excited to share this issue with you, but it’s not set to arrive in mailboxes across Canada and the US until mid-October. Thankfully, that should give you plenty of time to sign up to receive your free copy if you aren’t already on the mailing list. If you don’t receive this biannual publication and would like to, simply follow the link below, select the box for Onward, and fill out your name and address.