Names:  Jack & Sandy Mercer Favorite Movie:  Jack:  My favorite recent movie was Children of Men based on the English mystery writer P.D. James' book of the same title.  As one reviewer commenting on Children of Men wrote, "Echoes of the gospel—both subtle and obvious—occur at every turn."  Best road trip movies.  Old school: Easy Rider.  New school: Little Miss Sunshine.  Sandy:  My favorite movie is Babette's Feast, based on the Isak Dinesen short story by the same name.  Every time I watch it, I cry when, through the mystery of the meal created by the generosity of the culinary artist, Babette, wrongs are forgiven, and the General says, "For mercy and truth have met together, and righteousness and bliss have kissed one another."  OK, I loved Little Miss Sunshine, too. Favorite Song: Jack: Give Me Jesus by Jeremy Camp.  An updated version of one of the greatest Christian spirituals ever written.  Sandy:  O come, O come, Emmanuel performed by Jessye Norman on her Christmastide CD.  I'd keep it in the CD player year round if my family didn't give me such a hard time about it. Favorite Vacation: Jack & Sandy:  To date our twenty-fifth anniversay trip to Scotland in 2001  (See photo taken on the Island of Lewis and Harris off the coast of Scotland) Favorite Saturday Activities: Jack: Watch Vanderbilt football, play golf, go to a movie with Sandy.  Sandy:  Putter in the yard, drink tea and read beside our backyard water garden, walk and/or pray with friends, do anything with Jack. Most Influential Book: Jack: Joy Unspeakable: Power and Renewal in the Holy Spirit by Martyn Lloyd-Jones.  Martyn Lolyd-Jones reoriented everything I had believed as an evangelical with respect to the Holy Spirit with this book.  Best road trip books.  Old School: Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon.  New School: Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller.  Most Overrated: On The Road by Jack  Kerouac.  Sandy:  Ditto about Joy Unspeakable.  My spiritual experience was transformed by Jack's teaching on this subject.  I also have to mention another book I reread every few years: Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro.  Every time I read it I'm reminded that a life lived for Christ is never wasted.  I'm quite sure I'm the only reader to take away that message from the book.  When I couldn't convince Jack to read the book, I took him to the movie.  Near the end he leaned over and said,  "If Stevens doesn't get the girl, I've just wasted two hours of my life." Maybe, if he had read the book . . . Our Life Verse: “Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come.” (Psalm 71: 17-18 NIV)

A Kentucky native, Jack attended Vanderbilt University on a football scholarship where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree as a religious studies major. While in Nashville he and Sandy, his wife, met in the college department of Belmont Heights Baptist Church. Following his undergraduate studies at Vanderbilt, Jack earned a Master of Divinity degree at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Shortly after completing his seminary work, both Sandy and Jack felt God's call to serve in the northeast. Responding to that call led to a ten year pastorate in New Jersey. While in New Jersey Jack completed a Doctor of Ministry degree from Princeton Theological Seminary. After his time in New Jersey, Jack moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 1992 where he pastored HillSong Church for twelve years leading the church through a period of spiritual renewal and church growth. Jack currently serves as Senior Pastor of Harrisonburg Baptist Church.

Jack has served both as a consultant and teacher in the areas of long range planning and visionary leadership for the local church. Additionally, recognized for his understanding of preaching, Jack was asked to serve as the editor for the preaching section of The Complete Library of Christian Worship under the general editorship of the late Dr. Robert Webber.   Currently Jack is the Moderator-Elect of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Virginia,  President of the Harrisonburg Pregnancy Center board, and was recently elected to serve on the national coordinating committee of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

Sandy, also a Kentucky native, received her undergraduate degree in special and elementary education from Peabody College for Teachers of Vanderbilt University and her masters in education from the University of Louisville.  She has taught elementary, middle, high school and special education in Kentucky, New Jersey, North Carolina and Virginia.  She is currently a special education teacher at Harrisonburg High School in Harrisonburg, VA.

In 2000 she was the first recipient of the Dean Smith Spirit in Teaching Award and Teacher of the Year at Estes Hills Elementary School.  In 1988 she was selected as an outstanding teacher through the NJ Governor's Teacher Recognition Program.  She is author of Being the Best Me, Social Skills Books, K-5, A Teacher's Guide to the Novels of Robert Kimmel Smith, and A Teacher's Guide to the Novels of Betsy Byars.  She has written several educational articles and has been a workshop presenter in the area of teaching writing in NJ and NC. 

Her passion in ministry is prayer and mentoring college students and young adults as they become passionately devoted followers of Christ.

Jack and Sandy have two daughters, Tabitha and Rebecca.  Tabitha is married and resides in Chapel Hill, North Carolina where she is a pre-school teacher, and Rebecca lives in New York where she works in a public relations firm.