Jason Lewis is a native of Graham in Alamance County. He grew up in a strong Christian home where he was taught the Gospel, taken to church since birth, and sent to a Christian school, Burlington Christian Academy, through elementary school. He is extremely grateful that all of this Christian influence through the power of the Holy Spirit led him to profess faith in Christ and repent of his sin at an early age, about 6 or 7. God has graciously preserved him in his faith since then, through many difficulties, and he continues to believe that repentance is a lifelong posture rather than a one-time experience, as Martin Luther says, since he continues to sin and to need forgiveness from God every day.

Jason attended Southern Alamance middle and high schools with several current members of Mt. Olive. God used this time in public school to stretch his faith and give him a heart for evangelizing the lost. It was during this time that he first became a member specifically of a Baptist church, and he has grown in his Baptist convictions to this day.

College at Campbell University as a Psychology major was a significant period in that it is when he met his now-wife, Joy, a Religion major, and received an internal call from God to the international mission field. In 1999, the two of them graduated, got married, and moved into seminary housing all within a month, to pursue this call that God had given both of them. They both pursued studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC, receiving masters degrees.

In 2002, being sent out by their home church (Providence Baptist), they moved to Central Asia to pursue a career in evangelism and church planting there among Muslim people groups. The next 14 years in this part of the world were a time of many high highs and low lows, a lot of tremendous joy and excruciating pain, and it was all worth it because God is worth it. In 2004 and 2006, their two sons were born, Jacob and Elijah, who braved growing up overseas until they were in 4th and 6th grade, and then braved a big move back to the US.

In 2016, for multiple converging reasons, it became clear that the four of them should settle down back in the US. After spending a couple of years in Raleigh with their home church of 17 years, Providence Baptist, they moved back to Jason’s childhood town of Graham, where they both began to work at Jason’s old elementary school, Burlington Christian Academy, where they still both teach high school Bible full time. For about 5 years, they attended Grace Reformed Baptist Church, which is where they heard of the possibility of joining up with Mt. Olive to minister there. In the meantime, Jason also received a masters degree in teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) from Greensboro College for the purpose of having another tool to help him minister to people from all nations.

Jason and Joy have been members of Mt. Olive now since August 2024 and are delighted to be here. Jason has been serving, since that time, as the associate pastor of youth and family discipleship. He and Joy both have greatly enjoyed spending time getting to know the whole congregation, especially the families with children and youth. Interestingly, Jason’s great-great and great-great-great grandparents are buried at Mt. Olive, having been members here many years ago. Jason also has quite a few distant relatives in the current congregation whom he has enjoyed really getting to know for the first time.

Their hope and prayer is that God will receive the glory that is due his name in this area where Jason grew up, just as they hoped and prayed that Central Asian Muslims would worship the one true God where they served previously. And they hope and pray that the people of this area would be saved from their sins and become followers of Jesus in great numbers but more importantly with great depth of faith and knowledge in and love for Jesus. All glory be to God in Christ Jesus!