Reverend Dr. Jerry Lee Love Jr. is a native of Savannah, Ga., accepted his call to the gospel ministry in 2005 and was baptized at Jonesville Baptist Church in Savannah, Ga.

Pastor Love served in various capacities at First Baptist Church in Raleigh, NC. Subsequently, he preached his initial sermon and was licensed to the Gospel Ministry in April 2013. In 2015, he started serving as an Associate Minister at First Calvary Baptist Church in Durham, NC. He was ordained that same year through First Calvary Baptist Church and the East Cedar Grove Missionary Baptist Association to start his professional ministry as Senior Chaplain at Orange Correctional Center and Executive Director of Alamance Orange Prison Ministry. The following year, he was ordained through the American Baptist Churches of the South (2016).

Pastor Love received a Diploma in Marketing Management from Savannah Technical Community College and a Bachelor of Arts in Religion and Philosophy with a minor in Sociology from Shaw University. He also received a Master of Divinity and a Doctor of Ministry from Campbell University Divinity School. Pastor Love’s doctoral project, “Seeking Justice for Ex-Offenders: Holistic Ministries of Re-entry,” was inspired by his personal and professional experience with Mass Incarceration. In addition, he completed four units of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) at UNC Hospitals (Hillsborough and Chapel Hill) to further enhance his ability to provide pastoral care to others.

Pastor Love has served as a Prison and Hospital Chaplain, providing pastoral care to offenders, patients, staff, and their families. He embodies Luke 4:18- 19 for his approach to ministry:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Pastor Love resides in Durham, NC, with his lovely wife, Dr. Shelly-Ann M. Love, and their three beautiful children, Jerry (Jeremiah), Talia Rose (Tally), and Sarah Joy (SJ).