Pastor Jeremy and Kimberley Woodhouse just celebrated their 30th Valentine’s Day together.

They met as students at Southeastern Bible College in Birmingham, Alabama.

“I helped her carry boxes into her dorm. I didn’t know her parents would eventually become my in-laws,” he said.

They wed before they graduated. He later obtained a Master of Arts in religion and another master’s in religious education, both from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Since 1994, he has been in full-time ministry.

“The Lord has called us into ministry together. We have enjoyed where our journey has taken us,” Kimberley Woodhouse said.

Their journey has brought them to the nondenominational Middlecreek Christian Church in Kresgeville.

He is a pastor and an educator. He has supplemented pastoral work with teaching, coaching and administrating at public and private schools. She is an author.

“I love teaching, not just in the classroom. I am more of a teacher in the pulpit. I am conversational,” he said.

First impressions

This Valentine’s Day was Woodhouse’s first day on the job preaching in the sanctuary. He was supposed to preach on Feb. 7, but a snowstorm canceled church.

His predecessor, the Rev. Steve Booth, retired and moved to Florida after eight years.

Woodhouse found the job announcement online and applied.

“With our first grandbaby on the way, we wanted to be closer to family in the southeast and northeast,” he said.

Their daughter and son-in-law, Kayla and Steven Whitham, live on base at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and will have a baby boy in a few months.

Church secretary Janice Mowrey received many emails from candidates, but Woodhouse’s stood out immediately.

She described her first impression of him as “awesome. I thought, could we really get this guy to come here? He speaks from his heart and from the Bible,” she said.

Woodhouse was one of three candidates interviewed. In early November, he led a service and then did the interview afterward.

“A week later, the church congregation voted unanimously to hire Woodhouse,” Mowrey said.

Transitions

Pastor Fred Jacoby, of Foundations Christian Counseling, and retired pastor Richard Heaney shared the church’s workload and preaching in December and January.

As Booth was moving south, the Woodhouses were moving from Montana to northeast Pennsylvania. A few friends from a previous church in Colorado helped them pack and came to help them get settled into their new home.

This is Woodhouse’s fifth church as the senior pastor. He has served as an associate pastor at a couple other churches.

Kayla Whitham says being a pastor’s daughter is “wonderful. We got to participate in every aspect of church life. We moved around the country.”

Other locations included Louisiana, Alaska and Colorado.

Sunday’s sermon

His recent sermon focused on one Bible verse, 1 Peter 5:7, which says, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

He asked the congregation to shout out what has been stressing them. Answers included their spouse, their job and COVID-19.

“I thought Jeremy’s sermon was completely biblical and exactly what so many of us need to hear on a nearly daily basis,” Mowrey said.

He explained the Bible verse and said that sometimes following this advice is easier said than done.

“If only I would be able to listen to this 100 percent of my life. I would be stress-free,” he told the congregation.

Woodhouse describes himself as an outdoors person. “I love going to ball games. I play golf. I am an avid fisherman.”

He shared with the congregation just how much golf he played last spring to alleviate stress - when the pandemic shuttered everything but essential businesses.

“In Montana, golf was deemed essential. Golf courses remained opened. Depending on the day I was having, I played 9, 18 or 36 holes,” he said.

Woodhouse said he tells a lot of sports and fishing stories during his sermons. This makes the topic more relatable and easier to understand.

With Kayla, Steven and Kimberley in the front pew, Pastor Woodhouse finished his first service, put his mask back on and began moving around the sanctuary to greet worshippers.

He is slowly meeting members of his new congregation.

The weather and the pandemic have made this move and new beginning different than any other before, he said.

“We moved here to be closer to family. And this church already feels like family,” Kimberley Woodhouse said.