Dereck and Becca
Dereck Jackson grew up in Birmingham, AL. where he served as youth pastor for 9 years. In this capacity, he also coordinated a student jobs program and directed a six-week summer camp in one of the city’s housing projects.
While serving in Birmingham, he and Becca first met, became ministry partners and in 1999, life partners. They started a nonprofit organization called Earthen Vessels Ministries in 2004. This ministry gave them an opportunity to assist pastors in developing leaders, encourage teambuilding, and assist with strategic planning. During this period, Dereck also completed an undergraduate degree in Biblical Studies at Southeastern Bible College.
After a transition to Chicago and a new job at New Community Church in Dolton, IL, he also earned a Master of Divinity from Liberty University. As Associate Pastor to Children and Youth, Dereck continued to equip the volunteers he was working with to “make disciples who make disciples.” He also established community events to serve the surrounding lower-income neighborhood.
Trusting God, the Jackson family relocated once again, this time to Massachusetts (Becca’s home state) where Dereck served as Associate Pastor, providing leadership to small groups, outreach, and children’s ministry. He began a Celebrate Recovery program called
Emmaus Road, equipping the lay leaders for when he eventually turned the ministry over to them. He also served as a member of the Converge Northeast Board of Directors for two terms.
Dereck spent the last two years serving as the interim pastor at Trinity Baptist Church in Brockton. In this capacity, he empowered lay leaders, helping them to plan strategically and build a strong leadership team. During this time, he also completed his Doctorate in Ministry focusing on discipleship.
Becca has worked with both youth and young adult ministries, spoken at women and youth retreats, and written bible studies and devotional blog series. She has taught English at the both the college and high school level.
Dereck and Becca truly believe ministry is relationships. They seek to equip people to grow in their faith and their capacity to operate in righteous relationship with God and others. Married for 24 years, they are parents to Sarah (23) and Benjamin (22). Dereck and Becca love to travel, visit the ocean, and meet new people.
Email:info@justclay.org
Earthen Vessels Community Church
Vision –Equipping people to equip others to grow closer to God and one another.
Mission – We impact our community with the values of God’s kingdom by encouraging a Christ-centered life.
Values:
1. We Value the Individual Person – Every individual is formed in the image of God and has been blessed with unique God-given gifts and talents.
2. We Value Personal Spiritual Growth – We are all on a daily journey to discover more about God, ourselves, and the world around us.
3. We Value Community – We seek to connect people beyond barriers that keep us apart.
4. We Value Service – In serving one another and those beyond our walls, we grow in our ability to connect with God and others.
Our Micro-Church Model
EVCC is a micro-church which causes a lot of people to have a lot of questions. What is a micro-church? What do you do? Will you ever grow? Are the seats really tiny? Are there snacks? What’s wrong with the traditional church model?
Currently, we have two micro-churches or home churches. One group meets in Sharon, MA on Thursday nights. The other group meets in Walpole, MA on Sunday afternoons. Each group includes members who attend in-person or remotely. Our time together includes prayer, worship, and study of God’s word. Together, we challenge ourselves and one another to really interact with what is written. Study series can run for three weeks up to eight weeks. Usually there’s some type of homework or reflection to contemplate throughout the week. Quarterly, members of both groups come together for a time of corporate worship and fellowship.
While the group size shouldn’t grow beyond fifteen to twenty members, the number of house churches we have in the area should grow. The plan is to begin identifying and equipping future house-church leaders. Eventually, leadership of an individual house church will be passed to someone else. We will continue to guide, train, and encourage our lay leaders while also developing new micro-churches.
Each house always has a seat available for guests. We have also found that some people prefer to join us the first time via Zoom just to check us out. We recognize walking into a stranger’s house may seem pretty strange. Snacks are part of our service time because we like snacks. Zoom links are posted on the main page of our website.
We truly believe God has called us to plant micro-churches instead of a traditional church. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the traditional church. Some of our church members still go weekly to traditional services. That being said, we recognize that traditional church isn’t for everyone. Making disciples is not a one-size fits all lifestyle. Creating relationships through micro-churches is just another way to strengthen our relationship with God and one another.
Earthen Vessels Community Church is a micro-church affiliated with Converge Northeast.
EVCC 