Graduate Profile: Jesse Hackworth, MDiv

 My name is Jesse Hackworth, and I live in Casa Grande, AZ with my wife Erica and our son Wesley. I grew up in Alaska and lived there for more than 25 years. I was converted halfway through college and continued to become more and more Reformed. Following college, after taking a few years off, I moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan where I began seminary studies at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. I was there for a year and a half before transferring to Reformed Baptist Seminary around the time my wife and I were married. During my three and a half years in Grand Rapids, my wife and I were members of Grace Immanuel Reformed Baptist Church. Throughout my seminary studies, I was mentored by Paul Smalley (former pastor there at GIRBC and Joel Beeke's writing assistant at PRTS) and Jeff Johnson (teaching/preaching pastor at GIRBC). I also had the opportunity to teach multiple Sunday school classes and to participate in a pastoral internship there in the summer and early fall of 2020. My time studying at RBS while attending GIRBC was filled with a lot of spiritual and theological growth. It was a time of solidifying my doctrinal belief, while preparing to enter the ministry to serve the church of Jesus Christ.

In July 2020 I received a call to serve as the teaching/preaching pastor at Providence Reformed Baptist Church in Casa Grande, Arizona. Before candidating there, my wife and I had never visited Arizona before. We moved there in September 2020, and I began to serve there as pastor. The church itself is small but filled with wonderful people who are eager to live life to the glory of the Lord.

I am excited to continue to grow and develop as a pastor in the years ahead. I have begun to preach expositionally through the book of Ephesians and am exploring potentially starting a podcast on why we need church history today. I am also interested in working on some writing projects with a view to publication. I am also interested in potential future education down the road after taking a break from school for a while.

I am so grateful for the Lord's kindness and help through this season of preparation for ministry. Seminary was an incredible blessing, and I am grateful for Dr. Gonzalez and for all of the Instructor's help in this journey.