Heritage Christian Church recently welcomed its new student pastor, Caleb Davis. Davis most recently served as the student and family pastor at Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky. Previously, he was Highview’s associate student pastor and associate high school pastor.
Davis grew up in Champaign, Ill. where his dad was a pastor at a local church and his mom is a preschool administrator. His interest in the ministry began when he took on various leadership roles while in his church youth group.
He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in youth ministry from Boyce Bible College in Louisville in 2009. He received his master of divinity degree in theology with a concentration in apologetics and worldviews in May 2014. He and his wife, Courtney, have been married for almost four years.
Regarding his move to Heritage, Davis says that he and his wife had been praying for God’s leading in their next step of ministry and season of life. They were connected to Heritage through a number of avenues.
“We instantly fell in love with the vision of Heritage, their people, and the area,” Davis said. “We felt very quickly that if Heritage wanted us, we wanted to be here. We believe that God has led us here to further His kingdom and to do His work.”
Davis says that, hands down, his favorite part about being a youth pastor is getting to introduce students to Jesus.
“I love being able to lead kids to Christ,” he said. “It is an amazing experience, and one I hope I get to have many more times. A close second would be seeing students taking their faith and their responsibility to share the gospel seriously. It is incredible to see a student sharing the gospel with another student.”
The philosophy of student ministry at Heritage, he says, “is to help create spiritually mature Christians. We do this by connecting students with Godly adults, challenging spiritual experiences, and clear, Biblical teaching.”
Davis’s role as a student pastor, he says, is to pastoral ministry. He believes he’s called to work with students. His duties will be counseling, equipping, training, recruiting volunteers, planning events and a myriad of other things.
“My main priority is to help parents, when possible, be the primary disciple maker in their homes. That is my main role and function. Everything else is secondary,” he said.
Davis says his vision for the student ministry is to build consistency in the student programming. He wants to mobilize Heritage to impact the local schools. In addition, he wants to send more students than ever on mission trips and get them serving in their community.
“My goal is to see as many students as possible in Fayette County in a local church. I want every student to hear the gospel and have the opportunity to repent and believe Jesus Christ,” he adds, “I want every student in Fayette County to become a Christian. I want to expand the kingdom of God. What that looks like specifically, I am not sure.”
Paul Cole, Heritage’s executive pastor, said, “We’re excited to have Caleb and Courtney with us. Caleb brings a wealth of experience with ten years of student ministry and a passion to reach students with the message of Jesus Christ. Caleb connects so well with students that his life and ministry are seamlessly integrated. We look forward to how God uses his impact for our youth.”
Davis says he enjoys reading, especially books about history and the military. He is a big Civil War buff. He also enjoys philosophy, theology and politics.
In addition, he and his wife are movie fans. They love eating out at new places and playing board games at their home.
