Pastor 

  Our pastor is Jerald Bass.  Originally from Rogersville, MO, he graduated in 1985 from Logan-Rogersville High School.  He then attended Hillsdale Free Will Baptist College in Moore, OK.  While at Hillsdale he met and married Cassie DuVall.  Both Jerald & Cassie graduated from Hillsdale Free Will Baptist College in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts in Theology and a minor in Music.  After graduation they moved to Sand Springs, Oklahoma to serve as Associate Pastor of Youth and Children at Allen Free Will Baptist Church.  They moved a year later to Fort Worth, Texas to attend Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.  Jerald, Cassie and their growing family left Ft. Worth in 1996 to pastor the First Free Will Baptist Church in Weleetka, OK., where they served for nine years.  They accepted the call to come to Joplin in March of 2005.   Jerald completed his Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Seminary that same year.  He also serves as a chaplain in the Army Reserve.   God has blessed Cassie and Jerald with five children.