Multnomah Bible College is pleased to announce that
Professor Jay Held will join the faculty on a regular,
full-time, tenure-track position.
Jay has served as interim Pastoral Ministries chairman
this academic year and will continue to teach in this
department. He will also serve as Chair of the Pastoral
Ministries department beginning July 1, 2003.
After receiving his B.S. (Theology and Missions) from
Baptist University of America in Decatur, Georgia, Jay
went on to earn his M.A. (Missions) from Grace Theological
Seminary, Winona Lake, IN; an M.A. (Counseling) and
an M.Div. (World Ministry) from Western Seminary, Portland,
OR. He has also participated in a study tour of Israel
and done graduate studies at the Jerusalem University
College on Mount Zion, Israel.
Currently, Jay is working on his Th.M. (Theology) at
Western Seminary and a D.Min. (Leadership), Denver Seminary
in Denver, CO.
In the spring of 1989 Jay raised support to serve on
a team as a church planter of North Portland Bible Fellowship,
a new urban church. Then in July of 1992, Jay was appointed
by the Missions to the Americas to serve as an Urban
Missionary to minister at Mt. Sinai Community Baptist
Church, an inter-city, African-American church. While
there, Jay developed and directed the outreach and discipleship
ministry for all ages. In 1994, he answered the call
to recontextualize North Baptist Church in Portland,
Oregon. This interracial, inter-generational, inner-city
church nearly closed but found renewal and reinvented
its ministry. By January of 2002 the church called its
own full-time pastor and Jay transitioned out of the
church in June of 2002.
Jay and his wife Laureen have four children: Joy, Joel, Jonathan, and Jean.