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JORGE
ACEVEDO
Jorge
Acevedo loves Jesus Christ and his Church. Touched by the
grace of God at seventeen, he was never the same. Rescued
from a life of addictions, his greatest delight is connecting
people to Jesus and the Church.
Jorge
is the Lead Pastor at Grace
Church, a multi-site, United Methodist congregation
in Southwest Florida (Cape Coral, Fort Myers Shores and
North Fort Myers). This church has grown in its weekend
attendance from 400 to over 2600 in the past thirteen years.
Grace Church is recognized as having one of the largest
and most effective recovery ministries in America with over
800 people involved in weekly recovery ministries. In 2003,
Grace Church planted a second campus in East Lee County
by adopting a declining United Methodist Church. Today this
campus has more than 375 people in attendance. In 2007,
Grace Church purchased a former grocery store and opened
the Grace Community Center, a holistic ministry center and
home to the third worshipping community of Grace Church
in November 2008. From 1992 to 1996, he served as one of
the pastors at Christ Church United Methodist in Fort Lauderdale,
Florida; from 1988 to 1992, as the Associate Pastor at First
United Methodist Church in Kissimmee, Florida; from 1984
to 1988 as Minister of Youth and Children at Trinity Hill
United Methodist Church in Lexington, Kentucky.
Jorge
is a 1984 graduate of Asbury College where he received a
Bachelor of Arts Degree majoring in Bible. He is also a
graduate of Asbury Theological Seminary with a Master of
Divinity Degree. Jorge was ordained as a Deacon in the Florida
Conference of the United Methodist Church in May, 1986,
and an Elder in May 1990. He was the 2001 recipient of the
Denman Evangelism Award from the Florida Annual Conference
of the United Methodist Church given to a pastor for excellence
in evangelism. In 2007 Jorge was named the Distinguished
Alumni of the Year at Asbury Theological Seminary. In 2009,
the Foundation for Evangelism named Jorge the 2009 Distinguished
Evangelist of the United Methodist Church. He was a 1996,
2000, 2004 and 2008 delegate to the Jurisdictional Conference
and a 2000, 2004 and 2008 delegate to the General Conference.
Jorge serves on the Southeastern Jurisdiction and Florida
Conference Episcopal Committees. He is also on the Board
of Directors of the Mission Society. Jorge has been very
involved in the Walk to Emmaus in Kentucky, Florida and
the Bahamas.
Jorge
co-authored The Heart of Youth Ministry with Hule Goddard,
which was published by Bristol Books in January of 1989.
He has also written for the United Methodist Publishing
House, Circuit Rider magazine, Good News magazine and Our
Faith Today. He was also one of three featured pastors on
the “Keeping the Passion for Ministry Alive”
edition of the Willow Creek Association “Defining
Moments” CD with Bill Hybels.
Born
in Puerto Rico, Jorge at the age of four months, moved with
his family to the United States where he was raised. Jorge
was married in November, 1981, to Cheryl Montgomery. Their
oldest son, Daniel is married to Courtney who gave them
two beautiful grandchildren, Mia and Levi. They also have
a younger son, Nathan. |