In the spring of 1979, Jon Shook walked the aisle as an eight-year-old boy in his home church in Hickory, NC, and trusted Christ as his personal Saviour. Growing up in a preacher’s home, he was no stranger to the things of God and a life of service. A love for God and for others permeated the atmosphere of his home. It was this Christ-centered environment that made it easy to say “yes” when God’s call came upon his life at Wild’s Christian Camp in the fall of 1985.
After graduating from Tabernacle Christian School in 1988, he enrolled at Hyles-Anderson College where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Pastoral Theology in 1993 and a Bachelor of Theology degree in 1995. There he met his wife, Terri Stallings Shook, and they married in 1992.
Answering a unanimous call, Jon Shook became pastor of Bailey’s Grove Baptist Church in October of 1995. God honored them with their first daughter Abigail on January 28, 1997. Three months later He chose to take her home to heaven. This heart-rending, yet triumphant, event would bond the hearts of Pastor and Mrs. Shook with that of the church family, creating a spirit of unity within the church that is truly unique.
As Pastor Shook launched a greater emphasis on outreach and personal soul winning, the church of forty one quickly grew to its present average of over 500. To accommodate the growth, the ministries and facilities have been expanded to include over thirty acres and multiple buildings on two campuses. Under his leadership, the church built a new auditorium which was occupied in February of 2005. New ministries have been started including adult Bible classes, youth and children’s ministries, a nursing home ministry, a Spanish department, a city-wide bus ministry, a jail ministry, and a one-of-a-kind ministry to Randolph County’s special-needs population.
Bailey’s Grove Baptist School (K-12) was launched in the fall of 2011 as a tool to train the next generation for a life of service and to help them develop a heart for God. The Lord has continued to bless the school with a growing enrollment and graduates who go on to serve Him with their lives.
Pastor Shook has been a “hands-on” pastor being actively involved in church and youth ministry by hosting summer camps and youth revivals, attending youth conferences, counseling marriages, personal visitation, and training leadership. He has a genuine love for people of all backgrounds, and this love is conspicuously displayed in his passionate preaching and tender heart. His love for people has led the church to have an evangelistic fervor which has become a part of the fabric of the church. It is not uncommon to see numbers of folks professing their faith in Christ as Saviour on any given Sunday.
Since the homegoing of their first child, the Lord has blessed the Shooks with three daughters: Brooke, Olivia, and Staci. Brooke married Michael Conley in the summer of 2021, and they have given Pastor and Mrs. Shook two grandchildren: Finnley and Taytum. Mrs. Terri Shook is an active part of this growing church family as a mentor and counselor to the ladies and girls. She hosts a regional ladies conference each year that blesses hundreds of ladies and many local churches. She teaches Bible to all of the seventh through twelfth grade girls in the Christian school and leads a large Sunday school class each week for ladies.
Pastor Shook has often said, “The joy of my life is that my wife and I share the same passion for God and for others.”