Jacob Hunter knew his way around a church, having been raised in a church-going family.
But to find his eventual calling, he needed to experience a different walk of life. He spent more than seven years patrolling the streets as a police officer in the Rio Grande Valley, making arrests, helping de-escalate trouble, and keeping the peace.
Now he now uses his knowledge of human behavior and hurt to help bring peace and growth through Christ.
“I was very active in the church growing up and then I kind of had a little falling out with the church and went away for a little while and was in my own little world, doing my own stuff,” Hunter said.
Then he received a phone call that changed his life.
“The pastor at the church in the town where I grew up called me and said we have an opening for a youth director,” Hunter said. “I want you to be our youth director.”
Hunter filled that role for six years before enrolling at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, where he received his degree. During that time, he met and married Jenn and served four years as a student pastor while completing his education.
For the last eight and a half years, he has pastored churches as an appointed minister at Carrizo Springs, Industry, and Edna.
Since arriving here during the summer of 2023, Hunter, his wife Jenn, and their elderly dog Bailey have enjoyed settling into the community. A former teacher, Jenn now works in Victoria ISD helping to facilitate special education at three campuses.
“It’s a great little town,” Hunter said. “The people here are amazing. The church is great, the people of the town are great.
“It’s a neat little town and one of the things I really like about it is, we have pretty much everything you need here.
You’re 25 miles from Victoria and an hour from Houston. If you can’t get it here, it’s not too far.
You’re far enough away to be in a small town, but you can get to the big town if you need to.”
Getting to watch the local football teams’ runs through the playoffs has been great, he added.
“I love being able to drop into a town and become immersed in that town and become part of it,” he said. “We have season football tickets and we love all of that stuff.
It’s an exciting time to be a fan.”
A student of history and human behavior, Hunter has led study groups to better understand the history, perspectives, and traditions of other faiths.
“I have a real passion for studying other religions and other faith traditions,” he said. “I’ve had all sorts of cool experiences worshipping in other settings with other religions. At my last church I was at, I was doing a world religion study.
That group went one Friday night to a Shabbat service at a synagogue, and then we went to tour and visit with the Amam at a mosque, and just all sorts of stuff.”
Understanding what’s happened over the millenia can add perspective to things going on today.
“After coming into this (theological) world, I love the history of the Bible, the biblical history of the Middle East and all of the conflict,” Hunter said.
“One of the things I tell people here all the time, (when) they’re talking about what’s happening in the Holy Land, is that has been happening for thousands of years. It’s not just because of what happened this one time.”
At FUMC Edna, he leads Bible studies several times a year, including the current one over the Advent season. He also has a group of people who gather to watch episodes of the popular show, The Chosen, and discuss what’s Biblical in the show and what isn’t.
The church has a very active women’s program, United Women of Faith; The Church School for young children, which meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays; and its youth program.
In November, Hunter also performed what’s become a fun event known as Blessing of the Animals, where congregants bring their pets to the church yard for a special blessing.
Then there’s the socks.
At his first church to pastor, one of the families there gifted him a pair of socks stitched with unicorn hotdogs flying through outer space. When he wore them the following Sunday, a picture was posted on Facebook and it became a thing.
“She posted it to the church Facebook page or something and just said, ‘Hey, if you see Pastor Jacob wearing dress shoes at church, ask him to see his socks, especially this week.’” Now he has hundreds of fun, quirky socks that he wears in the pulpit each week. Jenn posts pics online for friends to see.
“I loved them,” Hunter said. “It now is a huge thing. When the kids come up for children’s time, they are all waiting because at the very end I show them what socks I’m wearing.
(Jenn) ties it to my sermon somehow and she has this thing on Facebook that she calls ‘Sermon to Socks’ where she writes a little devotional from my sermon that goes with the socks somewhere in that day.” People seem to like, they said. “It’s become kind of a thing, and there are people that, if she doesn’t post it by Sunday evening, someone will send a message and be like, ‘Are you doing socks today? Did you not do socks?’” Hunter said.
That kind of gentle fun and humor has helped as the congregation moves forward after a split months earlier over doctrinal differences with decisions made by the United Methodist Church nationwide.
Smaller attendance has led to a single Sunday morning service, which meets in person at 10 a.m. and is broadcast on Facebook Live for those unable to attend. Hunter said he hopes to add the technology improvements to also stream services on YouTube.
“It’s important to us because it gives us an opportunity to still be available (to homebound),” he said. “They don’t have to feel bad about not coming to church and not being a part. It still gives them a connection every Sunday.” In addition, Hunter wants FUMC to be present more in the community.
“We’re still trying to figure out what that looks like,” he said. “We just really want to be in the community and be more active.”
