Rainbows 1, Depression 0: The Jody Jenkins story
Preaching was a no-doubter home run for Jody Jenkins, so why did he suffer such a long stretch of striking out when the calendar turned to 2019?
His story about overcoming depression involves a rainbow, a tiny light, and God’s promises.
But before we get there, let’s visit 1997 to get a snapshot of Jody’s athletic ability and see where his path changed from ballfields to the pulpit.
ETSU BOUND
Jody was a three-sport star at Daniel Boone, the quarterback of the football team, point guard in basketball, and catcher in baseball. Basically, he could do it all.
And when he walked onto the campus at East Tennessee State University, his baseball dreams of playing in the majors seemed to hit the fast track. Pressed into a starting role because of an injury, Jody performed so well he was chosen to the Collegiate Baseball/Louisville Slugger Freshman All-America team as honorable mention.
But his future wasn’t in a glove, it was in different hands. Jody already had seven years of preaching experience.
“I actually preached my first sermon in seventh grade with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes,” Jody said. “I preached all the way through high school, preaching and playing three sports. Churches would have me come in and preach, for like a youth Sunday. Obviously the Lord was working on my heart.”
Jody said he believes his year of college baseball was part of the transition process.
“I can see how the Lord had me there,” Jody said. “When we would travel weekends to play, the Lord allowed me to have a church service for any players who wanted to come. Through that, we saw great things with some of my teammates, showing them the love of Christ.”
After his freshman season, Jody decided it was time to end his athletic career.
“At that crucial time, the Lord took away the desire of playing ball,” Jody said. “And he gave me an overwhelming desire to preach.
“I went in and talked to (Coach Ken Campbell) and he was very gracious. He offered to give me Sundays off if I would stay. But I knew the Lord had called me to be a preacher. I don’t want to say it was easy. My dream all my life was to make it to the major leagues. But yet at a crucial time, the Lord made it easy for me to make that decision.”
So it was off to Crown College, an independent Baptist school in Knoxville. After graduating he became staff evangelist at Buffalo Ridge Baptist in Gray and worked through Alabama’s Bethany Divinity College for his masters and doctorate.
Things stayed right on track, and Jody became the lead pastor at Buffalo Ridge in 2009. He remained in that role for almost 10 years.
THE LONG YEAR
A pain in his side in the spring of 2019 was the trigger point for a spiral that took Jody down a path he said he could never have imagined traveling.
“It started with a health scare,” Jody said. “The pain in my side that I was worried about wound up having nothing to do with my colon. But I ended up having polyps in my colon, and one of them embedded itself. I ended up having one foot of my colon removed in November of 2019. By that time that polyp had turned into cancer.
“The pain that started me believing a lie, the pain I thought God was killing me with, was the very pain God used to save my life.”
Unfortunately for Jody, the health situation went beyond his physical well being.
“Things kept compounding,” he said. “Mistakes I made as a teenager were resurrected at that time. The devil will absolutely unload on you. I kept going down further and further. I went through a severe depression the likes of which I had never seen before.”
This wasn’t a few sad days. It affected Jody’s life to the point he wound up resigning as pastor.
“Believing lies, I convinced myself I was a hypocrite and needed to get out of the pulpit,” Jody said. “I thought I would never preach again. I had given up on myself. I was thinking my life was over. I resigned from preaching in July of 2019.”
But that wasn’t rock bottom. Jody said he endured thoughts of suicide and doubted where he would spend eternity.
“I doubted my own salvation,” Jody said. “I don’t believe you can lose your salvation, but I wondered if I had ever been saved. Not everybody goes to the depths I went.”
NOT ALONE
Jody said the Lord had people in place to bring him through the dark valley, including his wife and family.
“My wife (Becky) is my hero,” Jody said. “She stood right beside me. Sometimes I would find a three-by-five index card in the house with a promise of God written on it.
“The two youngest (Jessa and Joy) were too young to remember it, but my two oldest, my son (Judson) and my daughter (Jaylin) suffered along with us.”
Jaylin, who was 11 years old at the time, played a key role in helping her dad.
“She was journaling during this time, and I was unaware of that fact,” Jody said. “When you read her journal, it shows the impact her mother had on her. She would say things like, ‘We don’t know what’s happening, but we know God’s got this.’ She was mimicking her mother.”
BACK TO THE CROSS
Jody returned to the pulpit in October of 2019 thanks in part to help from Mark Fowler of Pleasant Beach Baptist Church in Elizabethton. Jody was offered a chance to preach again.
“It was through God’s will of me preaching that God began healing me,” Jody said. “And that night I felt like the Lord himself came into that pulpit and said, ‘Yes, yes, yes.’ ”
Then another pastor got into the restoration mix: Ancel Presnell, who had gone to high school with Jody.
“He came after me and refused to give up,” Jody said. “He came to my house and sat in my living room, even at the time of my depression. He said, ‘You can preach here any time you want. And I ended up at Strong Tower Baptist. I’ve been here since 2020.
“It’s not by feelings, it’s by faith. The Lord used the call on my life to bring about healing. There was a little bead of light, which was hope. And the more I kept stepping forward by faith and sharing my story, the little bead of light opened up and got brighter and brighter.”
Jody said practicing the words of a specific Bible verse has helped him immensely.
“It’s 2 Corinthians 10:5, ‘Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ,’ ” Jody said.
The path out of depression can begin with trusting God.
“Trust the voice of God and not the feelings,” he said. “Trust what God is saying in his word and not what you’re thinking, if it opposes the word.”
NEED HELP?
Jody has a website called Hope Ministries, available by visiting realhope.today
“We are available to preach in multiple venues: local church revivals, youth events, camps, etc …” Jody said. “Reach out to us for that, or if you need help.”
More information is available on the website. His book can be found on Amazon. Search: “Rainbows In the Dark by Jody and Becky Jenkins.”