Jerod Cherry
The doors of the church are now open.” When Jerod Cherry
was around the age of 8 years old, this was the announcement his
Pastor, Nelson Davis, made following one of his fire and brimstone
sermons. Even at that age, Jerod had attended church long enough
to know this was his cue to become an official member, be “born
again,” and most importantly, saved. Rallying up the courage with
butterflies in his stomach and trembling legs, he walked alone down
the center aisle at Mt. Hermon Missionary Baptist Church and made
a public declaration that he wanted Jesus to be his Savior. Shortly
thereafter, he was baptized. He sincerely wanted Jesus to lead in
his life, but at that time, he was not too focused on the concept of
Jesus being both his Lord and Savior. Rather, his motivation for
wanting to be saved came from reading the book of Revelation the
previous Sunday. After reading the entire book that night while
sleeping on a couch that he shared with his younger brother as a
bed, he did not want to miss the rapture and have to endure the
tribulation.
That was his spiritual foundation and a faulty one at that; certainly built on sand. Throughout his life there have been formative moments in which God by His Grace, instead of divorcing Himself has patiently shown that achievement, pleasure, and financial security cannot provide the fulfillment for which he was searching. His career has ranged from living out his childhood dream of being a professional football player and three time Super Bowl Champion, to succeeding in the financial services industry, achieving as a non-profit administrator, in addition to acting as a multimedia radio and television personality. He grew up knowing what it was like to go to bed and rely on drinking a lot of water as a way to keep an empty belly full through the course of a night. Because of this, he was so caught up in the pursuit of the "American Dream” that it took winning a Super Bowl and the immediate feeling of emptiness afterward to make him realize that apart from God there is no true satisfaction. Fast forward to today, and he can say with confidence and conviction, he has had the privilege and misfortune to discover from both great success as well as failure that the Bible is the Truth.