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With its location on Red River Road, Allansville Baptist Church might, at first glance, seem to be one of those “out of the way” places.

However, news that will bring it into the limelight just occurred.

The church, without a full-time pastor for some time, recently hired Paul Jorgensen to serve as its new congregational leader.

“I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity,” said Jorgensen. “[I’m] looking forward to getting to know the people of the church, first, and then the community.. and serving this community.”

In ministry for the last 25 years, Jorgensen has served in many different areas across the United States.

Growing up and starting work in northwest Indiana, he later took positions in Oregon City, Oregon, Whiteville, North Carolina and Akron, Ohio.

Along with pastoring, Jorgensen has taught ministry at Bible college and taught in Christian schools.

A consistent motivating factor has been to teach others the Christian gospel.

“There’s just something inside of me that is not quenched,” he said. “I really want to be able to be with people, to walk alongside people in their journey of life, to help answer life’s tough questions for them individually, and then leading, guiding, and directing a group of people as a church to be able to worship God and to impact our community with love and the gospel.”

With his family – including his wife, Amy, and children Mark, Alana, and Bailey – Jorgensen has since lived in Lexington for approximately eighteen years.

Yet, with the youngest attending Murray State University, the time seemed right to look outside the city.

Jorgensen started applying for ministerial jobs by putting out resumes through the Kentucky Baptist Convention approximately 18 months ago while looking to stay near central and eastern Kentucky.

“I already love an ice-cold Ale-8, and I bleed blue, and I enjoy Mingua beef jerky,” Jorgensen added in jest. “I have adapted we have family in this region.”

In February, Allansville Baptist Church contacted Jorgensen.

During conversations with multiple individuals on different occasions that included several questions, he and church staff discovered similarities that made for an ideal fit.

“The group of people there and I seem to align on many of our core doctrines,” he said. “We’re excited for that opportunity.”

Officially, the opportunity started July 1 when Jorgensen delivered his first Sunday message.

With his family preparing to be more involved with Clark County, Jorgensen hopes to learn more and be a positive influence.

“Our goal is to be the kind of church that helps people. We want to be available,” Jorgenson said. “We know that, especially in this current climate, there are a lot of really hard questions that people are asking about life; in general, we just want to be available to be able to listen, to be able to provide a shoulder to lean on, to hopefully be able to provide some answers, and to just be a comfort and encourager to people.”