My name is Jon Gleason, and I am the former minister of Free Baptist Church of Glenrothes.
I grew up in the USA, became a Christian through faith in Christ at an early age, and attended a Christian elementary school and high school. I began my university education pursuing a science degree, but changed to divinity training, and continued on to complete a graduate seminary program. I am an ordained minister, and served as an associate pastor in two Baptist churches in Scotland, where I have lived now for over two decades. In January 2000, I became the founding pastor of Free Baptist Church. In early 2021, due to family reasons, I left this role to return to America, and turned the ministry of the church over to Pastor Paul Leach.
My wife studied speech communication at university. This means I have my very own expert to tell me how to improve my sermons! Her interests include history, music, gardening, craftwork, and hill-walking. She also loves to read.
God gave us six children. All of our children have been part of the ministry of our church in various ways, and most play musical instruments. They have a variety of interests, from reading to history to sport to rock-collecting to playing chess.
The Bible says that a minister must be “one that ruleth well his own house…(for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)” (I Timothy 3:4,5). Our family is not perfect, but we try to be an example of what a Christian family should be.
I have worked designing and developing computer software for decades.
My interests include history (while in Scotland, we always had a family membership in Historic Scotland), sport (especially basketball), and reading. I enjoy hill-walking and playing games with my family. I used to run cross-country and the distance events in athletics in high school and university. I have been told that my past experience in marathon running proves that I have a touch of insanity. Some people might think that we don’t have to look to the past to find evidence of that!
I believe that God has a sense of humour, and I believe He intended us to enjoy life. I will use humour at times in my writing and preaching. However, there is a serious side to life, and the Bible tells us to be “sober-minded.” Don’t be surprised if you find humour in my writing here, but hopefully it will be used to enhance communication rather than diminish from the seriousness of the message.
This page is labeled “About Me” because people always want to know who is writing, which is understandable. My goal, though, is that this blog will not be “about me”. I want to communicate God’s Word the way He intended it to be communicated. When we are dealing with God’s Word, it should never be “about me”, but about Him, and what He wants us to know about Him, think and feel about Him, and do in response to Him.
I’ll say two more things “about me”. 1) God’s purpose for me is that I “should be to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:12). 2) My prayer is, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (Philippians 3:10).
May the Lord use this blog, as in all that we read and do, to help us to know Him, to be conformed to Him, that we might become people who would praise His glory and cause His glory to be praised by others as they see His work in us.
Mind Renewers 