jason buck

media designer

I was born right here in Richmond, Virginia, and I come from a family that has deep roots here. As a child, I went to church. I attended youth group faithfully throughout middle school and high school. I did not read my Bible, and, like most teenage boys, youth group was more about seeing my friends and scamming on girls than it was about God. Sure I attended all the retreats and gave my life to God on every single one of them, but this commitment that I had made with the best of intentions never stuck.

I left the great city of Richmond for Greenville, North Carolina, as a freshman at East Carolina University. This was my prodigal walk away from God. I attended the Wesley foundation and even attended church infrequently, but I was questioning my faith and the existence of God. I was definitely living for me.

I did not really have a crash and burn moment, but looking back, I can see God’s hand working even when I did not really believe in Him. The fall of 1996, after I graduated from ECU, I was invited to be an adult staff member on a large retreat for middle school students being held in Blackstone, Virginia. My job was to be in charge of the youth staff. This is kind of funny for a guy who’s not sure about his own faith. After I accepted this invitation, I thought I should also get involved with a local youth group, because I thought it would look funny if I volunteered for this big event and had no local church ties. So I went back to Providence United Methodist Church and volunteered with their youth group, much to the chagrin of the new youth pastor, Amy. She could see right through me, and could tell that I was all about me, and she disliked me strongly. Even through this, God was preparing my heart to serve Him. At that retreat I learned what it meant to be a servant to others and I recommitted my life to Christ. This time it stuck!!

I could not get enough of God after that. I was attending church regularly, going to at least one Bible study a week, and falling madly in love with Jesus Christ. My life began to change, it wasn’t all about me anymore. My choices and speech patterns changed (i.e. cussing halted), and I wanted to serve the Lord.

It was also at that retreat that I met a really driven youth who was on fire for the Lord, Casey Mosely. She was a hard worker and had organization skills as a youth that made my head spin. She was also a member of a church in the Richmond District and invited me to help with those youth events. I took her up on the offer, and we became friends through serving God together.

Amy, the youth pastor from Providence, and I were getting along better too (i.e. we were dating). [The Lord works in mysterious ways!!] She asked me to lead a group of students to Mountain Top, a mission trip to the mountains of Tennessee, where you spend a week building things for folks in need, or working a kid’s camp. I said yes, and once again my life was changed. This was what service to others was all about.

Amy and I were married in June of 1998. We served as leaders on the Richmond District even after she resigned paid full time youth ministry. Casey was also a vital part of the Richmond District youth.

We made a lot of friends through youth ministry; the closest to me would be a guy from Lynchburg by the name of Joe Torrence, a truly godly man and a great influence on my life.

Amy and I both were teaching school full time, and Casey had gone away to college. We took a break from youth ministry for a while. Then God blessed us as a couple, and we found out that a baby was on the way. After a lot of prayer, Amy and I decided that she should stay at home with the baby. God was working through this decision too. A few months earlier, Joe and Casey had been married, and Joe had taken a new job as the new youth pastor at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church here in Richmond. He offered Amy a job as an administrative assistant for the youth ministry. She would be able to take the baby to work, and it would provide some extra income for us. God is good!

Rebekah was born in April, 2002. I was helping out with the youth ministry, playing guitar with the youth worship team. Joe asked me to go on the mission trip to The Pittsburgh Project that summer, but I turned him down because of the baby at home. I did, however, help lead worship when they returned from this mission trip.

God once again spoke to me in a powerful way through the testimonies of these students who had experienced him in a very tangible way while on this trip. God laid it on my heart there to serve Him here in my hometown in the same manner. At first I though he was telling me to quit my teaching job and go work for Habitat for Humanity. It was not until I shared this desire with Joe and Casey over lunch one Sunday that I realized that this vision God had given me was to bring students to Richmond and help them to experience God in a very real way. Casey had been at a conference where she had been challenged to come up with a God sized dream. Her dream was to do something like Pittsburgh Project here in Richmond. Her dream and my vision fit hand in glove.

My second daughter Bethany was born in 2004.

This was the beginning of what has now become impactRichmond, and God’s hand has been in every decision to get me to this point whether I realized it or not. We had our first camp for one week in July in 2005.

I continue to feel God pressing me to really pursue impactRichmond as a volunteer. I worked as the director of homeowner services until February of 2007. God had called me to that position for a season. Now I will be using my gifts to keep up the website as well as designing other media that impactRichmond will need.

in Christ,
jason