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N.C. pastor to serve in Dubai
K. Allan Blume, BR Editor
August 27, 2014
3 MIN READ TIME

N.C. pastor to serve in Dubai

N.C. pastor to serve in Dubai
K. Allan Blume, BR Editor
August 27, 2014

Jon and Pam Estes are leaving Jackson Park Baptist Church in Kannapolis for a unique international ministry assignment. For the last seven-and-a-half years he has served as pastor of the Jackson Park congregation.

On Sept. 1 they are moving to the United Arab Emirates where he will become the pastor of Emirates Baptist Church International in Dubai.

“Dubai is a city known for its opulence and beauty, but is also filled with lostness,” Estes said.

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Jon and Pam Estes

Most of Dubai’s 2.1 million people are not from the city – 85 percent are expatriates. “When we visited the city and the church, we discovered that God was answering our prayer of reaching the nations.”

He has participated in 39 domestic and international mission trips in 35 years of ministry.

Pastoring churches in Greensboro, Roxboro, El Paso, Texas, Johnstown, Pa., and Nigeria has been fulfilling according to Estes.

Leading LifeWay’s FAITH Sunday School Evangelism clinics for eight years was also a joyful time in his ministry.

“We have always wanted to reach the nations for Christ, but never understood how God was going to do this, or if He would,” Estes said. “I have made contact with different international ministries and nothing ever opened. Earlier this year, I sent my resume in response to an ad for a pastor. It was in a geographical area I knew little about, and never thought about it being a place to serve. My first thoughts about United Arab Emirates were that I would not be reaching the nations. I was wrong.

“United Arab Emirates, specifically Dubai, is said to have 95 percent of the world’s nations within its borders.”

Estes is confident that God has called him and his wife to serve in Dubai.

“Each church I have pastored has brought me joy. … As this new path on our journey began to present itself, I knew God had so much more for me to experience, and I knew it would be different. … We know that He will continue to change us, and that He wants us to experience Him in greater and deeper ways.”

Jon and Pam Estes are leaving two married sons and six grandchildren.

He is a graduate of Dallas Baptist University and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. In addition to Jackson Park, he served as pastor of Highview Baptist Church in Roxboro and Rocky Knoll Baptist Church in Greensboro.

His father, Robert Estes, was also a Baptist pastor in the state.