New Trustee: Geneva Yourse

Berkshire Christian is excited to welcome Geneva Yourse to the board of trustees. Geneva, her husband and son live in North Carolina where they attend Christ Family Church. Read more from Geneva…

 

Christian Testimony

I was raised in church. My grandfather was a deacon and Sunday school superintendent, which meant the whole family always went and was involved in nearly every ministry. I accepted Christ in my teenage years at my home church – Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist Church in Matthews, NC.

I attended college at Wake Forest University where I was a member of Forest Fire Christian Ministry and the Wake Forest Gospel Choir- where I met my husband. We currently attend Christ Family Church in Cary, NC and have been at this church since 2008. I have been in several ministries – clean up team, praise team, women’s choir, children’s choir director, teen teacher, children’s teacher, and trustee. We love our church and love the outreach that the church provides to the community.

My husband and I are absolutely convinced of the power in prayer. While this format is too short to explain all the reasons why, the most powerful reason occurred in 2014 while I was pregnant with my son. We were notified while in-utero that my son had drank all of his amniotic fluid and there was a lower urinary tract obstruction. This caused his kidneys to become stretched with fluid that was stuck. We were told that there was a 20% chance of survival because his lungs would not develop without fluid to breathe in while in-utero. We were advised to have an abortion, but refused. We prayed and decided to try for a surgery. While in the first day of testing during one of the ultrasounds, at tube (urachus) from the bladder to the outside of the body opened and allowed the fluid to drain. The doctors had only heard of this happening three times and had never witnessed it. We were able to have a full-term pregnancy. My son had a surgery to close the urachus – which was part of his umbilical cord and open the obstruction in his urinary tract. While he has slight kidney disease – you would never know it to meet him. He is a perfectly healthy five-year-old boy. God is so Awesome! (Incidentally, we were videoed during this process because the issue was so rare. The name of the show is Twice Born on PBS.)

Interest in Developing Ministers
It is important that ministers receive the training necessary to manage their own struggles while shouldering the weight that comes with shepherding a flock in the ways of Jesus. It seems so easy to be distracted away from the focus of Christ, that any institution that focuses on developing ministers is worth the time and energy to help.
Experience Working with Non-Profits

While I have not worked directly with a religious non-profit, except as a servant in ministry, I have worked on the board of a nonprofit which helped abused women find shelter and get back on their feet. I have also helped legally set up and sit on the board of a nonprofit which gave jobs to newly released felons while helping them develop life skills and providing a place to live while getting their lives back together. These were great experiences. While not religious organizations directly, they were truly carrying out the commandment of Jesus to love our neighbors and to show love to the least of these.

Legal Experience
I graduated from The Norman Adrian Wiggins school of law at Campbell University in 2007. I worked in employment law for one year, then opened my own law firm practicing employment law, business law (including nonprofits), and civil litigation. The Yourse Law firm was operational for three-and-a-half years. I then sold it to Cauly Pridgen, PA and became an attorney at that firm. I practiced business law, employment law, civil litigation, and municipal law. I worked at Cauley Pridgen, PA for nearly six years. Then in 2017, I wanted to take a job with less travel and lower working hours so that I could spend more time with my family, so I began working at Railinc Corp, in their legal department as the legal services manager. I currently still work in this role and love it.

Ministry Experience
Christ Family Church 2008 – Present: Praise team worshiper, trustee, women’s choir worshiper, children’s choir director, teens class teacher, clean up team, children’s teacher
Trinity Faith Full Gospel Church 2004-2008: Praise team worshiper, Teen class teacher, Children’s choir director
Forest Fire Christian Ministry/Wake Forest 2000-2004: Praise team worshiper, Gospel Choir director, (eXplosive Parade of Righteous Exemplifying Spiritual Success) XPRESS praise step team
Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist Church 1982-2000: Children’s choir, Young Adult Choir, Teen outreach ministry, usher.

 

Published May 29th, 2020