Pastor shows his love by donating kidney to church member

Jack Coultas, pastor of Park Grove Christian Church in Deepwater Mo., went the extra mile when he found out that church member Jeremy Whitman, 36, was in desperate need of a kidney transplant because of diabetes.

“I wanted to do something practical to be able to help him,” the pastor says. “When Jeremy went through kidney failure that put a heavy burden on my heart. When it was first brought up that he would need a new kidney, the Lord put it on my heart that I should be thinking about it. A verse that was regularly coming to mind was a passage out of 1 John 3:16-17: We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?”

Pastor Coultas said he continued to pray about the kidney situation but couldn’t come up with one reason why he shouldn’t try to help Whitman.

“As I was meditating on that verse, I thought that Christ gave his life for us and I have something for Jeremy that he needs,” he said. “I just felt like the responsible thing to do as a Christian was to see if I could be a candidate. I could not think of any reason not to.”

Then the test results came back revealing Coultas was a donor match. In January 2020, Whitham and Coultas underwent surgery at Saint Luke’s Hospital and the operation was a success.

“I would encourage Christians to consider the Bible standard — Christ on the cross,” Pastor Coultas said. “He paid the price for our sins so we can experience His love. I encourage Christians to love in that same kind of love .. love like Jesus Jesus’s love was not safe. It put Him at risk. Christ didn’t give us the example of easy love.”

–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice