*Photo Submitted
Press Release
Pastor Jose A. Santos was called to become the 42nd Pastor of the First Baptist Church in a unanimous vote by the church membership on Easter Sunday, April 4, 2021. His appointment officially began on May 2, 2021.
Pastor Santos fills the vacancy left when the previous minister, Pastor William A. Gerak, Sr., passed away suddenly on February 1, 2021. In the absence of a leader, Pastor Santos from Christ Centered Baptist Church in Plainfield, NJ and Pastor Kevin DeAngelo from Zion Independent Baptist Church in Hazlet, NJ filled the pulpit on Sundays and Wednesdays for the past three months. “I am overwhelmed by the grace of God,” Santos says. “I began this journey to First Baptist as a man with a lot of addictions and now I start a new chapter as the church’s Pastor.”
Pastor Santos is a longtime native of Perth Amboy. He came to Perth Amboy from Puerto Rico when he was 15 years old. Lacking spiritual direction in his life, he began hanging out with the wrong type of friends, dropped out of high school, and started dealing drugs on the streets of Perth Amboy. “I put my mother through a lot of heartache,” Santos recalls. “I am so thankful that my mother got to see my life transformed by the power of Christ.”
His spiritual awakening began in 1994 after hearing a sermon on television regarding the power of Jesus Christ to bring forgiveness and salvation. This sermon led him to the First Baptist Church in Perth Amboy, NJ under the direction of Pastor William A. Gerak, Sr.
Under Pastor Gerak’s guidance, Pastor Santos attended Hyles-Anderson College in 1998 enrolling in their “Five Year Program” which allowed students without a high school diploma to obtain their diploma and college degree through the fulfillment of 160 semester hours. With three children, a wife, and a full-time job, Pastor Santos graduated from Hyles-Anderson College in 2004 with an earned Bachelor of Science degree, with honors, in Pastoral Theology.
Pastor Santos is no stranger to First Baptist having served as an Assistant Pastor for five years before transitioning over as a Spanish Pastor in Somerset, NJ and then becoming the founding Pastor of Christ Centered Baptist Church in Plainfield, NJ in 2015.
Pastor Santos joins First Baptist Church with his wife, Marisol. They have three children and three grandchildren.
