Jake and Emily McCoun

Role and number of years on staff:
Campus Director at Presbyterian College; on staff since 2008

Hometown:
Gainesville, GA (Jake) and Rutherfordton, NC (Emily) aka “Ruff-ton, small town, friendly”

Graduated from:
Jake: Presbyterian College ’08 in Political Science and English
Emily: Furman University ’08 in Sociology

Story:
Jake: I came to Presbyterian College, having grown up in the church. The most important thing in my life was how moral a Christian I was. After making friends with a few upper classmen Christians, whom I saw living lives completely abandoned to the Lord, I began to question what it meant to be a Christian. I was really challenged by 2 Corinthians 5:17 and being a “new creation.” I could not name a place in my life where I was living my life completely for the Lord. During my sophomore year, the Lord showed me the depth of my sinfulness, that sin was not just outward actions, but the state of my heart. It was then that the Lord opened to me the depths of His grace—grace that I didn’t deserve. Over the course of the next two and a half years the Lord used the ministry of Campus Outreach to grow me in my relationship with Him and teaching me to share the good news of His grace with others. Through my time at Presbyterian College the Lord grew in me a heart for those who do not know Him, many of whom come from a churched background like myself, yet have never clearly understood the Gospel. After graduating I joined the staff team at PC.

Emily: I grew up in a Christian home, but never really understood the gospel until my sophomore year in college. I always outwardly tried to live a “good life”, but was running towards popularity and success to find my worth. Feeling miserable and dead in my sin at the end of my sophomore year, the Lord ordained that I would go to the Leadership Project with Campus Outreach. I tried to get out of going because I was new to the ministry and knew no one, but I found myself in Cat Arrowood’s room and became a Christian about a week and a half into project. My whole life was changed as my eyes were opened to the depths of my sin and the grace that only Jesus can offer. I was established in my faith my junior and senior years at Furman, and began to minister to my sorority sisters as I grew in my burden for the lost. I met Jake the summer I became a Christian and we were married three years later. I love partnering in ministry with him at PC!

My hobbies:
Jake: Cycling, working on the house, drawing, reading
Emily: running, reading, journaling, doing impressions of people, decorating, working out, watching Gator football with Jake, and recently learning to cook for my husband!

Our favorites:
Jake: Blue Hose and Gator Football, going on walks with Em, Sports Center, HGTV, being outside, the mountains
Emily: the color pink!, chocolate of any kind, chocolate chip cookies, going on long walks with Jake, pop culture, tweeting on Twitter, Diet Mountain Dew!!!, watching Design Star with Jake, children’s books, going to the beach, Barnes and Noble, the great city of Greenville!

What you probably didn’t know about us:
Jake: My first year on staff I lost 10 pounds on the “Hot Dog Diet”
Emily: In high school, people in Rutherfordton called me the “city slicker” and insisted that I had a northern accent. I was also the trendsetter in my high school with my “poodle bangs.” I used a half can of hairspray each morning on them!

Favorite links:
Our blog