eroes HL Among Us
Justin Simmons
W
alking down Franklin Street, there isn’t hardly a face that Justin Simmons doesn’t recognize. He waves to the college students who see him preach at Love Chapel Hill on Sunday mornings, and he fist-bumps the man who woke up on the sidewalk, calling him by name. Justin came to town in 2008 with a vision to start a church alongside Chapel Hill native Matt LeRoy, who he met at Asbury Theological Seminary. The boy who grew up in West Virginia soon came to share a deep-rooted love for the Southern slice of heaven and a fundamental passion for seeing cultural, racial and economic barriers being broken down. A Bible study at the top of a McAlister’s Deli – what is now BonChon – and worship outside the Old Well culminated to an established church home at the Varsity Theatre in October 2009. Justin served as the executive pastor for 13 years before taking the helm as lead pastor a year and a half ago. For Justin, giving back to his community is just a part of life. “One of my favorite quotes is attributed to a guy named John Wesley back in the late 1700s – he loved Jesus, too – ‘Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can,’” Justin says. This quote is lived out at Love Chapel Hill – from partnering with Brandwein’s Bagels and Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews to offer free bagels and coffee on Sunday mornings, and collecting winter clothing and hygiene kits to distribute to those in need, to working closely with the Community Empowerment Fund, the Center for Excellence in Community Mental Health, TABLE and Pee Wee Homes, just to name a few. The church is built on “radical hospitality and intentional action and presence in the heart of Chapel Hill,” as Justin says. He welcomes quite literally anyone and everyone into his church family and can only hope that he impacts someone’s life for the better. “We’re learning to love our neighbors and ourselves as we follow and practice the ways of Jesus together,” Justin says. And he hopes that you’ll join him, too. – By Leah Berry CHM
96
chapelhillmagazine.com
November/December 2023