Meet JR Carmichael | Pastor

We had the good fortune of connecting with JR Carmichael and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi JR, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I was born in South Korea, but when people ask where I am from I say Georgia. That’s where I grew up and spent most of my life. My dad who is African American met my mom who is Korean while serving in the military and being station in South Korea. They had my sister, and then me. We then moved to the California for a very short time as my dad finished his time in the military, and then relocated to Georgia where my dad’s family was and still is today.

Growing up in the South because I saw a whole lot of people who looked like my dad, but not so many people that looked like my mom. I remember being in middle school and high school and honestly not knowing where I really fit in. This was something I struggled with for most of my upbringing. My moms english wasn’t that great so I remember being at parent/teacher conferences and having to explain to my mom what the teacher was saying, and at the time if I am honest I felt embarrassed. I just felt like my family wasn’t normal compared to the other primarily black and white families around us. We also didn’t have much when we moved to Georgia. My dad had just come out of the military and was looking for work, and because my moms english wasn’t that great she had a hard time finding work. This only added to my struggle of trying to figure out where I fit in. I remember asking myself sometimes at night in my room why am I in this family?

But I can look back now and see that everything had a purpose and has deeply impacted who I am today. I used to be ashamed of my biracial background and culture because it was the minority where I grew up, but I can look at it today and see how incredibly blessed I am to not have one culture to come from, but 2 cultures. 2 cultures that I have grown to appreciate, honor, and have be a part of my life and my family’s life. It’s helped me to not be consumed with what the world thinks I should be, how the world perceives me, or what people think about me. What the world needs most is for me to be who God has created me to be, and I want the people I come into contact with in this world to get to be able to live with that same truth. The world doesn’t need a bunch of people conforming to being someone they weren’t created to be.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
For work I am a Pastor at South Hills Church which is a multisite (multiple locations) church based in Southern California. I have the incredible honor of Pastoring our Burbank Campus. If you were to ask me in middle school or high school if I would be a Pastor I would have laughed in your face. My goal in life was to either be a professional athlete or be in business, but as I was getting ready to graduate from high school my faith in Jesus became a huge part of my life. So much so that it had an incredible influence on what I would do professionally. After faith becoming a significant part of my life and experiencing how much it had changed my life for the better I had an unrelenting desire for people to experience what I had experienced. I didn’t know I would be able to do it for a job, but I quickly learned during college that there were opportunities. After finishing undergrad with an Accounting Degree I went to Seminary and got a Master of Arts in Theological Studies, and then did a residency at a church outside of Atlanta, Ga. That residency is where I really began to understand what being a pastor really looked like professionally every single day. It gave me a real life glimpse of the good, the bad, and the ugly. It showed me that it was not going to be easy, but it would always be worth it because at the end of the day I wasn’t simply working for a paycheck, or even working for myself, but I was working to serve and help others. There is now nothing that could get me out of bed at any time of the day besides the work I get to do as a Pastor. And I would challenge and encourage people to find that thing. Find the thing that you can get up out of bed at any time of the day to do that thing.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We would have breakfast at Salt’s Cure in West Hollywood. After breakfast we would stop by KITH to look at sneakers and clothes. Then we would grab lunch at Prime Pizza. It’s the best Pizza in LA don’t at me. After lunch we would spend the afternoon down at the ROW DTLA. Really cool collection of shops and restaurants down there. For the evening we would grab a pre-dinner drink at The Green Room in Burbank, and then dinner at Castaway in Burbank.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would love to give my shout out to my mom. My mom in every way is the reason I am who I am today, where I am today, and also where I believe I can be in the future. I can look at every season of life I have had from childhood until now and my mom has always been there to encourage, been there to support, and has always believed in me. Even when I didn’t believe in myself, that I wasn’t gifted enough to do what I was doing my mom would in her own way just remind me that I am exactly where I need to be doing what I was created to do. I owe so much to my mom, and want her to know that I am forever grateful for all of the sacrifices she has made (some I know that I may never know about), and the unconditional love she has shown me my entire life.

Website: southhills.org/burbank

Instagram: quincycarmichaeljr

Youtube: youtube.com/southhillsburbank