Rev. Mary Jo Gessner, born and raised in Miami, Florida, received a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Florida in 1982 and a Master of Divinity degree from Southern Seminary in 1986. Rev. Gessner began serving First Baptist Madison in 1987 as Minister of Youth, was licensed in 1990, and was ordained to the Gospel Ministry in 2007. After serving as Minister of Youth for 21 years, Rev. Gessner began serving our congregation as Minister of Pastoral Care in July of 2008. She is a Certified Pastoral Counselor with the American Association of Pastoral Counselors and presently recruits and organizes the volunteer Chaplains for our new Madison Hospital. She and her husband, Mark Gessner, have two grown children: Jessye Gaines (married to Luke Gaines), who teaches in the Engineering Academy at Bob Jones High School, and Harris Gessner, who is the Choral Director at Mountain Gap Middle School in Huntsville. Mary Jo and Mark have two beautiful granddaughters, Kay and Glenne.