From Alabama To Virginia, The Burns Family Trusts God’s Calling To Liberty

“We were moving out of our house before we even had a place to go,” Emma Claire Burns said.

“We didn’t know what to do,” Jeremy Burns said. “Does the Lord want us to stay here, does he want us somewhere else?”

Last year, the Burns family, originally from Boaz, Alabama, took a leap of faith when the Lord pressed on their hearts to leave their family, friends and jobs and move to Lynchburg, Virginia. They looked at over 30 houses before making their move to Lynchburg in August 2020.   

The journey had started years before, in 2013, when Jeremy, a pastor and soil scientist, was called out to a home in the Birmingham area to do some environmental work. Because it was the middle of summer, his two kids, Emma Claire and Andrew, traveled with him on the hour-long drive to      the home.

When they pulled up to the house, a Middle Eastern man greeted them. Jeremy Burns said he was extremely friendly, and, after a little bit of conversation, discovered the homeowner was the pastor of Christ City Church in the Birmingham area. 

 “He had also traveled around with the Billy Graham association, and this guy’s name was David Nasser,” said Jeremy Burns. 

Nasser gave them a CD of his testimony which Jeremy, Emma Claire and Andrew listened to on the way home. They were moved and blown away by his story. When they got home, Jeremy shared his story with his wife Allyson and, from then on, the family kept themselves informed about Nasser and his church. 

Then in 2014, Emma Claire said she saw a headline in her online newsfeed that Nasser was going to become the campus pastor at Liberty University. They were not very familiar with Liberty University at this time, but the news intrigued them. 

Soon after this announcement, the Burns family attended a Newsboys concert in their hometown. At the concert, Newsboys member Michael Tate mentioned that he graduated from Liberty. On the way out of the concert, Jeremy found a Liberty brochure and decided his family needed to visit the campus. 

Over the next four years, the Burns family visited Liberty at least a dozen times, bringing countless family members and friends with them. For one of Emma Claire’s birthdays, Jeremy rented a bus and brought 16 people to Liberty for a visit. The atmosphere on campus was magnetic to the family.

“You hear Christian music when you get out of the car,” Jeremy said. “It was something we had never experienced, and it was overwhelming for us.” 

However, the visit that the Burns family believe impacted their family most of all, was when Jeremy, Emma Claire, Andrew and their family friends traveled to Lynchburg and toured Liberty Christian Academy in July 2019. The superintendent at the time led them on a tour and, at the end, asked them what he could do to get the Burns family to Liberty.

“Pray that our house would sell,” Emma Claire said.

Jeremy laughed this comment off, because not only was their house not on the market, but the house had previously been on the market for over five years and did not sell. Then, about three days after they arrived home, Allyson called Jeremy and told him there was a man who knew someone who wanted to buy their house. 

“I’m just going to throw this card away,” said Allyson. 

“No, don’t do it!” said Jeremy. 

By this time, the whole family had grown anxious for Liberty. Andrew had previously committed to playing baseball at Alabama, but he changed his commitment to Liberty because he felt called to go there. 

In August 2019, the family received an offer at full price for their house at 10 p.m. They quickly sold their home and were given a month to move out. But they were still not sure what their next step would be. 

“We were happy at home. I was pastoring a church and owned a business. We didn’t know what to do,” said Jeremy. 

The Burns family rented a house in Alabama as Jeremy applied to numerous jobs at Liberty. Through the application process, Jeremy turned to God and realized that if Liberty was where the Lord wanted Him, then he would give his all to the move. 

Near the beginning of July 2020, Jeremy arranged a last-minute trip with his wife and drove the eight hours to Liberty. On this trip he was offered a position he never applied for: a career coach for the School of Divinity. With this job offer, the family had less than a month to make the move to Lynchburg. 

In August 2020, they moved Emma Claire into her dorm and Andrew started school with Liberty Christian Academy Aug. 26. Jeremy and Allyson, along with their dog Sparky, moved into a hotel where they stayed for six weeks before finally moving into a house in Lynchburg.

Jeremy now helps students craft their resumes, narrow down internships and discuss their plans for life after Liberty. SOD students can schedule a career coaching meeting with Jeremy Burns through the career coaching website.

As he exemplified in his family’s move to Liberty, Jeremy now encourages students to seek God’s plan and follow it, even if that direction is towards the unknown. 

“We felt like the Lord has opened this door,” Jeremy said. “We just went with it and went on faith.”

Peyton MacKenzie is a Feature Reporter. Follow her on Twitter at @PeytMacK.

2 comments

  • Proud for you. We love you and sure do miss you. But God had a plan for your lives.

  • Vester & Linda Jennings

    We went to Shades Mtn Baptist Church when David Nasser was there. Our son and David were friends in youth group.

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