GAINESVILLE, GA – Jeremy Shoulta, pastor at First Baptist Church Gainesville, has died. The clergyman passed away on Sunday, April 12, 2026, after a yearlong battle with lymphoma.
First Baptist Church Gainesville announced Pastor Shoulta’s passing on Facebook this past Sunday (Apr. 12). “It is with immense sadness that we share news of Pastor Jeremy’s passing this morning around 9:15AM after his long fight with cancer,” the church shared. “He died peacefully at Emory University Hospital surrounded by his family.”
Pastor Shoulta came to First Baptist Church in April 2020. He served as the senior pastor for five years before being diagnosed with cancer in July 2025. Pastor Shoulta was initially diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. A re-evaluation of test results, however, led to a different diagnosis of lymphoma.
Prior to serving as the senior pastor at First Baptist Church, Pastor Shoulta served at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia. This was also the church where former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn Carter, were parishioners. According to his obituary, Pastor Shoulta was often asked, “How does it feel to be President Carter’s Pastor?” His response was always, “I’m Maranatha’s pastor.”
Pastor Shoulta met his wife, Valarie Hubbard, while working as a student missionary through the Kentucky Baptist Convention. Their acquaintance evolved into a friendship that ultimately turned into a love story spanning more than 20 years.
Valarie and Jeremy wed in 2008. They welcomed their first daughter, Magdalene (Maggie) in 2013. The couple’s second daughter, Macy, was born in 2016.
During his career as a minister, Pastor Shoulta attained a Master of Divinity from Baptist Seminary of Kentucky (2010) and a Doctor of Ministry from Gardner-Webb University (2021). He is survived by his wife and children along with his parents, Rev. William and Jill Thompson Shoulta, and other family members and friends who remember him as a compassionate individual.
“I’m a close friend of he and his parents here in Louisville he was like a nephew to me,” one family friend commented on Facebook at the news of Pastor Shoulta’s passing. “I knew Jeremy as a BSK student—I was one of his professors,” said Mark Samuel Medley, Academic Dean at BSK Theological Seminary.
“I’m so, so sorry to hear of his passing,” Dr. Medley continued. “Holding Valerie and the girls in the Light. May Jeremy rest in peace and rise in glory.”
A celebration of life service will be held for Pastor Jeremy Shoulta at First Baptist Church Gainesville on Sunday, April 19, 2026, at 5 p.m. Rev. Wendy Peacock, pastor at Friendship Baptist Church in Americus, Georgia, will officiate. Pastor Shoulta was 42 years old at the time of his death.