About Me

My name is Derick Scudder.

North Carolina
(that’s me on the right)

When I was five years old I asked Jesus to save me from my sins. He did. Ever since then, year by year and day by day, I’ve been realizing what John Newton said is true: “I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great Savior.”

I grew up in rural North Carolina but when I was 12 my family moved to inner-city Philadelphia.My Mom homeschooled me from first to eight grade and then I went to a Philadelphia public high school. By the time I went to college at Bob Jones University, culture shock was par for the course. I graduated with bachelor’s degree in humanities in 2004 and a year later from the seminary there with a master’s degree in Bible.

meandsarah

After school I married Sarah, my best friend. We grew up in our church’s youth group and were friends all through high school and college. My wife is one of God’s greatest gifts to me on this earth. She’s still my best friend.

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God’s given us three incredible, rambunctious little girls: Sophia, Naomi and Mercy. Our house is constantly filled with laughter, screaming and half-finished art projects.

I’m one of the team of pastors who leads Bethel Chapel Church in North Philadelphia. I mainly work at teaching and discipling the young people in our church. I also lead a shepherd group and help lead the worship.

I love Juniata Park. It’s the neighborhood my church is in, I’ve grown up in and lived in for almost 20 years now. My Dad and I started the Juniata Action Committee to bring our neighbors together and work on some of the challenges our neighborhood is facing. I’ve been able to help start a campaign to promote the positives of our neighborhood and run our community’s first and only business fair. At our local police district, I’m a chaplain and community board member. The Philadelphia Daily News published an op-ed piece I wrote and I’ve had the chance to testify in front of City Council on quality of life issues that are facing my neighborhood.

Life is full, good, hard and crazy–all at the same time. What else can I say? I enjoy the constant disappointment of being a Philadelphia sports fan and the delicious taste of bacon.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Feel free to contact me at: mercyinthecity(at)gmail.com