Eric Justice is our Pastor here at New Hope Baptist Church. He was born in Dalton, GA on December 13, 1975 to Bro. James and Sis. Betty Justice. Raised in the home of a Baptist preacher he was exposed to the gospel all of his life and at the age of seven made a profession of faith. By the age of sixteen he was active in the music ministry of his church as assistant choir director, but through these teenage years he began living two lives. He was the model church member on Sunday and Wednesday at church, but the rest of the time he was taking part of the world's music and drugs. He continued to spiral downward as he left home for the first time and moved onto the campus of University of Georgia.
A low point was reached in early 1995 when he was in two car collisions on the same day, a Sunday, while trying to get money for drugs. The Lord protected him and he was in no physical harm, but realized that spiritually he was empty and broken. He went back home, got involved in his local church and in June of 1995 announced a call to preach. He would realize later none of this improvement would fix the problem in his soul. He began preaching all over Gordon & Whitfield counties, attending revivals throughout the area, and in early 1996 was invited to a youth meeting at the Concord Missionary Baptist Church.
This was his first exposure to an Independent Pre-millennial Baptist Church and Pastor Sammy Allen. God was working despite his lost condition and in June of that year he attended his first meeting at Faith Baptist Camp. That week a young lady named Kim Stephens was saved and he met his future wife. It was only a couple of weeks later that he joined the Concord Missionary Baptist Church, and it was there on April 5, 1997 he and Kim married.
He worked at Carriage Carpets in Calhoun and attended the Faith Baptist Institute and Bible College. In January of 1999, Eric and Kim moved to Ocala, FL. After the move they joined the Solid Rock Baptist Church of Homosassa. It was here that God began to show Eric what he needed was to be saved. Then on April 28, 2000 at a preacher's fellowship at Bible Baptist Church in Live Oak, Dr. Ronnie Simpson preached on 1 John 3:9, and Eric junked his pride and his profession and was gloriously saved.
The Lord then began to unveil the plan for his life. In June of that year he began a ministry through the local church in a juvenile correctional facility, and the following year went out of the church as a full time missionary chaplain to that facility. In 2003 that door closed, but as the Lord so often does another door opened. It was at this time he was called to pastor the church in Homosassa. It was also at this time he found out his wife, Kim, was expecting their first child. On March 5, 2004 Virginia Hope Justice was born into the Justice home. Pastor Eric, his wife Kim, and their daughter Hope are wholly given to the ministry of the New Hope Baptist Church and look forward to the greatest days which are still ahead.