Jared MaCartin Bowling of Ebensburg has announced his candidacy for Cambria County Register of Wills and Clerk of Orphan’s Court.
He was born in 1984 in Jacksonville, N.C. Bowling is the senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Ebensburg, and he grew up in a military family.
His African-American father is a retired U.S. Marine. His mother is from Scotland. Bowling grew up in southern California in a very conservative Christian, Republican home. He graduated in 2002 from Grace Christian High School in San Diego, Calif.
He became involved with non-profit Christian ministry at a young age and began volunteering in nursing homes as a chaplain in 2007.
He was then hired as the city youth director for El Cajon, Calif. Bowling worked with teenagers and helped many of them leave the life of gangs and drugs behind.
He completed Seminary while working as both the inner-city youth director and as a part-time custodian, which helped pay for his education.
He graduated from Southern California Seminary in 2008. He was ordained as a Baptist minister in 2012. That same year he married his wife, Rachel, and they have two children, Chloe and Enoch.
Bowling has spent some time as the lead singer in several rock bands and has an appreciation for music and songwriting.
In 2014, he and his family moved to Altoona, and he became the executive director of the Altoona Rescue Mission. He was instrumental in re-opening the mission, which had been closed for two years.
As executive director, he created programs to provide housing and food to the homeless in Blair County. In less than two years, he created 30-day, 90-day and six-month extended stay programs, which provided food and shelter to over 800 homeless persons, including many veterans.
Bowling established a network of community relationships with the Altoona Police Department, local churches, Blair County Community Action and Blair County Drug and Alcohol.
He also served on the Blair County Justice Advisory Board. He established an educational program in conjunction with Pennsylvania State University in which students provided the homeless with job development training and skills.
In 2017, Bowling and his family moved to Ebensburg where he became the senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Ebensburg. The church has continued to grow under his leadership.
He has established college ministries working with the students at St. Francis University and a new college ministry on the campus of Mount Aloysius College. He is a frequent guest speaker at both schools.
Bowling is conservative, compassionate and caring. He has more than 10 years of experience serving the public in the non-profit sector, seven of those years being in pastoral ministry.
He is now excited to serve the residents of Cambria County as the Register of Wills and Clerk of the Orphans Court.
When asked what his message will be for running as the Register of Wills and Clerk of the Orphan’s Court, Bowling said, “My message is simple: We need compassionate and conservative values in leadership again, along with a culture of transparency, integrity and a willingness to develop modern technology for a smoother running system.
“This will transform Cambria County, not just tomorrow, but for many years to come. This will make Cambria County great again.”