Jericho Road Ministries, Inc was founded in December of 1998 by Pastor Bruce Gimbel. His heart for rescue mission ministry began while spending a summer in seminary working for Waterfront Rescue Mission in Pensacola, FL. Having relocated to Spring Hill and realizing that no such ministry existed there, he began praying and dreaming with other pastors and ministry leaders for the opportunity and community support to start a homeless shelter in Hernando County.

By October of 2000, Jericho Road’s men’s shelter was ready to take in its first residents, and in January of 2002, services for women and families were added. Another expansion to Jericho’s services - the “Food Barn” - was started in 2009 to provide food assistance to individuals and families in need.

Our current women’s shelter - “Mary’s House” - and our current men’s shelter - “Joshua’s House” - were opened in 2008 and 2015, respectively. Additionally, we have purchased a new property - “Esther’s House” - that will soon allow us to significantly expand our women’s shelter capacity.

From the very beginning, Pastor Bruce and other volunteers at Jericho implemented the strategy of holding monthly yard sales to help fund the shelters. That way, people who could not donate money could still support the ministry by donating used items to sell.

Today, this idea is still active in the form of Jericho Road’s four thrift stores. The first, on Wiscon Rd, was opened in 2006. The Ridge Manor store came next in 2007, followed by the Spring Hill store in 2008. The newest store on County Line Rd was built in 2019. In August of 2021, Jericho launched an online thrift store called “Shop Jericho Road.”

From the very beginning of Jericho’s ministry, it has been a priority to not only provide shelter, but to also provide some type of program that would help individuals work toward more sustainable life change. Pastor Bruce first created The New Life Program, a faith-based, long-term recovery program. It was provided at no cost to any individual who met the admission requirements. Pastor Bruce modeled this program after a similar one used by the Waterfront Rescue Mission. He also utilized materials from organizations like the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions (AGRM).

In 2022, Jericho’s recovery program was modified and re-branded as REbuilt. To read more about the REbuilt program, click here.

Graduation ceremonies are held four times a year to celebrate those who have finished the program. These events are always open to the public.

In August of 2018, Pastor Bruce retired as Executive Director after 20+ years of service as Founder of Jericho Road Ministries, Inc. Soon after, Pastor Andrew Chamberlin was hired on as the new Executive Director.

Andrew formerly served as a pastor for 12 years in Virginia and Ohio, and also worked for a Rescue Mission in Ohio. He holds a Masters of Divinity and Masters of Business Administration from Liberty University.