Born and raised in Sacramento, CA, Jonathan was blessed to grow up in a wonderful Christian household with godly, Jesus-loving parents who taught him the gospel from an early age. He experienced God’s saving grace and trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ at 6. In high school, after having numerous opportunities to preach in various contexts, he began prayerfully seeking the wise counsel of leaders in his local church to discern whether God was guiding him towards vocational pastoral ministry.
After graduating from the University of California, Irvine with a BA in Classics (2015), Jonathan returned to Sacramento to work for several years as an accountant for the California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS), before moving across the country in to Louisville, KY (2018) to pursue theological training at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he would go on to receive both an MDiv (2021) and a Research ThM (2022). Throughout his time at Southern Seminary, he served as a Sunday school teacher and a deacon at Cedar Creek Baptist Church, while occasionally providing pulpit supply preaching at numerous local churches in the greater Louisville area.
Jonathan accepted the call to the pastorate at Franklin Street Baptist Church in July 2023. In addition to his role as the Preaching Elder of Franklin Street, he serves as a Teaching Assistant (Garrett Fellow) at Southern Seminary, and also substitute teaches for the Jefferson County Public School District.