Jonathan serves as our Associate and Worship Minister. He has a passion for cultivating worship services that sustain lives of service in the community as worship. He believes worship should be communal and participatory. It is a kind of ‘thin place’ where our ordinary lives encounter a little more of the really real. Worship, fellowship, and service with each other and the community are all pieces of participating in the Kingdom life exemplified by Jesus. Jonathan loves the cultural diversity in our congregation and sees it as also reflecting God’s Kingdom. And he strongly believes in the missional concept that the church is God’s agent for whole life redemption and positive community transformation.
Jonathan grew up in the Churches of Christ and is grateful for many aspects of where we’ve come from while also looking forward to where God is leading us. He has been involved with Japanese missions since 1997, on the field full time for 10 of those years. He is currently working on a Doctorate of Ministry at Lipscomb University in Nashville. He and his wife, Michiko, have been married since 2004 and have three children, Hijiri, Minori (Kaitlyn) and Shiori (Eli).
Other interests include: Asset-based community development, the great outdoors, literature, music, art, and home roasted coffee.
