Jonathan grew up in the City of Orange in Orange County, and now lives in the delightfully-walkable neighborhood of Chinatown with his wife and three kids. He currently studies at Talbot School of Theology. Jonathan met his wife at a Reality LA Sunday gathering when she visited from San Francisco and a mutual friend introduced them by saying, “Avila, this is Jon. Jon, this is Avila. You both have two nose rings!”
He grew up attending church, but his perception of Christianity was that it was a lifestyle to make you more acceptable to God and better than others. Then he began attending a new church at age 17, where he realized he wasn’t as good as he thought he was and that the consequences of sin were as just much for him as anyone else. He didn’t have to be a better person for God to accept him, but through faith in Jesus he could receive his righteousness as a gift. Receiving this good news was the most freeing experience he’s ever had.
Tim Chaddick, who planted Reality LA, was like a big brother to Jonathan in high school: he was a pastor at Jonathan’s church and led a discipleship group for boys in high school. When Tim moved to LA to plant a church, Jonathan never expected to move as well and get involved, but a bizarre series of providential events led to just that. At Reality, he started serving as an usher, then in the prayer ministry, then as a community group leader. After a year and a half, he was hired onto staff and now, sixteen years later, has assisted pastors, coordinated gatherings, arranged travel, edited videos, served as youth director, become a pastor, led our faith and work initiative, and currently oversees our discipleship pathway and leadership development. He hopes to be a pastor until he dies, but expects it will continue to be expressed differently in different seasons of life.
While Jonathan has perhaps grown more introverted as he’s gotten older, he loves experiencing God through other people (and verbal processing with them!) He enjoys reading about other people’s experiences with God and Scripture and making complex truths simple and digestible. He enjoys writing and recording music and hopes to continue. Because he played guitar in metal/hardcore bands in high school, he still sometimes likes listening to that genre, but finds himself mostly listening to Disney classics with his kids.
