Jonathan Goode

This is how Jonathan puts it…

I grew up in the Church. I attended a church operated pre-school, I made every craft vacation Bible school could throw at me, and I frequently demanded (in song form) for Pharaoh to let his people go. My family was a good, middle-class, American Christian family… and I represented them well. Then it changed. My parents divorced and the trajectory of my good, middle-class, American Christian family was changed forever. As divorce often brings, my family went on to experience a range of emotional, financial, social, and psychological challenges. It was devastating.

These are the moments that one expects the Church to really step up. Although the chief message of Christianity is about love that brought undeserved grace, many of the people in our Church chose to simply be quiet when things got tough. While I know it must have been uncomfortable for many of them, I am unfortunately unable to see the love of Christ shining through His Church when I reflect on that season of my life. 

Instead of staying angry I made it my mission to serve the Church with the hope of making her as loving and as beautiful as possible. I preached for the first time when I was 15. I was bad. Not cool bad, I was bad bad. But I felt that I had a message and I wanted to get it out there so I pushed on. 

In response to a deep sense of calling, and motivated by the response of his church following his parents divorce, Jonathan founded Unthinkable in 2007 and has been going ever since. In addition to starting the organization, Jonathan has also developed the concepts behind most of our resources. Day to day Jonathan serves as the Executive Director of the organization. He also serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors.

More than any other component of Unthinkable, Jonathan finds the greatest joy in teaching the Biblical truths that lead to a greater love for God and people. His hope is that through Unthinkable the Church would become even stronger for the glory of God. He deeply desires to avoid any more missteps like the one he experienced as a child.

In 2009 Jonathan graduated from Georgia State University with a degree in Political Science. Since that time Jonathan has completed the IMPRINT Discipleship Program, a year long program led by The Rebuild Initiative (a partner ministry of the North American Mission Board with a focus on bringing renewal to the urban church). He has also completed a 10 month training program with the LEAD Institute on the topic of non-profit management.

In August, Jonathan will  move to Birmingham, AL to begin serving Christ Fellowship Church (a plant of The Church at Brook Hills). That same month he will also begin seminary through Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Jonathan is currently engaged to be married to Ashley Hester in November 2012.

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