My family and I live in Pensacola FL. I was converted to Christianity at eighteen years old, and after a year felt a strong call toward vocational ministry. After some years of missions work and youth ministry, and wise counsel, I discerned a calling to pastoral ministry and planted a church in Pensacola FL in 2008.

The Cross Church, the first Confessionally Reformed Baptist church in the area at the time, needed maturity. We were sent out and overseen by Grace Life Church of the Shoals, but I was only twenty four years old at the time and many of our members were young. Due to beginning to pastor so young, I was not adequately trained. I had an undergraduate degree and a few semesters of a Masters, and eventually the weekly demands of pastoral ministry caused me to withdraw from the Masters program I was in. It would be many years later, with the encouragement of my elders, wife, and congregations health, that I decided to transfer to Reformed Baptist Seminary. The education through RBS has been very edifying. I've grown in the grace and knowledge of Christ and am more equipped to serve our congregation. The benefits of my education at RBS has already been evident to myself and my congregation. There is a noticeably increased depth of clarity in my preaching, familiarity with the theological topic at hand, and ability to rightly divide the Text. Seminary has not merely been an academic exercise for me, but a stabilizing ballast to my soul. I am more equipped to love God with my mind because of this school. The academic challenge and blessing this school has provided also encouraged me to press on in my studies. I plan to attend Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary this coming year for doctoral work.

May the Lord continue to bless and use RBS. We will be continuing to recommend men for ministerial training and education with RBS school for many years to come.

Jon Mark Olesky