Jonathan Herron: Nice to meet you!

I'm the founding pastor of Life Church Michigan, a fresh, modern church for people who don't like going to church.

According to LifeWay Research & Outreach Magazine, I lead one of the Fastest-Growing Churches in America.

My focus is on quickly reaching people far from God. You can discover fresh leadership resources plus my personal leadership coaching program at FearlessLeaders.net.

My first book on using principles of improv-comedy in leadership was an Amazon Bestseller and my second book releases nationally in mid-2020.

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This is my personal blog.

It is focused on life, leadership, and laughs. My philosophy is simple: "Take a Risk. Jump. Fail Harder. And Laugh Along the Way."

I write on Fearless Leadership, Church Start-Ups, Adoption, God, Comedy, and sometimes stuff that doesn't fit neatly into one of those categories. I also occasionally write about the resources I am discovering.

My goal is to create insightful, engaging content that will serve as a creative catalyst in your life.

If you are in a position of influence - or aspire to be - then this blog is for you.

I typically post three times a week. To make sure you don't miss my newest posts, you can subscribe via RSS or email. You can also contact me here.

My Top Posts

If you are new to my site, you might want to start with my most popular posts:

Top 5 Leadership Lessons I Learned While On-Staff at NewSpring

Two Unlikely Leadership Lessons from Conan O'Brien

Warning: Boring Preachers Can Actually KILL You!!

Adoption and the Gospel: God Wants You Around

Pink Cigars for Everybody!!!!

The Role of Testosterone in Church Planting

Little Plastic Batman in Arizona

Assumptions about the Pillsbury Doughboy

My Biography

I started out by studying comedy under Tina Fey at Second City in Chicago. After completing my Master's degree from Ashland Theological Seminary, I served as a youth pastor and experienced the depths of grace and compassion while serving orphans in the third-world villages of Africa.

After serving on-staff at NewSpring Church as part of the Executive Team, Perry Noble challenged me to do youth ministry for adults as a church planter. Our plant in north-east Ohio identified and trained many twenty-something leaders, releasing them into ministry through our successful merger with Western Reserve Grace Church. I'm very proud of them.

Turning our attention to Michigan, we saw 328 people receive Christ and 135 people go public through baptism over a two year period... all in a city of only 5,000 people.

Unfortunately, I got fired when my newly-hired Executive Pastor hijacked the church while I was recovering from back surgery. He ended up leaving a few years later to start a small cult in his living room (true story).

Meanwhile, with no money, no facility, and no people, my wife and I started Life Church completely from scratch in 2013. Within 5 years, we saw it grow from Zero to 1,200 people.

I remain committed to the next generation, speaking to crowds around the country. I am also excited about the rise of church planting in North America, having invested years as a national church planter assessor with the Acts 29 Network and now with Converge Worldwide.

I have been married to my high school sweetheart, Amber (follow her @HerronHacienda) for 21 years. We have five children, all adopted. We live in Saginaw, Michigan and have a wiener dog with a nervous bladder named Chewy.