EDUCATION

MASTERS OF DIVINITY

Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary May 2026

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE

Mechanical Engineering Oklahoma State University 2020-2023

Joel recently completed a Master of Divinity while serving in pastoral internships that involved teaching, ministry planning, and hands-on shepherding within the life of the church. He grew up as a missionary kid with the International Mission Board in India, shaping an early understanding of the global church, cross-cultural ministry, and gospel-centered service. Joel is experienced in leading volunteers, cultivating welcoming church systems, and teaching Scripture. Joel moved back to America in March of 2020.

Joel has formal theological training and broad local church experience in preaching, discipleship, hospitality leadership, worship leadership, and congregational care.

TESTIMONY

I accepted Christ as my Lord when I was seven years old in Harrisonville, MO. Soon afterwards, my family moved to India as missionaries, where we lived for the next 11 years. It was at this time that my spiritual development began. I remember as a kid being mean-spirited, angry, petty, and constantly seeking approval. Yet God worked in my heart to produce a change that only He could, showing me love and giving me forgiveness. It is through the grace of Christ and the prayer of my parents that I am here days before the airports in India closed due to Covid. I went and stayed with my grandparents until college started, and when I was staying with them is when God first started calling me.

Through sermons given by the local pastor, I felt like God was calling me to be more than a consumer of the Word. I had seen how hard ministry was on my parents, however, and I didn’t desire that, so initially I rejected God. He kept showing me His will until the fall of that year, when a pastor preached on John 21:15-17. This was where God called me specifically to feed His sheep. He made it clear to me that this was my last chance to follow Him, if I denied Him here, He would be done with me. I knew that a life without God and outside His plan for me was a life of sin and unhappiness, so I decided to follow God into ministry. I began to connect with local churches and the DOM of the Cimarron Baptist Association, and lead a Bible study with the BCM. God gave me the opportunity to learn how to preach at Eagle Heights Baptist Church, learn how to lead worship at Crossway Church, and how to love, by giving me my wonderful wife and helper, Alicia. 

God has taught me at Midwestern that He has given me the gifts and desire to preach, to teach, and to care for the spiritual development of the members of a church. I took my electives in Preaching and in Biblical Counselling. I believe God has called me to preach and to care for a church for many years. today