December 15, 2016

Jonathan Boyd (‘98, ‘01) lives and works in Santa Marta, a city on the Caribbean coast of Colombia, South America. Here he has served for six years as a church planter faithfully taking the Word to the World.

Jonathan’s leading into missions began in his teen years. He worked at a Christian camp in Minnesota for several summers during high school. While working there one summer, another Faith alumnus, Troy Dowden, had a large impact in Jonathan’s life. As Jonathan pursued missions, he found God leading him to study missions at Faith Baptist Bible College.

Jonathan came to Faith with a missions major. While at Faith, Johnathan began attending CrossRoad Baptist Church in Ames and has since been a member for over twenty years. Through his church, Jonathan reconnected with Troy and was involved in international student ministry at Iowa State University including a Spanish Bible study. This ministry opportunity played a crucial part in his training for foreign missions. In the first couple weeks of school, Jonathan met his wife, Holly (’98 Davis), on the church van. Holly was a missionary kid from Colombia, and the he was interested in her story of growing up in Colombia.

After graduating from Faith with a Master of Divinity in 2001, Jonathan began looking at opportunities in missions. When Jonathan considered all factors, including his wife’s growing up in a Spanish-speaking country, God led the Boyds to Bogotá, Colombia. After church planting in Bogotá for their first term, God opened the door in Santa Marta, and they relocated there in 2010 to work alongside both an American family and a Colombian family.

Although adjusting from American to Colombian culture has its challenges, Jonathan has learned how to serve with flexibility and trust in God’s sovereignty. “I think the most important lesson,” Jonathan said, “is that our triune God should be the center of all we do. ‘My plans’ have to be relegated to a secondary plane, because they are often linked to pride.” It is always exciting to see God lead alumni through ministry as they faithfully serve Him across the world.