Joby Martin is the founding and lead pastor of The Church of Eleven22 in Jacksonville, Florida — a church he planted in 2012 that grew from a small gathering into one of the fastest-growing and most attended churches in the United States within a decade. His direct, expository preaching style, his personal authenticity about his own struggles and failures, and his genuine commitment to making serious biblical teaching accessible to people who have been turned off by religion have driven the church’s remarkable growth. He is also a speaker, author, and podcast host whose reach extends well beyond Jacksonville into the broader evangelical world.

Joby Martin Biography

Full Name	Joby Martin
Nationality	American
Occupation	Pastor, Author, Speaker, Podcast Host
Education	Jacksonville University; New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
Known For	Church of Eleven22 founding pastor; “Gospel-Centered Discipleship” teaching; rapid church growth

Early Life and Personal Background

Joby Martin grew up in the southeastern United States with what he has described as a nominal Christian background — the kind of cultural Christianity that is common in the American South, where church attendance and general religious identification are social norms without necessarily corresponding to deeply formed personal faith. He has been candid in sermons and interviews about a young adult period characterized by behavior inconsistent with Christian values — including alcohol use and the general aimlessness that can characterize young men who lack a clear sense of purpose and identity.

His conversion to genuine Christian faith — the shift from nominal religious identification to what evangelical Christians call a personal relationship with Jesus Christ — came in his college years and was, by his account, total and transformative. He describes the experience of understanding the gospel as genuinely good news rather than merely a set of moral requirements as the turning point from which everything else in his life and ministry follows. This personal experience of transformation from the inside — from someone who had lived without the faith he now preaches — gives his ministry a credibility and a warmth that purely institutional religious formation does not always produce.

Education and Ministry Formation

Martin pursued theological education with the seriousness that his conversion produced, attending Jacksonville University and subsequently New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary — one of the Southern Baptist Convention’s six affiliated seminaries. Seminary training gave him the biblical languages, systematic theology, and homiletical skills that undergird effective expository preaching, and the New Orleans Baptist context placed him within a theological tradition that emphasizes both doctrinal seriousness and evangelistic engagement with those outside the church.

Before planting The Church of Eleven22, Martin served in various ministry roles that gave him practical pastoral experience — the understanding of how church community functions, how people grow in faith, how pastoral care intersects with preaching ministry, and how leadership in a Christian community differs from leadership in purely secular organizational contexts. This practical formation, combined with his theological training, gave him the foundation for the larger ministry he would eventually build.

The Church of Eleven22: From Plant to Phenomenon

Martin planted The Church of Eleven22 in Jacksonville, Florida in 2012 with a small core group, meeting initially in rented spaces. The church’s name references Romans 11:22 — “Note then the kindness and the severity of God” — a text that captures the theological balance Martin has consistently emphasized in his ministry: a God of both grace and holiness, whose love for human beings does not require the softening of his moral character. This theological positioning — neither sentimental nor harsh, taking both the gospel’s comfort and its demands seriously — has characterized the church’s preaching from the beginning.

Growth was rapid. Within a few years, the church had grown into the thousands and required multiple campuses across the Jacksonville area to accommodate its congregation. By the early 2020s, The Church of Eleven22 had become one of the fifty largest churches in the United States by attendance — a remarkable growth trajectory for a church planted from scratch by a single pastor in 2012. The church has planted daughter churches and has been studied within church planting circles as a case study in how genuine gospel preaching and authentic community can drive rapid growth without sacrificing theological substance.

What drives the growth? In Martin’s telling, and in the accounts of those who have observed the church, it is primarily the preaching — direct, biblically rooted, personally honest, and practically oriented. He does not avoid difficult texts or difficult truths, and he approaches his congregation with the assumption that they can handle serious engagement with Scripture if it is delivered with sufficient clarity and care. This assumption — which is less common in churches that prioritize growth over substance — appears to be well-founded in the Jacksonville context, where a large unchurched population has responded to exactly this kind of ministry.

Author, Speaker, and Media Presence

Martin has written books including “If the Tomb Is Empty” (2021), which addresses the resurrection of Jesus Christ as both historical event and present reality, and has built a significant podcast and digital media presence that extends the reach of The Church of Eleven22’s teaching well beyond Jacksonville. His podcast has attracted listeners across the country and internationally, among people who may never attend his church physically but who engage with his teaching through digital platforms.

He speaks at conferences and events within the evangelical world and has become a recognized voice in the broader conversation about what effective, gospel-centered ministry looks like in the contemporary American context. His willingness to speak directly about both the personal struggles of pastoral life — including the specific pressures of leading a rapidly growing church — and about the theological convictions that ground his ministry, has made him a trusted figure among younger evangelical pastors seeking models for ministry that take both faithfulness and effectiveness seriously.

Personal Life

Martin is married to Gretchen Martin, and they have children together. He has spoken about the demands that pastoral ministry places on family life — particularly the ministry of a rapidly growing church with multiple campuses — and about the importance of protecting those relationships while pursuing the ministry calling he feels deeply. His family’s willingness to support and participate in the church’s life has been a visible part of the church’s community identity.

Net Worth

His net worth is not publicly confirmed. His income comes from his pastoral salary, book royalties, speaking engagements, and podcast monetization. He does not present himself publicly through financial success and is known for a lifestyle consistent with his pastoral calling rather than with celebrity ministry culture.

Conclusion

Joby Martin’s rapid rise from church planter to one of the most significant pastoral voices in American evangelical Christianity reflects both genuine preaching ability and a personal authenticity that people in Jacksonville and beyond have found compelling. His willingness to tell the truth about himself — his past, his struggles, his theological convictions — and to bring that same honesty to his engagement with Scripture has built a community of remarkable size and apparent depth. In a Christian media landscape that sometimes rewards novelty and personality over substance, his sustained commitment to expository preaching and genuine community represents a model worth understanding.

Frequently Asked Questions

What church does Joby Martin pastor?

The Church of Eleven22 in Jacksonville, Florida, which he planted in 2012 and which has grown into one of the fifty largest churches in the United States.

What does “Eleven22” refer to?

Romans 11:22 — “Note then the kindness and the severity of God” — a text capturing the theological balance of grace and holiness that Martin emphasizes in his ministry.

What book did Joby Martin write?

“If the Tomb Is Empty” (2021), addressing the resurrection of Jesus Christ as historical event and present reality.

Where did Joby Martin study theology?

Jacksonville University and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

Why has The Church of Eleven22 grown so rapidly?

Observers consistently cite Martin’s direct, biblically grounded, personally honest expository preaching as the primary driver, combined with a genuine community culture that attracts both unchurched people and those seeking more substantive teaching than many large churches offer.