Jodie and Jonathan met in college at Erskine College and were married following graduation in 2007. Theyhave four children; Jack, Henry, Maxine, and Madison. After college he worked in youth ministry for two years and then went to Covenant Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri for his Masters in Divinity. Following graduation from Covenant in 2012, Jonathan took a youth pastor position in Omaha, Nebraska where he continued in that role until 2019. In 2019, Jonathan began a church planting effort that was derailed due to the Covid pandemic. In 2021, Jodie and Jonathan returned to our alma matter to be the RUF (Reformed University Fellowship) campus minister. In the winter of 2023, Jonathan began filling in for Young Memorial Church as their weekly pulpit supply as the church was looking for a new minister. In July 2023, he accepted the call to become the next pastor at Young Memorial Church.
The Cook family loves YMCA Soccer, bacon, camping (not Jodie), wrestling (not Jodie), Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Penn State football (not Jodie). Our family theme is “We bring the party with us”, and we try everyday to “enjoy God and glorify him” in everything we do (though we probably enjoy more than glorify). Jonathan loves college football, grilling on the big green egg, being terrible at golf, keeping Chris Farley alive as he coaches his kids in soccer ("he’s a big dumb animal folks”), his kids, and Jodie. Jonathan hates England, kale, air mattresses, winter, and Roberts Rules of Order.
In all seriousness, the Cook’s are broken people who are trying to find our way in this world guided by Jesus' love, teachings, and sacrificial life and death. As a favorite movie of mine (Jonathan) says, “There’s nothing special about us as a family, we’re just all we’ve got.” We seek to build this family mentality with our church family as well as we haphazardly walk through this life together, loving one another in our quirks and weirdness, seeking to be faithful to Christ’s calling in our lives how he has made us and where he has placed us. If you’re looking for the perfect pastor, I’m not it! If you’re looking for the perfect church, we’re not it! If you’re looking for a place that is looking to Jesus to bring hope, healing, and redemption, we would love for you to visit and add to our beautiful mess of imperfect people with a perfect Savior.”
-For Christ and His Kingdom,
Jonathan Cook
