Leadership

Pastor Josh grew up on a farm in Gillett, WI. His childhood days mostly revolved around wrestling, running, and enjoying the fields and woods, especially while out riding his trusty mule. While he attended a Lutheran Church with his family growing up, it was when he was 23, after a long spiritual struggle and searching for answers that the Lord finally gave him new birth, and he believed the gospel of Christ for justification and life. Since then he has followed an undeniable calling to preach the gospel and shepherd God’s people. His passion is to open God’s word, explain it clearly, and preach with conviction, applying the text carefully to all of life, so that all may know the joy and peace of believing in Christ.

Josh graduated from Gillett High School in 2008 before spending three years studying forestry at UW-Stevens Point. After a summer of forestry research, camping in the Maine woods, he went back to his parents’ farm to work as their top hand and start a 300-head goat dairy, then to Big Timber, MT in 2013 to work as a wrangler on a guest ranch deep in the Absaroka-Beartooth mountains. Josh finally moved to Minneapolis, MN in spring of 2014 where he worked as a gas meter maintenance tech and attended Bethlehem College & Seminary, where he earned a Bachelor of Theology degree in 2016 and a Master of Divinity in spring of 2021. He began pastoring First Baptist Church in January 2023. 

Married to his lovely wife Abigail in 2016, they have two sons, Carson (6) and Hayes (2), and a daughter named Ava (4). In his spare time, Josh enjoys hunting, fishing, weightlifting, and reading, while Abby is a master chef and baker and loves running and chocolate. They share a love for the mountains and hiking, as well as an interest in gardening.