Jonathan Hardy, Co-Founder
For 13 years Jonathan Hardy has been in full-time ministry. He began his journey in 2007 when he joined the team at James River Church in Springfield, Missouri. At James River he served on the executive leadership team, overseeing the church’s discipleship ministries. This included their extensive small groups ministry, men’s ministry, water baptism, altar ministry, and discipleship for new Christians. He also served as the founding director for the Stronger Men’s Conference.
Jonathan left James River Church in September 2013 to help plant Summit Park Church in Kansas City, Missouri. He served on the leadership team at Summit Park for six and half years. There he oversaw the church’s budget, finances, and business-related operations. The church grew to nearly 1,900 in average weekend attendance during that time.
In the fall of 2017, prior to transitioning from Summit Park, Jonathan Hardy also co-founded Leaders.Church with his father, Dick Hardy. They created this online resource to equip pastors with tools to strengthen their personal leadership in the church.
This online resource for pastors developed because he and Dick want to help churches overcome barriers to growth. They believe one of the biggest barriers to growth and participation is the leadership of the church. After working with hundreds of churches, they’ve seen first-hand how a pastor’s leadership directly corresponds to the church’s growth.
As of January 2020, Jonathan began putting his full-time attention toward this online resource to pastors. He also began writing his first book out of a passion to help Christians maximize their gifts for the Kingdom. The book is set to release in the latter half of 2020.
Jonathan is married to Ashley and has three young children, Emery, Axel, and Fia.
