John MacTaggart

Pastor
- 863-414-7356
- john.mactag@gmail.com

335 W Emerson Ave.

Tracy, CA 95376
http://jmacsonlineportfolio.weebly.com

Attn: Search Team

It is with great excitement that after a fruitful and fulfilling season serving at Grace Church in
Tracy, CA, and with the blessings of our Elders and Senior Pastor, we are beginning to search for the
next ministry place we will call home. Brooke and I are a dynamic ministry team that desire to be
good stewards of the gifts that God has entrusted to us for the purpose of building up the Church.
We have a high leadership capacity and are looking for a church that is committed to fulfilling the
Great Commission and focused on reaching their context with the Good News about Jesus.
We are deeply grateful for the opportunity and experience we have had while serving
students, parents, volunteers, and our leaders here in Tracy, CA. God has done great things in and
through us and we have seen many lives changed and numerous leaders developed and equipped
to lead this ministry going forward. We believe we will leave Grace Church in a good position to
continue growing and succeeding in her ministry efforts.
The main motivating factor for us to leave came when we found out Brooke was pregnant
with our second child. It is our desire to be within striking distance from the grandparents. This
led us to a sense of being called to our next chapter of ministry. An ideal timeline would be to
transition to our next ministry context before the end of this year.
Thanks for taking the time to have conversations with us. We look forward to hearing about all
God is doing as we travel on this search journey. Cant wait to meet you!

Sincerely in Christ,

John and Brooke

John and Brooke

John MacTaggart
Ministry Experience
July 2012 - Present (www.gracelife.net)
Grace Church - Tracy, CA
Student Ministries Pastor
Led a ministry consisting of our middle school, high school, and college programs of approximately
190 students and around 40 volunteers
The ministry grew from 35 students (middle school and high school) to about 150 in four years
Created and equipped a college ministry that grew to upwards of 50 students weekly
Oversaw the calling, developing, and supervising of a middle school director, a college director, and a
youth ministry associate
Developed a successful internship program training and equipping young leaders (college and high
school aged), many of whom are now in full time ministry. We have had nine interns in four years
Created and administered our own winter retreat including speakers, programming, lodging, etc.
Created and developed other trips including traveling to Mexico, conferences, paintball, etc.
Preached several times a year for our church worship services
Led our ministry team through a year of functioning as a mobile student ministry and transitioning
into new facility
Developed relationships and credibility and slowly gained access to several high school campuses,
spending time weekly with students during lunches
Worked on our team of pastors fulfilling many duties outside of the student ministry
Summer 2011 (www.fbchsv.org)

First Baptist Church - Huntsville, AL

Youth Ministry Intern

Worked with Youth Pastor in developing a calendar for the summer
Coordinated a three day trip to Atlanta to attend Six Flags and a baseball game
Emphasized intentionality in relationships with students, i.e. grabbing lunches and playing football
together
Led mission teams into the city and was the group devotional speaker for our Wednesday mission
days throughout the summer
Helped with communications between the ministry, volunteers, and parents
Emphasized intentionality in discipling relationships

Fall 2010-Spring 2012 (www.mosaicbirmingham.com)

Mosaic Birmingham - Birmingham, AL
College Minister
Co-led a college small group of around 30 students
Directed a leadership team of about ten other adults
Led multiple Bible study series, including a year long study through Romans and a survey of spiritual
disciplines
Preached about once every other month for the church worship services

John MacTaggart
2008-2012 (www.samford.edu)

Samford University Residence Life - Birmingham, AL

Resident Manager
Co-led a team of thirty RAs and three senior RAs at Samford University, with oversight over all
freshman residence halls
Dealt with building issues as needed including running bi-monthly inspections, communicating with
facilities for building maintenance, and addressing any discipline issues in the building
2007-2008 (www.yfcteens.com)

Palm Beach County Youth For Christ - West Palm Beach, FL

Campus Life Director
Led Jam Clubs on public school campuses before school hours, ranging from 20-130 students per
club
Recruited around 20 college students to serve as volunteers to assist in programming and
interaction with the students
Spoke at different Youth For Christ events including retreats and fundraisers
Summers of 2006-2011 (www.slulead.com)

Student Leadership University - Orlando, FL

Summer Staff
Worked with a team of interns to run all of the logistics of the SLU 101 program for two consecutive
summers (2006-2007)
Worked with a team of staff to run all the logistics for SLU 201 for three summer conferences (20092011)
2005-2006

Chick-Fil-A - West Palm Beach, FL

Manager
Ran basic operations of the store including scheduling, breaks, and cash management
Given charge of a new branch of service called 2 Mile service
Developed and implemented a training workshop for employees
2004-2005

Lake Placid High School - Lake Placid, FL

High School Soccer Coach
Head coach of the Junior Varsity soccer program for Lake Placid High School
Ran practices, created line-ups, and coached games
Finished season with a record of 7-1-1
2004-2005

Lake Placid Christian School - Lake Placid, FL

Middle School Physical Education/Bible Teacher Director
Functioned as an instructor of about thirty boys ranging from sixth through eighth grade
Monday and Wednesday we would study a portion of Scripture and Tuesday and Thursday I taught
their P.E. class

John MacTaggart
2004-2005 Summer 2009 (www.fpclp.com)

First Presbyterian Church - Lake Placid, FL

Youth Intern
Took over the middle school youth program and led the weekly Sunday meetings averaging 10 to 15
students a meeting
Became facilitator of a college ministry that grew to 70 students weekly
Helped with the high school service on Wednesday nights that averaged 80 students
2003-2005 (www.highlandsyfc.org)

Highlands County Youth for Christ - Highlands County, FL

Intern and Part-Time Staff
Assisted local Campus Life clubs by helping plan the meetings, occasionally preaching the message,
and playing percussion for the worship band
Facilitated Campus Life clubs that put me in contact with 400- 500 students a week
Developed leadership teams and led weekly meetings to help plan and support the Campus Life
clubs
Assisted with the yearly conferences, banquets, and
events held by YFC

Education
2014

B.H. Carrol Theological Institute

Online Predoctoral Program
Took French and German courses to prepare for
PhD work in New Testament studies
2008-2011 (www.beesondivinity.com)

Beeson Divinity School - Birmingham, AL

Master of Divinity

Graduated with a 3.5 GPA

2005-2008 (www.pba.edu)

Palm Beach Atlantic University - West Palm Beach, FL

Bachelor of Arts in Christian Leadership

Youth Ministry minor

Graduated with a 3.3 GPA
2003-2005 (www.southflorida.edu)

South Florida Community College - Avon Park, FL

A.A., Liberal Arts
Graduated Phi Theta Kappa (Honors Society)

John MacTaggart
Personality Profile
I am an I, D in the DISC profile test and the five most common strengths from Strength Finder
that come up are Belief, Woo, Maximizer, Includer, and Connector. On Myers-Briggs,
I am an ENTJ (extraversion, intuition, thinking, judgment).

Ministry Passions
Expository Preaching - 2 Tim 4:2
Brooke and I both value strong exposition of Scripture. We are
convinced that authentic, Spirit-empowered life change
primarily comes about through the result of proper interpretation and proclamation of the Scriptures. A
Christo-centric view of Scripture is essential to reaching the lost.

Leadership Investment and Development - Eph 4:11-12

One of the areas we have had the greatest success in ministry is believing in people and leading them
towards their ministry potential. We believe each believer is uniquely gifted by God to serve the Body,
and have done well identifying those who share a ministry passion and equipping them to lead others to
Jesus.

Missional- Acts 1:8

The call to make disciples in Matt 28:18-20 includes going, an intentional effort to reach those who are
not just in our path. This means both here, near and far. Both of us have spent time overseas doing
mission work and these experiences shape how we understand and do ministry today. We believe every
follower of Christ is called to missions, locally and globally. A number of our students have gone off to
serve in mission contexts, and many others are in the midst of wrestling with a call to full-time missions.

Culturally Relevant - Acts 17:22-34

In order for the church to move forward, we have realized the need, and biblical precedent, to preach,
interact, program, etc. in ways that are culturally relevant. This needs to be tailored to each individual
ministry context, but likely means that every minister must become an exegete of the culture to find out
the language and forms that can best communicate the Gospel.

John MacTaggart
Books Read This Year
1. Building A Discipling Culture- Mike Breen
2. Contagious Disciple Making- David and Paul Watson
3. Prayer- Timothy Keller
4. Think Orange- Reggie Joiner
5. Lead Small - Reggie Joiner
6. 7 Family Ministry Essentials- Megan Marshman and
7. Simple Church- Thom Rainer
8. Christ Plays In A Thousand Places- Eugene Peterson
9. Developing the Leaders Around You- John Maxwell
10. The Tipping Point- Malcolm Gladwell
11. The Homiletical Plot- Eugene Lowry
12. Preach with Power Using Illustrations- Bryan Chappel
13. Currently The Cost Of Discipleship- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Personal
Brooke and I met in Birmingham, AL while she was on staff
with CRU (www.cru.org). I stopped by their ministry one day to
try to invite students to our college program. This was the first
time we met and I was curious immediately. She later showed
up at the church where I was on staff. So, I invited her to hang
out! A few months later, after persuading her father to let me
ask her hand in marriage, we said our vows in a beautiful old brick building
just outside of downtown Birmingham. We both love Jesus and feel a
strong call to ministry. Brooke has her Masters in Counseling from Liberty
University and plans to continue using her gifts of counseling, mentoring,
and leadership to serve the church in our next ministry context.
We have a little girl named Everly who brings us more joy than we ever
could have imagined. She is a handful, never meets a stranger, and is
definitely a daddys girl. You will be sure to hear her randomly yelling or
running past you at any point. We also have a baby boy on the way and are
preparing for him to come in the middle of August!

Theology
My theology can be described as evangelical, orthodox, conservative, gracious, and growing. I lean more
reformed in my thinking. I am a complementarian yet I believe and support women serving in full time
ministry. I have a very non-negotiable, high-view of Scripture that drives how I approach ministry. I love
talking theology with anyone who will listen, so feel free to ask any further questions regarding this!

John MacTaggart
References *
Jon Field

Senior Pastor of Grace Church, Tracy, CA (www.gracelife.net)

209-640-4801
jon@gracelife.net
I have served under Jon for the past four years as the Student Ministries Pastor of Grace. Jon and I have a
great relationship and he can give you incredible insight into what my strengths and weaknesses are.
Jamie Mackie
Minister to Students at First Baptist Church of Huntsville, Huntsville, AL (www.fbchsv.org)
256-996-4059
jamie@fbchsv.org
I worked with Jamie over the summer of 2011 in a full-time setting. He is a very gifted Youth Pastor who
gets student ministry. This was my most recent ministry position other than where I currently serve in CA.
Andrew Katsanis

Former Director of Highlands County YFC, Sebring, FL (www.gbc.life)

352-242-7063
andrew.katsanis@edwardjones.com
As soon as I became a believer I felt a call to ministry. Andrew was the one who discipled me and taught
me the initial ins and outs of ministry. I ended up working for him part-time while he was the Director
for Youth For Christ in Highlands County, FL. He is still a great friend and mentor in my life.
Taylor McAllister

Youth Ministry Associate (www.gracelife.net)

209-640-2752
taymcallister@aol.com
Our family has known Taylor since we moved to Tracy. She is not only one of our current youth staff, but
also a dear friend of our family. She will have unique insight as to what it is like being under my leadership.
Dr. Sydney Park
Associate Professor of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School (www.beesondivinity.com)
mypark@samford.edu
Dr. Park was one of my professors during my time in seminary. Since graduation, she continues to have a
mentor role in my life.

Preaching
For preaching samples and more information, please visit my online portfolio:
http://jmacsonlineportfolio.weebly.com
*Since premature discovery that I am open to investigate other ministry possibilities will have a damaging effect on my family and current
ministry, please refrain from contact beyond the given Primary References until significant mutual interest has been established. Once
established you are encouraged to seek out any Secondary/Tertiary References. At that juncture in the process, you will be given permission
to do a Credit Check and a Background Check. Thank you in advance for your discretion and confidentiality in this matter.

John MacTaggart
john.mactag@gmail.com - 863-414-7356 - 335 W Emerson Ave. Tracy, CA