Jonathan Watson finds his ministry in the classroom

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the Spring 2025 issue of Southwestern News.

Jonathan Watson (’15) was on his way to a career in congregational ministry when he felt called in a different direction.

He had started down that road early in life. Born in a Baptist hospital in Little Rock, Ark., and growing up in a Christian home, Watson says he “knew the Gospel facts from the earliest age.” He recalls praying with his parents to receive Christ at age 6 or 7.

“My dad held me off from baptism for a little while,” he says. “He wanted to be sure that I had, in fact, responded. And so I was 12 when I was baptized.”

Watson says he went through a season where he wasn’t sure if he had fully understood the Gospel. At age 15, he attended a revival service where the pastor spoke about 2 Corinthians 5:17. Watson says he “just felt convicted that my life didn’t feel different, and I was just confused.”

He recalls praying, “‘God, change me. I don’t know if I’m saved, not saved, what have you.’ And they counseled me to be baptized again, and so I was baptized again.”

Watson continued to grow in his faith throughout his high school years and says his church youth group was instrumental in that growth.

After graduation, Watson left for Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Ark. He considered studying engineering through the university’s partnership program, but that plan quickly changed.

“The Lord really kind of grabbed me early on in my studies there,” he says. His mother, pointing out that he was at a Baptist school, encouraged him to take a class in biblical studies.

“And so I did that, and kind of through that class I really started feeling challenged and called to some kind of ministry,” he says.

Watson surrendered to the ministry after his freshman year of college and was licensed to preach by his home church, Bayou Meto Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Ark. He went on to serve as a youth minister at Lewisville First Baptist Church in southern Arkansas before leaving to attend New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He served as campus housing director at the seminary before becoming director of guest housing, working full time while taking classes.

“My very first classes were in youth ministry, and I was headed straight to the local church and thinking about vocational ministry,” he recalls.

That’s when he “started feeling a redirection.”

In New Orleans, he says, “a lot of people [were] affirming me in the local church with my teaching, and I had a strong desire to continue going on with my education.”

Watson earned his Master of Divinity degree at New Orleans Seminary in 2005 and started making plans to earn a Doctor of Philosophy degree in systematic theology or historical theology. He also was considering earning a second master’s degree and going to the United Kingdom for a PhD.

Then Hurricane Katrina hit.

“We stayed on with the seminary in that year of the 2005-2006 school year, kind of helping the school recover and get back on its feet and reach out to students,” he says. “My wife was more important in that role than me, because she was the campus payroll director. So I was over guest housing, which they didn’t really need any of during the hurricane recovery, but they did need someone to write their checks,” he adds with a grin.

He had met Karen at Ouachita Baptist University, where she was an accounting major.

“I don’t know what it is with us and natural disasters,” Watson says with a laugh, “but there had been a tornado that had hit the previous spring and really decimated the downtown area of Arkadelphia.”

The tornado had not hit the campus, but an area just a block or two away had basically been flattened, he says. A model of the city’s plans to rebuild the area was on display in the university’s Student Center.

“There I am looking at it and here comes this curly-headed, red-headed girl with a smile that didn’t quit,” he recalls. He hadn’t seen her before, “and then all of a sudden our class schedules aligned in such a way that I saw her every day, multiple times a day.”

They eventually began dating and were married right out of college. They now have four children: Emma, 15; Abby, 13; Nathan, 12; and Jude, 8.

The couple’s plans for the future changed after Hurricane Katrina. Watson no longer considered earning a second master’s degree or going overseas for a PhD. They decided to look closer to home and thought Texas felt like the right place.

“Location was important; faculty was a major thing; and then money. Money was a thing,” he explains. Having been impacted by Hurricane Katrina, he says, they asked about scholarships at another school and were told they should reach out to their own family and friends to help cover the $60,000 cost.

“Our friends and family had just picked us up after losing everything in a hurricane,” Watson says. “We had four feet of water in our apartment, so we lost everything, pretty much. So we’re like, yeah, that’s not gonna work.”

Watson’s in-laws had put him in touch with Jason Lee, who was on staff at their home church, Broadmoor Baptist Church, in Shreveport, La.

“They knew I was trying to figure out what was next, and [Lee] really was a faithful kind of guide in that process. Gave me some great advice of how to think through it,” Watson says.

Lee, who later joined Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary as associate professor of church history, became Watson’s PhD supervisor when he studied at the seminary. Lee currently is a professor of theological studies and director of the Center for Biblical Integration at Cedarville University in Ohio.

Watson and his wife found jobs at Southwestern, ironically holding the same jobs they’d had at New Orleans Seminary: Karen eventually became the payroll director at Southwestern and Watson became housing director after initially serving as assistant director.

Watson says the Lord opened doors for him and his wife at Southwestern, not only with the job opportunities, but also in the alignment of what he wanted to study and what he saw in the faculty members at the seminary.

“There were pastor theologians there; men who had impeccable academic credentials, but who had a passion for the local church, and so that was very attractive to me,” he says.

Watson earned his PhD in systematic theology from Southwestern in spring 2015 and was hired as professor of Christian studies at Charleston Southern University (CSU) in Charleston, S.C., that summer.

“They wanted me to start in August,” he says. “I actually had not defended my dissertation yet, so I didn’t graduate, didn’t walk and receive my full PhD status until December. So I actually was hired as I was in that defense stage.”

Recalling that time, Watson says he’d sent his wife and children to Shreveport to stay with her parents while he worked and completed his studies in Fort Worth.

“I was spending a few hours a day training the next housing director, and then the rest of my day, I was at my desk doing the final edits on my dissertation,” he says, adding the only things left in the house at that time were an air mattress, his desk, his books and his printer.

“So the last thing I do is I hit ‘send’ on my computer and then I pull out my tools to disassemble my desk, put it in my car and drive off,” he recalls.

Watson says he loved his time at Southwestern and in Fort Worth, noting there’s “a symbiotic relationship between the campus community and the local churches of the area.” He and his family attended Redeemer Church in White Settlement when he worked and studied at the seminary.

He also gained longstanding friendships during his time at the seminary and notes there are three men he has stayed in touch with over the years, whether by meeting up at conferences or through group text.

Those men—Madison Grace, provost and vice president for academic administration at Southwestern Seminary; Ched Spellman, professor of biblical and theological studies and lead developer of online Bible programs at Cedarville University in Ohio; and Matt Millsap, dean of library services and associate professor of Christian Studies at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo.—“have been really close to me,” Watson says, adding the friendships “have been a powerful source of encouragement and growth.”

He recalls playing a good bit of chess with Spellman, adding “some of my most important breakthroughs on my PhD work were playing blitz chess with Ched in Fort Worth.”

Watson’s dissertation was published by Lexham Press in 2021. The book, In the Name of Our Lord: Four Models of the Relationship between Baptism, Catechesis, and Communion, contains a foreword written by Malcolm Yarnell, research professor of theology at Southwestern. Yarnell “was really encouraging to me as a professor,” he says.

Watson says he’s interested in writing another book, but finding the time to dedicate to writing has been an issue.

“This goes back to the pastor theologian model that’s, at least in my head, like the men that I have admired and sought to follow and emulate have been those that are kind of engaged in both worlds: engaged in the academy but also very engaged in the local church. So I’m still trying to figure how to do that well,” he says with a smile.

In addition to his teaching, Watson serves as chair of Christian Studies at CSU. In this role, he’s in charge of scheduling classes, providing faculty evaluations, securing adjuncts, “doing a lot of the ‘boots on the ground,’ ‘nuts and bolts,’ whatever metaphor you want to use, to kind of just keep classes moving here,” he explains.

Watson says the position “just kind of fell to me. I was happy to do it. Administration’s never really bothered me. I actually kind of nerd out when I get a spreadsheet in front of me.”

He also holds a part-time job as associate pastor of ministry training at Northwood Baptist Church in North Charleston.

In addition to serving as the school administrator for the Northwood School of Ministry, a gap year type of program in partnership with Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Watson conducts the church’s class for new members, leads a small group on Sunday mornings, and teaches a theology class on Sunday nights.

“When I’m at the church, I’m pretty much doing something official while I’m there,” he says, adding his work at the church “has not invaded or proven cumbersome for me doing my other job. So they’ve been very kind to let me just do it as I go.”

Teaching at CSU is his primary job, however, and he sees this work as a service to the churches.

“I’m at a Baptist school, and I’m getting a chance to do deep discipleship with those that the churches have sent to us,” he says.

The job does have its challenges, however.

“When your job is academic in the sense of, you need to convey content, you need to teach,” he says, “the challenge, of course, is always to not let what is precious and uncommon become common and mundane.” Watson says he wants his students to understand that “if we’re doing theology well, and we see God for who He is, and we understand Him according to His Word, that our hearts will be warmed and worship will be the natural response to that study.”

Watson says that at the end of every quiz, he asks students to “write a prayer of response, a Trinitarian prayer response to God for what they’ve studied. And that’s because I’m convinced that if we’re doing this rightly, then it’s going to affect the way we pray. It’s going to affect the way we worship.”

While his path ultimately led him away from primarily congregational ministry, Watson has found his ministry in the classroom. He’s thankful to be there.

“My job is to talk about the glory of God every day with my students, and about the Scriptures,” he says. “I just can’t imagine a better job.”