Jason Byassee

"Jason Byassee is near or at the top of the list of the best preachers in Canada, the US, and beyond." Paul Scott Wilson "Jason Byassee expands the horizons of potential readers by engaging some of the more challenging conversation partners; Judaism and the Jews, Origen and the Old Testament, Gregory the Great and his figural biblical interpretations, the witness of the Pentecostals--and, bravely, he even tackles the problem of our current US politics. This is the best of the Wesleyan tradition." Fleming Rutledge on Surprised by Jesus Again "I describe Jason Byassee as a genius," Nadia Bolz-Weber “Jason Byassee has written an excellent account of Christian faith in contemporary England, specifically in areas we might have thought deeply hostile to faith. The result is an insightful account of churches, parachurch networks, and church planting in a modern secular society, and it is far more relevant to current US conditions than we might initially think. His book is very well-written, and often really entertaining. Heartily recommended!” Philip Jenkins on Northern Lights "The author of this aptly named book wants readers to see the Bible in new, yet very old ways. By recovering the Jewishness of Jesus and his world, by finding out why early Christian leaders practiced 'four-fold exegesis,' and by simply taking tensions, conflict, and even disagreement for granted within the New Testament, Byassee believes Bible-readers will once again be 'Surprised by Jesus'." Mark Noll "A groundbreaking study," Robert Jenson on Praise Seeking Understanding. Eugene Peterson: "If you are looking for a sane guide through what seem like the ruins, Discerning the Body is the book for you. Jason Byassee's journalistic essays are accurate--I almost want to say sanctified--as he reports on conflicts, innovations, difficulties, and surprises that keep emerging in today's church and culture. Best of all, he writes with a gracious generosity that avoids gossip and is intent on discerning the Spirit." Sarah Coakley of Cambridge University: "Defying the gloomy sociological predictions about the fate of small churches, Jason Byassee tells narratives of some 'failing' congregations he has served, and of the 'saints' that sustain them. The Gifts of the Small Church is a perceptive and often moving account of what makes small churches go on, enlivened by remarkably deep theological insights, lightly expressed." Lauren Winner of Duke Divinity School: "In this beautiful, informative, probing, and wise introduction to the spirituality of the desert, Byassee both immerses us in, and invites us to embrace, an older, sometimes alien, way of inhabiting our relationship with the triune God." Will Willimon: "Augustine's Confessions are a glorious exploration of a living, gracious God. We could have no better guide through Augustine than one of his great friends, Jason Byassee. For anyone who has longed for the living God, for anyone who wants to explore the depth and breadth of the human soul, Byassee opens up new dimensions of this classic of the Christian faith." Jason Byassee is the senior pastor of Timothy Eaton Memorial Church in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was previously the inaugural holder of the Butler Chair in Homiletics and Biblical Hermeneutics at Vancouver School of Theology. He was previously senior pastor of Boone United Methodist Church in Boone, North Carolina from 2011-2015. There he directed eight other pastoral staff members and pastored a congregation of 1500, which grew by 15% during his time there. Byassee studied at Davidson College and Duke University, where he earned a Ph.D. in systematic theology in 2005. He is also a contributing editor to Christian Century magazine, where he served full-time as an assistant editor from 2004-2008. He was previously an executive director of Leadership Education at Duke Divinity School from 2008-2011. He has been a visiting fellow at St. John's College and with the Durham University Department of Theology and Religion in the UK. His work has appeared in Christianity Today, Theology Today, Books & Culture, Sojourners, and First Things. He has served on boards for A Rocha Canada, Pacific Theatre, the School for Conversion, and The Other Journal. His work has been recognized with several awards from the Associated Church Press and in 2007 with the American Academy of Religion's first place award for newswriting for outlets with circulations under 100,000. He has lectured and preached widely in the USA, Canada, Great Britain and elsewhere. Learn more about his work at jasonbyassee.com. He is married to Jaylynn Warren Byassee, a fellow Methodist minister from the US, who is presently pastoring at Kingsway-Lambton United Church in Toronto. Together they have three boys, ages 20, 19, and 16. Things break in their house.