Joby Martin Biography: Age, Wife, Books, Church & Net Worth

Joby Martin is an American pastor, author, and speaker best known as the founder and lead pastor of The Church of Eleven22 in Jacksonville, Florida.

He planted the church in 2012 with a handful of leaders and grew it into one of the fastest-growing congregations in the country, now drawing close to 15,000 people every week across more than a dozen campuses in Northeast Florida and South Georgia.

Martin is known for direct, expository preaching, a blunt sense of humor, and a personal story that includes youthful rebellion, a faith awakening at a Southern Baptist summer camp, and two decades of full-time ministry.

You’ve probably landed here because you saw a clip of him preaching, heard about his church’s massive beach baptisms, or read the story about another pastor getting caught copying his apology. All of that is real, and all of it is covered below.

Joby Martin at a Glance

Full Name	Joby Martin
Born	South Carolina, USA (exact birth date not publicly documented)
Nationality	American
Occupation	Pastor, author, speaker
Spouse	Gretchen Martin (married over 20 years)
Children	JP Martin (son), Reagan Martin (daughter)
Education	Master of Divinity, Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond
Church	The Church of Eleven22, Jacksonville, Florida
Denomination	Nondenominational, Acts 29 church-planting network
Church Founded	2012
Weekly Attendance	Approximately 15,000 across 14+ campuses
Books	Multiple, co-authored with novelist Charles Martin
Net Worth	Not publicly disclosed by a verified source

Early Life and Background

Joby Martin was born and raised in South Carolina. He grew up around what he has described as nominal Christianity, the kind of church-going that’s more cultural habit than personal conviction, common across the American South. By his own account, his teenage years leaned toward rebellion rather than faith.

That changed at a Southern Baptist summer camp, where Martin says he first surrendered his life to Jesus. It’s the kind of unglamorous, unplanned turning point that shows up again and again in his preaching. He didn’t grow up dreaming of a pulpit. A youth camp altar call rerouted him.

Education

Martin holds a Master of Divinity from Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond. He has been in full-time ministry for more than 20 years, a run that started small and local, long before Eleven22 existed.

First Steps in Ministry

His first sermon wasn’t planned. He’s told the story of an impromptu talk at a youth camp, where a coach who believed in him pushed him to speak with almost no notice.

That moment set the direction for everything after. He went on to serve as a youth pastor and later an executive pastor at Beach Church in Jacksonville, Florida, before starting a church of his own.

Ministry Career: Building The Church of Eleven22

In 2012, Joby Martin and a small team of leaders launched The Church of Eleven22 in Jacksonville. The name comes from Ephesians 1:1-2. The mission, in Martin’s own framing, is simple: help people discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ.

The church didn’t stay small for long. By 2017, Eleven22 was already landing on the Outreach 100 list of fastest-growing US churches, with weekly attendance near 7,800 people.

Less than a decade later, that number had roughly doubled, with the church operating 14 or more campuses across Northeast Florida and South Georgia and reaching close to 15,000 people weekly, plus thousands more online.

The Acts 29 Network and National Reach

Martin is an active member of the Acts 29 church-planting network, a group of nondenominational and Baptist-leaning churches focused on planting new congregations.

Through that network and his own growing profile, he’s become a regular voice at national conferences, including Expo East and West, Sticky Team, NINES, and Velocity. He’s preached internationally as well, with trips to Scotland, parts of Africa, Jamaica, Brazil, and Israel.

Saturated and the Beach Baptisms

Every year, Eleven22 hosts Saturated, a five-day churchwide push toward revival that includes a fast and an hour of prayer each week leading up to it.

The church has also become known for record-setting beach baptisms at Hanna Park in Jacksonville. In May 2024, 1,614 people were baptized in a single day, up from 1,126 the year before, making it one of the largest single-day baptism events in recent American church history.

“We are a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ,” Martin said after the 2024 baptism event, adding that the church was witnessing the gospel “still changing lives as it has for thousands of years.”

Joby Martin’s Books

Martin is a published author, most of his books written in partnership with Charles Martin, a New York Times bestselling novelist (no relation). His titles include:

If the Tomb Is Empty: Why the Resurrection Means Anything Is Possible
Anything Is Possible: How Nine Miracles of Jesus Reveal God’s Love for You
Run Over by the Grace Train: How the Unstoppable Love of God Transforms Everything
Stand Firm and Act Like Men, a #1 Amazon bestseller focused on biblical manhood
The Big Brave Choice, a children’s book about forgiveness written for kids ages 4 to 8

Stand Firm and Act Like Men in particular has driven a lot of his recent public profile, tying into his broader message that biblical manhood isn’t about trucks or gun collections but about standing firm under pressure.

[IMAGE: Stand Firm and Act Like Men book cover by Joby Martin]

Personal Life

Wife: Gretchen Martin

Joby is married to Gretchen Martin, and the two have been together for more than two decades. Gretchen isn’t just a pastor’s wife in the background. She’s a founding member of Eleven22’s worship team, writes music, and sings with the church’s worship band. The couple built the church together from its earliest days.

Children

Joby and Gretchen have two children, a son named JP and a daughter named Reagan. The family lives in Jacksonville.

Interests: Hunting, Jiu-Jitsu, and Fitness

Martin’s public persona leans rugged. He hunts, trains in jiu-jitsu, roots hard for Georgia Bulldogs football, and has partnered with the fitness brand MTNTOUGH on a podcast episode about mental and physical toughness.

Several profiles also point to an earlier, serious interest in bodybuilding and structured physical training, which he’s connected in interviews to the same discipline required for spiritual growth. He reportedly preps a lot of his sermons on Mondays while sitting in a tree stand, waiting on deer.

Theology and Ministry Philosophy

Eleven22 is nondenominational but theologically aligned with the Acts 29 network, which holds to conservative evangelical positions on Scripture, marriage, and sexuality.

Martin’s own preaching leans expository, meaning he works verse by verse through books of the Bible rather than building sermons around cultural trend topics.

He’s described his approach to preaching with three simple questions: what does the text say, so what does that mean, and now what should we do about it.

On the question of homosexuality specifically, Martin hasn’t built a public brand around the topic the way some pastors have. His church holds the standard evangelical position that marriage is between a man and a woman, consistent with Acts 29 and most Southern Baptist-aligned congregations, and he’s addressed related cultural debates in interview settings, including a 2023 conversation touching on the controversy involving pastor Andy Stanley. He hasn’t published a standalone sermon series or book focused specifically on the subject.

Was Joby Martin in the Military?

No verified record shows Joby Martin served in the military. The question shows up in search fairly often, and it’s easy to see why. He’s built a public image around hunting, jiu-jitsu, bodybuilding-style fitness, and a partnership with a tactical fitness brand.

He also once received, and later lost, an honorary chaplain badge from the Jacksonville Beach Police Department, a story he tells for laughs rather than credentials. None of that adds up to military service, and no service record, branch, or years of duty appear in any credible source.

The Viral Apology: Joby Martin’s 2022 “Careless Words” Moment

In August 2022, Martin stood up in front of his congregation and said he needed to address something. The week before, during a sermon, he’d made a joke about breastfeeding after a woman nursed her baby in the front row, calling it “gross” and suggesting nursing mothers “get a room.”

He apologized on stage, quoting Proverbs 12:18 about careless words, and closed with a short, memorable line: “I love you. I love this church. I love getting to do this thing together.”

That apology would have stayed a local footnote if it hadn’t resurfaced two years later. In April 2024, Josh Howerton, senior pastor of Lakepointe Church in Rockwall, Texas, apologized for a sexist wedding-night joke of his own, and his apology turned out to use nearly identical language and the same Bible verse as Martin’s 2022 statement.

Julie Roys at The Roys Report flagged the similarity, and the story spread across Christian and mainstream outlets. Howerton didn’t deny it.

He said Martin had personally given him “some language” to use and posted a photo of the two of them together, calling Martin “my preacher.” Martin, for his part, was mostly a bystander to the controversy his own apology had unintentionally sparked.

Influence and Legacy

Under Martin’s leadership, Eleven22 has grown from a startup congregation into one of the largest churches in Florida, with a thrift ministry, a retail arm, and a prison ministry that has entered Florida’s correctional system.

His books have reached bestseller lists, and his sermon clips circulate widely online, particularly the ones on manhood, grace, and comparison culture.

He’s also become something of a connector figure among younger evangelical pastors, mentoring and swapping sermon language with peers like Howerton, a habit that cuts both ways: it builds a collaborative culture among church planters, but it’s also what put him at the center of a plagiarism story he didn’t ask for.

Net Worth and Financial Information

Several websites publish specific net worth figures for Joby Martin, ranging from roughly $1 million to $5 million. None of those figures trace back to a documented, verifiable source, and the underlying profiles they appear on contain other clear errors, including his wife’s name and his educational background. Because no reliable financial disclosure exists, a specific net worth figure isn’t included here.

Awards and Recognition

The Church of Eleven22 named to the Outreach 100 list of fastest-growing US churches (2017 and subsequent years)
Stand Firm and Act Like Men reached #1 bestseller status on Amazon
Recognized as a New York Times bestselling author through his collaborative works with Charles Martin

Interesting Facts

He once got a chaplain badge from the Jacksonville Beach Police Department, then had it taken away, a story he now tells as a running joke.
He had dinner with Billy Graham shortly before Graham’s death in 2018.
He was once talked into skydiving by a Navy SEAL, despite having no military background himself.
He preps many of his sermons while sitting in a tree stand during hunting season.
There is no dedicated Wikipedia page for Joby Martin himself, only one for Eleven22 Worship, the band connected to his church.

Timeline

Early life Born and raised in South Carolina; grows up in a nominally Christian household.
Teen years Surrenders his life to Christ at a Southern Baptist summer camp after a period of rebellion.
Early ministry Delivers his first sermon, an impromptu talk at a youth camp.
Pre-2012 Serves as youth pastor, then executive pastor, at Beach Church in Jacksonville, Florida.
2012 Co-founds and becomes lead pastor of The Church of Eleven22 in Jacksonville.
2017 Eleven22 lands on the Outreach 100 fastest-growing churches list with roughly 7,800 weekly attendees.
August 2022 Publicly apologizes for a breastfeeding joke, quoting Proverbs 12:18.
April 2024 Pastor Josh Howerton’s near-identical apology reignites Martin’s 2022 statement as a national story.
May 2024 Eleven22 baptizes 1,614 people in a single day at Hanna Park Beach.
2020s Publishes Stand Firm and Act Like Men, which hits #1 on Amazon.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Joby Martin?

Joby Martin is the founder and lead pastor of The Church of Eleven22 in Jacksonville, Florida, an author, and a national and international preacher.

What religion is Joby Martin?

He leads a nondenominational church affiliated with the Acts 29 church-planting network, a conservative evangelical Christian movement.

What is Joby Martin’s real name?

Joby Martin is the name he uses publicly and professionally. No documented legal alternate name has been published by any credible source.

How much is Pastor Joby Martin worth?

No verified net worth figure exists. Multiple sites publish conflicting, unsourced estimates, and none can be confirmed as accurate.

Was Joby Martin in the military?

No. There’s no record of military service. His hunting, jiu-jitsu, and fitness-focused public image likely fuels the assumption.

How many kids does Joby Martin have?

He and his wife Gretchen have two children, a son named JP and a daughter named Reagan.

Who is Joby Martin’s wife?

Gretchen Martin, a founding member of Eleven22’s worship team who writes and sings with the church’s worship band.

What was the Joby Martin apology about?

In August 2022, he apologized on stage for a joke about breastfeeding, calling it “careless” and citing Proverbs 12:18. The apology later became national news in 2024 when another pastor was accused of copying it almost word for word.

What is Pastor Joby Martin’s background?

Raised in South Carolina in a nominally Christian home, he committed his life to Christ at a summer camp, earned a Master of Divinity, served as a youth and executive pastor, then founded The Church of Eleven22 in 2012.

What books has Joby Martin written?

His titles include If the Tomb Is Empty, Anything Is Possible, Run Over by the Grace Train, Stand Firm and Act Like Men, and the children’s book The Big Brave Choice, most co-authored with novelist Charles Martin.

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