Mark Jobe
President of Moody Bible Institute
Dr. Mark Jobe serves as Moody Bible Institute’s 10th president, taking office on Jan. 2, 2019. He and his wife, Dee, have been married 32 years and have three adult children, Marissa, Josiah, and Grant. The Jobes currently reside in Chicagoland area where they are active members of New Life Community Church, a nondenominational, multisite church where Dr. Jobe has served as senior pastor since 1986. Dr. Jobe and his son Josiah are graduates of Moody Bible Institute. Dee also received training at Moody.
The Jobe family (from left to right: Grant, Marissa, Mark, Dee, and Josiah)
FROM THE MISSION FIELD TO MOODY
The son of missionaries, Dr. Jobe grew up in a small rural village in Spain. He came to Christ at age 15, and shortly thereafter a family friend began to send cassette tapes to Mark’s father in Spain of recorded preachers at Moody Bible Institute’s Founder’s Week. “The messages were so powerful, so biblically based, so compelling,” Dr. Jobe recalls. “I had never heard of Moody, but I told my parents, ‘I want to go learn the Bible at that place.’”
At age 17, he left his village of 200 people to attend Moody Bible Institute in the big city of Chicago. After experiencing culture shock, he considered leaving after graduating but was challenged by a pastor who said, “The nations have come to the city. If we reach the city, we are reaching the nations.” That statement stuck with him.
As a student living on campus, he built a solid foundation in Bible and theology balanced with practical ministry experience. “That’s why I think Moody has produced so many missionaries and pastors,” Dr. Jobe says. “Moody Bible Institute is filled with people who want to make a difference for Christ and who keep evangelism at the forefront.”
A HEART FOR THE UNCHURCHED
After graduating in 1984, he completed his degree from Columbia International University. In 1986, at the age of 21, he found himself pastoring a small congregation in Chicago, living and serving in a community that faced a shifting demographic and economic decline. Later that same year, he would marry his wife, Dee Marquez. She served alongside him from the beginning. “People were running out of that neighborhood,” Dr. Jobe says. “We had a little church building with 18 people attending. Gang members sat on our steps selling drugs. I felt way over my head.”
Dr. Jobe and his wife, Dee, leading worship at their first New Life Chicago congregation.
With the firm belief that the gospel of Jesus Christ can change people, he recalls thinking at the time, I need to get about the work of leading people to Christ. For the past 32 years, Dr. Jobe has served as the lead and founding pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago. He and his wife, Dee, have seen the church grow from a handful of people to approximately 7,000 meeting at 27 locations throughout the Chicagoland area and in eight cities internationally. He is also the founder of New Life Centers, an organization focused on helping youth in underserved areas of Chicago.
New Life Community Church began with his desire to start “movement churches” that are intended to spread through cities like Chicago and reach unchurched residents. The nondenominational multi-location church helps regular people rediscover Jesus and works at changing the neighborhoods where they are situated. Each location has its own pastoral leadership and live teaching. New Life pastors work together to present the same sermon text in a way that addresses the unique needs of each congregation.
Called to Lead
When Moody approached him about the possibility of leadership at Moody Bible Institute, Dr. Jobe wasn’t looking for a change. He was in a compelling church with great vision and people coming to Christ. Yet his love for Moody gave him pause. He was a frequent visitor to Moody’s campus, often seen praying with and mentoring Moody students. He is the author of Unstuck: Out of Your Cave and Into Your Call (Moody Publishers) and the host of Bold Steps, a weekday program heard across Moody Radio’s nation-wide network of stations.
As he and Dee prayed about the possibility, he felt God capturing his heart with a vision for the future of Moody’s education and media ministries. “I know that this ministry in the heart of Chicago has the power and ability and potential to impact not only Chicago but the world in some incredible ways.”
“We have felt the hand of God every step of the way,” Dr. Jobe says. “I believe without a shadow of a doubt that God has opened this door.”
Reaching People with the Gospel
As he considers the future of Moody’s education and media ministries, he looks to the example of founder D. L. Moody. “I look at this place and I think, this place was started 132 years ago by a simple man who loved Jesus and could barely pronounce Jerusalem. He loved to reach people who were far from God. His heart was full of a simple faith that said, I want to reach as many people with the gospel as possible.”
Dr. Jobe believes in the power and fruitfulness of a Moody education, centered on the teaching of God’s Word. “This is a place that can train young men and women who are biblically grounded, gospel-centered and prepared to be change agents in the world. My heart is that the Word of God would be preeminent here. People will not just get a degree in this place, but a calling in this place.”
Those who have served alongside Dr. Jobe call him a collaborative and relational leader, as well as a gifted teacher and preacher. Most of all, he is deeply committed to the Word of God. He has left a deep impression on the Board of Trustees, the leadership team and the search committee as a man of prayer and a humble and inspiring leader with contagious enthusiasm.
He holds a diploma in Communications from Moody Bible Institute in Chicago (1984), a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Biblical Studies from Columbia International University, a Master of Arts in Ministry from Moody Theological Seminary in Chicago (1998), and a doctorate in Transformational Leadership for the Global City from Bakke Graduate University.
Moody is pleased to welcome as the 10th president, Dr. Mark Jobe.