J. D. serves as the pastor of church multiplication with The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama. Prior to moving to Birmingham, J. D. was a National Missionary with the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention and an Associate Professor of Church Planting and Evangelism in the Billy Graham School of Missions and Evangelism at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where he also directed the Center for North American Missions and Church Planting. After completing his doctoral studies at the age of twenty-seven, he was invited to serve with the seminary, making him one of the youngest professors in the history of the school. Prior to his arrival at Southern, he taught as an Adjunct Professor at Crossroads Bible College in Indianapolis, Indiana. He holds memberships in the Evangelical Missiological Society and Great Commission Research Network.J. D. is originally from Corbin, Kentucky, and came to faith in Jesus as a teenager. Following the completion of a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from the University of Kentucky, he later completed a Master of Divinity degree in Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Evangelism and Church Growth from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.He has served as a pastor of five churches in Kentucky and Indiana and has worked with four church planting teams. Over the years he has also served as a coach and mentor to numerous church planters. Rather than seeing himself as the "Apostle Paul-type," he best describes himself as a "Barnabas" to church planters and pastors. His desire is to minister alongside of others in order to see them equipped to become all that God desires for them as they multiply disciples, leaders, and churches.Over the years, he has written numerous book chapters, articles, and reviews in the area of missions and evangelism and church growth. J. D. is the author of several books: Missional House Churches: Reaching Our Communities with the Gospel (InterVarsity Press)The Barnabas Factors: Eight Essential Practices of Church Planting Team Members (CreateSpace)Discovering Church Planting: An Introduction to the Whats, Whys, and Hows of Global Church Planting (InterVarsity Press)Evangelism: A Biblical Response to Today's Questions (InterVarsity Press)Roland Allen: Pioneer of Spontaneous Expansion (CreateSpace)Kingdom Expressions: Trends Influencing the Advancement of the Gospel (Thomas Nelson)Strangers Next Door: Immigration, Migration, and Mission (InterVarsity Press)Pressure Points: Twelve Global Issues Shaping the Face of the Church (Thomas Nelson)Developing a Strategy for Missions: A Biblical, Historical, and Cultural Introduction (Baker Academic, co-authored with John Mark Terry)Missionary Methods: Research, Reflections, and Realities (William Carey Library, co-edited with Craig Ott) He is married to Sarah who is a physician in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, working part-time at a clinic for uninsured populations in Birmingham, Alabama. They have three children Hannah, Rachel, and Joel. J. D. may be contacted at jpayne@brookhills.org and found on Twitter @jd_payne. He blogs at jdpayne.org.