From Student to Spiritual Leader: Dr. Jason Longstreth’s Legacy at Florida College

October 28, 2024 | 2-3 min read

Biblical Studies chair Jason Longstreth, D.Min, was a new convert when he arrived on the Florida College campus in 1992. Sixteen years later he returned as faculty, using his own experience to share Christ’s love with a younger generation.

“FC had the greatest impact on my life outside of the gospel, and it’s where I met my wife, Stephanie,” he recalled. “We really just wanted to come back and serve.”

Converted by a teammate on his high school football team in Iowa, Longstreth made a last-minute decision at the end of his senior year to attend FC – a choice that would change the trajectory of his life.

“I came here and got involved in a local congregation, and slowly fell in love with the idea of preaching and helping others,” he said.

Longstreth changed his major to Biblical Studies at the end of his freshman year and met and married Stephanie (Stewart) the following year. After receiving his advanced Bible diploma in 1994, Longstreth pursued his MA from Knoxville’s Johnson University and later his M.Div. and D.Min. from Alabama’s Amridge University. In 1998 the couple moved to Louisville, Kentucky, and later Bowling Green, where he preached for eight years at Eastside church of Christ. Ten years and two children later he accepted an invitation to teach full time at FC, serving as Dean of Students from 2014-2021. In 2022 he was named chair of the Biblical Studies department, which now includes ten faculty members, three bachelor’s degree options and more than 65 course offerings.

“We serve the entire student body, not just Bible majors, and are now able to offer multiple Bible degrees including Biblical Education and New Testament Emphasis,” Longstreth said.

He’s also committed to offering the best possible faculty and mentors for students.

“All of our faculty are or have been gospel preachers,” he noted. “They’re not just academic.”

Now a preacher and elder at Forest Hills church of Christ, the father of five keeps a full schedule teaching Survey of Biblical Doctrines, Biblical Eschatology, Beginning Greek, and Marriage and Family.

“Having come from a non-Christian home with divorced parents and teaching Marriage and Family shows kids that it doesn’t matter where you came from or how you were raised,” he said. “They can still create a God-centered Christian family. I got so much help from others when I became a Christian, and the faculty took me in since I didn’t have much of a family life. As a family we’ve always wanted to do what we can do to help others, and FC is where we can best do that.”