Jovan Payes

Jovan Payes serves as an elder and preacher for the Highland church of Christ (Bakersfield, CA). A native of San Francisco, Jovan came to Christ after spending his teen years in street gangs. He devoted his life to sharing and teaching the gospel, researching the reasonableness of the Christian worldview, and preparing himself to teach the timeless truths of Scripture and engage the timely topics of our culture.

Research interests include the existence of God and problem of suffering, the doctrine of the word of God (inspiration, authority, canon, transmission, translation), and the historical Jesus (historical existence, resurrection). Jovan's writings have appeared in the journal Sufficient Evidence (Warren Christian Apologetics Center) and popular level publications (Gospel Advocate, The Carolina Messenger, Kaio, Words of Truth). He speaks at Bible Lectureships, youth events, public engagement events, and workshops.

Jovan is an Masters of Divinity student in the Graduate School of Theology, Freed-Hardeman University (Henderson, TN). He earned the M.A. in Christian Apologetics from the Talbot School of Theology, Biola University (La Mirada, CA), and a B.A. in Bible from Freed-Hardeman University.