Jack and Johanna unknowingly lived only eight miles away from each other for four years while they attended WSU and the U of I respectively. While they were both going to college in the Palouse, they felt a strong calling to plant a college church. In 2021, they finally crossed paths after moving to Salt Lake City to start a new Resonate Church at the University of Utah.

Johanna’s first impression of Jack was that he was too serious. Jack thought Jo talked too much during movies. They warmed up to each other over the first year. Jack would visit the girls’ house on lunch breaks from his part time job nearby at Autozone. Jo regularly spent evenings at the boys’ house playing dutch blitz and generally causing a commotion.

In the winter of ‘22, Jack began working full time for Resonate, and Johanna joined staff later that spring. In the fall, they began leading a community group for college students together, but sparks would not fly until next May. The school year came and went, and the winds of summer love started blowing.

A couple months after Johanna began developing feelings, Jack began facing an inconvenient reality: he really liked his co-worker, co-leader, and good friend. Asking her out seemed like a big risk… they were such great friends and worked together every day.

But as he was getting closer to leaving for two months of summer mission trips, he realized that he would be kicking himself if he came back to SLC to find that another man had swooped up such an amazing woman. So on a walk in the park in the pouring rain, he asked her out on a date. A week later, he asked her to officially be his girlfriend after a date at the climbing gym.

When Jack returned in the fall, things got more serious. After a lot of hiking, camping, and watching movies, they were pretty sure they wanted to do those things together for the rest of their lives. After visiting each other's families for the holidays, Jack had a ring made.

On February 6th, after a night of swing dancing, Jack got down on one knee at the heart of the University of Utah campus, the place where God had brought their lives together. Johanna said “YES!”

After their wedding on June 22, they plan to stay in SLC and continue ministering to students at the U!

Registry