John Jackson is the founding and Senior Pastor of Carson Valley Christian Center in Minden, Nevada and the Executive Director of Thriving Churches International. John has had almost 30 years of experience in leadership, including roles in the local church, parachurch ministry and with key business leaders. John is a gifted communicator of Biblical truth and life application and has demonstrated expertise in vision casting, leadership development, strategic leadership, administration, and financial management.

John is the author of several books, including High Impact Church Planting, Pastorpreneur, Leveraging Your Leadership Style, Leveraging Your Communication Style, God-Size Your Church, and Finding Your Place in God's Plan (releasing in April, 2009.)

Currently, in addition to serving as the Founding Pastor of CVC, John devotes time to developing leaders, writing books, speaking at conferences, particularly addressing challenges church-planters and pastors of churches facing growth barriers, as well as inspiring and encouraging marketplace leaders to use their gifts for greater Kingdom influence.

John formerly served as Executive Minister of the American Baptist Churches of the Pacific Southwest (1993-1997) where he headed a mission staff supporting and encouraging the ministries of 270 churches located in four Western states. John is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara ( PhD, M.A., in Educational Administration & Organizational Studies), Fuller Theological Seminary (M.A. in Theology/ Christian Formation), and Chapman University (B.A. in Religion/Christian History, cum laude).