Close-up of a smiling man with short, dark hair and a goatee, wearing a white patterned shirt and a black fitness tracker on his wrist. He is sitting on a teal armchair in a warmly lit room with blurred background furniture.

Jonah Martinez

Associate Counselor

About Jonah

Jonah sensed a clear call to shepherd and counsel students and others early in his ministry journey.

With over two decades of experience in church and school settings, he has a heart to walk alongside students, couples, and parents—helping them navigate life’s challenges and changes through a Gospel-centered lens. His counseling approach is framed through a covenantal-family systems framework, and an emphasis on the importance of holistic transformation that is anchored in God’s Word, informed by clinical insight, and lived out through Christ-centered relationships.  

Jonah has practiced counseling through various pastoral and leadership roles in Texas, Missouri, and Georgia, as the Dean of Student and Family Ministry and Director/Pastor of Student Ministries, where he provided care, counsel, and spiritual guidance to individuals and families. Jonah draws from his own journey of brokenness, hope, and redemption to walk with others through theirs, helping them find hope and healing in God's redemptive story through Christ. His deepest desire as a counselor is to embody the comfort Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 1:3–4: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” 

Jonah and his wife, Marci, have been married over 25 years. They have three children: Ethaniel, Elyssia, and Emmalynn. Outside of his work at Perimeter, Jonah enjoys time with his family, exploring the outdoors, cooking, laughing and connecting with others over meaningful conversation. 

Primary Counseling Focus

Jonah primarily works with students, couples, and families through relational conflict and reconciliation, spiritual formation and identity, grief, trauma, abuse, life transitions, marriage and parenting dynamics.

Education

  • M.Div., Counseling Specialization, Covenant Theological Seminary, 2022 

  • B.A., Biblical Studies with Counseling Emphasis, The Criswell College, 2002