Jon Lineberger
Growing up Jon was a rebellious preacher’s kid. Having ADHD he struggled in school and made terrible impulsive decisions. Jon was even made fun of and called stupid by some of his peers. Due to poor choices he constantly found himself in trouble during his preadolescent and teen years. During his senior year in high school Jon was starting on both offense and defense of a back-to-back state champion football team. A few games into the season he was kicked off the team. Jon began to spiral downward into a deep depression. He began to abuse alcohol almost daily and occasionally even used drugs to self medicate and cope with the embarrassing mess he had made of his life. With a month left in his senior year Jon was called into the assistant principal’s office and told that he would have to leave his high school, but was allowed to walk with the rest of his class if he entered rehab. After rehab Jon fell back into the same old habits and was placed on academic probation after his first semester in college. Over the next year Jon’s life hit rock bottom. He contemplated suicide several times and would even pray at night that God would not allow him to wake up in the morning. Then one night Jon asked Jesus Christ to give him another chance at life. Although the change did not happen immediately God began to move and work in Jon’s life. Today, Jon is an assistant vice president at Dallas Baptist University, directs DBU’s northern most regional academic center, and teaches in the College of Professional Studies at DBU. He earned a doctorate of education in higher education administration from The University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, a master of arts in counseling from Dallas Baptist University, and a bachelor of arts with a double major in psychology and sociology from Houston Baptist University where he received the President's Award. Jon has been named to the list of People to Watch by Frisco Style Magazine, 21 Leaders for the 21st Century by the Collin County Business Press, 40 Under Forty by the Dallas Business Journal, and Citizen of the Year by the Frisco Chamber of Commerce. Jon remains active in his community having served as president of the Frisco Rotary Club and as Chair of the Frisco Chamber of Commerce. God has blessed Jon with an amazing wife and three wonderful children. They are all active members of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, TX. You can read how God worked in Jon’s life in his book set to be released spring 2012.