Pastor Jim Newbold
After serving as Intentional Interim Pastor of Tree of Life Fellowship (formerly West Santa Rosa Baptist Church) during the winter of 2006, Jim Newbold became the church’s permanent part time Pastor in February of 2007. It was at this time that Pastor Jim and his wife, Jayna, moved their eleven year membership with Petaluma Valley Baptist Church in Petaluma, CA to Tree of Life Fellowship.
Following God’s leading to carry out His Vision for the church, Pastor Jim answered God’s Call to a full time pastorate; specifically to our congregation. The church chose to ordain Pastor Jim in October of 2008 at Petaluma Valley Baptist Church.
Married to Jayna Newbold for 35 years, our pastor and his wife reside in Cotati, CA and have three grown children who live in the Bay area: Calendi (Newbold) Svihula, Naaman Newbold and Ketura Newbold. Calendi is married to Josh Svihula and they reside in Cotati with their son, Devon Carter Svihula; Naaman is married to Irina (Pustilnik) Newbold and they reside in San Francisco; Ketura is engaged to Shalom Topps and resides in Santa Rosa, CA.
A graduate of Sonoma State University with a degree in Cultural Anthropology, the subject remains an immense help toward Pastor Jim’s ministry to Sonoma County’s diverse culture. Pastor Jim majored in Communication at Southwest Baptist University and Bible at Missouri Baptist University. Other areas of extensive study include music and technology.
Prior to his pastorate at Tree of Life Fellowship, Pastor Jim has filled pulpits in St. Louis County, MO; Polk County, MO; Sonoma County, CA; Napa County, CA; Marin County, CA; and Contra Costa County, CA. He served as Intentional Interim Pastor at First Baptist Church of Cloverdale, CA in 2003 and in the Chaplain Corps with the U.S. Army Reserves from 2003 to 2005. His considerable amount of time spent working in the corporate sector included positions of computer support, help desk, IT and program development in such companies as Forsythe, Mallinckrodt, Ralston Purina (St. Louis) and Charles Schwab (San Francisco). He is the creator and instructor of the workshop series, A Complete Life ©, which will be exclusively offered at Tree of Life Fellowship beginning fall of 2009.
Pastor Jim has found all of life’s experiences to be productive assets toward serving as the Pastor of Tree of Life Fellowship and looks forward to many years of service as God leads him in carrying out His vision for our congregation.