Pastoral Profile
Jose “Dr. J” Rodriguez, Ph.D.
Lead Pastor · Teaching Pastor · Church Planter · Founder of Troika Ministries
“Lead Whole. Live True.”
Open To
Senior Pastor · Teaching Pastor · Interim Pastor · Executive / Discipleship Pastor
Geography: Texas · Oklahoma · Tennessee · open to relocation by prayerful discussion
Summary
Senior pastor, church planter, and formation architect with nearly 30 years in pastoral ministry. Wired as a pastor-teacher with a strategist’s instinct and a coach’s practice. Calm, thoughtful, warm, yet direct — at home one-on-one in a hospital room and on a conference platform. Theologically conservative and evangelical. Rooted in the authority of Scripture, the centrality of Christ, and the present work of the Holy Spirit.
Ph.D. in Leadership Studies (Our Lady of the Lake University); Master of Divinity from Regent University; U.S. Navy combat veteran of Operation Desert Shield / Desert Storm. Founder of Troika Ministries, author of the forthcoming Troika Leadership Series, and architect of the ABC (Attitude · Behavior · Character) Whole Leadership Model rooted in Galatians 5:22–23.
Currently founder and lead shepherd of Troika Ministries. Open to covenant partnership with a local congregation as Senior Pastor, Teaching Pastor, or Interim Pastor — with an active commitment to carry Troika Ministries as a parallel 501(c)(3) calling in covenant alignment with any church that partners.
Philosophy of Ministry
How I Pastor
The pulpit is pastoral work.
Preaching is the shepherd feeding the sheep — exegetical, pastoral, and practical. Expository teaching grounded in the authority of Scripture, the centrality of Christ, and the present work of the Holy Spirit.
Formation matches responsibility.
We harm leaders and churches when we scale influence faster than character. Every room I lead is a room where fruit is the evidence and Christlikeness is the goal — not performance or platform.
Belonging before expectation. Invitation before instruction. Grace before growth.
People are welcomed as they are and formed into whole disciples over time. No one is reduced to a program, a pipeline, or a metric.
Character is the credential.
The fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22–23) is the non-negotiable mark of a leader's life. The ABC model — Attitude, Behavior, Character — is the framework I teach, preach, and live.
Pastoral Experience
Nearly 30 Years in Ministry
Founder, Lead Shepherd — Troika Ministries
2025 – Present · Celina, TX
Founded Troika Ministries (501(c)(3), EIN 30-0202549) to serve pastors, leaders, veterans, and local churches through Scripture-governed whole-life formation. Oversees doctrine, governance, publishing, curriculum, covenant community, and the TaMOS formation platform.
Lead Pastor / Teaching Pastor / Church Planter
1999 – 2025 · Texas
Nearly three decades of pastoral ministry across multiple congregations. Planted first church in San Antonio in 1999 and continued in senior pastoral roles through successive seasons. Preached weekly, shepherded elders and deacons, led staff teams, stewarded finances and governance, conducted weddings, funerals, and dedications, and carried congregants through formation, fracture, and renewal over the long road. Departed in March 2025 in obedience to the Holy Spirit and relocated to North Texas to carry forward the next season of the call.
Specific congregational history, references, and ordination documentation available upon request.
Pastoral Specialties
What I Bring to a Church
Preaching and Teaching
Expository weekly preaching, sermon series development, elder/deacon training, Sunday morning and mid-week adult formation. Comfortable with small pulpits and large conferences alike.
Pastoral Care and Shepherding
Walking congregants through crisis, grief, marriage, addiction recovery, and moral failure with confession, covenant, and resurrection. Crisis protocol that always routes to human care (988, 741741, 911) and professional referral alongside pastoral presence.
Premarital and Marriage Formation
Six-session premarital program (“Before You Say I Do”) co-facilitated with my wife Ruby. ABC-mapped. Leader's guide and His/Hers workbooks in use.
Veteran PTSD and Moral Injury Care
Personal combat background (Desert Shield / Desert Storm). Shepherds brothers carrying combat trauma through Scripture, covenant, peer cohorts, and the 4th Day Reset. Always supplements — never replaces — professional clinical care.
Post-Failure Leadership and Restoration
Canonical four-movement framework (Crisis & Safety → Discernment & Disqualification → Restoration of People → Succession). Refuses corporate brand-management patterns; centers the harmed; distinguishes restoration to fellowship from restoration to office.
Leadership Coaching
T.R.O.I.K.A. coaching arc (Think It / Rise Above It / Own It / Ignite It / Keep the Covenant / Arise) for pastors, marketplace leaders, and leadership cohorts. Whole-person development grounded in the fruit of the Spirit.
Education
Ph.D. in Leadership Studies
Our Lady of the Lake University
Dissertation research on authentic faith practices and leadership integration
Master of Divinity (M.Div.)
Regent University
B.A. in English / Creative Writing
University of Texas at San Antonio
Military Service
United States Navy — Honorably Discharged
USS South Carolina (CGN-37), nuclear-powered cruiser. America Battle Group. Operation Desert Shield / Desert Storm (1990–1991).
Pastoral work with veterans is personal. I have walked the same road I now walk with brothers carrying combat trauma, PTSD, and moral injury.
Testimony
The Year I Nearly Drowned
In 2004, I nearly drowned pulling children out of the water. The local news covered it. I share it here not as a story about me, but as one more marker of God's faithfulness — one more time He decided my story was not finished. He has brought me back more than once: from the water, from war, from myself. Every year of ministry since has been the fruit of a life He kept on purpose.
Frameworks Authored
Formation Architecture
The Troika (ABC) Leadership Model
Attitude · Behavior · Character — three co-equal, concurrent, inseparable dimensions of whole leadership. Rooted in Galatians 5:22–23 and the nine fruit of the Spirit. The subject of a forthcoming three-volume leadership series.
The T.R.O.I.K.A. Coaching Framework
From Dream to Destiny — One Faithful Step at a Time. The inner journey from thought → belief → commitment → action → habit → lifestyle.
The 4th Day Reset
A Lazarus-pattern resurrection rhythm for burnout, trauma, moral injury, and senior-leader recovery. Days 1–3 sit with the weight; Day 4 names the resurrection lens.
Post-Failure Leadership and Restoration Framework
Troika's canonical response to senior-leader moral failure. Three failure categories with default consequences (criminal/predatory — permanent disqualification; patterned abuse — strong presumption of permanent; non-predatory — rigorous discernment without assumption of office return).
Published Works & Teaching Channels
- reFOCUS ecosystem— Published on Amazon — resources helping believers recenter on Christ
- Troika Leadership Vol 1: Foundations for Whole Leadership— In final editing
- Troika Leadership Vols 2 & 3— Mapped, in draft — Practicing Whole Leadership · Building Whole Cultures
- The Troika Ministry Trilogy— You Will Know Them · The Covenant House · The Shepherd Layer — in development
- Recent Sermon (video)— Watch a recent message
- Troika Mind (YouTube)— Bible teaching channel
- Renewed Mind 903 (YouTube)— Bible teaching channel
Platform & Technology
Built to Serve the Church
Troika Ministries operates TaMOS — a full formation platform that carries discipleship, assessment, pastoral care, and family formation for pastors, congregants, and households. I architected it and continue to lead its development. TaMOS launched publicly in June 2026 and is now live on the web, the App Store, and Google Play.
- TaMOS — Troika adaptive intelligence Ministry Operating System (full formation platform, Next.js / Prisma / Clerk / Postgres).
- TMOS — the church management module: people, calendar, giving, volunteers, comms, pastoral care, and ten formation rooms.
- Troika Academy + Ministry Academy — the first two tiers of a four-tier formation university; both 27-course catalogs fully live (Ministry Academy: 135 full-depth sessions).
- Kingdom Formation Academy (KFA) — PreK-12 homeschool curriculum, Texas TEKS-aligned, ESA-eligible. Ruby Rodriguez, M.A., as Academy Director.
- Troika Score / LIA — 63-item psychometric formation instrument for church and marketplace contexts.
Family — The Covenant Foundation
Calling is carried as a family — not individual.
- Ruby— Wife — married March 14, 1998. In ministry together their entire married life.
- Judah Caleb— Firstborn son — Worship & Production resident, pursuing M.Div.
- Jody Ann— Daughter — pursuing M.A. in Apologetics.
- Jeralyn Marie— Daughter — married to Sebastian; pursuing Ph.D.
- Jeriah Joseph— Son — married to Chloe Grace; father of Mila Rae.
Core Conviction
“Formation must match responsibility — we harm leaders and churches when we scale influence faster than character.”
References & Ordination
Ministerial references, ordination documentation, and a complete congregational history are available upon request. Please reach out at drj@troikaministries.org.
Lead Whole. Live True.
troikaministries.org/dr-j