Josh Fortney

I was born in California, but my family moved to Plano when I was in 3rd grade. I spent all my formative years right here in Plano. My family was (and still is) big on getting deeply involved in the local church. Church has always been a second home to me, and that is a huge contributing factor in my calling. I recognized the beauty and personal nature of the gospel while on a mission trip when I was 13, but I didn’t really start walking with Jesus until I was in college.

After running hard away from any sort of an inkling of a calling to ministry, the Lord softened my heart my junior of college through some friends and mentors while serving on staff at Pine Cove Camps. After graduating from Texas Tech, I earned my Masters in Christian Leadership from Dallas Theological Seminary while I was working full-time in ministry.

Melissa and I met while at Texas Tech, but we didn’t start dating until we had both graduated...even though I counted her as one of my best friends throughout college. We got married and she jumped into serving in ministry with me in 2011. We served together on staff at Pine Cove and she’s been instrumental in supporting me as a pastor at churches in Burleson and Garland, and most recently while I got to help launch Skylark Camps. We both have a passion for helping young adults (married or not) find solid community to help spur them on in their walk with Jesus.

CityBridge is our first church home that we got to choose! Every other church we’ve been a part of was chosen because I was on staff. SO, this place really is a chosen family to us, and we love getting to serve in a variety of the ministries offered here. I often reflect on Philippians 3:8-10 as one of my favorite passages as it recenters my life on Jesus being better than anything else I could pursue, and I long to be more like him.

Outside of church, we love spending time together as a family. We have 2 children, EllaGrace and Axel (the #Fortniños). They’re both so energetic, creative, zany, and full of life! We love to play games, have dance parties, laugh a lot, cheer the kids on in Jiu Jitsu, and cheer on our Texas Rangers and Texas Tech Red Raiders!