Pastor Serves the Community Through Christ and Computer Science

Jonathan Garcia ministers to youth through robotics and computer science lessons.

June 23, 2026 | Michigan, United States | by Andrew Francis, Lake Union Herald

Since the summer of 2025 Jonathan Garcia, lead pastor of the Harbor of Hope Seventh-day Adventist Church in Benton Harbor, Michigan, United States, has taught computer science to young students at the local Boys and Girls Club chapter. Having previously worked as a computer science instructor in New York for more than a decade, Garcia now serves students at the Benton Harbor Boys and Girls Club’s Joel E. Smilow Teen Center (also known as Teen Tech Center), which features an array of technology used for education and creativity. Through this service, Garcia has combined his interests in spiritual ministry and computer science to provide an impactful resource for participants.

Since 2025 Seventh-day Adventist pastor Jonathan Garcia has been teaching computer science and life skills to young students in Benton Harbor, Michigan, United States. [Photo: Lake Union Herald]

The Teen Tech Center is complete with a section for e-sports, with nearly a dozen computers and professional equipment on which students not only play games but also learn about streaming and other technical processes. A separate section is dedicated to 3D printing, sublimation, and virtual reality headsets that connect students with other Teen Tech Centers worldwide. Additionally, spaces for music production, podcasting, graphic design, and more are available in the state-of-the-art space.

Garcia, who is also currently pursuing a Master of Divinity degree at Andrews University’s Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, shared that the Teen Tech Center, funded in part by Best Buy and the Whirlpool Foundation, is a powerful and rare resource he and his students get to partake in. More than US$1 million has been contributed to the facility’s construction and maintenance, he said. Garcia credited the leadership and efforts of Di’Andre Hureskin, Best Buy’s Teen Tech Center coordinator, for helping to maintain the tech center and its impactful programs.

As they participate in various skill-building activities, Jonathan Garcia tries to remind his students that God is the source of all current and future success. [Photo: Lake Union Herald]

“This facility is specifically for young individuals who are looking to be entrepreneurs or learn how to do different tech stuff to get their foundation,” said Garcia. “They don’t necessarily have to be doing this at school, but they can come to the [Boys and Girls] Club and learn about VR; they can learn about e-gaming; they can learn about drones [and] 3D printing; they can learn about music production, and so many other things.”

Garcia also guides students through a final capstone project in which they attempt to solve real-world issues through coding and other skills they’ve learned. The question he poses to students is: “If their community is struggling in a certain capacity, how could they aid the community better?”

A point of pride for Garcia is seeing students be “emotionally aware of their circumstances” and desiring more for their lives, whether intellectually or spiritually.

At the Teen Tech Center students not only play games but also learn about streaming and other technical processes. [Photo: Lake Union Herald]

“They’ll talk about how much they need God in their lives,” said Garcia. “How much they want to transcend the situations that they’re in and how they want to pursue things, and that they feel that if they give it all to God, things will actually come to fruition. I don’t think I had the ‘vocab’ to even explain some of the things that they are expressing at that age.”

Garcia has felt particularly blessed by God for the ability to do ministry through the computer science skills he cultivated coming out of high school, in addition to his pastoral ministry. He tries to remind his students that God is the source of all current and future success.

“We got here only because God got us here. So you’ll get to where you’re getting only because God will get you there.”

The original version of this story was posted on Lake Union Herald.