JM Smith

James-Michael "JM" Smith (founder of the youtube channel "DiscipleDojo") is a Bible teacher, martial artist, speaker, and artist. In addition to teaching the Bible and reviewing Biblical studies resources on YouTube, he also runs a nonprofit anti-bullying outreach for refugee and immigrant kids in Charlotte, NC called "RefugeeJitsu", and oversees a worldwide community of thousands of unmarried Christian adults called "The Grownup's Table" on Facebook.

JM has two degrees in art (Associates, Visual Arts - Reinhardt University '97; Bachelor of Fine Art, Drawing & Painting - University of Georgia '00) and received his M.Div from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 2006. After serving as Pastor of Discipleship at a large church in Charlotte for 5 years, JM stepped down in order to launch Disciple Dojo and focus on speaking, teaching and writing Biblical studies curricula. He has developed and taught Biblical studies courses and seminars to Pastors and teachers around the U.S. as well as in Africa and India.

Born and raised in Savannah, GA where his father was a Pastor of a small United Methodist Church plant in the inner-city, JM began pursuing two of his passions--art and martial arts--from a very early age and continues to use both to this. He is a professional artist who has done portraits of some of the top martial artists in the world to help raise money for various charities. He is also a Brazilian Jiujitsu black belt under Derek "TC" Richardson (a Renzo Gracie black belt), and teaches BJJ as well as women's self-defense seminars as part of Disciple Dojo's overall ministry.