Staff Bio

Reverend Joseph A. Warner (Pastor)

Joseph A. Warner, A.B., B.D., M.Div., D.Min.
Pastor Joe Warner was born May 6, 1937 in Philadelphia to Edith and Joseph Warner. Finishing high school, he moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 1955 with his mother and sister. In May of 1956, he committed his life to the Lord and soon felt the promptings to study for the ministry. He attended the Columbia International University in Columbia, South Carolina then transferred to Belhaven University in Jackson, Mississippi and in 1961 received a Bachelor of Arts degree. From Belhaven, he enrolled and was graduated from the Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia earning Bachelor of Divinity and Master of Mnistry degrees. He was ordained to the Presbyterian Ministry by the Presbytery of Central Mississippi and began his first Pastorate at First Presbyterian Church of Belzoni, Mississippi in 1964. Here he met Elisabeth Stewart Lundy and they were married in 1968. In 1970, they had a son, Drue Nathanael who is now also a Presbyterian Minister in Georgia.

In 1972, after eight years in Mississippi the Warners with their second son, Philip Charlton received the call to the Seacrest Boulevard Presbyterian Church in Delray Beach, Florida. Here serving sixteen years the Warner’s were blesed with the birth of Elisabeth (Elise) McClaren in 1976. In 1978 Joe received the Doctor of Ministry degree from the Luther Rice Theological Seminary in Conyers, Georgia. The Warners served in Delray Beach for sixteen years.

In 1990 Twenty people urged Joe and Betsy to plant a church in the burgeoning west side of Boynton Beach. Thus Royal Palm Presbyterian Church was planted on October 10, 1990 with fifty-five attending the first service held in a Holiday Inn on Military Trail. From here the new church met for almost three years at the “Florida Eye Microsurgical Institute.”

From here the Lord led the way to this present property and with pastor and Betsy preaching and teachng the inspired congregation developed the present property. Blessing upon blessing was lavished upon this church that began with $280.60 (the amount of the first offering from those twenty-two people who met at the Warner’s home and prayed Royal Palm Church into being. Dr. Warner could say along with John Newton’s (Amazing Grace) “Though many dangers toil and snares, I have already come! ‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home.”

Reverend Jonathan Jones (Assistant Pastor)

Rev. Jonathan Jones joined Royal Palm Presbyterian Church as Assistant Pastor in the fall of 2019 after moving from South Philadelphia, where his family labored alongside others in the Lord for the past 13 years to help plant Grace and Peace Community Church (PCA).

He formerly served as the Principal of Tall Oaks Classical School in Delaware and Head of School at Stratford Classical Christian Academy in southern New Jersey. He holds degrees in Bible and Piano Performance from Cairn University as well as studying Music History at Temple University. He and his wife have eight children residing in Boca Raton.

Reverend Dr. Erikson Rojas (Music Ministor and Organist)

Hailed as “an impressive performer in his own right … impassioned, hypnotic, insightful … superb tonal control” by the New York Concert Review, and as a “prodigy … Rojas, the piano and the music become one” by the Los Angeles Times, Dr. Erikson Rojas, has given numerous solo and chamber performances in the U.S., Europe, and Latin America, including eight appearances at Carnegie Hall. In each case he has also been featured as soloist with orchestra. His recordings have obtained critical acclaim, and as a teacher, lecturer, and church musician, he continues to gain distinction amidst high demand.

Dr. Rojas is honored to have been one of five Americans and the only Hispanic in 30 pianists selected world-wide to participate at the Cleveland International Piano Competition. He has won the Ambler Symphony Orchestra Competition, the Outstanding Young Christian Artists Competition, Cuba’s Amadeo Roldán and UNEAC Competitions, among others. A pupil of the legendary Leon Fleisher (5 years), Dr. Rojas is a graduate of Peabody Institute (M.M., G.P.D.), where he also studied conducting privately with the eminent conductor Gustav Meier. Prior to Peabody he studied piano with Madame Eleanor Sokoloff at Curtis Institute of Music, and with Distinguished Professor Samuel Hsu at Cairn University (B.M., B.S.), where he also learned organ under Robert Carwithen. Other lessons and masterclasses in piano were with Claude Frank, Gary Graffman, Seymour Lipkin, John Perry, Nelson Delle-Vigne Fabbri, Ilana Vered, Sasha Starcevich, Pavlina Dokovska, Susan Starr, and Jorge Luis Prats. As a scholarship student of Min Kwon and Juilliard’s Martin Canin, Dr. Rojas earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts. He is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda.

Performing frequently in the U.S. and abroad, Dr. Rojas is often invited as guest artist in music festivals and competitions. He teaches piano privately, with students having received top prizes and honors in local, national and international piano festivals and competitions, including Dublin International Piano Festival and Summer Academy, Steinway’s 165th Anniversary Celebration, Pennsylvania’s “Young Classical Virtuosos of Tomorrow”, Csehy ChamberFest and Concerto Performance, Palm Beach Atlantic University’s Concerto Competition (Preparatory Division), and Eastern University Piano Festival and Competition, wherein four of Rojas’s students won top-five prizes. Pupils he has taught and coached have also gone on to study at institutions such as The Juilliard School, Peabody Institute, Cleveland Institute, Shenandoah Conservatory, Temple University, Rutgers University, among others. He is on faculty at Palm Beach Atlantic University and Csehy Summer School of Music. He also serves as Pianist of the Choral Society of the Palm Beaches and as Music Minister at Royal Palm Presbyterian Church in Southeast Florida, where he resides with his beloved wife Diandra.