I am so grateful to God for the truth, the love, and the power he has given me through the work of Jesus Christ! To give me a bride of over twenty years, children we delight in, friends, a tremendous church family…and to call me – me! – into full time ministry. So grateful.

A Brief Testimony

In the mid-Nineties, I was a mess. I had been raised in a loving home but was living a meaningless existence and did not know who I was, what I was made for, or why I was even alive. I was a classic “lost boy”, frustrated at all the groups excluding me, yet in continual sorrow I found no place to belong. Unsurprisingly, this led to poor life choices. All my poor decisions and selfishness caught up with me and I quit college…and was thinking about quitting life. My parents, out of love and desperation, sent me to live with my sister in the mountains of Colorado, where my sister, out of love and desperation, sent me to church. From there, the young Pastor named Thomas invited me to live in his home with his family. For free! I saw his life, a life filled with meaning, purpose, and identity through Jesus Christ, and soon I called on Jesus as my Lord and savior. That Sunday I was baptized in front of about 20 people at a little country church. From then on, I have never doubted that God’s Spirit would continue to give me purpose and meaning and best of all: my identity as a beloved son.

Called to Pastoral Ministry

In 2010 I had three delightful kids and a loving wife, but a failed business and a mountain of debt. I was also mad at God, because I thought he had clearly directed me to start a business which failed during the Great Recession. On a trip to visit my in-laws, I was kayaking near their house when I got stuck in a tidal current and needed to turn around, or would likely capsize into a bad situation. Instead, I fought the current. And fought, and fought. Soon, I was spent, and no closer to getting out. Pulled backwards by the current, I was capsizing…and then I wasn’t. The current, instead of tipping me over, spun me around and sent me into a lovely tidal bay. I realized this was a metaphor for my life: I was fighting with everything I had, resisting the Lord who loved me and would lead me to a place he had prepared for me. Right then, I laid my paddle down and cried out, telling the Lord I would do whatever he asked.

He asked me to go into the ministry. Not only the ministry, pastoral ministry. This was…unexpected. There were three jobs I had long ago promised my wife I would never do: policeman, fireman, or pastor. I never wanted to be a pastor, not once. But, I had promised the Lord. I kayaked to my in-laws and prepared to tell my wife “the bad news.” But she, too, had been praying, and when I arrived back she told me – before I said anything – that if I ever wanted to be a pastor, she was all for it. That was the first of many, many confirmations about my call. While I have  many times questioned whether I was capable (I’m not), I’ve not questioned my call. It is as clear today as it was in 2010.