I grew up in an AG church in Ashtabula County. My dad was the director of a Christian camp, and I spend the majority of my first 12 years of life in one of those 2 places, very clueless to the world. I accepted Christ at 6 in Super Church. I spent the next 10 years of my life riding the fence. I tried for a long time to live in both arenas, and we all know that this didn’t work. I always knew Christ and would go through spurts, but never really sold my life out to him all those years.

My family has always been close. I had some difficult years with my mom when I was in 8-9 grade because she was not willing top compromise righteousness in our home, so we butted heads. I often felt guilty because my little brother followed in a lot of my bad choices. I honestly feel like a lot of my life was wasted on myself instead of making it count for God.

The timeline from the end of college is crazy, and I feel like this is kind of when my life started. I was working part time for Brian when I graduated. Nate Migal was on the phone with a friend who was not able to use his ticket for El Salvador. I butted in, and said “I’ll go.” So I met Linda in July, went on our first date in August, were engaged in Septemer, and married in December of 05 at the same time Chris Walker left and I came on full time with the youth. So, I had a wife and a job!

Grace came in March 2006 and Logan in December of 2006, and my life has never been the same since.

So, there is the life, but where is the faith. I got very angry in my teen years when my church of over 1000 fell apart because of poor leadership. In my sophomore year of HS we left that church, and I never REALLY plugged in again until CVC.

Brian had a significant affect on my life when I came to CVC. Brian was one of the first people in a long time to really challenge me in my walk with Christ. Then Dan came along and added much to that over the next few years, and I am eternally thankful to both of them for showing me how to be a man.

I am not taking my dad out of the equasion, but it was difficult for him to pour into me from 70 miles away. My dad is a man who has always loved the Lord with all his heart, as does my mom, and they have spent their lives showing Jesus to me, and raising me to love him the best they could. I am so excited when I watch them with Grace and Logan now, because I know that they will teach them about Jesus too.

I married WAY up, and at our wedding Rick challenged us to be on mission, and so I took that challenge seriously. I feel like that was somewhat the beginning of my spiritual journey. Like I opened up the door for Christ to finally take me over. There was an immense sense of responsibility to be a man of God, and that was made greater when Grace and Logan came.

I think that I am a testament to coming just as you are. I learned to lead worship as I was leading worship. I learned to shepherd kids as I was shepherding kids. God continued to teach me as I was trying to catch up to the learning curve. And I am still learning to be a husband and a dad as I do those things. The power of the Holy Spirit and the grace of Jesus is all I have to account for anything. I am blessed beyond anything I deserve. I often step back and think about my life, and am humbled that God chose me. I am poorly under qualified for the responsibilities I have, and am glad of it, because it allows my story to shine glory on Christ.