I am a native Hoosier and have spent most of my life here. With the exception of the years spent at the seminary in St. Louis and serving my vicarage (internship) in Woodbury, Minnesota, I have lived in Indiana all my life. I grew up mostly in Indianapolis (Warren Central 1993, for those familiar with Indy). I received a degree from the College of Architecture and Planning at Ball State University in 1997.
(That’s also where I met my beautiful wife Carolyn. We got married shortly after graduation.)
After graduating from the seminary I spent five great years as Associate Pastor at Our Shepherd Lutheran Church in Indianapolis. (How rare that a guy gets to do ministry in his home town!) I learned a lot about being a pastor and leading ministry teams in the areas of missions, outreach, small groups, Stephen Ministry, new member assimilation, and social concerns.
That’s the technical stuff. But what truly motivates me is the compelling love of Christ. I want people to know it, see it, live it, feel it, cherish it, praise God for it. That’s why I love to teach. That happens first with my kids – I have four of them (Evan, Elise, Bryce, and Blake – they are my greatest gifts!). Carolyn
and I want them to know the true freedom and joy that come in knowing they are baptized children of God. Secondly I love teaching the people of the church. I love tackling tough questions (because God knows we all have them). I love seeing people experience the “Aha!” moments, when they just ‘get it’ a little more than before.
I am passionate about seeing Christians living out their faith – serving and giving and thinking of others above themselves. (We see way too much selfishness in our world!) I believe that we are the Body of Christ, which means (as Casting Crowns puts it): our arms reaching, our hands healing, our words teaching, our feet going, His loving showing.
My prayer before the Lord is that all my efforts may bring glory to Him … that He use the good and the bad in me – the often-boring, sometimes-embarrassing moments – for ultimate good, the saving of souls. That’s what’s most important anyway – important (I believe) because that is what God wants: that all would be saved.
Oh, by the way, I also like to go camping and hiking. I love to look at beautiful things (art and views of places I’ve never seen before). And I love to sing. I can’t help but sing. But enough about me. Our living, gracious, all-powerful God is much more interesting than me. Get
to know Him more today. Stop in some time, and I’ll tell you all about Him. God bless you!
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