My story is nothing special; it is just the story of a guy who kept saying yes to God. Throughout this journey of life, God has asked me to take a 1,000 steps of faith. Here are a few big ones:
Born and born again
I was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. Thankfully, I was blessed to have been born into a family that believed in Jesus Christ.
Raised in church with my father, a pastor, then a missionary, and now a pastor again, I grew up very familiar with God and church. At age six, I began asking several questions about death and heaven. It was through these questions that I came to the realisation that I needed to have Jesus in my life. I asked Jesus to forgive my sins and be the Lord of my life on a Sunday at the end of one of my father’s sermons. A couple of weeks later, I followed Jesus in baptism as a testimony of the salvation I found in him.
Surrender to Ministry
In middle school, I was given the chance to go to church camp for the first time. It was a whole new experience in my walk with Christ and gave me the opportunity to worship him as I had never done before. God asked me to surrender my life to him during the last night of camp, so I said yes. That decision at the age of twelve completely changed the direction of my journey through life.
God asked me to surrender to student ministry in high school at another church camp. I said yes to this too, but only if I could start serving now and not when I was done with college. I made it a point to get involved as much as possible with my church's student ministry. At first, it was just helping my student pastor set up chairs and run the worship sound. Over the years, my involvement grew, through discipleship, into a greater leadership role with the opportunities to lead and teach my peers.
College and internships
In 2006, I went to Baptist Bible College and spent the next three and a half years studying there and helping at High Street Baptist Church. Each summer, I was given a chance to do an internship with a church in the area of student ministry: ’07, ’09, ’10 at Abundant Life Baptist Church and ’08 at Ocean View Baptist Church. After graduating from BBC, I spent a year and a half looking for a place to work as a full-time student pastor. During my search, I volunteered at a couple of different churches and completed my graduate degree through Liberty University.
Becoming a Pastor
In 2011, I was hired as a full-time student pastor at Topeka Baptist Church. I have completely enjoyed my time there and grown tremendously in my faith as a pastor. I have had the privilege of seeing kids accept Christ as their Saviour and baptising them. I have taught in vacation Bible schools and taken kids to 12 summer camps. I was able to preach to a congregation that made me feel like Billy Graham with their compliments. I found friends and family with those attending Topeka Baptist and have made memories that will last a lifetime.
London Calling
At the beginning of 2014, I was reading through Romans, and the Holy Spirit grabbed my heart and completely broke it in chapter 10.
“For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?”
As I read these verses repeatedly, I knew that I could go and preach. I knew that God was asking me to surrender to church planting in a place where people did not hear his word. I said, "Yes!" and began to pray about which city to go to. As time passed, God put London in my heart, and I knew I needed to visit this city. What I found there completely confirmed that London was to become my new home. I am excited to see how God will use me to be a part of Saving London.