About

ABOUT THIS BLOG

The theme of this blog is intentional discipleship to Jesus.  My goal with every post is to encourage and equip you to become a healthy, mature, purposeful, and effective follower of Jesus.

If you long to live for Christ with mission, passion, and vision, then this blog is for you.

I typically post about every four days.  To make sure you don’t miss my newest posts, you can subscribe via RSS or via email by clicking the box at the right.

ABOUT ME

The most important thing I can tell you about myself is that in the middle of my senior year of high school I was confronted with the fact that my belief in Jesus was not translating into anything resembling conviction, devotion, or obedience.

I fully turned to Christ that night and haven’t looked back.  Everything good I’ve experienced since, I credit to that decision to completely, intentionally (and however imperfectly) follow Jesus.

The best of all these good experiences has been meeting and sharing life with Renee.  We’ve been married nineteen years and thoroughly enjoy our children, Elijah and Hope.

I have the privilege of being the senior minister of Outlook Christian Church.  It is a true blessing to serve and share God’s Word with these amazing people.

This is the essential stuff about me.

The rest is details, which you may or may not find interesting…

• I was an extra in the movie Hoosiers.  (Y’know that scene in which Gene Hackman’s character gets himself thrown out of the game on purpose so he can hand the playbook to Dennis Hopper’s character?  I was there.)

• I am a faculty member of the Mission Institute of East Africa.  I recently taught 21 Maasai pastors a course I wrote entitled Self-Care and Self-Leadership in Pastoral Ministry.

• I’ve been to Israel.  It. Was. Incredible.  (The photo above is me standing at the garden tomb.)

• For two and a half years I worked in management at a Fortune 300 insurance and investment company.  I managed a team of 12-20 specialists and learned a ton about myself, about people and organizational leadership, and about working a secular (for lack of a better term) job.

• For about a year before the dot-com bubble burst I was a writer and editor for a VC-funded, high-hopes internet start-up called Christianity.com.

• My formal education includes earning a Doctor of Ministry in Pastoral Leadership from Grace Theological Seminary, a Master Certificate in Applied Project Management from Villanova University, and a Master of Arts in Practical Theology from Regent University.

• If I could, I do believe I would end every meal with a chocolate chip cookie.