I was born in Chicago, Illinois and was raised in a pastor's home. The memories of my childhood and teen years were filled with illustrations of God's grace made evident through the life of my parents who faithfully served God and others in the church and consistently displayed a genuine walk with Christ. I was taught the gospel as child and came to faith in Christ as a 12-year-old boy. I went to Bob Jones University to study music, and my junior year I met my wife Sarah. The Lord began to change my heart regarding my attitude towards serving God and His Church and then following graduation I spent a year traveling with the Steve Pettit Evangelistic Team. That year was a defining moment in my life as I was discipled in an atmosphere of brotherly love. I was shaped by teammates who had a deep hunger for God and served Him with Christ-like humility. In 2002, the Lord directed Sarah and I to move to Brookfield Wisconsin to serve on the pastoral staff at Brookside Baptist Church as assistant pastor for music, media, college age adults. God has blessed us with three children; Samantha, Seth and Silas. The congregation at Brookside has illustrated the power of the gospel to save and transform lives. God has used our years at Brookside to confirm God's call on our lives to make disciples through the local church. I have a burden for college ministry, worship, discipleship and am fulfilled in caring for the flock of God. I am deeply committed to passionate private worship which fuels my corporate worship and service to God, fervent evangelism through developing gospel-centered relationships, and intentional discipleship by instruction and imitation. In each phase of my life I can look back and see a faithful, sovereign God who has directed each step in preparing my life for His next assignment. We believe wholeheartedly that God has prepared us for the task ahead and Sarah and I are thankful for God's kindness in allowing us to be a part of Plant4theGospel for the glory of God. We move forward by faith.

God has graciously revealed the gospel to me all my life. My parents were faithful in opening God's word to me with every opportunity they could. Whether that was instilling in me scripture at home, keeping us in strong Bible-teaching churches, reminding me of the gospel, or entertaining godly families in our home, I grew up saturated with the truth and saw it genuinely lived out in my godly parents and in the godly individuals they kept me in contact with. Sadly, I used those freedoms as an occasion for the flesh. Though I had made a profession of belief in the gospel at a young age, my early memories of a spiritual life were morality for the sake of manipulation and attention. As I grew into high school and began to read and apply the Bible to my heart, I saw my first glimpses of genuine consistent growth at the heart level. God's gracious humbling of my heart continued while serving on the leadership team at Northland Camp for four summers. I recieved a ministry degree from Bob Jones University in 2004, and Beth and I met and were married while we were there. God graciously has allowed me to serve in my former youth pastor's church, Oak Ridge Baptist in Oak Ridge, TN since 2004. My primary responsibilities are leading the music and worship and the student ministry. I also coordinate the media and technology. I have fallen in love with local church ministry. I love studying the scripture and boldly proclaiming what God has shown me. I love expending myself (emotionally, mentally and physically) in my church. I love leading a crowd of believers to seeing and savoring God through song. I love watching God take an individual to another spiritual step. I love seeing fruit come from a project or a gospel conversation. I can do nothing else with my life. Beth and I have given our free time to ministry media work, children's discipleship and community involvement. I serve on the board for Kids4Truth, and Beth serves on the board for a crisis pregnancy center. Over the last year, God has grabbed us with the burden to plant new gospel works in the cities of America. Beth and I look through our fears and uncertainties about the future with confidence to our Savior who has given us abundant life.