Me at 6 yrs. old
Me in High School
My Life In Christ
I was raised on stories from Scripture. My mom and dad were both strong believers and wanted my siblings and me to know Jesus. We participated in a healthy local church (The Church on Red Hill, a Southern Baptist church in Tustin, CA) and I remember hearing the gospel proclaimed frequently at home and every week at church. One Sunday, after a sermon from Numbers 13-14 about the faith of Caleb and Joshua, I was convicted of my own sinfulness and responded in repentance and faith. I prayed with my parents and asked God to save me. Though my understanding was limited, I know my conversion to Christ was real. I was baptized shortly thereafter, and began my life with Jesus.
Growing up in suburban California, I did not know many Christians besides other members of our church. Our church family was very important to me and I felt a strong connection to the few believers I knew. I learned much from these faithful church members. My parents discipled me in their way; usually by deconstructing every Sunday sermon and talking about the implications for our lives. We prayed together as a family, and my dad frequently led family devotions. I was also blessed with a handful of adults—Sunday School teachers, pastors, and family friends—who taught me what it means to follow Jesus. To this day, I have fond memories of a children’s minister who helped me memorize the books of the Bible, a friend’s mother who taught me the beatitudes, and youth pastor who taught me that life is a mission trip.
Key People and Events Along the Way
As I entered my teenage years, serving in my church gave me the idea that I should pursue vocational ministry. I sought counsel from my pastor, who advised me to prayerfully consider preaching ministry. At the age of 15, with my pastor’s blessing and help, I prepared my first sermon. It did not go well (I was a nervous wreck), but God used that experience to communicate my “call” to ministry. From that point on, I passionately pursued every ministry opportunity I could: working with inner-city youth, leading discipleship classes at church, and going on international mission trips.
God used those experiences to build in me a desire to be a missionary. One particular experience that stands out to me is one cold(!) summer evening in San Francisco. I was serving as a summer missionary at Page Street Mission Center, where my job was to disciple neighborhood youth. Every evening, I made the long journey by bus from the mission center to the apartment that was provided for me by a local church.
This was in “Visitacion Valley,” which was then a very rough neighborhood in the southern part of the city. Gang members sold drugs on the corner, and I remember hearing gunshots outside nearly every night. Though the bus route passed down my street, the bus driver was afraid and refused to drive through the neighborhood, leaving me instead to walk the last 2 miles to my apartment. I had only my Bible with me, a big study bible with notes and commentary, which I read every evening before bed. On this particular evening, I read Romans 10:14-15, and was certain that I was in the right place at that time and that I needed to pursue full-time service in God’s global mission.
To prepare myself for the mission field, I pursued a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in Intercultural Studies. After marrying my wife, we were appointed as church planting missionaries to Spain with the International Mission Board. We worked with non-Spanish minority people groups that did not have indigenous churches. We were blessed to see people hear the gospel for the first time and to disciple young people to maturity in Christ.
Because I came to faith at a young age, my spiritual development has come over time and through a variety of life experiences which continue to this day. I’ve had the pleasure of traveling around the world on mission trips. I’ve been blessed to minister alongside godly men and women who have taught me what it means to die daily to myself and to follow Jesus in all things. God blessed me with godly parents who raised me up in the way that I should go. My wife has taught me so much about ministering to those around me. I continue to learn from colleagues at work.
Spiritual Disciplines
I try to begin every morning by reading my Bible. I find that prayerful, reflective time in God’s word has a tremendous effect on my attitude and behavior throughout the day. I use a daily Bible reading plan through a Bible app on my iPad, and this allows me to keep track of my progress and to review the notes I take along the way. I also participate with my wife and kids in a family reading plan, which we do individually but discuss around the dinner table each night. The app helps us stay in sync and provides us good discussion topics around the biblical text. I take seriously my responsibility to disciple my children and to model for them what it means to faithfully follow Jesus in every aspect of our lives.
Prayer is also part of my daily rhythm. Over the years, I’ve become accustom to a more open-ended and conversational style of prayer. Our time serving as missionaries in Western Europe helped me realize the importance of praying before and after every social interaction in order to maintain God’s perspective on the people around me. I continue this to this day. I am part of a prayer group at IMB, which allows me to pray specifically for needs and opportunities around the world.
For personal accountability, I have a very close personal relationship with my pastor. We regularly confess sin to one another, ask difficult questions about being good husbands, fathers, and disciple makers. I greatly value his support, encouragement, and correction when I need it.
Sharing My Faith
I try to take every opportunity to share my faith with those around me. In our local community, my family is heavily involved in the local elementary school where my wife is the school nurse. School events, committees, and programs allow us to maintain relationships with lots of people who are quite different from us. Because we are cultural minorities at the school, we routinely practice good contextualization of the gospel as we speak to hurting, lonely, and desperate people about the hope we have in Christ.