Welcome to Gaia! ::

Wow..my story is a pretty fun ride..I enjoy getting to think about it.

I was raised going to a baptist church until I was about 5 or 6. My parents then stopped going there due to some issues they had with the teaching there. I went to VBS every year until jr high but I wasnt involved in church at all. I went to a KISS concert my 8th grade year for their Farewell Tour and the next day, my best friend and I went to a building near my house where a few bands practiced. We got to hang out with a guy named Chad, who was a sax player in one of the bands and was the only member of his band on time for pratice; he was a pretty cool guy...who comes into he story again later. During high school, I became a pretty well known kid due to my involvment in my high school's band program (which was started back up my 7th grade year of school after a 10 year absence). I was an original member of the new program and it helped me to overcome major issues with confidence; my younger brother got into sports. During my first two years of high school, I was asked by people from a few churches in the area about the idea of going to them and getting involvd in music...but it never happend..until I had a short discussion with Brian Harkness, the pastor of a local methodist church whose son happened to play basketball with my brother (we spoke during one of their baketball games). He invited me to play in the praise band at his church and gave me a time and day to meet them. I soon found myself immersed in the praise band at what would be my home church for around five years.

My Junior year, Brian left to start a new churh and was replaced by Pete Shaffer. Pete was an amazing pastor and amazing musician and taught me to really appreciate christian music. Pete also helped to set up some good foundations for me as far as my own beliefs go. He pulled no punches when teaching the bible, which was great for me, though many in the church took his approach poorly. It was during this time that I got involved in a rock band as well and eventually got to where I would vanish from church for weeks on end, but Pete always welcomed me right back into the praise band and at one point sat me down and just told me I needed to grow up. I took his advice and committed myself to the church.

In 2005, Pete left the church to go elsewhere and it was not a good ending, but it allowed me to meet another man who would help me greatly in my own walk. Pastor Kerry Wood was a new pastor and after our church's poor treatment of Pete, they realized that they were too harsh and allowed Kerry to do a lot of good without the same resistance Pete was met with. Kerry was also a musician and so the praise band continued. I also brougt a friend of mine into the praise band, Todd Wolfe. In 2006, I stepped up and took over as the Praise an Worship leader at Racine United Methodist. It was a huge learning experience and I am very thankful to Pastor Kerry for giving me the opportunity.

The band underwent many changes with me as the leader, as I was pushing hard to bring more contemporary music to the church. Todd and I began to butt heads over the direction of the band and had many major arguments that we have, thankfully, moved past.

I found out around this time that my high school had hired a new band director so I went to the school one day to meet the director, and was surprised when I saw that it was Chad. I had seen him around in the local music scene-- playing in, and hanging with various bands-- but we never really got to speak a whole lot. I remembered that he was a cool guy from my one meeting with him and he seemed even cooler now. I was invited to attent a concert/service at the Racine Baptist church and found that the event was being put together by Chad and Oasis Christian Fellowship church. The evening was amazing and would help to start setting my journey in moton.

I was so impressed by Chad's church's band (in which he is the worship leader) that I got the idea of putting together some contemporary christian concerts. I made some calls and landed a venue at a local christian ministry that had purchased an old school building. God's N.E.T. was going to let me us their gym to host a concert series that would grow to be called "He Reigns!". I have since organized 5 events and have more in the works.

In 2007, my wife(then friend), Miranda, moved up to Ohio to stay with me and my family after getting out of a bad situation in in Florida. She has been the biggest influence in my life and I just want to say that if it werent for her, I believe that nothing in his entire story would have taken place.

I had an idea for a complete contemporary service once a month at our church and brought it to pastor Kerry to get his input. He liked the idea and told me if I wanted it to happen, to make it happen and I had his blessing. I was shocked. I was being put in charge of an entire church service once a month. I knew I wanted the services to be special, so it was a no-brainer for me to ask Chad to come and speak/lead worship at the first event, as he captured exactly what I wanted. He came in and it was amazing. That night, I learned so much about worship and felt the strongest connection to God that I had ever felt, up to that point, in my life.

By the time the third Contemporary service was rolling around, I had a long list of names of people to come in and speak. I was going over those names, trying to figure out who to ask when I suddenly was overwhelmed with the answer of who the speaker would be for the third service...me. I spoke about trusting God and about faith. I was nervous, but everybody there seemed to really enjoy the service.

The next Sunday, I was approached by Dave Barr, our church's lay leader, and he said he had an odd qustion; he asked if I had ever considered becoming a pastor. This queston stuck with me, as it was out of nowhere. I prayed about it and it became clear to me that God was, indeed, calling me into ministry.

I also was starting to feel a pull to leave Racine UMC, but I knew I wasnt done just yet. I continued running services there for all of 2007 and into early 2008. By 2008, I knew I was being called away from that church. I had invited Chad to speak for a second time in the summer and had Chris Stewart, the pastor of Oasis, speak in early 2008. I was invited there by Chad, after telling him about my feelings that I was on my way out at Racine. Oasis does not have a building of their own, they meet in a middle school cafeteria. I was invited to come and play guitar in the band that week by Chad, whom I had started playing music with in our spare time. I knew by the time I left that service that Oasis was where God wanted me to be. I talked to Kerry and gave him my notice and agreed to finish out March at Racine, as I was already planned into an evening service the last Sunday of March (speaking and playing music with Chad and my friend David). Kerry supported my decision, and after finishing up my duties as the worship leader, I was on a new journey at Oasis Christian Fellowship.

I am still involved heavily at Oasis and have learned so much that it is amazing how little I actually knew beore going there. I am still studying and working hard toward becoming a pastor and intend to, hopefully, someday work full time for Oasis as a preaching/teaching elder.

In November of 2008, Miranda and I were married and I could not be happier with where I am in my life. I know that all of the meetings I have had up to this point were not coincidence...but they were all carefully orchestrated by God.

I now am nearing the beginning of eldership training. I play guitar and drums on rotating weeks in the praise band. I am also involved in an intense study of Romans (along with my wife, mother in law, my friend David, and of course, Chad.). I am planning a big He Reigns concert for this summer and constantly trying to find ways to grow further and to help others.