I grew up in England near a small town called Mildenhall, just outside two USAF military bases. My parents are believers and my father has been a pastor to the military in England for over 25 years. I received Christ when I was 12 years old and surrendered my life to full-time Christian service when I was 16. Through a unique set of circumstances, God led me to Trinity in 1998, and in 2002, I graduated from Trinity with a BA degree in Pastoral Theology (yes, that means I took Greek II with Dr. Cash). God brought my amazing wife Charity to Trinity in my junior year and we were married in January 2003. We are celebrating 10 years of marriage this week!

THE JOURNEY OF MINISTRY

My “ministry dream” was to stay in one place forever. But God didn’t share my dream, and I’m so thankful He didn’t. If he had, I would have missed out on three wonderful and unique experiences in life and ministry. The first stop was England. I served in my home church as a singles’ pastor for 5 years. It was an amazing opportunity and privilege to work alongside my father and “cut my teeth” in ministry under his insight and influence. Our second stop was a real surprise. It was Zionsville, Indiana where I served as an associate/youth pastor for 3 ˝ years. I call it a surprise because I told myself I would never be a youth pastor. To me, youth pastors weren’t “real” pastors and youth ministry wasn’t “real” ministry. In my view, youth ministry was just a church-organized “goof-off time” for teens, and youth pastors were just teens that hadn’t grown up yet who couldn’t cut it in the real world of ministry. So reluctantly I surrendered to God’s leading and Godly counsel and took a position as an associate/youth pastor. Needless to say, it didn’t take long for me to discover how wrong I had been and how warped my view of youth ministry really was. In fact, in those 3 ˝ years of youth ministry we experienced some of the most fruitful and impactful times of ministry we’ve ever experienced, which takes us to our third and current place of ministry. I am now serving as the pastor of Heartland Baptist Church a few miles south of Omaha, Nebraska in a town called Bellevue just outside Offutt Air Force Base (www.hbchurch.com). This June will be 3 years for us in Nebraska.

MINISTRY REALITY

Now this is the part where you expect to read a heart-warming story of how wonderful our church is and how marvelously God is blessing it. Well, our church is wonderful and God is blessing it, but that’s just part of the story. See, the reality is that we’re in an incredibly dark and difficult time, the worst we’ve experienced in ministry. Three months ago, 13 families, 4 deacons, the music director, piano player, and nursery coordinator left the church. It’s always difficult when people leave your church. It’s an inevitable and messy part of church life. But it becomes especially difficult when people choose not to leave amicably; when pride and anger fuel a departure; when a true moral, spiritual, or doctrinal premise cannot be found for their leaving. This is the situation we face. So yes, we are hurting and depleted, but we’re encouraged and have high hopes: not because we have what it takes to “right the ship”, but because God does. He rescues, renews and restores His people. And it’s in this truth that we move forward, praying and trusting God to make something glorious out of the brokenness for the sake of His name.