Since graduating from CIU, I have served as the Sr. Pastor at Heritage Baptist Church in Lynchburg, VA. God has been very gracious to us as a church. I took over the church with a regular attendance of 1200 on a Sunday ("regular" being defined as the discounting of summer travels when so many are gone) to a Sunday attendance of 1800-2100. We are recently debt free as a church and I have a wonderful team of 12 staff pastors and 20 support staff to share the ministry load. I am an expositional preacher that deeply believes in the innate power of the Holy Spirit working through His revealed Word. I also believe that we have a responsibility and joy to tell the nations about Jesus. I grew up on the mission field in Tanzania, East Africa, so missions and a love of cultures is in my very bones. We as a church have a passion for reaching the nations (primarily among the unreached), and we have a vibrant missionary training program. We have sent a number of families out from our own congregation and currently have 15 units in the missionary pipeline who have committed to go as long-term workers building the church abroad. We are also sending out kingdom builders overseas who are not traditional missionaries, but rather people who have surrendered to use their vocation in very closed access regions. We are also intentional about our local community where we desire to serve and love all peoples and be a church community that is representative of all peoples. As I say every Sunday, "we are a church of broken people all in need of God's grace." I desire that our church be a gospel loving, gospel proclaiming community that upholds Christ in all we do. Having studied in Israel, I have had the privilege of leading several teaching/discipleship trips to Israel from our church where I endeavor to intersect the Bible with history, archaeology, and culture. I have also been blessed to speak at missions conferences here in the States and in various ministry settings such as Word of Life, New York. I have also been blessed to participate in God's work for the nations by teaching, encouraging, and learning from missionary workers and nationals in North Africa, the Middle East, India, China, and Sub-Saharan Africa. I have also taught as a visiting lecturer in several university settings. I see my role as an expositional preacher, leading and serving a wonderful community of believers while helping to mobilize and equip them for the building of the kingdom.
How did your education at CBS prepare you for your current ministry?
The evident missions passion across the faculty was refreshing and challenging. Theology was not presented as static knowledge, but rather as an authoritative revelation in the movement of redemption history. I also appreciated the array of different denominations and cultural backgrounds that made for good Christian to Christian sharpening, healthy debate, and challenging perspectives. CIU broadened and deepened my appreciation for God's Word and His purposes to redeem peoples for His glory, all in the context of rigorous study and academia.
How did your education at CBS prepare you for your DMin?
The MDIV was theological but also very practical. This helped me bring both orthodoxy and orthopraxy into my DMIN so that the doctorate had direct application to ministry, but also explored the nature and person of God. I feel that the MDIV gave me ministry tools and perspectives that helped me in the normal course of pastoral ministry, but it also whetted my appetite for a deeper walk and knowledge of the Triune God.
What do you appreciate most about CBS?
Rigorous academia through the lens of missional application couched in a historical, redemptive narrative. If that is too much of a mouthful, then a fervent knowing of God while caring about the world.
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