The Center for Christian Growth

I gave my life to Christ at a young age, but it wasn’t until my senior at Arlington Heights High School that I really began to grow in my faith. Through Bible study, prayer, and Christian fellowship, my life began to change. I played baseball at Angelina Junior College (Lufkin, TX), and then at Northwestern State University (Natchitoches, LA). In 2002, after my senior year at Northwestern St., I was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals. During this time I had many ups and down in my Christian journey. Nevertheless, I persevered in my faith with the help of several mentors and a number of close Christian friends.

After being released by the St. Louis Cardinals in March of 2004, I finished the year coaching baseball as a volunteer assistant at my alma mater, Northwestern State University. My plan all along was to coach baseball, but I quickly found out that God had other plans. In the summer of 2004, I took a youth pastor position at a small rural church in Zwolle, LA. While the job was only supposed to be for the summer, I quickly felt that the Lord was calling me into full-time ministry. Over the next several years I worked at two other churches in Louisiana, and I spent three years working for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) as the Central Louisiana Area Director.

During that time working for FCA, I met my wife, Ariane. She was born and raised in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, but came to the United States to play volleyball at Northwestern St. We married in 2008, and we now have three amazing daughters. 

In 2009 we packed our bags and headed to Fort Worth, so I could attend Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. I completed my M.Div. in 2012, joined the Christ Chapel staff in 2013, and earned my Ph.D. in Historical Theology in 2022.

I grew up in a Buddhist family, so venerating our ancestors and worshipping them was my tradition and how I grew up. Not knowing there was a god – or, I guess the more accurate statement, that there were many gods and I didn’t know which one was the main one — held me back from believing in God. For some reason, though, my parents put me in a private Christian school at the age of 7 – I don’t know why –  and I remember my third grade teacher saying every single day “Hey, how are you doing? Just wanted to let you know I love you and I’m praying for you.” I’d never heard that at home because I grew up in a home where you have to please the gods. These are our gods and goddesses – you need to please them. It wasn’t like these gods cared for you, but if you did not venerate them and worship them, you weren’t going to be happy. But one person after another, because we were in a Christian school, showed love, kindness and the gospel through their actions. Then at a 4Him concert, I heard a gospel presentation and raised my hand – that was March 31, 1987 – and I gave my life to Jesus. That moment didn’t really change me, but the decision was there and I stumbled along the way until at the age of 15 when I seriously gave myself to full-time ministry and was baptized. From that point on, God has put me in the ministry. The hardship came when I was growing up with my family – difficulties of who is God and can He be known. Or is He just a picture or an idol that we fashion with our hands? I didn’t know the difference back then. Eventually, I knew from reading Scripture and what I heard from preaching that there is a God who loves us and does not demand that we work or demand that we worship Him, but rather He came down for us and to care for us — that appealed to me, that was a God I could serve. 

I started pastoring right out college and have worked all over as a youth pastor, chaplain, educator, interim senior pastor and associate Chinese pastor along with feeling called overseas to teach in East Asia. At the beginning of 2012 someone introduced us to Christ Chapel — we went and were hooked. That same year I graduated from Southwestern with my Master of Divinity and have since continued on with my Ph.D. which I’ll officially receive this August. I’m very interested in both missions and teaching, along with pastoring and preaching. I’m also really interested in East Asia, what the mission field there will look like in the next few years and how we can train pastors.

My wife, Joanna, and I have been married for 13 years. She has been the rock as we’ve been through so much. She’s a music teacher with a studio at home and loves teaching piano, violin, viola and guitar. Abigail, our oldest, is a reader and writer who aspires to do outside-the-box things, Isaac is our aspiring Olympian, and Esther is the consummate musician. They’re all driven in their own way and the glory all belongs to God. 

I grew up in a loving family where I went to church every Sunday. I did the typical things that I thought represented a Christian. When I moved to Fort Worth after college, I made a list of churches I wanted to visit. Once again, “finding a church home” was on my list of things to do upon moving to a new place. It was then, at 23, that I felt like I was just going through the motions of the Christian life.   

The second I walked into Christ Chapel, I noticed the community of young adults at Renovate. I left the first night feeling welcomed and encouraged. I filled out a Connect Card and got plugged into a home group. It has been sweet to live in community, to sharpen each other, to encourage each other, to make disciples.

Through discipleship, I started to fall more in love with Jesus. Once I started to attempt to navigate the gospel, I realized there is a difference between growing up in a church home and actually having a relationship with Jesus. I was starting to see that my relationship doesn’t have to look like a checklist. Since then, He’s just rocked my world.

It has been neat to come on staff as a worship service coordinator and understand the intentionality of God’s people. Now coming on full-time, I’ve been able to watch the Lord open doors. Once I finally gave up control and strived to be obedient, He moved. He will continue to move. Our God is BIG and has a better plan for us than we can ever imagine.

My first pet was a fish, and I play the trumpet. I went to Texas State University where I studied public relations and loved being by the river. And while different from San Marcos, moving to Fort Worth has been sweet because it’s brought me geographically closer to family and spiritually closer Jesus.