The Center for Christian Growth

Like so many others I’ve met, I gave my life to Christ at nine years old, but it wasn’t until I was a senior in college that I really began to grow in my faith. I wanted to know in a deeper way the faith that I professed, so I started reading my Bible and spending time with other believers and it really transformed my life. There really is no substitute for time in the Word, prayer and fellowship with other believers.

My whole life I thought I was going to be a baseball coach. I played college baseball and two years in the minor leagues with the St. Louis Cardinals, and after I was released in 2004, I thought I would transition right into coaching. I quickly found out that God had other plans. While coaching at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, LA, I took a youth pastor position in a small town nearby. It wasn’t long after I took that position that I knew that the ministry is where God was calling me. From there I worked at two other churches and spent three years working for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in Central Louisiana.

In 2009, my wife and I packed our bags and headed to Fort Worth for me to go to Southwestern Seminary. I finished my Masters of Divinity in 2012 and I am currently in the PhD program. I came on staff with Christ Chapel in July of 2013.

My wife, Ariane, was born and raised in Belo Horizonte, Brazil and came to the United States to play volleyball. We have two wonderful daughters, Rachel and Emily, who are definitely a handful! With two young daughters much of my spare time is spent watching animated movies, which turns out is more fun that I thought. I enjoy watching movies and playing different sports, but what I love to do in my spare time is sit down with a great book and read.

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.