A little about me.

This was some information that I shared with a pastor in MA that was asking about me. I thought I would post on here incase anyone else is interested.

Background:
I don't think that you know all that much about me so here I go. I grew up in a typical broken home, went to ENC to play Basketball and I became a Christian my freshman year. I was lead to the Lord by a guy who was a part of the Assembles of God, went to ENC and was locally licensed under Cliff H, and currently go to a Southern Baptist church but if you walked into it, you would never know. I have had mentors from all different backgrounds, Nazarene, Baptist, Pentecostal, Assemblies of God, etc. With that being said, I have no real specific denominational background. From a Theological view, I am kind of Charismatic with a seat belt if you know what I mean (Probably Not). I am Evangelistic in nature and have been told (and would agree) that my gifts would probably be teaching, leadership, encourager and pastoral. Some of my favorite pastors are Mark Driscoll, Andy Stanley, Bill Hybles, David Wilkerson, Matt Chandler, Francis Chan, John Maxwell

Calling to Ministry:
Ultimately if I had to choose what I wanted to do in life, I most likely would not choose to be a minister of the Gospel. The only issue is that our family feels such a strong calling. Notice that I said Family, because when God calls someone into ministry the entire family goes, therefore, the entire family needs to be called in order to confirm the calling. When we were still in school God's calling on me was so strong that I literally couldn't sleep for a week because I didn't want to surrender to it. Then when I finally did but still didn't pursue it, actually after in my mind I surrendered to teh calling I literally ran from the calling for about a 2 year period when we were living in Boston. After my running, God just took the vision away. Then about 3 months after living in Greensboro, it was back. Since then, it has been confirmed from all types of people including Steve (father-in law) my pastors, my wife, another mentor, accountability partner, etc. Personally, I know I am to be in ministry, I know that God is going to use us in a real powerful way.

Calling to Boston:
For a while I have felt like God was going to call us to Boston. About a year ago, I started having some dreams where I was preaching in Boston Commons. I knew in my dream that it was the beginning of a church plant, there was corporate worship, preaching, chairs, Church banners. It was very real and I had the dream about 5 nights in a row and each time it was the same dream but I was seeing it from different angles. Beth, my wife was totally turned off to the idea of ever moving back to Boston but in the last year she and I both have agreed that we want nothing else than to be obedient to what God may want to do. Boston is a very spiritually dry area (maybe its better to say that it is just filled with the wrong spirits) and I would love nothing more than to be a part of Gods plan to lead people to Christ in that area.

Vision:
I envision a very contemporary church in Boston. I am all about reaching current mainstream culture with the Gospel of Jesus. I think the church has failed cuent culture by trying to give them rules to follow, rather than teaching them how to walk with God. However, I acknowledge that there is not just one way or style that will reach today's culture, and also there is not a desired style of corporate worship that is better than another. Personally, I am a casual person. I typically wouldn't show up to church in a shirt and tie, unless of coarse I was asked to. However, I am not sloppy, just casual. I envision loud music similar to that of people like Hillsong, New Life Worship, Desperation Band, David Crowder, Matt Redmen. Similar to that in which you would have at a Passion event.

Biblicial Authority:
I also believe that the bible is ultimate authority. I believe that all scripture is God breathed. I believe that the entie bible is the story of Gods redemptive plan through Jesus to redeem his people. I believe that the bible is the main way that God currently speaks to his people. However, not the only way. I do believe that God speaks through other means, but those other means must always be supported by the ultimate mean; which is the bible.