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Did you know that there are few things as difficult as crafting a few paragraphs about yourself? Should I use first-person or third-person? Should I tell the best stuff about me or just give a few details? Regardless, for those that are interested, I do want you to know a little about me and what has shaped my way of thinking to write some of these articles.

For starters, I am a Christian, and not just one of those folks that goes to church on Easter and Christmas, I’m crazy in love with Jesus and striving to become more like Him every day. That all started when I was 15 (though, at this point, my mom would chime and and remind me that I was baptized at 8…not 15). When I was in High School, I realized that I had to make a lot of concessions to fit in, do a lot of things that didn’t feel right, and my experience watching true Christ-followers had taught me that I had an opportunity to walk with Christ or walk alone. I didn’t like walking alone.

My ‘come-up’ins’

I went to college to major in business and finance with a goal to move to New York, work in a large corporation, and subsequently climb the ladder so I could live well and enjoy my life. After my first year, though, I volunteered at a local Christian camp for a summer. It wasn’t really volunteering, though. I got paid…$85 per week…and something in me changed.

My better half

I also met the woman that would become my wife that summer and we dated for 3 months. Then she dumped me. But, after about a year of realizing what a catch I really was, we started dating again and eventually got married and had 3 kids. Our fourth child came along as we would grow to feel called to provide a home for a foster child that would steal our hearts and would need a forever home.

Anyways, I’m getting ahead of myself. After 2 summers at camp, I knew the corporate world was not where the next leg of my journey would take me. I finished college with a degree in Marketing and Education and went on to Seminary where I earned a Master’s of Divinity, Master’s of Marriage and Family Counseling, and a Master’s of Christian Education, or as my brother-in-law likes to say, ‘more degrees than a thermometer’.

Stuff I like

I should also say I love technology, movies, a good book, and time outdoors. If I need to really relax, I love to go backpacking. My daily stress buster is the gym where I run (short distances…very, very short) and lift weights. Somehow it pushes the stress out of my veins and helps me be a healthier person through the day. I also love to learn about just about anything.

I become a youth minister in 1992 and a senior pastor in 2003. All have been smaller churches with smaller budgets so I used my marketing education and my propensity to enjoy learning to learn how to reach out into our communities through graphic design, web design, and eventually through blogging and social media.

Church planter

In 2007, a friend of mine and I decided that we didn’t feel that we could be the people that God had made us to be in the traditional churches that we had been a part and so we started Journey Church in Chattanooga for the lost and disenfranchised.

We didn’t know what we were doing.

Marketing stuff

Along the way, I got better at web design, graphic design, and social media to the point that another friend asked me to help start a web marketing company. We did and it took off like wildfire.

Today, I own and operate Sprocket Web Werks with a list of really great clients that I’m privileged to work with in the business, non-profit, education, and church sectors. It satisfies a deep seeded need to be creative, indulge in technology, and make ends meet so we can still figure out how to be the church in this ever changing world on a shoestring budget.

You will notice most of my writing is in the area of faith and practice as a follower of Christ. That is my passion and the thing I feel “called” to do. You should know that I don’t have it all figured out, just ask anyone at our church, but I have an ever-growing light inside of me that keeps trying to get out.

Sifting through the rummage sale

Phyllis Tickle said that every 500 years or so, the church throws a huge rummage sale to decide what to throw away and what to keep. Those great rummage sales of the past include the time of Constantine, the Great Schism, and the Reformation. We are now 500 years removed from the reformation and we are definitely experiencing great change in the church. Much of what I write here, moving forward, is about wrestling with finding authenticity and intimacy while maintaining orthodoxy with my brothers and sisters that have gone before me.

If you read back far enough, you might notice that my writing has changed over the years. I can personally define several stages of my thinking through the years as God helps me cast off my assumptions and upbringings that were more rooted in culture than in Him. Even these thoughts that feel so fresh and new may just be foundational fodder for what is still to come as I walk with Christ.

Join in the conversation

If you would like more information about Journey or if you need help with marketing, you can find my 2 sites below or you can contact me here. I would love for you to engage with my thoughts through comments if you so choose. Conversations are so much better than lectures.