While I could say that I have always believed in Jesus, the fact is I was not always a Christian. I grew up in a small rural town in southwest Ohio. By God’s grace, I was raised by loving parents and I had a very normal and happy childhood. We faithfully attended a small Methodist church my entire childhood. Even though I thought I was a Christian, I was completely spiritually unprepared when I went to Ohio State. The one positive result of college life was I met a sweet girl that, even though she had her doubts about me, she finally relented and agreed to go on a date with me. The Lord used her as a very sanctifying influence in my life and in 1994 after graduation, Jean and I married and began attending church – because that’s what adults do, right? However, there was no change in my faith as a result. It wasn’t until the Lord placed two friends in my life that I began to see my need for Christ. One of these friends also arranged for me to attend a men’s retreat in April of 1996. It was at this retreat I gave my life to Christ. My wife and I began attending Crossroads Community Church, a church newly planted by Tim Armstrong, in Mansfield, Ohio. In this context, our faith grew by leaps and bounds. Under Tim’s teaching, I learned how to love and study God’s word and apply it to my life. We became very active in the ministry at Crossroads – me in the small groups ministry and Jean on the worship team. After a number of years, I left my career as a lobbyist/political consultant and went in full-time ministry at Crossroads leading the small group ministry. It was a dream of mine to someday attend DTS and get a ThM. The Lord would make that dream a reality 7 years later, but He was going to take me through the “valley of the shadow of death” first.
My Experience
1995 - 1998
Ohio Farm Bureau Federation
Organization Director · Mansfield, Ohio
I managed the grassroots operations of four county Farm Bureau offices in Crawford, Marion, Morrow and Richland Counties.
Skills: Executive leadership, volunteer coordination, issue management, event planning, public speaking, public relations.
1998 - 2001
Ohio Farm Bureau Federation
Director of Natural Resources & Local Government Issues (lobbyist) · Columbus, Ohio
I represented Ohio Farm Bureau in the Ohio legislature lobbying issues related to local government and natural resources. I also helped to direct the local legislative action programming for the county Farm Bureaus.
2001 - 2004
Ohio Farm Bureau Federation
Director of Political Relations (lobbyist and political director), Columbus, Ohio
I managed OFBF’s Political Action Committee, AGGPAC (Agriculture for Good Government Political Action Committee) and the screening process for the “Friend of Agriculture” designation for members of the Ohio General Assembly and Ohio Congressional Delegation. I also trained county Farm Bureau leaders on grassroots political involvement.
2004 - 2007
Nationwide Insurance Enterprise
Government Relations Manager - Grassroots Lobbyist, Columbus, Ohio
I was responsible for managing the Nationwide Civic Action Program which encouraged all Nationwide employees to be proactive about speaking to issues important to the insurance industry through grassroots political involvement.
2007 - 2014
Crossroads Community Church
Pastor of House Church Development and Director of Communications
I started as the pastor overseeing small groups at Crossroads and over time we moved to implementing a vision of raising up and training lay pastors and starting House Churches. I was responsible for the recruiting, training and pastoral care over these lay pastors. In addition, I was responsible for the overall vision implementation and leadership of the House Church ministry at Crossroads.
I also served as the communications director which involved oversight over the website, smartphone app, managing the overall public messaging and supervision of the in-house and contract graphics design teams.
2014 - 2017
University Laundry @ Texas Christian University and Southern Methodist University
Campus Attendant - Dallas Texas
University Laundry is a laundry service for college students. My responsibility was to pick up their bagged dirty laundry, deliver it to the plant and then deliver it back to them washed, dried, folded and fresh! I enjoyed this job because I had plenty of opportunity to engage and encourage my customers in the midst of their student life.
2015 - 2017
Triumph Sports Camp
Head Coach, Trophy Club, Texas
As a summer job I was a head coach for for week-long sports camps for Triumph Sports. My responsibilities included creating the daily camp schedules, maintaining rosters, managing a team of coaches, and getting to know the kids and parents ensuring the best possible camp experience possible.
2015 - 2017
Dallas Theological Seminary
Howard G. Hendricks Leadership Fellowship
The Howard G Hendricks Leadership Fellowship consists of a group of men and women appointed by the Spiritual Formation department at Dallas Theological Seminary to manage and implement the SF Program. The Spiritual Formation program is required for most degree programs at DTS and is designed to glorify God by equipping godly servant-leaders for the proclamation of His Word and the building up of the body of Christ worldwide. My specific responsibilities included over sight over a number of Spiritual Formation groups and the coaching and caring for their leaders. In addition the team works on various projects and events throughout the year to accomplish our mission. This year, I have been selected to be the Senior Fellow of the team.
2018 - Present
The Chapel, Akron, Ohio
Director of New Campus Development
To lead and direct the development of new campuses in The Chapel family of churches and to implement the Saturate Movement vision of planting 10 churches in 10 years in Northeast, Ohio and includes the recruiting and training of campus pastors.
Education
1985 - 1989
Georgetown Exempted Village Schools, Georgetown, Ohio
High School Diploma
1989 - 1993
The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
Bachelor of Science
Major: Agribusiness and Applied Economics and electives emphasizing political science and history.
2014 - Present
Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas, Texas
Master of Theology (ThM)
Emphasis: Historical Theology and Spiritual Formation with other electives in church planting and pastoral ministry. Graduation date: May 12, 2018.
Family
Here are some photos of my family. My wife’s name is Jennifer and she enjoys running and reading. She is a wonderful mother to our children and cares deeply for their physical and spiritual growth. She has the distinction of being the only person to ever convince me to give up Diet Coke.
Matthew is our 6-yr old son. He will starting 1st grade in the fall. He loves all things Star Wars, reading, baseball and riding his bike.
Faith is our 16 month-old and she loves book and animals and adores her big brother.
