I grew up in a rural community in northern Ohio. I was raised going to a Lutheran church, but I rejected Christianity when I was 15 years old. By the time I was an undergraduate in college, I was an atheist and antagonistic towards Christians. As a philosophy student, my professors were teaching a post-modern worldview with a subjective concept of truth. I struggled to reconcile what they were teaching with what I saw in the world around me. I began asking questions like “What is truth?” “Can truth be known?” “How can we know truth?” On my own, I was not finding any sufficient answers. Around this time, I met a fellow student named Luke. Luke was a Christian, but he was different from others I met. He understood his faith and he was able to explain it clearly. Even so, I struggled to understand what he was sharing with me in light of my questions. In our last meeting, Luke told me, “I think you should read the Gospel of John.” I was hesitant at first, but I began reading. John 14:6 was a crossroads for me: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” I realized that this was either the most insane or profound statement ever said. If Jesus was who he says he was, then Jesus was the answer to my search for the truth. Shortly after this, I committed my life to Christ, and I was aware that God was preparing me for something, but I did not know what. Over the next seven years, I continued to faithfully prepare for where the Lord was leading me. I was discipled by military chaplain and local church pastors. In 2007, my church sent me to a missions conference, and God clearly revealed that he was calling me to international missions. Since then, I have served as a missionary, a missional pastor, a church revitalizer, and a theological educator mobilizing students to engage in the Great Commission.
