My Story

I was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin and was raised about 20 miles north of town. I grew up attending church, but early on I began to question most everything I was being taught. Church became just another thing I did during the week, and by the age of 10 I had rejected the idea of God all together. If the adults that taught me about God also propagated lies such as the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus, then why should I believe in the God they told me about. And for years many of my questions were answered not in church, but in school. Evolution showed me where we came from, and the Big Bang explained how everything came to be. By the time I was in high school, I didn't believe anything those "Christians" were feeding me. Any time I asked them a question, they would respond with "the Bible says so" or "Just believe in Jesus." I had given up on Christianity.

It was during my junior year in high school that I began to realize the logical implications of my atheistic beliefs. There was no such thing as right and wrong, for they would require someone of absolute authority to state them. There was no purpose in life. I was terrified of death, and that was the only reason I didn't seriously consider suicide. I started working very hard to "get ahead" in life, for the sole purpose of gaining power over others so that I would have the authority to dictate to them what I wanted to be right and wrong (since right and wrong can only be subjective in an atheistic worldview). It became overwhelming by the end of my senior year, and it became obvious that suicide might be the only real solution... unless, of course, I was wrong. What if there really was a God?

So when I started college at the University of Wisconsin, I began a deep search for the credibility of God. I read many books and talked to many Christians who were well educated and had reasonable responses to my questions. I became convinced that God was indeed real and
involved in His creation. Furthermore I realized that the Bible was historically reliable and pointed to the truth of the Gospel. So on February 2nd, 2003 (my freshman year)I prayed to receive Christ as my Lord and Savior.

I went on to get my degree in Nuclear Engineering and Mathematics and continued on to Auburn University to pursue my PhD in mathematics. I immediately got involved with Campus Crusade for Christ at Auburn and by my second year of graduate school I realized I didn't desire to finish my PhD. I took several weeks to pray and fast and by the end of that time I
was convinced of my calling to enter into the ministry. So I graduated in May of 2009 with my Masters, and proceeded to pursue my calling into Christian missions, more specifically Christian Apologetics.

Christian Apologetics is a intellectual and spiritual discipline that focuses on giving a well reasoned, logical defense of the Christian faith. Our work often includes refuting competing arguments that contradict the teachings of Christianity such as those stemming from Atheism, Agnosticism, Postmodernism, etc. My personal passions that have guided me to this point have much to do with my past. We are commanded to give a reason to all who ask for the hope we have, and to do so with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15) and we are also commanded to destroy all arguments and pretenses that set themselves up against the knowledge of God (2 Cor 10:5). Often in my graduate program we would receive a one line statement of a mathematical theorem. We would then take out sheets of paper to prove the statement either true or false. That would be our exam. Instead of having mathematical theorems, I have grown to love taking
statements such as "Jesus is the only way to God" and giving an argument for that to be true (or refuting an argument that shows it to be false). I also have a passion to teach and prepare fellow Christians to have valid and sound responses to those arguments and pretenses that bombard us from within and from outside the Christian Church. I hope someday to work primarily with High School and College students in an apologetical ministry. There has recently been an epidemic in the Church that falsely teaches that giving a logical argument and defense for our Christian faith is not needed, since it is by "faith" that we are saved. This is distinctly unbiblical, and moreover it has led to the mass evactuation of the faith by leading academics and intellectuals. These individuals as a group tend to guide our country and our world in our thinking and our philosophy. The degredation of our moral and cultural climate is evidence of this secular leadership and influence. I believe this is largely a result of the outright invalidation of the Christian worldview based on its perception of being only for the weak minded. I contend that not only can the Christian faith stand up to scrutiny, but it is more comprehensive and viable than any other worldview. But even if my belief is true, it will not matter if we continue as Christians to wallow in our collective ignorance, not knowing why we believe what we believe and why it is more valid than any other belief system.