Hello all!
I've decided to follow suit with the intro as I've enjoyed reading Jim and Aubrey's intros and getting to know them a little through them.
I grew up at a smaller non-denominational church in Brighton. I always knew the importance of walking with God and excepted Him at an early age. I loved going to youth group and got baptized when I was 13. Fast forward to my adult years...I've been married to my amazing wife Lizzie for going on 5 years. We have a beautiful, fun, adventurous one year old daughter named Eloise. Both my wife and I are Pastors at the same campus of 242 in Ann Arbor. I have been in ministry over 10 years now primarily as a Tech person but have felt God's calling towards focusing on more of the pastoral side of ministry rather than the execution side of just weekend services.
That leads me to my answers to the questions for this week. I've always struggled reading the bible to truly understand what the text is saying. Over the last few year my conviction to better understand scripture has grown quite a bit. I'm passionate about understanding and communicating scripture well to those I speak with or to. I've volunteered in student ministries throughout my tenure and have seen why it is so important to be able to make the bible something the younger generation can grasp. I believe authenticity has become more and more important in todays culture and push the students to live their lives for God authentically and unashamedly.
I also want to gain a better understanding of the truth of scripture because of all of the "ideologies" that exist today. I believe culture is searching for truth and something real and in that search are looking in all of the wrong areas. So I want to learn as much as I can to help people find the truth that is in Jesus Christ.
I also find that to be one of the biggest challenges for me. There are so many "Christian" books out there, like Dr. Sam said, that aren't always based on scriptural truth but rather the authors ideas or interpretations of scripture. I want to have the knowledge to know what's correct and what's not but don't feel confident in that knowledge yet.
With all of that said, I'm excited for this opportunity to learn more, get pushed outside of my comfort zone as I didn't attend formal schooling outside of high school and wasn't very good at traditional schooling while in high school, and gain a confidence for better understanding God's word so I can confidently communicate it to others.