My Goal is your growth and joy

I was raised in a healthy, supportive home where I was shown constant love and encouragement, but it was not a home where we went to church. God started to draw my heart to him in High School (I often went to church alone and was just fine with it), but it was in college at Chapman University (where I met my someday-to be wife, Heidi) that Joey Rozek (now my podcast co-host) shared the gospel with me and led me to Christ. Joey and Tom Long from Heritage Christian Fellowship held a Thursday night Bible Study in Tom's home that I attended for years. This was where my real love of Scripture blossomed. I later went on staff with Tom Long as Heritage's first Youth Pastor and began teaching Jr. Highers and High Schoolers God's Word.

I believe that the Bible is the very word of God and hold to the classical confessions of faith regarding the divine inspiration and purpose of Scripture. Since it originates with God, I believe it is intrinsically true, yet I also believe that there are obvious, necessary, human (and therefore literary) elements that matter. Genre, style, authorship, textual transmission through time, and more, and do not diminish it's truthfulness or divine origin, yet must be taken into account for proper study.

I believe that anyone can learn the Bible if given the proper guidance. I believe that just because the Bible is "inspired" that doesn't mean it's easy or automatic. Learning the Bible takes work, but is the most worthwhile pursuit anyone can ever undertake. I believe that we should be doing more than and just teaching or preaching "at" people. We must be training them to become "first-handers" who know how to read the Bible for themselves.

I have about 457 more core values, but this is getting long, so if you have a particular question, send me an email.

As I have sought to practice what I preach, I have done my very best to let the authors of Scripture themselves get the first chance at shaping my heart with their divenely-inspired words. I truly pray that Moses, David, Paul, Luke and other inspired writers have shaped me more than any others as they have channeled the direct words of God Himself to my own heart.

Yet, there have been other massively significant individuals who have played a key role in my spiritual formation, as well. Let me just focus on contemporary individals (over the classical lords we all expect in lists like this):

Tom Long, John Piper, Greg Koukl, Tom Schriener, Patrick Schriener, R.C. Sproul, JP Moreland, William Lane Craig, Dallas Willard, Jen Wilkin, Mark Strauss, Josh & Sean McDowell, and Joey Rozek, my friend, podcast co-host, and truly one of the finest Bible teachers I have ever known.

I almost always recommend How to Read the Bible Book by Book by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stewart as a great handbook to get a quick sense of each book. I absolutely adore 4 Portraits 1 Jesus if you want an incredible single volume deep dive into the gospels and the life of Christ. Though I wish it were cheaper, it's absolutely worth it. If you want to get a sense of the Bible as an overarching narrative, in the style of a novel, I recommend The Drama of Scripture. Lastly, for a great short read on the fundamentals of Bible Study I recommend Jen Wilkin's Women of the Word (for anyone, not just women). Such amazing insights on study and learning.

I wanted to really help fill some of the gaps that I saw in people's understanding of the Bible. As a Pastor, I met lots of people who were familiar with the Bible, but not as many who really knew it. The Bible Study Success Path is my answer to two questions: 1) "What's Essential?" and 2) "What's missing in people's Bible training?" I have tried to distill the most important concepts everyone needs to understand the Bible, and then organize them in an easy-to-follow way.

I live in Yorba Linda, CA and my family attend Richfield Community Church. I teach the Fundamentals of Bible Study every Sunday Morning in an adult Sunday School class, and frequently teaching in our 5&6th grade, as well as Jr High, High School and College Ministries. We are still connected to our previous church, Heritage Christian Fellowship and have many life-long relationships there.

Apart from 1) the joy of knowing God himself, and 2) the incredible, soul-satisfying relationships the Lord has blessed me with in my family, church, and community, tennis is next in line in my heart. I am a tennis maniac. I watch, play, and follow tennis like a mad-man. I like other sports, but I adore tennis. Andre Agassi is my all-time favorite player.

I am also a big music fan and do my best to see some of my favorite bands whenever possible. CityAlight is my favorite band (finally saw them live for the first time at TGC23!), along with Shane and Shane as I believe they are exemplary contemporary examples of modern lead worshippers.

I also dig NEEDTOBREATHE, Switchfoot, Drew & Ellie Holcomb, Mat Kearney, Ben Rector, Blues Traveler, Counting Crows and Rush. I love napping and chocolate. I hate avocados. They are disgusting. Come at me bro (but in Christian love).