It was near the end of my sophomore year of high school when a friend invited me to Harvest, which was the first church I’d been to in a really long time. Even though I wasn’t interested in church, I decided to go, and I attended off-and-on for about a year. But then something happened. As I heard the messages about the gift of salvation and the forgiveness that’s found in Jesus, and as I saw lives being changed all around me, I decided to turn from my sin and trust in Jesus. I renounced all the supposed goodness that I thought I had, along with the secret sins of my heart, and I trusted in Jesus as the Lord of my life.

After my conversion, the Lord started to change me into a new person. I started to get heavily involved in my youth group, where I learned how to study the Bible and to share my faith. I was blown away that the Lord was able to use me to share His truth with my friends at school. After high school, the Lord started to teach me many valuable lifelong lessons. I worked at a public school in Special Education classes for about six years, where I helped physically and mentally disabled students. During my time in college, I developed a strong desire to serve the Lord in ministry, and the Lord graciously provided me an opportunity to serve on staff at Harvest. On top of all of this, God gave me the greatest blessing as I married my wife, Michelle, in November of 2010. And in March 2015, we were blessed with our first daughter, Evangeline Grace. We are blessed and honored to serve the Lord here at Harvest!

As I look back at God’s work in my life, and as I look forward to the future, I agree with Paul as he says, “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20–21, ESV).

Born in: 1988
Birthplace: Riverside, CA
Pastor since: 2015
Previous work: Special Education
Favorite verse: 2 Corinthians 8:9
Married to: Michelle
Married since: 2010
Children: Evangeline