I grew up in a Christian home. I had awesome parents who served the Lord with their life. My Dad was a pastor of a local Florida PCA church. I learned what it was like to be a Christian and how a Christian was supposed to act and I became a master of it. All the mean while my self-righteousness was the leading cause of the chasm between God and I. When I was 18 God severely shook my world and began to reveal to me my hypocrisy and self-righteous life that I lived. In the summer of 2006 I had opportunity to serve God in Costa Rica for a few months. This was an amazing time for me but I knew that God wanted me to further my education of Him. When I came back my Dad mentioned checking out Eternity Bible College. Even though it was across the country I got excited about the adventure of leaving the nest and pursuing God on my own. At the time EBC wasn't accredited, friends told me that I should go to a school that was accredited. My desire was to pursue God and His call on my life even if credits were not officially recognized.
The life changing adventure
Within my first week of attending Eternity Bible College I knew God was going to rock my world. God used the professors to quickly break down what I knew about the Bible from years of Sunday school classes and began to rebuild my foundation with His story. The more I learned about Him my relationship with God became more intimate. The professors were intentional with their lectures and even more intentional with their relationships. I not only learned more about God but what it was like to be intentional with God given relationships. I was surrounded by a group of leaders who were passionate about following God and telling His story. The leaders of EBC knew that God was calling them to do something crazy by giving students an affordable life changing education. Even though many doubted the sustainability of such an idea, they went full steam ahead preparing students for a lifetime of ministry. Unintentionally, the leaders of EBC faithfully pursuing their mission from God, even with known difficulties, helped build in me a faith that is not based off things that are safe and secure but rather dependent on God. This has helped me tremendously as I lead my family into many unknowns in the mission field.
The Adventure continues
I am currently writing this from Horqueatas de Sarapiqui in Costa Rica. Over two years ago God called me, my wife Allison and our three children to help start a family based orphanage for boys with 6:8 Ministries. We are currently in the construction phase of the first family house. My wife and I hope to be moving into this home early this year and receive the first child by then end of 2017. The vision is to have ten family homes that can host four to eight orphaned boys. Our vision is to raise these young boys into godly men who will go out into their communities and raise a family in light of the family life modeled for them. This is a huge project that will take many years. These children that will be coming to us will not only get a family, but a mom and dad that models grace, forgiveness, love, an understanding of sacrifice, and English (great for future employment) and Spanish education.
By God's grace He has called us to build and maintain relationships with local Christians in the community as well. We have been able to support a local church ran feeding center. Throughout the year we have short term mission teams and a group of interns come from the United States to help with the various projects. My wife and I are able to model and use the things that we learned at EBC for them like living intentionally, trusting God in His projects that are way bigger than ourselves and devoting our lives to God without hesitation. I also use the bible education that I received not only for personal edification but also in teaching others of His glorious grace during our chapel times when teams are here.
It has almost been 10 years since I first began my education at EBC. Alli and I feel so blessed to have had the season of learning and growing. The time spent at EBC was a key factor for who and where we are today.
