Admissions Coordinator for Graduate Biblical Counseling
My story is one God’s amazing mercy and grace. I was born near Dayton, Ohio, and although I grew up in a pastor’s family and never knew life outside of Christianity, I was proud and cocky in my heart, always comparing myself with others and loving any attention I could get from them. From an early age, I learned to use my profession of faith as an opportunity to vault myself to the front. I used to pride myself in the number of verses I could memorize and the amount of Bible knowledge I knew. But one day sitting in church, my mom stood up in front and shared her testimony with the entire church. She explained how she had grown up in a Christian home all her life and generally knew all the right things to say and think. But she never really internalized or personalized the truth of the gospel. She didn’t see her need for Jesus as Savior–that is until recently. My mom, a professing Christian for 40 years and a pastor’s wife for more than 15, was finally announcing to the whole church how she was not a Christian this whole time and how Christ powerfully saved her a few months prior. I was shocked and devastated. I reasoned, “If my mom isn’t saved, how could I be saved?” It was at that moment that I too realized I’m a sinner and needed Jesus to be my Savior. I confessed my sins, repented of my pride, and turned to Christ alone.
The salvation God granted me led me later in life to attend The Master’s University after my family traveled out west so my dad could teach there. TMU was always the natural choice for me, especially as the Lord slowly cultivated in my heart a desire to serve in ministry one day. This led me to major in Biblical Studies with an emphasis in biblical counseling and biblical languages. I longed to know God, His Word, and how to help people change with it, and TMU was just the place for me to begin to learn all these things, because of its stand on the sufficiency of Scripture. Immediately following my time at TMU, the Lord opened an opportunity to seek more training at The Master’s Seminary, where I was prepared even more to be a faithful shepherd.
After a year serving as a youth pastor in Bakersfield following graduation, the Lord saw fit to afflict me with a chronic health condition that lasted four years. He has used that time to drive me closer to Him, drive out wicked selfish desires I was not as aware of, and bring me back to the university to be an admissions counselor once my health returned. I am thankful to be here for the time being and want to be faithful to Him and His kingdom in whatever ways I can be. My goal is to return to ministry one day if the Lord opens an opportunity to do so.
I enjoy studying God’s Word, spending time with family, making coffee, road biking, hiking, watching college football, and riding roller coasters.
