Category: Interview

What was the driving force behind you writing this book?
Answer: When I began the book I was at my previous church and has someone who’d been in the faith for longer than I’d been alive say, “I don’t know how to make disciples.” He was a well-respected member fo the community and in our church. It broke my heart. I really viewed discipleship-that is essentially mentoring someone into Christian maturity, as fairly simple. So many people think you need to mark out three hours a day and have several connections. You could use several hours a day and saturate your calendar, but I found my approach to be much simpler, make disciples where God has already placed you.

I felt that my background as a Non-Commissioned Officer and mentoring Soldiers gave me a unique insight into how to raise up other Christians as I helped raise up other Army leaders.

Living and growing up in a non-Christian home, what was it that sparked your interest in spirituality?
I think everyone is spiritual in one sense or another. But the Apostle Paul writes that no one seeks after God (Romans 3:11), but I think people have an inner drive to understand what makes themselves and the world tick. I was always spiritually curious and seeking after something. I read the Bible occasionally, but it wasn’t until Basic Training that I truly heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was in that moment that I realized Jesus was the answer to all that I had been seeking. It was God’s work in changing my heart (John 3) that saw me seek after Him.

In your book you state, “Over the last few years I’ve learned that the church has not done a great job at making disciples.” Do you have any plans in place to help change that in your community, church, and or congregation as a whole? Other than writing this book?
I wish my book was enough! 🙂 But I realize it isn’t. I’ve since written a second book Discover: Ancient Truths For Today. My goal is to create resources that I can use in my local church as well as others can use in their own so that they can more easily make disciples. Go! is meant as a shock to the system while providing some practical advice on where disciples can be made. So the book is meant to help shift a mindset that says the only place to make disciples is within a church building. It does happen there, but it happens everywhere that the local church lives, works, and recreates. The Church is the people of God
and we are sent into the world to make disciples of Jesus Christ.

In addition to books, I’m hoping to provide other kinds of content. I host a weekly podcast with a good friend of mine where we try to have conversations about life, faith, and theology. We goof around while walking a tight line. We want people to understand that the Christian life isn’t meant to be sport coats and sundresses. Those things are fine, but we are anything but your stereotypical pastors with a black suit and a red tie. We try to be real and occasionally apologize when we realize we said something wrong. This is discipleship! We are sharing our lives with other people.

In addition to more books and other types of content, I also try to spend as much time present in my community as possible. I’ve coached my son’s basketball team, played hockey, and joined a disabled veterans hockey organization. I use each of those outlets as a place to be present and share Jesus. I’m careful to “shove the Bible” down people’s throats. I try to love everyone in a way that they can recognize and I’m there to answer spiritual questions as they arise. I also meet with men in my church on a regular basis to
discuss Scripture as well as life. My first focus is on my wife and kids. If I don’t get that right then the other stuff doesn’t matter.

Why do you feel the church today rarely encourages such depth and intrusiveness? Do you encourage your congregation to go out and be intrusive?
This is really a deep question because there are a number of contributing factors. I’ll just cover the top three. First, we have gotten away from the biblical practices of fellowship. In the first century the fellowship within the faith was self-sacrificing and very communal. The first Christians were totally sold-out and willing to part with anything they had to further God’s glory and care for their neighbors. They had the Apostles and early church leaders who oversaw this fellowship and when folks began to walk away, they were reminded of the hope that was found in Christ.

Secondly, the culture has deemed this type of relationship as rude. Ever since I was a kid it seemed that what people considered friendship was a lack of depth and affirming or encoring everything that friend to do whatever they pleased. So even if you thought your friend was quite clearly wrong, you affirmed them anyway. What we have within a biblical Christian fellowship is a sincere desire to see one another flourish to the glory of God. Part of that flourishing is obeying what God teaches. That means we must submit to one another out of love.

Lastly, it takes sacrifice. There are times that to care for your neighbor you will have to go without. Even if a Christian in a moment would rather not sacrifice for their brother, they will anyway, and not hold it against them. That’s a true fellowship!
The Christian life is counter-cultural, but the church over the course of time has forgotten this. We can often find greater hope in politics than Christ. We can quickly forget God is in control. Nevertheless, God remains faithful to His people and will correct our course.

What kind of advice do you give your congregation to be “Fishers of Men”? How as a man of God do you encourage the introverted people in your flock to be disciples and spread the word of God?
Most people don’t realize this but by many definitions, I’m an introvert. I love people, especially small groups like one to three. Many other pastors are as well. So when I’m around a large group of people and am looked at as having to lead the conversation or I know the eyes are on me, then it becomes a huge energy grain. I’ve even found that being in a large group of people for too long can cause me to get into a depressive state than often lasts days. So I have to be careful.

What I’ve found works for me might not work for others. I recommend to fellow introverts to simply find things that relax them and use it as a means to make disciples. So if you’re an introvert who golfs then go golfing and try to meet someone new, or bring someone that you want to intentionally share Jesus with. It’s usually a lot easier, relaxing, and it won’t feel like a chore. So I tell people to look at their lives and see who they come into contact with on a regular basis. Are those people Christians or not? For those who are Christian try to find ways that you can point them to Christ when you’re around. It is good for both of you. For the non-Christians look for opportunities to share your own story of salvation.
This is simply how you subjectively understand how God saved you.

You quote the bible “Unless one is born of water and in the Spirit, he can not enter the Kingdom of God.” I was raised in a Southern Baptist church, I accepted Christ around the age of 12, and I followed in believers baptism shortly after. I was told that baptism wasn’t a necessary step to salvation, it was more of a way to show publicly that you have been reborn. Can you elaborate on the passage of scripture?
Certainly! In that text of John 3, Jesus is explaining to a rabbi about how one enters the Kingdom of God. This is accomplished by being “born again” or “born from above.” He explains that one must have a new birth where the person’s heart is changed. Their heart is changed by a work of God and then they are able to respond to God in faith. It is the first miracle that marks the beginning of the Christian life.

You are absolutely correct that your baptism is a sign, given by God, that signals Christ’s redeeming work in your life. There’s also so much more that comes along with that. When one is baptized they are also signaling their entrance into the people of God. You are now part of a worldwide and eternal community whose purpose is to glorify God by sharing the Gospel, caring for your neighbors, and helping others in their walk with Jesus. Your baptism doesn’t erase your sin but is an open sign that Christ has already taken your sin upon Himself and endured the punishment for it.

I really liked how you compared a drill sergeant doing something for a soldier to a bible school teacher. Yes, doing it for someone else gets the job done, but doing it yourself is how you truly begin to learn and understand. How did you come up with that comparison? Was it something you experienced while in boot camp, or in a Sunday school class?
I have always been someone who observes people. I like to know what works and what doesn’t. Why doesn’t something work? Why does it work? What is the most effective and efficient way of doing something? I always found the best Drill Sergeants and Non-Commissioned Officers to be the ones who took the time to teach young Soldiers how to do something rather than just doing it for them. The same principle applies as a parent. It’s better to teach our kids to do their own laundry and cook rather than always cook for them.

If you look at the Church, we need to teach people how to pray, read their Bibles, serve their neighbors, and how to live out the Gospel. I can’t live out the Gospel for you. You are called to serve Jesus and my role as a Pastor is to equip you so that you can walk and serve Him as well. That can work out differently depending on your local church’s context, but the principle is the same. Some churches accomplish this by digital studies that focus on training people how to understand the historical and grammatical context of a passage. Other churches might train people to study the Bible through one-on-one mentorship.

“God saves who he wants affording to his own will and not our own regardless of their background.” What does this mean exactly? Wasn’t it MY choice to accept Christ and follow him? Weren’t we given free will to choose him or sin? If “God saves who he wants”, do we really not have a choice?
There are books that have been written in order to answer this question. , However, I’ll try to answer it succinctly. Two books I’d recommend: Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God by J.I. Packer and Discover Ancient Truths For Today by me. So let me answer your questions with one word and then provide a bit of nuance. When discussing theology, which is the study of God and His creation, nuance is very important. Oftentimes, one-word answers don’t provide a complete answer.

Was it your choice to accept Christ and follow Him? Yes!

Do we have free will? Yes!

If God saves who He wants then do we really have a choice? Yes!

For God to save regardless of background is to say that the Gospel saves unaffected by race, past religion, or economic background.

Commonly we look at the Scriptures and see that our will is bound by sin. Our inclinations are to rebel against God as displayed by Adam in the Garden of Eden. We don’t want to follow God and worship Him. We want to worship ourselves. R.C. Sproul writes, “He (God) intervenes to change the disposition of the hearts of spiritually dead people by His Holy Spirit.” This is called effectual calling where God changes the hearts of people so that they can truly be free to choose to follow Him. Prior to this calling, they aren’t free to choose Him because they were imprisoned by their sin.

So when I came to believe in Christ it happened over a long period of time. For years I read the Bible intermittently and I was searching. It was God drawing me closer to Him. Then one day His Holy Spirit changed my heart so that I could truly see my sinfulness and need for Him. I was able to turn from my sin and trust in Christ.

One final question, you are a member of the NC Warriors Hockey Team. Have you tried to minister to the guys on the team? DO you ask for a word of prayer together before a game or practice to ask the Lord to keep the guys safe and strong on the ice?
Not only am I a member, but I also serve as the team Chaplain. What that means I’m still trying to figure out. I know that it has at least given me opportunities to minister to guys off the ice. I’ve had countless conversations with guys about faith and their struggles in life. Some ask me about Jesus while others simply want to talk about their emotional and psychological wounds from war. My approach has simply been to be present and available. We have two other pastors on the team, so I try to talk with them as well to see how we can care for the team. At the beginning of COVID we each took several names of guys and reached out to check in and see how they were doing. This was back when everything was locked down way more than it is now.

I pray before games to keep everyone safe, even if it’s just to myself. In my experience in the Army, I realized that this approach with the guys was most effective. Most importantly I pray that God would use me to be a witness to these guys. That my life would reflect His love, grace, and mercy. I can get excited easily and sometimes act in ways different than when I’m not playing a sport. I need God to remind me that I’m here to serve Him and the guys, not myself.

Possibly ask him for a win here and there??
Like for real, right?! I think it’s because the other teams have better Chaplains. The NC Warriors are an interesting bunch. Very few are actually from North Carolina and the majority are from all over the country. We even have one that’s from Canada and he’s the most redneck of anyone I know! One of the things I’ve learned from being a pastor and serving in the military is that teams find their identity when they give up their own. Each skater on the ice has to learn to set aside themselves and their identity in order for the team’s identity to take shape. That takes time. We’ve had some success, especially when we were in Las Vegas. But I’m very optimistic for the future as we come together as brothers and sisters.