Narrative

- could be boring, but here goes:

1. It begins in a suburb of New York called Flushing. My neighborhood gang would play outside all day. We were all the same: black, white, Chinese, Korean, Jewish and Italian. All day we’d play together and then go home to our own smells, families, and cultural cooking. That’s where we learned we were so different.
2. I’d play hooky at church every Sunday. My brother Steve and I would discreetly slip out of services and run across the street to the local bodega. Then we’d chow down on Twinkies and snacks on the church stoop. I vowed to quit church when I got to High School.
3. When I got to High School I got religious. I became a “made” man. The sprinkling of water was just the beginning. I got up front and got so good at it that they decided to make a leader out of me. I had it made.
4. I lost my faith when I got to college. Thanks to Nietzsche and Dr. Klein.
5. I wandered the NYC streets in the wee hours of the morning questioning what was real. And then I’d go to class and have the last bit of hope dashed to pieces by my profs.
6. Something broke. I heard a whisper say, “I love you, will you follow me?”
7. I was in a prolonged state of ecstasy that lasted several years. That was 1997. In the spring of 1998 Mrs. S told me she’d been praying for me for the past 7 months, when it was most dark. She spiritually birthed me, and I told her I would die for her, if called to it.
8. I left NY. Wandered for a bit in Montana. I was back in the ‘hood again with black, white, Chinese, Korean, Jewish, Italian. Add to that mix: Indians, a few Aussies, 2 Egyptians, Europeans, Islanders, and a Thai guy we kept calling Marijuana, because his name was really Manirojana. Stir vigorously. Bake for 5 months and out comes a YWAM missionary.
9. Relocated to Bellingham, WA to continue with YWAM. Married Ashley.
10. As of ‘07 attending Regent college for a Master of Divinity and starting a new church in Bellingham, WA.
11. Became dad to Austin.
12. Closed down missio. We had “failed” in the experiment of churchplanting. But succeeded in kingdom ways.
13. Currently: Expecting number 2. Finishing up @ Regent. Pursuing ordination with the Evangelical Covenant Church. Pastoring @ Roosevelt Community Church.