About

 

Everyone’s a theologian; everything is theological; all theology is practical.

Formal education

  • Master of Divinity (M.Div.) from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, IL (Winter 2015).
  • B.A. in Pastoral Studies, minor in Biblical Greek from Maranatha Baptist University, Watertown, WI (Spring 2012).

Select ministry experience

  • Author, speaker, and contributor for various Christian organizations, magazines, and websites.
  • Pastor/Elder at CrossWay Community Church, Milwaukee, WI (March 2018 – Present).
  • Founder & Director of MKE Pastors’ Fellowship, Milwaukee, WI (August 2020 – Present).
  • New Journey (Safe Harbor) program Advocate at the Milwaukee Rescue Mission, Milwaukee, WI (March 2018 – October 2018). Currently teaches and preaches as a volunteer.
  • Church-Planting Elder/Pastor at South City Church, Milwaukee, WI (April 2016 – March 2018).
  • Youth Leader and Pastoral Intern at Lake Drive Baptist Church, Milwaukee, WI (January 2009 – March 2016).
  • Theological Assistant Reference Librarian at Rolfing Memorial Library at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, IL (August 2012 – December 2015).
  • Counselor, speaker, and teacher at Lake Lundgren Bible Camp, Pembine, WI (Summers of 2008-2012).

Interests

The three areas of study in which I am most interested are Biblical theology, redemptive history, the implications for hermeneutics; applied ecclesiology and philosophy of ministry; and public theology such as the Christian’s social, cultural, and political engagement.

Some of my other interests include: soteriology (the doctrine of salvation); the doctrines of grace (Calvinism), and the relationship between God’s sovereignty and the human will; Pauline studies and theology; expository methodology and preaching Christ from all of scripture; the relationship between theology and practice, and the methodology of the application; liturgical theology and corporate worship practice; polity and ecclesiology; pastoral theology; denominational differences; historical theology—especially the Reformed tradition; political theology, the relationship of the Christian to the state, and relationship between socio-political ideologies and the Christian worldview; ethnicity and racial justice; the theology and the ethics of non-violence; epistemology and Christian apologetics; the relationship between psychology and the Christian worldview; and issues regarding gender and sexuality.

Theological positions

  • I am orthodox. I ascribe to the universally and historically held Christian beliefs.
  • I am Trinitarian. I believe in the one true Christian God who exists co-equally and co-eternally in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
  • I am protestant. I am committed to the central tenets of the Reformation, namely, the 5 solas: Scripture alone; by grace alone; through faith alone; in Christ alone; to the glory of God alone.
  • I am a conservative evangelical. I identify with the theologically conservative wing of evangelicalism, a movement that seeks to recover and maintain fidelity to the Biblical Gospel.
  • I adhere to verbal, plenary inspiration and inerrancy. I believe that the Bible is the very word of God without error.
  • I ascribe to grammatical-historical, redemptive-historical, literarily sensitive method of interpretation. I believe a proper and distinctively Christian reading of scripture attends to the meaning of texts in their original literary, cultural, and historical contexts while also giving due attention to the broader theological movements in scripture to which particular texts contribute.
  • I adhere to penal substitution. I believe that, among other things, Jesus died in the place of sinners, bearing God’s wrath in their place.
  • I am a Calvinist. I hold to a Reformed understanding of the doctrine of salvation, i.e., that man is incapable of contributing to his salvation and that salvation is by God’s sovereign grace from first to last—planned, accomplished, and applied.
  • I am covenantal (non-dispensational). I believe God’s saving purposes expressed throughout the Old Testament, particularly through his dealings with Israel, have been initiated by Jesus in the Church, the unified community of Jew and Gentile.`
  • I hold to realized eschatology and amillennialism. I believe that God’s promised kingdom is already realized in part now through the reigning Christ, and will be fully realized upon Christ’s return when he comes to raise the dead, judge humanity, and usher in the new creation.
  • I hold to revelational epistemology (i.e., how we know things), and my theoretical perspective on apologetics (defense and advocacy of the faith) is presuppositionalism. Truth is not neutral; and our knowledge of it is based on the revelation of God.
  • My political theology is Baptist, holding to religious liberty and separation of church and state (disestablishmentarianism). I have influences from Neo-Calvinism — a tradition that stresses institutional distinctions and specificty (e.g., church and state), yet maintains the universality of God’s rule and redemption over all aspects of his creation — and some Anabaptist-like postures regarding expectations of the church as a counter-cultural, suffering people.
  • I am Baptistic. I adhere to a congregationally-based, plurality-of-elders led, and deacon-served church government. I also adhere to a historic, Reformed Baptist understanding and practice of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
  • I am complementarian. I believe God designed distinct and complementary gender roles for men and women and that, as such, certain leadership roles and functions in the church are to be restricted to men.
  • I am a non-charismatic. Although I do not necessarily believe an utterly decisive case can be made for the cessation of certain spiritual gifts, I think scripture leans that direction; furthermore, I believe scripture’s portrayal of such gifts invalidates much contemporary charismatic activity.