Wow! It has been one crazy summer! For those who may not know everything here is a brief recap of some things I have done this summer…

• Stepped down as Youth Minister of Milford Christian Church.
• Graduated with Masters of Divinity with emphasis in Pastoral Care and Counseling from Cincinnati Christian University.
• Moved to Virginia.
• Went to Mexico with Back2Back Ministries with two days heads up.
• Went backpacking with dad for a couple days to the most incredible place I’ve ever been in my entire life!! (Yes, I’m trying to be very sarcastic here. But it was a lot of fun!!)
• Began a new phase of life and new ministry in Mechanicsville Virginia as the Associate Minister at Mechanicsville Church of Christ.

All within about 2 and a half months. Needless to say, it’s been an incredible whirlwind of emotions! It was a lot harder than I thought it would be saying goodbye to so many great people in Milford! Ministry can be very difficult at times, especially in an area where, going in, I knew no one at all! And no, it wasn’t all roses and perfect, but boy was it great! I loved my time in Kentucky, learned a lot, and made some great friends that, hopefully, will last a lifetime!

I am so incredibly grateful as well for Cincinnati Christian University and the professors and faculty who are absolutely great! They went far above and beyond in their responsibilities to teach in the classroom and spent time with me outside class. Again, so incredibly blessed to be part of the CCU family forever!!

You never know when and where God will take you when you have awesome ministry partners. Back2Back Ministries has certainly been one of those great ministries I have been blessed to partner with over the years. I cannot put into words how much I love this organization and what they are doing around the world! I have made some incredible friends that I know will last forever! Steve is certainly one of those friends. He has come to my week of camp and spoke to my kids about Back2Back. We have also had time to talk and build a friendship as well. He called me this summer and said there was someone who could not go on a trip last minute due to a medical emergency. I was blessed with an understanding father who allowed us to change our hiking plans and three days later I was on a flight to Mexico! It always amazes me how I see God moving in other places and in other people. I cannot believe how God has allowed me to be a part of not only that trip, but other ways God has moved in people and other places.

After returning from Mexico, I had one day to clean clothes and pack again to come down to Mechanicsville Church of Christ to preach a trial sermon and stay for a week of VBS. Wow! Such a great week! I guess preaching went okay, I mean, I am now on staff, so it wasn’t too bad I suppose. But that week of VBS I was able to meet so many people and kids, it was awesome!! I guess that went okay as well, I did get a cool whip pie in the face…

And now, I cannot even begin to express how blessed I feel to be serving on staff here at Mechanicsville Church of Christ. God has been doing some awesome and incredible things here and I am so glad to be a part of it! Great people, great staff, great servants, I can’t wait to get to see how God will continue to use this church to impact Mechanicsville and the world! Already in the 5 weeks or so I’ve been here, I’ve helped at camp, preached a couple times, driven the bus for our mission’s team to Haiti, met different ministries in the area, and started to build some great relationships with people here! So, so, SO VERY EXCITED!!!

So that’s been my summer; a brief, BRIEF recap of my summer. There is so much more I wish I could say about each one of those things, but you don’t want to read another 100+ pages I’m sure! Please feel free to contact me though and I’d be glad to meet up and tell you more about it! If you are in the Mechanicsville are, please contact me and we’ll grab lunch one day! I love meeting and connecting with people!! God bless!!